Minecraft Woodland Mansion Guide: How to Find, Loot, and Conquer It

You might have come across multiple cool structures in Minecraft, such as Villages, Pillager Outposts, Ancient City, etc, but few feel as mysterious (and honestly, intimidating) as the Woodland Mansion.

These are easy to miss since they are extremely rare. You won’t just stumble on one during your early adventures; finding one usually feels like a quest in itself. If you are visiting a Woodland Mansion for the first time, it might feel a bit eerie. The hallways are dark, the rooms are huge, and around every corner, there’s the chance of bumping into an Illager ready to ruin your day.

This might seem dangerous, which it sure is, but equally exciting too. Players specially prepare themselves to find this structure and then raid it for its valuable loot. It is one of the only places you can find the Totem of Undying, an item that literally saves your life when you’re about to die

There is much more to this structure than what we discussed above. This guide will cover everything you need to know about the Woodland Mansions.

Let’s get on with it.

How to Find a Woodland Mansion

A major fact about Woodland Mansions is that you will not stumble upon this mysterious structure just about anywhere in Minecraft. They are some of the rarest buildings in Minecraft, and most of the time, they generate tens of thousands of blocks away from spawn.

So, let’s learn how you can actually find these, and there are different ways to do it.

1. Explorer Map

The easiest way to find a Woodland Mansion is through an explorer map. Now, the question is, where can I get this map? Here are the steps you can follow.

• Find a Cartographer Villager in a village. (They usually have a cartography table in their house.) Or you can craft a cartography table and assign a villager to it.
• Then, you need to level them up by trading with them items such as paper, glass panes, or other items till they eventually give you the Woodland Explorer Map.
• The map costs a decent amount of emeralds and a compass, but it’s worth every bit.

Once you have bought the map, open it up. It may seem empty with two dots on it, and that is your clue. Your location is marked as a tiny white dot (mostly at the bottom), and the destination (Woodland Mansion) is a small house icon. To move in a particular direction, you can use the coordinates menu and see which direction you are currently in and where you need to go.

Pro Tip: You need to be prepared to travel. These maps can lead you thousands of blocks away, so either grab a boat, Elytra + rockets (if you’re advanced enough), or even build a Nether portal shortcut to save time.

2. Know Where They Spawn

In earlier versions of Minecraft, Woodland Mansions were pretty difficult to find, something you would only get 2-3 in the overworld.

However, it's easier now with multiple ways to locate them. Woodland Mansions generally generate in the Dark Forest biomes (the ones with giant mushrooms and thick dark oak trees).

You can simply travel to any nearby Dark Forest biome and try to look for a Woodland Mansion. Make sure the biome is large enough since small ones do not usually have these structures.

3. Other Methods

Lastly, if you do not want to search for a Woodland Mansion blindly, you can try using some online tools such as Seed Finders. Enter the coordinates of your world, and they will give you the location of all the mansions and other structures in that world.

Not many players like using them, but it does make life easier, especially as a beginner, if you are stuck in the game.

What Should You Bring To Woodland Mansion?

Considering you have found the mansion, now comes the part that separates the prepared from the players who get wrecked five minutes in. Woodland Mansion is pretty dark (literal sense); you need to be prepared with all the right tools, weapons, and food to raid it.

Here is a list of everything you will need:

1. Weapons and Gear

Firstly, let’s sort out the weapons you will need. The best option will be a sword or an axe, preferably enchanted with Sharpness or Smite (great against Illagers). That is not all, you will also need a bow and arrow to kill mobs like Vindicators, which can be pretty dangerous while trying to hit them up close using a melee weapon.

As for the armor, you will need the best one. At least diamond armor is necessary, or Netherite armor if you can. With this, you can also add some enchantments, such as Protection IV for general defense, and Fire Protection can help if you accidentally get hit by an Evoker’s fire spell.

2. Other Essential Items

Weapons and gears aren’t the only things that you will need to survive this. There are some other items as well, which will keep you alive. Here are all of them:

1. Food: Anywhere you go in Minecraft, you will need food to survive. Simple pork chops and other meats may not work the best. You can instead craft a lot of Golden carrots and carry them with you to regenerate your hearts quicker.
2. Beds: As soon as you enter the mansion, you need to place your bed with some chests and a few torches to set up a respawn point. You don’t want to trek 5,000 blocks again if you die.
3. Torches: You are going to need a ton of torches. As mentioned above, Woodland Mansion is extremely dark, and to stop the mobs from spawning again, it's best to place torches everywhere you walk in the mansion.
4. Loot Storage: To carry all the loot back home, you can place the chests at your respawn point and even add some necessary items in here if need be while you raid.
5. Shield: Although not mandatory, shields can be used for blocking a Vindicator’s axe hit, which can save you from a lot of pain.
6. Extra Blocks: You can use the blocks to make a pathway to secret rooms or areas you have no direct path to.

