Dungeon

Anywhere in the Overworld

Consists of


Cobblestone Mossy Cobblestone Skeleton Spawner, Spider Spawner or Zombie Spawner Chest (random loot)

A dungeon, also referred to as a monster room in its ID, is a structure-like terrain feature that appears in the Overworld that contains a spawner that produces either zombies, skeletons, or spiders.

Generation[]

In Java Edition, dungeons generate naturally in the Overworld at any altitude (provided it is next to a cave) regardless of whether "Generate structures" world creation option has been toggled off for said world.^[1] For each chunk, 8 attempts are made to generate a dungeon; it is possible, though unlikely, for multiple attempts to succeed. In Bedrock Edition, dungeons can generate as underground structures above sea level.

For each attempt, a location and size (an open area with a width and length of 7, 9, or 11 and a height of 6) is chosen. The attempt succeeds if the following conditions are met:

The floor area (including under the walls) of the potential dungeon must be entirely solid.
The ceiling area (including over the walls) of the potential dungeon must be entirely solid. The ceiling blocks may be gravity-affected such as gravel or sand, which fall if disturbed by the player.
The walls of the potential dungeon must have 1–5 openings (2-high air blocks) at floor level. Dungeons are always connected to a cavern or other hollow structure, although it is possible for the dungeon itself to overwrite most of a tiny cave.

If the location passes, air and cobblestone are placed, then 3 attempts are made to generate each of two chests. To generate a chest, the chosen block must be empty and must have a solid block on exactly one of its four sides. The mob spawner is placed at the center of the dungeon.

The spawner has a 50% chance of producing zombies, a 25% chance of producing skeletons, or a 25% chance of producing spiders. A zombie spawner in Bedrock Edition also has the same chance (5%) of producing zombie villagers as in natural generation.

Cobblestone has a 75% chance to be mossy when it is on the floor of the dungeon.

Structure[]

Dungeons are small rooms made of cobblestone and mossy cobblestone and contain a mob spawner and up to 2 chests. Finding a dungeon without a chest is unlikely but possible. Additionally, there is a rare chance of a dungeon being found without a spawner. Occasionally, a dungeon generates with its chests in such a way as to create a double chest. Dungeons generate with either a zombie (50% chance), skeleton (25% chance), or spider (25% chance) spawner. The spawner is always in the center of the dungeon room, with chests located around the walls of the room (large chests can connect with the short side against the wall). Each block of the floor has a 25% chance of being cobblestone and a 75% chance of being mossy cobblestone.

Because the horizontal range for spawning mobs is 4 blocks from the spawner, it is possible for mobs to be spawned outside the walls of a 5×5 dungeon that is surrounded by air outside the walls.

Loot[]

In Java Edition, each dungeon chest contains items drawn from 3 pools, with the following distribution:

Item	Stack Size ^[A]			Weight ^[B]			Chance ^[C]	Avg. per chest ^[D]	Avg. # chests to search ^[E]
Item	1–3×	1–4×	3×	1–3×	1–4×	3×	Chance ^[C]	Avg. per chest ^[D]	Avg. # chests to search ^[E]
Bone	—	—	1–8	—	—	¹⁰⁄₄₀	57.8%	3.375	1.7
Gunpowder	—	—	1–8	—	—	¹⁰⁄₄₀	57.8%	3.375	1.7
Rotten Flesh	—	—	1–8	—	—	¹⁰⁄₄₀	57.8%	3.375	1.7
String	—	—	1–8	—	—	¹⁰⁄₄₀	57.8%	3.375	1.7
Wheat	—	1–4	—	—	²⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	34.1%	1.000	2.9
Bread	—	1	—	—	²⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	34.1%	0.400	2.9
Name Tag	1	—	—	²⁰⁄₁₂₉	—	—	27.9%	0.310	3.6
Saddle	1	—	—	²⁰⁄₁₂₉	—	—	27.9%	0.310	3.6
Coal	—	1–4	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₅	—	26.6%	0.750	3.8
Redstone Dust	—	1–4	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₅	—	26.6%	0.750	3.8
Music Disc (13)	1	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₉	—	—	21.5%	0.233	4.6
Music Disc (cat)	1	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₉	—	—	21.5%	0.233	4.6
Iron Horse Armor	1	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₉	—	—	21.5%	0.233	4.6
Golden Apple	1	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₉	—	—	21.5%	0.233	4.6
Beetroot Seeds	—	2–4	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.600	5.4
Melon Seeds	—	2–4	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.600	5.4
Pumpkin Seeds	—	2–4	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.600	5.4
Iron Ingot	—	1–4	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.500	5.4
Bucket	—	1	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.200	5.4
Enchanted Book^[F]	1	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₉	—	—	14.7%	0.155	6.8
Golden Horse Armor	1	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₉	—	—	14.7%	0.155	6.8
Gold Ingot	—	1–4	—	—	⁵⁄₁₂₅	—	9.6%	0.250	10.4
Diamond Horse Armor	1	—	—	⁵⁄₁₂₉	—	—	7.6%	0.078	13.2
Music Disc (otherside)	1	—	—	²⁄₁₂₉	—	—	3.1%	0.031	32.6
Enchanted Golden Apple	1	—	—	²⁄₁₂₉	—	—	3.1%	0.031	32.6

