The ancient guardian is the elder guardian boss variant that can be found within the various missions of Minecraft Dungeons.
Story[]
The ancient guardian is the oldest guardian among all of the guardians, dwelling within the ocean monument where the story of the Hidden Depths DLC unfolds. After the shattering of the orb of dominance, one of its shards landed within the hidden depths of a deep ocean. As the ancient guardian was guarding the monument it inevitably discovered the shard and became corrupted by it.
With the addition of its newfound power, the ancient guardian got emboldened in expanding its territory. It began to spread its corruption to a nearby ravine, enraging the ocean currents. At the time that the heroes begin to descend the ocean depths, the corruption of the ancient guardian begins spreading throughout a coral reef known as Coral Rise, wreaking havoc on the nearby small islands.
Upon reaching the end of the lower monument, the ancient guardian is seen destroying its own lair to challenge the heroes who entered the chamber. After an intense battle, they manage to defeat the ancient guardian, calming the ocean currents.
Appearance[]
The ancient guardian looks like elder guardian albeit much bigger. and has a predominantly dark purple body as well as three pink stripes. All of its spikes are a light purple to white gradient, and its eye is pink in color with a white iris. Like an enderman-esque appearance. On its back are a few patches of algae, coral and seaweed, with some on its tail. A shard of the orb of dominance is lodged in front of the algae. Its face is full of cracks and a long scratch is seen across its eye.
Spawning[]
Behavior[]
When the hero reaches the arena, the ancient guardian enters by bursting through a wall. After taking notable damage, it can swim away from the arena to avoid further damage. In addition, it has five attacks:
- Spike attack
The ancient guardian can attack nearby heroes or summons by piercing them with its spikes, which creates a high-damage shockwave.
- Spike protection
The ancient guardian sometimes pops out its spikes as a means of defense. Attacking it with a melee weapon results in the attacker taking some damage back in a similar manner to the Thorns enchantment.
- Laser attack
The ancient guardian is capable of firing a yellow beam at its target, which behaves the same way as its weaker counter parts but deals more damage. After doing this attack, the ancient guardian retracts its spikes, and can be attacked without suffering thorns damage.
- Summon minions
The ancient guardian can summon guardians to assist itself during battle. It usually summons about three guardians near a hero, but this attack sometimes spawns an elder guardian instead. It cannot spawn anymore elder guardians if there is already one alive.
Summon Biomines
The ancient guardian will spawn 3-5 biomines, biomines explode shortly afterward spawning, though it cancels this attack after becoming sufficiently damaged. When the biomines explode, they leave behind a temporary poison cloud that deals continuous damage to nearby heroes or summons. See biomine below.
Biomine[]
A biomine is a type of guardian-shaped mob that the ancient guardian summons every so often when coming back into the arena.
Appearance[]
The biomine is a sea mine-like object consisting of a purple core surrounded by seaweed and six purple spikes jutting out from the core. When it explodes, it emits green poisonous gas.
Behavior[]
When summoned, biomines explode shortly afterward, though it cancels this attack after becoming sufficiently damaged. When the biomines explode, they leave behind a temporary poison cloud that deals continuous damage to nearby heroes or summons.
Fake Ancient Guardian[]
A fake ancient guardian is the version of the boss that is seen before the boss fight.
Appearance[]
The fake ancient guardian is a shadowy version of the ancient guardian seen looming over the player before arriving in the Abyssal Monument. Its whole body is concealed in a dark shadow with the exception of its eye, back stripes, and the orb shard which glow a faint yellow. Its spikes are all fully black.
Spawning[]
Behavior[]
Attacking the fake ancient guardian eventually results in it disappearing and dropping an item from the Abyssal Monument loot table, see below:
Drops[]
- Armor
- Artifacts
- Melee weapons
- Ranged weapons
Sounds[]
Music[]
| Sound | Description |
|---|---|
| Ancient Guardian theme loop | |
| Ancient Guardian theme end |
Ancient guardian[]
| Sound | Description |
|---|---|
| Wall intro | |
| Shadow | |
| Death | |
| Hurt | |
| Idle | |
| Laser activate | |
| Laser charge | |
| Laser loop | |
| Show spikes | |
| Spike attack | |
| Spawn mines | |
| Spawn mines (animation) | |
| Mine trigger | |
| Mine disarm | |
| Stun | |
| Summon guardians | |
| Oceans Arena boss sound | |
| Oceans Arena splash | |
| Oceans Arena laser bubbles | |
| Swim |
History[]
| Minecraft Dungeons | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 12, 2021 | In a Twitter post, the developers referred to the ancient guardian as being the “corrupted master” of the other guardians and elder guardians..[1] | ||||
| 1.9.1.0 | Added the ancient guardian, the fake ancient guardian, and biomines. | ||||
Issues[]
Issues relating to "Ancient Guardian" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia[]
- It has a unique cinematic cutscene before the fight, where it is seen destroying a part of the monument in order to challenge the hero.
Gallery[]
Textures[]
The Ancient Guardian's in-game texture file.
The Ancient Guardian's in-game shadow texture file.
The texture file of the biomine.
The shadow texture file of the biomine.
Official Renders[]
A render of the Ancient Guardian.
The Ancient Guardian seen in it's arena in the Abyssal Monument.
Gameplay[]
The Ancient Guardian's boss fight intro cutscene.
Official Artwork and Concept Art[]
4th sketch of the Ancient Guardian.
Concept art of the Ancient Guardian.
