Trial Chambers in Minecraft: Vaults, Keys and the Mace
Trial chambers are 1.21 copper-and-tuff dungeons and the only source of mace parts. How to find one, how trial spawners and vaults work, ominous trials.
Trial chambers are underground copper-and-tuff dungeons added in 1.21 (Tricky Trials). They’re full of trial spawners that release waves of mobs, and beating a wave drops trial keys that open vaults for loot. It’s also the only place to get the materials for a mace.
Finding a trial chamber
Trial chambers generate underground in most Overworld biomes, though never in the deep dark. The entrance room sits between Y -40 and -20, and many rooms are between Y -20 and 0. Look for orange or green copper and gray tuff bricks while caving.
Journeyman cartographer villagers sell a trial chambers explorer map, renamed the buried trial chambers map in Java 26.3 and Bedrock 26.60. With cheats, /locate structure minecraft:trial_chambers works too.
Trial spawners
A trial spawner activates when a player comes close. It spawns a fixed number of mobs based on how many players are nearby, then waits for you to kill them all. When you clear the wave, it ejects loot (often a trial key) and goes on cooldown for 30 minutes.
Spawners can produce zombies, skeletons, spiders, cave spiders, slimes, silverfish, strays, husks, bogged and breezes. Breezes spawn only here. They jump around, shoot wind charges that knock you back and deflect arrows. Kill them for breeze rods.
Vaults and keys
Vaults are locked loot blocks. Use a trial key on a vault and it ejects a reward. Each vault opens once per player, so in multiplayer everyone gets their own loot.
Regular vault loot includes emeralds, arrows, diamonds, enchanted books, crossbows, golden apples, wind charges, armor trim templates and pottery sherds.
Ominous trials
Drink an ominous bottle (dropped by raid captains) to get Bad Omen, then enter a trial chamber. Bad Omen turns into Trial Omen, and every trial spawner you trigger becomes ominous: harder mobs with better gear, plus potions and item drops raining from above. Ominous spawners can drop ominous trial keys, which open ominous vaults with the best rewards, including:
- Heavy core. Rare. Craft it with a breeze rod to make a mace.
- Enchanted golden apples.
- Flow armor trim templates and rare music discs.
The mace
The mace deals bonus damage based on how far you fell before hitting. It has three unique enchantments: Density adds damage per block fallen, Breach cuts through armor, and Wind Burst launches you back up for another smash. A mace with wind charges is one of the strongest weapons in the game.
Tips
- Bring a shield, a bow and food. Waves can be large in multiplayer.
- Use wind charges from breezes to reach high corridors.
- Decorated pots and barrels throughout the chamber hold extra loot.
- Copper bulbs and copper grates make lovely building blocks, so pack a pickaxe.
Trial chambers arrived in the 1.21 update; see the version history for what else came with it, or the structures hub for every structure.
Common questions
Where do trial chambers spawn?
Underground in most Overworld biomes except the deep dark. The entrance room is between Y -40 and -20, and many rooms sit between Y -20 and 0.
How do you get a mace?
Open ominous vaults with ominous trial keys for a chance at a heavy core, then craft the heavy core with a breeze rod into a mace.
How do you start an ominous trial?
Drink an ominous bottle to get Bad Omen, then enter a trial chamber. The effect turns into Trial Omen and nearby trial spawners become ominous.
Sources & verification
Facts on this page are checked against these references and in-game behavior for the stated edition(s). how we verify.
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