Minecraft is full of naturally generated structures containing rare loot, and if you’re fortunate enough to find something good, it can be a complete game-changer.
Say you find an enchanted book with the Looting enchantment early in the game; you’re going to have a much easier time collecting resources throughout your entire adventure. Or say you find diamond horse armour; your horse will literally be invincible, and you’ll be able to ride around everywhere with no worries.
If you’re one of those players, and you’re prepared to venture far and wide in search of treasure, then be sure to keep reading. We’ve come up with a list of all the best structures with the best loot chances on Minecraft survival servers; so that you can narrow down your search and get your hands on those rare items sooner.
Without further ado, let’s get right into it.
Desert temples
From golden apples to enchanted books and horse armour, some of Minecraft’s rarest items can be reliably found in desert temples, so they’re always worth checking out. Just be careful not to trigger the TNT trap otherwise all your precious loot will blow up and be gone forever.
The reason desert temples are so great for loot is that every single one contains exactly four chests. That’s right, four! This means you’re practically guaranteed something amazing each time. The rarest item you can hope to find is an enchanted golden apple, which is arguably one of the best items in Minecraft. It has a 2.6% chance of spawning in a chest here, so you likely won’t find one, but if you do it’s definitely a cause for celebration.
Strongholds
Strongholds have pretty good loot in general, but some of the rarest items you have a good chance of finding here are enchanted books. If you enter a stronghold by accident or in search of the end portal, always check the library room chests because more often than not you're going to find a level-30 enchantment book. The probability is 67.8% per chest, which is insanely high. OneBlock SkyBlock players are sure to be jealous!
Igloos
You may be surprised to see igloos on this list, but they’re actually the best naturally generated structure to search if you’re looking for golden apples. You are quite literally guaranteed to find one of these golden beauties in a chest here, as the probability is exactly 100%. The only issue is that only half of igloos actually contain a trapdoor that leads down to a chest room, so technically you’re looking at a 50% chance. That’s still pretty good though!
Mineshafts
Though Mineshafts can be good for loot, they’re also incredibly convoluted and dangerous so we’d only recommend actively exploring them if you’re specifically looking for nametags, as they have a 42.3% chance of spawning here – the highest of any loot chest in the game. Other items like golden apples or enchanted books are possible to find here, but you’re honestly better off looking elsewhere.
Bastion remnants
This list wouldn’t be complete without the inclusion of bastion remnants, so here they are! Added to the game with the 1.16 update, these structures are extremely dangerous to explore if you’re not wearing any gold armour to stop piglins from attacking you, so we’d advise you wear some.
Loot varies wildly but you can typically find pieces of gold and diamond equipment here as well as all kinds of minerals and metals. The two most unique loot items you can find though are enchanted golden apples and Pigstep music discs, the latter of which are exclusively found here. If you're in the Nether and see one of these intimidating structures, check it out if you're brave enough, just be careful because there's a big risk of getting attacked by a piglin brute or a hoglin.
End cities
Last but not least, we’ve got end cities. Without a doubt, these structures have the best loot in the entire game by far. Enchanted diamond weapons, armour and tools can all be found here, and if you’re fortunate enough to find a city with an end ship, you’ll even be able to get yourself an elytra.
The good news is that you can access end cities without actually beating the Ender Dragon, but the bad news is that they’re extremely difficult to find and the outer ender islands they’re located on are tough to navigate without an elytra. If you’re going to be setting out on a quest to find your first end city, be sure to bring a literal tonne of blocks as you’ll need to do a lot of bridging.
Shipwrecks
Though shipwrecks don’t typically contain super rare items themselves, you’re almost always going to find a treasure map in one that’ll lead you to a buried chest. These buried chests have multiple emeralds and diamonds in them most of the time, so they’re definitely worth checking out. They also always spawn with a Heart of the Sea in them, which is an item used to make a powerful conduit that attacks hostile mobs underwater.
If you’re not interested in conduits, then fair enough, but shipwrecks are still worth checking out if only for the chance to find rare minerals, especially early in the game when you likely won’t have many yet.
Some final words
By all means, search any naturally generated structures you come across on your Minecraft adventure for loot, but if you're on a quest for the best stuff, you'll want to actively search biomes where the named structures above are located. You could also explore the gold world on our minecraft servers with creative. With enough time and a little bit of luck, you'll acquire a bunch of unique items that are sure to enhance your Minecraft experience for the better.