There is no surprise that Minecraft is often called an exploration game. Everyone spawns in a unique world and makes their way through the best and worst of the game. Some find amazing loots while others drop into the dangerous dripstone caves. However, one thing that takes both exploration and looting to the next level is the buried treasure. That is, as long as you know how to find a buried treasure in Minecraft. Similar to pirating in the open sea with a boat, Minecraft offers a treasure map, sunken ships, and rare loot in this side quest.
In fact, buried treasures are the only source of finding the heart of the sea, used to gain superpower-like abilities. Additionally, unlike most other stuff, the treasure functions similarly in both Minecraft Java and Bedrock editions. But first, you need to learn how to make a boat in Minecraft before jumping into this side quest. With that said, from a shipwreck to the treasure itself, we will cover the whole process of how to find buried treasure in Minecraft.
Find Buried Treasure in Minecraft (2022)
Before we loot the treasure, we have to find the map that leads to it. And even before that, we need to focus on getting to a Shipwreck. Don’t be overwhelmed, though, as we will go over each step in detail. Due to uniqueness in Minecraft worlds, some steps might take longer than usual. But you will still know everything about searching for and using buried treasure maps in Minecraft.
What is a Buried Treasure?
Buried treasure is a loot chest in Minecraft with many rare items. From food items to tools and minerals, it has several things that can help you survive in the game. If you are planning to create a Conduit in Minecraft, you will need this chest. It is the only source of the Heart of the sea. Creating a conduit with it will give you Minecraft beacon-like powers but focus on underwater mobs.
Where to Look for a Buried Treasure Map?
A buried treasure is usually found on the ocean floor or buried under the beach. But, you will need a buried treasure map to locate it. You can only find the map at two rare locations. The first one is the underwater ruin, which has less than 50% chance of having the map. The second location is the shipwrecks, which, at times, contain a map chest. If there’s a map chest, there will be surely a buried treasure map in it. For our tutorial, due to the higher spawn rate of map chests, we will focus on the shipwrecks instead of the underwater ruins.
Find a Shipwreck
As you can tell from the name, shipwrecks are damaged ship-like structures that spawn in the overworld. Unlike villages, shipwrecks are rarely generated structures. You can find them under the ocean, floating on the ocean surface, and sitting on the beaches. So, you will have to visit all oceanic Minecraft biomes until you find a shipwreck. Looking underwater is the safest bet as that’s where you will most commonly find it. If the shipwreck is underwater, it will look something like the screenshot below.
Yeah, some ocean biomes in Minecraft can limit your visibility, so using the Potion of Night Vision is a great workaround for finding these underwater structures. As a structure, the shipwreck is entirely made out of wood. Much like a real ship, it can have decks, masts, cabins, and even trap doors in it. But most of the time, you won’t find a complete ship as a shipwreck. Most of them are missing either their front, rear, or other random parts. As mentioned earlier, finding a shipwreck in any condition is a good deal in itself. But then, you also need to hope that it has a buried treasure map onboard.
Find a Map Chest
In a Minecraft world, a shipwreck can have three chests at most. But only one of them will be a map chest. The map chests are located in the lower section of the shipwrecks. That means you will have to break some parts of the shipwreck before reaching the chest. If you don’t find a map chest in your shipwreck, you can still go home with amazing loot from a supply or treasure chest. There is no set way to identify a map chest without opening it, but it is usually in the following situation for most shipwrecks:
Once you find a map chest, you should look for a Buried Treasure Map in it. Every map chest in every edition of the game has it. Other than that, you can commonly find paper, feathers, and books in it. On rare occasions, you will also find a clock, compass, or a regular map in the chests. You can place the buried treasure map in your inventory and exit the shipwreck to start the search.
Understand The Map To Find Buried Treasure in Minecraft
Once you have the buried treasure map, make sure to place it in your active inventory – the bottom-most line in your inventory. This way, it will be visible throughout the game and accessible with ease. Then, scroll to it till your player has equipped it. You can then look at it. If you have used maps in-game before, it will look somewhat similar to this.
In terms of directions, the top of the map is North and the bottom is South. Meanwhile, the left side is West and the right side is East. A white circular mark will indicate your current position on the map. And finally, the red cross or the X on the map is where the treasure is buried. To make it work, you first need to understand the directions and your position in the Minecraft world.
How To Use Buried Treasure Map
1. Check the area where you are on your map, and you will understand your geographical position. As you can see, my current location on the following map is South-West. That is opposite to the X mark. So, I need to move North-East to get to the mark.
2. Next, we need to check which direction our player is facing. On the Minecraft Java Edition, you can quickly press the F3 key to open up the information panel. On the left side, you will see the direction your player is facing.
If you are playing the Bedrock edition, you will have to manually try moving into random directions or use the sunrise/ sunset to determine the correct movement. Even in Minecraft, the sun rises from the East and sets in the West.
3. Next, once you know the direction you are facing in your Minecraft world, you need to move towards the ideal direction. In my case, the buried treasure is present in the North-East direction. So, I will move North first and East next once I am close to the mark. If you move in the correct direction, your map should look like the screenshot below after traveling some distance. Also, if you are close enough, you will start seeing the world forming onto the map.
4. Next, after you finish traveling in one direction and coming parallel to the X, it’s time to move towards it. Now, you need to move in the next direction, which is ideally towards the X. In my case, it is the East direction. If your player indicator has been close to the edge until now, you will start seeing it move towards the main part of the map. Keep moving until you are right on top of the X from every direction. The X should completely cover your player Indicator.
Dig and Loot the Buried Treasure Chest
Now, if you are lucky, you will find the buried treasure right below the “X” mark on the map. But most players have to dig the whole area around the X to find the buried treasure in Minecraft. It’s mostly buried in beaches, but sometimes you might also find it under the ocean floor. Usually, it is covered by either sand or gravel blocks. It can also have stone on top of it in case of spawning into an underwater hill.
On opening the chest, you will see a ton of loot. The heart of the sea is always in a buried treasure. But you can also find a lot of other items, including armors and cooked salmon to iron ingots and emeralds. You can find a complete list of possible loot items for both game editions on Minecraft Wiki.
Find and Use Buried Treasure Map in Minecraft
With the ability to find a Buried Treasure in Minecraft, you can take your ocean quests on a completely different level. And what better way to start one than one of our best Minecraft island seeds. These seeds spawn you on a survival island, offering you the perfect opportunity to look for buried treasures and go on sea adventures. Though, if you are running the latest Minecraft 1.18 update, digging down into some of the beautiful lush caves might be a fresher alternative. Well, at least until the Warden comes in the Minecraft 1.19 mob update to make cave exploration riskier.
Coming back to the treasure, the hardest part of the process will be finding a Shipwreck with a map chest. Some players even use particular Minecraft seeds for this exploration side quest. You can ask fellow community members for such seeds on Minecraft Discord servers or try one from our list of best Minecraft seeds. Not to forget, as a lot of treasure exploration is underwater, so good performance and visibility are a must in-game. Therefore, we suggest you download and install Optifine in Minecraft to get improved FPS. The treasure hunt in Minecraft is a fun adventure, but it is also time-consuming. So, don’t waste another moment and get exploring! And do share your experience with us in the comments below!