In Bedrock Edition, each dungeon chest contains items drawn from 3 pools, with the following distribution:

Item	Stack Size ^[A]			Weight ^[B]			Chance ^[C]	Avg. per chest ^[D]	Avg. # chests to search ^[E]
Item	1–3×	1–4×	3×	1–3×	1–4×	3×	Chance ^[C]	Avg. per chest ^[D]	Avg. # chests to search ^[E]
Bone	—	—	1–8	—	—	¹⁰⁄₄₀	57.8%	3.375	1.7
Gunpowder	—	—	1–8	—	—	¹⁰⁄₄₀	57.8%	3.375	1.7
Rotten Flesh	—	—	1–8	—	—	¹⁰⁄₄₀	57.8%	3.375	1.7
String	—	—	1–8	—	—	¹⁰⁄₄₀	57.8%	3.375	1.7
Wheat	—	1–4	—	—	²⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	34.1%	1.000	2.9
Bread	—	1	—	—	²⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	34.1%	0.400	2.9
Name Tag	1	—	—	²⁰⁄₁₂₇	—	—	28.3%	0.315	3.5
Saddle	1	—	—	²⁰⁄₁₂₇	—	—	28.3%	0.315	3.5
Coal	—	1–4	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₅	—	26.6%	0.750	3.8
Redstone Dust	—	1–4	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₅	—	26.6%	0.750	3.8
Music Disc (13)	1	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₇	—	—	21.8%	0.236	4.6
Music Disc (cat)	1	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₇	—	—	21.8%	0.236	4.6
Iron Horse Armor	1	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₇	—	—	21.8%	0.236	4.6
Golden Apple	1	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₇	—	—	21.8%	0.236	4.6
Beetroot Seeds	—	2–4	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.600	5.4
Melon Seeds	—	2–4	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.600	5.4
Pumpkin Seeds	—	2–4	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.600	5.4
Iron Ingot	—	1–4	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.500	5.4
Bucket	—	1	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.200	5.4
Enchanted Book^[F]	1	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₇	—	—	14.9%	0.157	6.7
Golden Horse Armor	1	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₇	—	—	14.9%	0.157	6.7
Gold Ingot	—	1–4	—	—	⁵⁄₁₂₅	—	9.6%	0.250	10.4
Diamond Horse Armor	1	—	—	⁵⁄₁₂₇	—	—	7.7%	0.079	13.0
Enchanted Golden Apple	1	—	—	²⁄₁₂₇	—	—	3.1%	0.031	32.1

↑ ^a ^b The size of stacks (or for unstackable items, number) of this item on any given roll.
↑ ^a ^b The weight of this item relative to other items in the pool.
↑ ^a ^b The odds of finding any of this item in a single chest.
↑ ^a ^b The number of items expected per chest, averaged over a large number of chests.
↑ ^a ^b The average number of chests the player should expect to search to find any of this item.
↑ ^a ^b All enchantments are equally probable, including treasure enchantments (except Soul Speed, and Swift Sneak), and any level of the enchantment is equally probable.

Data values[]

ID[]

Name	Identifier
[No displayed name]	`monster_room`

History[]

