Minecraft Dungeons: Complete Guide

A full guide to Minecraft Dungeons: controls, gear and enchantments, difficulty progression from Default to Apocalypse Plus, endgame activities like Ancient Hunt and The Tower, and builds that hold up at high threat levels.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the final update, version 1.17.0.0 (released September 28, 2023; the game is still playable and receives no new content). Check the linked sources if something differs.

Sequel alert: Minecraft Dungeons II (Mojang Studios and Double Eleven) releases September 29, 2026 on Windows, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Switch and Switch 2. This guide covers the original game, which stays playable; no progress transfer between the two has been announced.

Quick Start

• The game is finished, not abandoned. Mojang's last update (1.17.0.0) shipped September 28, 2023, so the balance and content you see now are final. Guides from 2022 onward are still accurate.
• There are no classes. Your "build" is your gear: one melee weapon, one ranged weapon, one armor, and three artifacts.
• Enchantment points come from leveling (one per level), and you get them all back when you salvage an item. Never be afraid to enchant.
• Always play at the highest difficulty you can clear. Higher difficulty and threat levels drop higher-power gear, which is the entire progression loop.
• Salvage everything you are not using for emeralds and refunded enchantment points.
• Roll constantly. Dodge rolling is your best defense and has a short cooldown.
• Your healing potion is on a timer — use it early rather than waiting until you are nearly dead.
• Play with friends. Up to four players can team up locally or online, including cross-platform online play.
• Look for hidden secret missions (such as the Lower Temple and the secret cow level, Mooshroom Island), and collect all nine runes hidden in the main campaign to unlock the secret "???" mission after beating the Arch-Illager.

Editions and Content

Minecraft Dungeons released May 26, 2020 on Windows, Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch. The six DLCs are all included in the Ultimate Edition / Ultimate DLC Bundle:

DLC | Setting

Jungle Awakens | Jungle missions

Creeping Winter | Ice/snow missions

Howling Peaks | Mountain missions

Flames of the Nether | Nether missions (arrived alongside the free Ancient Hunt mode)

Hidden Depths | Underwater missions

Echoing Void | The End; the game's final DLC and final chapter

Controls (PC defaults)

Action | Key

Move | WASD or click-to-move

Melee attack | Left mouse

Ranged attack | Right mouse

Dodge roll | Space

Artifacts | 1 / 2 / 3

Healing potion | E

Inventory | I

Map and other bindings can be checked and rebound in Settings; controller play uses the triggers for attacks and face buttons for artifacts.

Core Systems

Gear and Power

• Power is shown on every item. Your character's power is the average of your gear's power.
• Missions show a recommended power. Being within a few points of it is comfortable; below it, enemies hit much harder.
• Higher threat levels raise both the minimum and maximum power of drops.

The three gear slots

• Melee weapons: swords, daggers, axes, glaives, spears, gauntlets, claymores, hammers, and more. Attack speed, reach, and combo patterns differ a lot.
• Ranged weapons: bows, crossbows, and special launchers. Arrows are a limited resource you pick up during missions.
• Armor: each armor piece has built-in perks (e.g. damage reduction, cooldown reduction, soul gathering), plus enchantment slots.

Artifacts

Three slots with cooldowns — the main "abilities" in the game. Examples:

Type | Artifacts

Damage | Corrupted Beacon, Lightning Rod, Harvester, Fireworks Arrow, Shock Powder (stun)

Buffs | Death Cap Mushroom (attack/move speed), Gong of Weakening (debuff enemies), Light Feather

Defense/healing | Totem of Shielding, Totem of Regeneration, Iron Hide Amulet, Love Medallion

Summons | Tasty Bone (wolf), Wonderful Wheat (llama), Golem Kit

Mobility | Boots of Swiftness, Wind Horn (knockback)

Soul-powered artifacts (like Corrupted Beacon and Harvester) use souls gathered from kills rather than just cooldowns; soul-gathering gear and the Soul Focus enchantment make them much stronger.

