Vault in Minecraft: keys, loot and the ominous vault
The vault is a special block in the trial chambers that holds the rewards for beating the challenges there. You open it with a trial key, which you get after defeating the mobs from a trial spawner. Each player can open a given vault only once, so on multiplayer servers the same structure can serve a whole team without conflicts. Ominous trials give you access to upgraded ominous vaults with exclusive rewards, including the heavy core used to craft the mace.
How the vault works
The vault is a block you find inside the trial chambers. It looks like a stone safe with a lock in the middle. When you walk up holding a trial key, you can open it with a right-click. The vault opens with an animation, ejects its items and stays closed for that player from then on.
Key rules
- One vault, many rewards: every player can open the same vault with their own key. You do not compete with other players on the server for the rewards.
- One opening per player: after you open it, the vault remembers your UUID and you cannot open it again with the same account, even if you have more keys.
- Two types: the standard vault (opened with a trial key) and the ominous vault (opened with an ominous trial key). They look different and have different loot tables.
Classic chests in dungeons work on a first come, first served basis: one player opens the chest, takes everything and the rest get nothing. The vault solves that problem. Every player opens the vault independently and gets random loot from the same table. That is a big change on multiplayer servers, where exploring as a group finally pays off.
Trial key: how to get one
Trial keys drop from trial spawners after you beat all the waves of mobs. When the last mob dies, the spawner deactivates and ejects a key (or keys, if more players are nearby). One trial spawner gives one trial key per player.
Ominous trial key
You get an ominous trial key from ominous trial spawners. A trial spawner turns ominous when you have the Trial Omen effect (Bad Omen changes into it near a spawner inside the trial chambers). Ominous spawners summon tougher mobs, but the ominous trial key opens an ominous vault with better loot.
How to get Trial Omen
- Find and kill a raid captain (an illager wearing an ominous banner). That gives you the Bad Omen effect.
- Enter the trial chambers with Bad Omen active.
- Near a trial spawner, Bad Omen automatically changes into Trial Omen, which lasts 15 minutes.
- Trial spawners in range turn into ominous trial spawners.
You can also drink an ominous bottle (a possible vault reward) to give yourself Bad Omen. That is faster than hunting for raid captains.
Standard vault loot
A standard vault gives random items, for example from the list below. The odds are weighted, so some rewards are much rarer than others.
Loot table (standard vault)
- Arrows (common): regular arrows, and sometimes arrows of Poison.
- Emeralds (common): solid for trading with villagers.
- Iron ingots (common): 1-4 of them.
- Honey bottle (common): handy as food and for curing the Poison effect.
- Enchanted diamond gear (rare): an axe or a chestplate.
- Enchanted books (rare): with enchantments like Mending, Sharpness or Efficiency.
- Smithing template (rare): the Bolt armor trim, for customizing your armor.
- Guster banner pattern (rare): a unique banner pattern.
- Wind charge (common): 1-3 ready-made wind charges.
Ominous vault: the upgraded version
The ominous vault looks like a darker, more sinister version of the standard vault. You open it with an ominous trial key. The loot is much better and includes items you cannot get from standard vaults.
Ominous vaults generate in the trial chambers alongside the standard ones, but you can only open them with an ominous trial key. You get those from ominous trial spawners, which means you need Trial Omen first. That means you can go through the same trial chambers twice: once normally for standard loot, and a second time with Trial Omen for the better rewards.
Ominous vault loot
The ominous vault offers the best rewards in the whole 1.21 Tricky Trials update. This is where you find the heavy core for crafting the mace.
Loot table (ominous vault)
- Heavy core (rare): the key ingredient for crafting the mace. There is no other way to get it.
- Ominous bottle (uncommon): a bottle that gives you Bad Omen when you drink it. Useful for repeating ominous trials without hunting for raid captains.
- Enchanted diamond tools (rare): with strong enchantments like Sharpness, Efficiency and Mending.
- Enchanted diamond armor (rare): with enchantments like Protection and Thorns.
- Enchanted books (rare): Wind Burst (an enchantment for the mace), Breach and Density.
- Golden apples (moderate): regular golden apples.
- Smithing template (rare): the Flow armor trim.
- Block of emerald / block of diamond (rare): full blocks, not single items.
The ominous vault can drop books with the three new enchantments for the mace: Wind Burst (launches you upward after a hit, so you can chain combos in the air), Breach (ignores part of the target's armor) and Density (increases the damage of a smash attack).
Heavy core and the mace
The heavy core is the most valuable drop from the ominous vault. You combine it with a breeze rod (dropped by the Breeze) at a crafting table to make the mace, a new weapon with a unique smash attack mechanic.
Crafting the mace
The recipe is simple: a heavy core and a breeze rod arranged vertically on the crafting table. The hard part is getting the ingredients:
- Heavy core: from the ominous vault. The drop chance is around 8%, so on average you need 12-15 openings of ominous vaults to find one.
- Breeze rod: dropped by the Breeze. Breezes spawn from trial spawners in the trial chambers.
The mace is a weapon whose power grows with the height you fall from. The longer you fall before the hit, the more damage it deals. You will find the full guide in our article on the mace.
Strategies for farming keys
Since trial spawners have a 30-minute cooldown, collecting keys efficiently takes some planning. Here are a few approaches that work:
Rotating between structures
Find 2-3 trial chambers close to each other (use /locate or a trial chambers map from a cartographer). Clear the first one, move on to the second, and by the time you finish the third, the first one is ready for another visit. This keeps the wait for cooldowns to a minimum.
Multiplayer boost
Trial spawners give keys to every player in range. If you explore as a party of four, each trial spawner gives 4 keys instead of 1. The mobs are tougher (the trial scales up), but 4 keys per fight is far better value. It is one of the fastest ways to farm heavy cores on servers.
Inventory management
Do not bring too many items: leave room in your inventory for loot. The trial chambers give you a lot of copper and arrows, which fill up slots quickly. Shulker boxes from an end city help a lot with organization. Also bring an ender chest to place and stash valuable loot in: if you die, those rewards are safe.
Frequently asked questions
How many trial keys do I need for a whole session?
You need one key for each vault you want to open: a trial key for a standard vault and an ominous trial key for an ominous vault. You get the keys from trial spawners in the same structure.
Can I trade trial keys with other players?
Yes. A trial key and an ominous trial key are ordinary items that you can trade, drop or store in a chest. On servers you can buy keys from other players if you do not want to fight alone.
Can a vault be opened with a hopper?
No. A vault needs a player to interact with it directly while holding the key. Hoppers, dispensers and other redstone mechanisms do not work with vaults.