Minecraft‘s “Caves and Cliffs” update brought a massive overhaul to a crucial aspect of the game: mining. Players can mine deeper than ever before and discover some terrifying new biomes, such as the Deep Dark. Infested with the alien-like sculk, the Deep Dark provides a unique challenge unlike anything else in the game. If players make too much noise while exploring the Deep Dark, they’ll risk alerting the monstrous protector of the Sculk.
Exploring the Deep Dark is certainly a risk, but there’s plenty of reward for those who want to go looking for it. Sculk biomes typically connect to ancient cities, which can house some pretty great loot. Of course, you won’t be able to get to that loot if you don’t know how to safely traverse the Deep Dark, so it’s a good idea to know how to survive before you step foot into the biome. Here are just a few tips to help players make it through the Deep Dark.
The Skulk
How Does the Deep Dark’s Sculk Work?
The sculk is the strange dark blue substance that grows all throughout the Deep Dark. It looks a bit like a sort of moss or fungus, though its exact origins are unknown. What we do know is that the sculk will slowly spread to nearby blocks whenever something dies on top of it. The sculk will actually use the experience that mobs drop on death to spread, with the distance depending on the amount of experience dropped.
The sculk spreading through an ancient city.
The sculk, on its own, isn’t dangerous. Players can walk on it without any issue. The real danger comes from what grows out of the sculk. The sculk sensor and the sculk shrieker are two extensions of the sculk that can be found growing throughout the Deep Dark. The names are fairly self-explanatory. The sensor detects sounds and the shrieker makes noise whenever it receives a signal from the sensor.
Sensors also don’t pose any isolated threat to the player. They can even be used in redstone contraptions if removed from the sculk with a silk touch tool. However, when they are within range of the sculk shrieker, the sensors can be one of the most dangerous things in the game. If a player triggers four sculk shriekers in a row, they’ll summon the Warden. The Warden is by far the most dangerous mob in the game to date, though we’ll touch more on it later.
Navigating the sculk is all about keeping your movements as quiet as possible. Sneaking is an obvious way to do this. While players can’t drop off blocks while sneaking, they can jump off blocks and still hold their sneak so long as they keep holding the sneak button. So long as a player is sneaking, they won’t make enough noise to trigger the sculk sensors.
Players will also want to avoid dropping items and breaking blocks while in the Deep Dark. Both of those actions will trigger nearby sculk sensors, which in turn will activate any nearby shriekers. Something important to note is that sensors will only activate shriekers in response to player-made noises. Mobs such as bats and player-tamed wolves will still activate the sensors, but those sensors won’t trigger nearby shriekers.
While crouching certainly works in a pinch to navigate the sculk, it can be a bit slow. If you have a surplus of wool, players can build carpets to lay at their feet. Carpet and other wool blocks will dampen the player’s footsteps, allowing them to move at full speed around the sculk. Encasing a sensor in wool can also help block vibrations from reaching it, though carpets are a more cost-effective method. Players can get multiple blocks of carpet out of a block of wool.
Sneaking aside, wool carpets are by far the best way to navigate the sculk. Mining around it is risky and time-consuming, as miming too close to the sculk will trigger the sensors. Building a bridge above the sculk could work if you’re low on wool, though falling off or building too close to a sensor are both major risks. The wool carpet pathway strategy has the lowest amount of risk and will completely negate the chance of triggering sculk sensors.
If you end up making it to a sculk-infested ancient city, you might notice that they actually hint towards a few of these strategies. Wool carpets line many of the important pathways and chests can contain snowballs, along with some other unique loot such as armor trims.
The Warden
The biggest danger that players can face in the Deep Dark is the monstrous Warden. This mob turns Minecraft into a survival horror game. Triggering sculk sensors four times will summon the Warden, quickly turning a player’s trip through the Deep Dark into a battle for survival. Dealing with the Warden can be tricky, so the best advice is to avoid summoning it all together. However, if you find yourself trapped in the Deep Dark with the Warden, there are still a few tricks to help you survive.
Wardens will inspect anything that they detect nearby them.
Stay Calm and Move Slowly Through the Deep Dark
While your first instinct might be to run when the Warden appears, this will only guarantee that it’ll begin chasing you. The Warden is completely blind, navigating based on sound rather than sight. Much like the sensors, it can hear any noise that players make nearby it. The Warden will also react to sculk sensors. The best thing that you can do is to keep quiet, but still move away from the Warden.
While it may be blind, it can still “smell” players that are within a 49-block radius of it. The Warden may occasionally appear to sniff the air. If you see it doing this, it is best to try and get as far away as you can without making noise. If any players are within that 49-block radius by the time it finishes sniffing, it’ll detect their presence. Each detection will make the Warden more aggressive towards the entity it detected.
Escape the Warden’s Detection Radius
So long as the Warden doesn’t become too aggressive, it’ll eventually retreat back into the ground after a short period of time. Getting outside of the Warden’s radius and waiting will cause the Warden to eventually give up searching and retreat back into the sculk. Escaping the Warden’s radius can be tricky, though players can take advantage of its sound-based navigation.
Bringing throwable objects such as snowballs or eggs is a great way to divert the Warden’s attention. They’re the most effective if thrown toward a sculk sensor. However, players should be cautious about what sensors they trigger, as shriekers that are far enough away from the Warden can trigger and summon another Warden. Arrows can also work as a way to divert the Warden’s attention.
Players shouldn’t attempt to escape the Warden by mining. Not only will breaking blocks alert it to the player’s location, but it won’t actually stop the Warden from attacking the player. It has a ranged sonic boom that’s capable of piercing through blocks, and it isn’t reliant on sight to aim that attack.
A bow is great for fighting and fleeing the Warden.
Fighting the Warden
If all else fails, players will find themselves facing down one of Minecraft‘s most powerful mobs. The Warden is capable of dishing out a massive amount of damage with both its melee attack and its ranged sonic boom. As mentioned, the sonic boom can go through walls. It can also be incredibly difficult to dodge, though it does deal less damage than the Warden’s melee attack.
If players are heading to the Deep Dark with the specific mission of killing the Warden, it’s best to come prepared. A shield is a must, though armor will really only protect you from one or two direct attacks. Killing the Warden is really about dishing out as much damage as you can while avoiding the Warden’s melee. A high Sharpness enchantment can be invaluable for this fight. Crossbows, due to their high damage output, can be a great weapon to bring.
An important thing to note is that the Warden is immune to most forms of elemental damage. Lava, for example, won’t cause any damage to the Warden. Fighting the Warden is really just about straight damage and killing it before it kills you. On death, the Warden will only drop a sculk source block. This’ll allow players to create their own sculk biome by placing it down and killing mobs on top of it. The dropped experience will be absorbed by the sculk source block to grow.