Enchantments

• Every item has enchantment slots; each slot offers a choice of enchantments. You invest points into one choice per slot, with up to three tiers.
• Common enchantments cost 1/2/3 points per tier. Powerful enchantments (e.g. Swirling, Refreshment, Shockwave, Gravity, Overcharge, Multi-Roll, Levitation Shot) cost 2/3/4.
• Gilded items (from Ancient Hunt and The Tower) have an extra gilded enchantment and raise enchantment costs (common 2/3/4, powerful 3/4/5).
• Points are refunded when you salvage, upgrade at the blacksmith, or change the enchantment at the Enchantsmith.

Enchantments worth knowing

Enchantment | What it does

Anima Conduit | Heals a percentage of health per soul collected

Leeching | Heals a percentage of a slain enemy's max health

Cool Down | Reduces artifact cooldowns

Soul Focus | Increases artifact soul damage

Lightning Focus | Boosts lightning damage (Lightning Rod builds)

Death Barter | Spends emeralds to prevent death

Committed | Bonus damage against wounded enemies

Swirling | Area damage on combo finishers (powerful)

Radiance | Chance to heal nearby allies on hit

Unchanting | Extra damage against enchanted mobs — valuable on Apocalypse

Camp and merchants

Your camp has merchants who sell random gear and artifacts for emeralds, a blacksmith to upgrade items, and a piglin merchant who sells gear for gold earned from Ancient Hunt. Merchants appear as you progress through the campaign and DLC.

Difficulty Progression

Difficulty | Unlock | Max gear power at Threat VII

Default | Start | 33

Adventure | Defeat the Arch-Illager on Default | 68

Apocalypse | Defeat the Arch-Illager on Adventure | 103

Apocalypse Plus (+1 to +25) | Complete any mission at Apocalypse VII | Up to 241 at +25

Each difficulty has seven threat levels (I–VII). Apocalypse Plus levels unlock in groups of three, and you need to clear boss missions at your current level to open the next group. At Apocalypse Plus, enemies gain extra stat modifiers and rare items drop more often.

Campaign flow

Play the main campaign on Default first, then Adventure, then Apocalypse. Replay missions at higher threat levels as your power climbs. DLC missions are available at any difficulty and scale to it.

Endgame Activities

Ancient Hunt

• Unlocks after completing any mission on Default V or higher.
• You offer items (and optionally up to nine enchantment points) to start a hunt. Each item type maps to runes, and specific rune combinations steer which ancient dungeons appear. Offering enchantment points increases ancient dungeon spawns and reduces Gold Rooms.
• The mission has three sections joined by Nether portals. Doors lead to Gold Rooms (piglin gold) or ancient dungeons with bosses like Frostwarden, Windbeard, Vengeful Mariner, Abyssal Eye, The Unending, Unstoppable Tusk, The Swarm, Watcher of The End, and Scuttling Torment. Many ancients need offerings of DLC items to appear.
• Ancient Hunt is the only mission where mobs and chests drop gold.
• Ancients drop gilded gear, the strongest gear in the game. Finishing the hunt awards gold and refreshes the piglin merchant.

The Tower

• A floor-by-floor roguelike climb (18-30 floors depending on layout) with combat, merchant (Powersmith, Uniquesmith, Gildsmith), and boss floors.
• You start weak; after every combat and boss floor you get an enchantment point and pick one of five items to carry up. Clearing the top grants a choice of three high-power gilded items.
• Layouts rotate weekly through a fixed library of 25 (Cloudy Climb, Luminous Night and Fauna Faire sets).

Seasonal Trials

Seasons offered cosmetic rewards via Adventure Pass-style tiers. With development over, treat them as a legacy feature; the core loot loop does not depend on them.

Builds That Work on Apocalypse Plus

Life sustain is mandatory at high Apocalypse Plus levels: enemy damage can nearly one-shot you, so relying on the potion is not enough. Every build below should have Anima Conduit, Leeching, or another healing source.

1. Soul Mage (artifact damage)

• Weapons: Soul Knife, Soul Bow / Soul Crossbow
• Armor: a soul-gathering armor (Soul Robe, Wither Armor, or similar)
• Artifacts: Corrupted Beacon, Harvester, Soul Healer or Gong of Weakening
• Enchantments: Soul Focus, Anima Conduit, Cool Down
• Playstyle: gather souls with kills, then melt packs with Beacon beams. Very strong at every difficulty.

