Minecraft trial chambers: keys, vaults and loot

Trial chambers are underground buildings of copper and tuff in the Overworld, starting deep down between Y -40 and -20. You fight waves of mobs from trial spawners, earn keys and use them to open vaults full of loot; the parts for the mace come from here too.

Below we cover how to find them, what the new mobs do and what the vaults hold. Checked against Java 26.3 and Bedrock 26.52.

Where do you find trial chambers?

They’re not rare: the world is split into areas of 34 by 34 chunks, with one trial chamber in each, unless a Deep Dark biome gets in the way. You’ll recognise them by the copper blocks and tuff bricks.

• A cartographer’s map. A cartographer villager sells a map to a trial chamber.
• Abandoned camps. Since 26.3 such a map can also turn up in the secret chest of an abandoned camp.
• A command. With cheats on, /locate structure trial_chambers gives you the nearest one.

What do the breeze and the bogged do?

You’ll know most of the mobs already: zombies, skeletons, spiders, slimes and silverfish. Two are new:

• Breeze: a wind mob that leaps around and fires wind charges that knock you back. It deflects arrows and other projectiles, so fight it up close. It has 30 health points and drops 1 or 2 breeze rods when you kill it.
• Bogged: a mushroom-covered skeleton that shoots poison arrows. It has less health than a normal skeleton and shoots more slowly, but the poison keeps ticking. You’ll also meet it in swamps.

Trial keys and ominous keys

A trial spawner wakes up when you’re within 14 blocks and it can see you. It sends a wave of mobs at you: the more players nearby, the more mobs, but also the more rewards. Clear the wave and every player gets something, with a 50% chance that it’s a trial key for everyone. After that the spawner rests for 30 minutes.

The best loot only comes with an ominous trial:

1. Drink an ominous bottle. The leader of a pillager patrol drops one, the pillager with an ominous banner on its head, and vaults sometimes hold one too. It gives you Bad Omen.
2. Walk into a trial chamber. As soon as a spawner sees you, Bad Omen turns into Trial Omen: 15 minutes per level of the bottle.
3. Beat the ominous waves. Nearby spawners turn ominous: tougher mobs with better gear, plus potions and arrows dropping from above. They give an ominous trial key with a 30% chance.

What’s inside the vaults?

You open a vault with a normal key and an ominous vault with an ominous key. Every player can open every vault once. On a server with friends, everyone gets their own turn, even if someone else got there first.

After a particular enchantment? The vaults hand out enchanted books; which ones are worth it is in the best Minecraft enchantments. A Potion of Healing is no luxury in these fights either: see our potions guide.

Getting a mace

The mace is made from a heavy core and a breeze rod, and both come from here: the rod from a breeze, the core with a 7.5% chance from an ominous vault. A trial chamber usually has six to eight ominous vaults, so a few bottles get you a long way. Everything about the mace and its enchantments is in the Minecraft mace. Still not enough of a thrill? Deeper down, the Warden is waiting.