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Deep Dives
Written By
Kelsey Howard
Published
2/18/21

Ancient Hunts

Explore the upcoming free feature coming to Minecraft Dungeons!

If you asked me to write up everything I knew about hunting, the best I’d be able to offer you was a vague understanding of camo as a fashion choice. A wrong fashion choice. But this isn’t about me and my long-running aversion to certain prints – it’s about the latest free feature coming to Minecraft Dungeons: Ancient Hunts! 

As part of the upcoming free update that is being released alongside the Flames of the Nether DLC for Minecraft Dungeons, we are getting a cool new feature! Ancient Hunts are procedurally-generated end-game missions that weave in and out of the Nether and other familiar parts of the Overworld in action-packed, stitched together adventures.  

The important thing to know about the Ancient Hunt is that it’s the best way to get rare items, and it’s the only way to get Gilded item drops. Gilded items are a new tier of items that have an extra enchantment slot. They also look cool and have a lovely golden shimmer to them. 

I tried asking the game team really nicely if I could just have the stuff, and they insisted this was the only way to do it. Think of it as an “I survived this Ancient Hunt, and all I got was this extremely cool Gilded item” token of appreciation. 

A NEW OPPONENT 

Well, Gilded items are important, but the most important thing to know about an Ancient Hunt is that it’s really all about the Ancient mobs! These powerful mobs may LOOK like mobs you’ve seen before, but they’re far more powerful – and they don’t travel alone. The Ancient mobs have a group of minions who add even more of a challenge to these encounters. You’ll need to defeat the Ancient mobs and their formidable friends to reap the rewards.  

But how do you reach these Ancient mobs? You can access the Ancient Hunt by the mission select screen, but I prefer to head to the cave in the camp where you can also find the piglin merchant. Mostly because I think they must be lonely in that cave, and I like to just hang out and provide some company. Don’t worry about the piglin merchant yet. We’ll come back to them. No matter how you access an Ancient Hunt, you’ll have to place an offering to lure the Ancient mobs to the hunt. 

You’ll need to select items as part of an offering to begin an Ancient Hunt. These items will be destroyed once you offer them, so choose carefully! Remember, these powerful mobs are very selective and won’t show up for just any random things in your inventory. As a rule, you’ll need to offer up items that have a combined power of at least 100. Hey, we didn’t say that getting Gilded items would be easy! You can also offer Enchantment Points to increase the odds of an Ancient mob spawning during the Ancient Hunt. 

As you offer up items, you’ll see certain runes appear on the screen. These runes unlock different possibilities for your Ancient Hunt – you should play around with different combinations and see where you end up. I can’t even calculate how many different combinations are possible, but I am terrible at math, to be fair. It’s a lot though! Once you make your offering, it’s off to the Ancient Hunt. Don’t worry, if you need to take a breather from the challenge and leave the Ancient Hunt part-way through, you can pick up it up again later with at least some of your progress saved. 

ENTER... THE PIGLIN MERCHANT 

That’s the only way to get Gilded items... sort of. Another enticing reason to take part in an Ancient Hunt is that it is also the primary source of gold, the game's latest currency! The first time you get gold as a reward, the piglin merchant will set up in the cave that is near the camp. I told you we’d come back to the piglin merchant! Now it’s a well-known fact that piglins love gold and this merchant is no different. Bring your gold to them and check their wares. You may even see a rare or unique item in there from time to time, but they’ll always be Gilded!

I know that may seem like a lot, but it’s pretty simple. Offer up items to lure Ancient mobs to your Ancient Hunt, then defeat the Ancient mobs and their minions to get Gilded item drops and gold! If you want to know more about the free update, DLC, and changes to the game, you should check out the article we released yesterday with Måns Olson from the Minecraft Dungeons team! Otherwise, I’m off to start building up a supply of items to offer as soon as the Ancient Hunts are available on February 24! 

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