2. Lightning Rod spam

• Artifacts: Lightning Rod plus cooldown/utility artifacts
• Enchantments: Lightning Focus, Cool Down
• Why: Lightning Focus massively boosts Lightning Rod and lightning enchantments.

3. Melee Brawler

• Weapons: Claymore or Gauntlets plus a Heavy Crossbow or Scatter Crossbow
• Armor: Mercenary Armor (damage reduction) or other tank armor
• Artifacts: Death Cap Mushroom, Shock Powder, Boots of Swiftness or Wind Horn
• Enchantments: Swirling, Committed, Leeching or Anima Conduit
• Why: constant crowd control and big area damage; Death Cap's speed boost is huge.

4. Summoner / Support

• Artifacts: Tasty Bone, Wonderful Wheat, Golem Kit, Totem of Regeneration
• Why: pets draw aggro, good for co-op or players who prefer ranged play. Falls off at the very highest Apocalypse Plus levels.

5. Wither/Weakening

• Armor: Wither Armor
• Artifacts: Gong of Weakening plus damage artifacts
• Why: lifesteal and soul gathering from the armor, plus weakened enemies take more damage and deal less.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Playing too low a difficulty. You only progress by pushing threat levels.
• Hoarding enchantment points. They come back when you salvage — spend them.
• Keeping weak gear for sentimental reasons. Upgrade constantly; high power matters more than perfect rolls until the endgame.
• Ignoring artifacts. Artifacts do much of your damage at high levels.
• No healing in your build at Apocalypse. Anima Conduit or Leeching is almost mandatory.
• Forgetting to dodge roll through dangerous telegraphed attacks.
• Salvaging gilded items without checking their gilded enchantment. Some are uniquely valuable.

Advanced Tips

• Cooldown loops: stack Cool Down enchantments and cooldown-reducing armor so artifacts like Corrupted Beacon, Death Cap Mushroom, and Totem of Shielding are up almost permanently.
• Unchanting on Apocalypse: enchanted enemies are the main threat; bonus damage against them saves runs.
• Upgrade vs farm: upgrading at the blacksmith raises an item's power without losing enchantments, useful for a perfectly rolled piece.
• Target mission loot: each mission shows its possible unique drops. Farm the mission that holds the item you want.
• Play co-op: loot is individual, so friends don't compete for drops, and difficulty scales with party size.
• Ancient Hunt runes: once you learn which offerings produce which ancients, you can target specific gilded gear.

FAQ

Is Minecraft Dungeons still getting updates? No. Mojang released the final update (version 1.17.0.0) on September 28, 2023. The game remains available and playable, including online multiplayer. New content now goes to the sequel, Minecraft Dungeons II, releasing September 29, 2026.

Does Minecraft Dungeons have cross-play? Yes. Online multiplayer works across platforms with a Microsoft account, for up to four players.

How do I unlock Apocalypse mode? Defeat the Arch-Illager on Adventure difficulty. Apocalypse Plus unlocks after completing any mission at Apocalypse VII.

What is the max power level? Gear can reach up to 241 power at Apocalypse Plus +25.

How do I get gilded gear? Defeat ancients in Ancient Hunt, or climb The Tower. Gilded items carry an extra, pre-set gilded enchantment.

What is the best build? Soul builds with Corrupted Beacon and Soul Focus, and Lightning Rod with Lightning Focus, are the strongest widely used damage setups. Pair any build with a healing enchantment like Anima Conduit or Leeching.

Do I need the DLC? No, but the DLC missions add a lot of unique gear and are needed for some endgame items. The Ultimate Edition bundles everything.

Sources

• Minecraft Dungeons (Minecraft Wiki)
• Dungeons: Difficulty (Minecraft Wiki)
• Minecraft Dungeons II (Minecraft Wiki)
• Dungeons: Ancient Hunt (Minecraft Wiki)
• Dungeons: The Tower (Minecraft Wiki)
• Dungeons: Enchantment (Minecraft Wiki)
• Apocalypse Mode Guide (Game8)
• 10 Powerful Builds for Apocalypse Mode (Game Rant)