How to Find Ocean Ruins in Minecraft

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: Ocean ruins generate underwater in every ocean biome - sandstone ones in warm and lukewarm oceans, stone brick ones in cold and frozen oceans. Bring a door or water breathing, a brush for the suspicious blocks, and watch for drowned.

What you need

Boat
Water breathing / door / conduit
Brush (for suspicious sand and gravel)
Weapon (drowned and zombie nautiluses)

Step by step

Pick your ocean: warm ocean ruins generate in warm, lukewarm and deep lukewarm oceans; cold ocean ruins generate in normal, cold and frozen oceans and their deep variants.
Sail and scan: ruins sit on the seabed, often in clusters - 30% generate as large ruins, and a large one has a 90% chance of 4-8 small ruins around it.
Spot them at night: sea lanterns in the ruins glow underwater, making night sailing the easiest way to find them from a boat.
Prepare to dive: bring water breathing potions, a door for air pockets, or a conduit - plus a weapon, because drowned guard every ruin.
Tell the materials apart: warm ruins are sandstone with suspicious sand; cold ruins are stone bricks with suspicious gravel - each hides different brush loot.
Brush the suspicious blocks: warm ruin suspicious sand can unearth sniffer eggs and exclusive pottery sherds; cold ruin suspicious gravel hides its own sherd set.
Loot the chests: most ruins contain a chest with coal, emeralds, enchanted fishing rods and buried treasure maps leading to buried treasure.
Follow the maps: the buried treasure map in a ruin chest points to a buried treasure chest on a nearby beach - the classic route to a heart of the sea.
Newer finds: since 1.21.11, ruin chests can contain nautilus armor and stone spears, and zombie nautiluses may spawn among the drowned; in 26.3, abandoned camp secret chests hold explorer maps that lead straight to warm ocean ruins.

Java vs Bedrock

Generation and loot work the same in Java and Bedrock. Both editions share the warm/cold split, the buried treasure maps in chests and the 1.21.11 additions of nautilus armor and zombie nautiluses.

Versions: Added in 1.13 - Update Aquatic (18w09a) as underwater ruins; buried treasure maps in their chests came in 18w10a and drowned in 18w16a. 1.21.11 added nautilus armor and zombie nautiluses, and 26.3 added explorer maps to warm ocean ruins in abandoned camps.

Frequently asked questions

Where do ocean ruins spawn in Minecraft?

Underwater in every ocean biome: sandstone ruins in warm and lukewarm oceans, stone brick ruins in cold and frozen ones, and rarely on beaches. They often cluster - a large ruin usually has 4-8 small ones around it.

What loot is in ocean ruins in Minecraft?

Chests hold coal, emeralds, enchanted fishing rods and buried treasure maps - plus nautilus armor and stone spears since 1.21.11. Brushing suspicious sand (warm) or suspicious gravel (cold) unearths pottery sherds, and warm ruins are the only source of sniffer eggs.

How do you get a sniffer egg from ocean ruins?

Find a warm ocean ruin (sandstone, in warm or lukewarm oceans), equip a brush and hold use on its suspicious sand blocks. Sniffer eggs are rare brush loot there - the only way to start a sniffer without commands.