Pro Tip: Go in during the daytime so you don’t have to fight off mobs outside the mansion, too. It’s hard enough inside without a creeper ambushing you at the front door.

Exploring the Woodland Mansion Layout

Before we talk about the different mobs you will encounter here, it's important to understand the entire layout of this structure. This will help you understand how to navigate and what to look out for before you enter.

1. Floors

Generally, there are three floors in any Woodland Mansion. Ground floor, First, and Second floor. You need to go room by room and explore each of them. Not every room has a chest, but you need to place torches in them so that no new mobs spawn later.

The ground floor has big open rooms with some basic mobs such as skeletons, zombies, and even some vindicators. You may also find some chest room with multiple chests, which are almost empty for everyone.

Then, we have the first floor, where you will have multiple themed rooms. Here are a lot more Pillagers/Vindicators that may be deadly. Make sure to kill them using long-ranged weapons. Furthermore, you can even find a boxing ring room with a secret chest area, a library with massive bookshelves, and much more.

Lastly, we have the top floor. It's comparatively smaller but does have treasures to look out for. Also, look out for tight spaces, which might have multiple mobs and pillagers charging at you all at once.

2. Different Types of Rooms

Now we do know briefly about different floors in the mansion, but each floor, as we discussed above, has multiple rooms. Each of these rooms has various themes as well, which is pretty interesting to look at.

• Storage Rooms: These rooms have multiple chests, both single and double. However, there is no loot in any of them.
• Statue Rooms: Every Woodland Mansion has rooms with giant statues of cats, illager faces, etc.
• Jail Cells: There are some dark little rooms in, sometimes with mobs trapped inside.
• Secret Rooms: These have some amazing loot with enchanted books, music discs, and other treasures. They do not have any entrances and are hidden behind walls, so you need to keep an eye out.
• Boxing Ring: There is a boxing ring on the first floor of the mansion, where you may or may not find two mobs fighting in the ring. It looks pretty cool, and you find chests here.
• Libraries: This room is packed with bookshelves and is perfect for enchanting setups.

Pro Tip: Navigating the mansion can sometimes feel like a maze, and you can get lost. Hence, it's important to place as many torches as needed to create a pathway. And make sure you are not randomly moving around, pick a way and explore the rooms likewise.

Mobs Inside Mansion

The reason we asked you to gear up with the best possible weapons and armor you can get is that the mobs you will encounter here are very evil and powerful. Unlike caves, where you mostly deal with zombies and skeletons, mansions have Illagers; hostile villagers that pack way more punch. Let’s meet the “residents”:

1. Vindicators

If you have ever been in a villager raid, you already know about the different pillagers, especially the Vindicators. These are the axe-wielding maniacs you will encounter in the Woodland Mansion. And they are everywhere.

Vindicators are extremely powerful, and they charge at you with iron axes, dealing huge melee damage (they can take out half your health in one hit if you’re undergeared).

The best way to deal with them is by hitting them from afar using a bow and arrow. If you get too close, it becomes almost impossible to kill them without suffering damage yourself. Also, it’s an absolute must to have a shield with you at all times when they are too close.

2. Evokers

Another pillager, which is so much more deadly than Vindicators. Although there are not as many as the others in the mansion, even 2-3 of them are enough to kill you. They are known to be the real bosses, but are also pretty important for the game.

Let’s talk about their attacks. Evokers basically cast spells at you. They summon fang attacks (those snapping teeth that pop out of the ground) and, even worse, Vexes; tiny flying mobs that can go through walls and hunt you down.

Do not take them lightly. The vexes are pretty annoying, and without a shield, you are as good as dead. As soon as you spot the Evoker, rush at them and kill them with your sword or axe. A bow works if you spot them early, but if they spawn Vexes, focus on the Evoker first, then deal with the little demons.

As mentioned, they are super important. Once you kill them, they drop the Totem of Undying, which is your priority. It gives you an extra life in such situations.

3. Allays

Allays can be found locked in the jail room inside the cages.

They are tiny, blue, fairy-like mobs with wings. They’re peaceful helpers that love collecting items for you. Instead of fighting like wolves or cats that scare creepers, Allays are all about utility; they help gather resources you drop around the world.

4. Other Mobs

There are other regular mobs too, which are not that dangerous but can be fatal when they charge at you all at once.