Java Edition Infdev
20100625-2					Added dungeons. The chests may contain gunpowder, strings, wheat, bread, iron ingots, buckets, saddles, and rarely, golden apples.
Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.4					Added redstone dust to dungeon chests, sometime between its introduction in Alpha v1.0.1 and 1.0.4.^{[is this the correct version?]}
v1.0.14					Added the newly introduced 13 and cat music discs to dungeon chests.
Java Edition Beta
1.4					Added cocoa beans to dungeon chests.
Java Edition
1.3.1		12w22a			Breaking the spawner of a dungeon now gives experience.
1.4.6		12w49a			Added enchanted books to dungeon chests.
1.6.1		13w16b			Added name tags to dungeon chests.
1.6.1		13w18a			Added horse armor to dungeon chests and removed cocoa beans. Probabilities have now also been adjusted.
1.7.2		13w36a			Changes in cavern generation now make dungeons considerably rarer.^[2]
1.8		14w30a			The chances of music discs in dungeon chests have been reduced.
1.9		15w44a			Added bones, coal, rotten flesh, enchanted golden apples, and melons, pumpkins and beetroot seeds to dungeon chests.
					The average yield of music discs in dungeon chests has been increased.
					The average yield of enchanted books, gunpowder and string in dungeon chests have been doubled.
					The average yield of normal golden apples in dungeon chests has been substantially increased.
					The average yield of iron horse armor in dungeon chests has been decreased.
					The average yields of name tags, saddles, wheat and bread in dungeon chests have been nearly halved.
					The average yields of iron ingots and buckets in dungeon chests have been substantially decreased.
1.16		?			As a result of a world generation bug fix, dungeon positions have been shifted.
1.17		?			Dungeon generation has changed - it appears they are again capable of generating in open air areas such as cliffsides like they were prior to 1.7.2.
1.18		21w40a			Dungeons now generate more frequently, especially below Y=0.
1.18.2		22w03a			Dungeons can now be placed using `/placefeature`.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.9.0		build 1			Added dungeons.
v0.15.0		build 1			Added name tags, enchanted books and horse armor to dungeon chests.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0		beta 1.2.0.2			Added music discs to dungeon chests.
1.17.0		?			The probability of dungeons had been changed to less common to match Java Edition
1.18.0		beta 1.18.0.21			Dungeons now generate more frequently, especially below Y=0.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added dungeons.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added dungeons.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Dungeon" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

Dungeons are the earliest added generated structures that still exist in the game today.
A contradiction exists in Java Edition that even though the "Generate Structures" world creation option listed "Villages, dungeons etc." as two example structures that are supposed to generate only when the option is turned "ON", dungeons generate even if the option is set to "OFF".
It is possible, though rare, to find connected dungeons with multiple spawners and extra chests.
It is extremely rare for a dungeon to generate at bedrock level. When this occurs, the bedrock cuts through the dungeon and can prevent the chests or the spawner from generating. Because the air below Y=11 replaces itself with lava, this cannot happen in caves. However, it can happen in mineshafts.
Dungeons are the only structure with chest loot that cannot be located using the /locate command.
Unlike most other generated structures that generate in positions determined by world seed, dungeons generate in a different way by performing checks per chunk, as mentioned above, similar to how trees generate. As a result, they can, in a way, be considered "underground trees".

Gallery[]

A gravel blob fallen into a dungeon.
A rare instance of a dungeon generating in midair.
A spider dungeon.
A chest in a dungeon that is open, revealing loot.
A zombie dungeon.
Loot reveal.
A dungeon next to a cave.

Surface dungeons[]

A caved in surface dungeon.
A surface dungeon.
Dungeons can rarely be found open to the surface.
A dungeon found under a frozen ocean.
A dungeon found in the water.
Two surface dungeons right next to each other.
A surface dungeon in the PC Gamer Demo Edition.
Dungeons generated underneath sand tend to cause cave-ins.
A zombie dungeon at ground level.
A dungeon on the surface.

Multiple dungeons[]

Five dungeons and 2 cave spider spawners close together in a mineshaft, cleared to show all 7 spawners.
A double dungeon, the wall of the first acting as the entrance of the second.
A double dungeon with three chests.
A triple dungeon.
Extremely rare double-decker dungeon.
A dungeon in a dungeon.
Triple Dungeon around the village.

Odd generation[]

A dungeon intersecting with an abandoned mineshaft.
A dungeon found by an end portal room in a stronghold.
Dungeon generated aside the chest chamber of the temple. One chest was overwritten by the dungeon wall.
A dungeon distorted by a desert temple.
A dungeon with lava spilling into it from a spring.
A dungeon distorted by a cave system.
A dungeon that has become flooded because of falling sand on the bottom of a river.
Igloo basement touching this dungeon without 1 jail beside of the torch.
A dungeon intersecting with a mineshaft at bedrock level.
A dungeon connected to a dead end of an abandoned mineshaft.
A dungeon with a waterfall flowing into it.
A dungeon generating without the spawner and the chests in a desert temple.
A dungeon with no chests.
A double chest dungeon.
A dungeon intersecting a mineshaft.
A zombie dungeon that generated in a stronghold.
A dungeon, mineshaft and stronghold are in one area.
Floating dungeon without a floor.
Dungeon with a geode underneath it, causing the chest to generate on the top of smooth basalt.
A dungeon that spawned intersecting a mineshaft, where one of the chests has been replaced with a minecart chest.
A dungeon intersecting with an underground water lake.
Another dungeon intersecting with an underground water lake.
A dungeon next to a mineshaft.
Another dungeon next to a mineshaft.