Some of the mobs you will encounter in the mansion are zombies, baby zombies, skeletons, spiders, creepers, and other pillagers. They’re not mansion-specific, but in the chaos of fighting Illagers, a surprise creeper can be the last thing you need.

Loot in Woodland Mansion

Let’s talk about the actual reason we are here. Woodland Mansions have some amazing loot if you know where to look for it. Not every room has a chest, but the ones that do can make the entire journey worth it. Plus, there’s one item in particular that makes mansions legendary.

1. Totem of Undying

We have spoken about this a gazillion times, and every time it is worth it. The Totem of Undying can be collected by killing the Evokers.

The reason why it’s amazing: If you’re holding a Totem in either hand when you take fatal damage, it saves you from dying. Instead, you get a burst of health, fire resistance, and a second chance. Basically, it’s Minecraft’s ultimate “get out of jail free” card.

It’s also important to understand that this is a rare item and can be obtained from either Woodland Mansions or during village raids. So, make sure to use it when you are exploring places like the Nether or End.

2. Chests

There are multiple chests hidden in Woodland Mansion in the different rooms we discussed above. The best loot you will find is in the secret rooms, which include items such as:

• Enchanted Books (sometimes rare enchantments you can’t easily get elsewhere).
• Diamond gear or tools (enchanted if you’re lucky).
• Golden Apples for emergency healing.
• Music Discs (great for collectors).
• Leads, Name Tags, Buckets, and Other Randoms that are surprisingly handy.
• Food sources such as cooked or raw meat, wheat, etc.

3. Other Resources

Apart from the treasure loots and chests scattered around the mansion, there are some other resources you can grab while you explore each room.

The entire mansion is made of dark oak wood, which you can collect when breaking down walls to secret rooms. These can be useful to build stairs while trying to escape from vindicators or other hostile mobs.

Next, we have the carpets and other decorative blocks lying on the ground that you can collect. You might come across a room filled with Obsidian blocks that are super useful. Then, you can also find a single Lapiz Lazuli right in the middle of the giant pillager-face statue in the middle of a room.

Strategies to Conquer the Mansion

Now that we know everything about Woodland Mansion, including its structures, the type of mobs you will find here, and the loot, let’s quickly look at the strategies you can follow to safely navigate your way through each floor and fight every mob.

1. Entry Strategy

So you are prepared to enter the mansion, here are a few things you can do:

• Let there be light: As soon as you walk in, drop torches at the entrance and nearby hallways. This keeps other mobs (zombies, skeletons, creepers) from adding to your problems.
• Respawn Point: There is a huge staircase as soon as you enter the mansion. You can set up your bed and a few chests to mark it as a respawn point in case you die.

2. Combat Strategy

There is a particular strategy for each mob you will come across, and how you can tackle them, and also in which order.

• Evokers: These guys are your top priority. The moment you see one, focus all your fire on it. Don’t give it time to summon too many Vexes.
• Vindicators: Make sure they do not come too close to you. Always have a shield and use a bow and arrow to hit them from afar.
• Others: Once you have dealt with the above two, you can then move ahead with the other mobs. It's easier to kill skeletons and creepers as opposed to Evokers.

Make sure to follow the exact order above if you are unlucky and are stuck with all of the above at once.

3. Survival

To ensure you can survive and hope to do it all without dying. You need to make sure you are properly geared up with the best enchantments.

Take it as slowly and patiently as you can, especially if this is your first time. Check out each room at your own pace and keep them lit up.

If you are in a difficult situation, run away from the spot, eat golden carrots, heal yourself, and get back to fighting the mobs. Furthermore, you can also use blocks to get height and then fight the vindicators since they cannot climb up, and give you space to hit them using melee weapons.

Final Thoughts: What’s Next?

So you’ve survived the Illagers, grabbed your Totems, and lit up every creepy hallway. Now the question is: what’s next? A Woodland Mansion isn’t just a one-time raid; it can become something way bigger if you put it to use.

You can turn the woodland mansion into your base. They are exceptionally huge, as you already know by now, and can be a perfect spot to build a mage base.

You have so many rooms that can be used for multiple purposes, such as storage rooms, brewing rooms, and so much more. In fact, you can even convert the empty rooms into crop farms, animal pens, or even automatic farms.

The woodland mansions have massive bookshelves, which you can use to set up a huge, enchanting room. Even create a trading hall if you like.

Overall, this entire ordeal of starting right from the start, by finding the mansion, preparing for it, and then exploring, is all worth it. Yes, it can be difficult at first, but once you complete it, it does feel like a huge achievement, and you can move on to the next.

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Many players often build a raid farm to collect as many rewards as they can get. In fact, every mob you kill increases your XP, making the entire ordeal highly beneficial.

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