Elder Guardian mob in Minecraft
The Elder Guardian is the big, pale boss of the Ocean Monument. There are three per monument, they never respawn, and as long as one is alive it keeps cursing you with Mining Fatigue. Killing all three is the real goal of a monument raid: it frees the building for mining and gives wet sponges and the Tide armor trim.
- Health
- 8040 hearts
- Behavior
- Hostile
- Main drop
Prismarine Shard- Found in
- Ocean Monument
Elder Guardian stats
- Health
- 80 40 hearts
- Behavior
- Hostile
- Main drop
- Prismarine Shard
- Spawns in
- —
- Size
- 1.998 × 1.998 blocks
- XP when killed
- 10
- Speed
- 0.3
- Detection range
- 16 blocks
// Experience drops only when a player kills it. Speeds are the game’s internal values, not blocks per second.
How much damage Elder Guardian deals
Damage to a player without armor, by world difficulty. 1 ♥ = 2 damage points.
What else changes with difficulty
- Laser deals 2 more damage on Hard
// Armor, Protection and Resistance reduce these values. Base values read from the game code (26.3).
Where to find Elder Guardian
Doesn’t spawn naturally in a biome: it comes from a structure, a spawner, a block or an event.
Structures
Elder Guardian drops
Raw Salmonunder conditions
Pufferfishunder conditions
Tropical Fishunder conditions
Elder Guardian and its family
Mobs built on the same base in the game code, compared on their game values.
| Mob | Health | Attack | XP | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Elder Guardian | 80 | 8 | 10 | 0.3 |
 Guardian | 30 | 6 | 10 | 0.5 |
Traits
Properties set in the game files.
Effects
Advancements with Elder Guardian
Advancements whose criteria involve this mob, from the game files.
Command
/summon minecraft:elder_guardian ~ ~ ~Where to find the three Elder Guardians
Every Ocean Monument holds exactly three Elder Guardians: one in the room at the top of the central dome and one in each of the two side wings. They spawn with the monument and never come back once killed, unlike regular Guardians, which keep spawning in the water around them.
The Mining Fatigue curse
When you come close to the monument, a ghostly Elder Guardian flashes on your screen with an eerie sound. That is the curse: it gives you Mining Fatigue, strong enough to make breaking any block painfully slow. It is renewed regularly as long as you stay in range. A Milk Bucket clears it, but only until the next curse, so milk is a short break, not a solution. The only real fix is to kill all three Elder Guardians.
How to fight an Elder Guardian
- Same weapons as the Guardian, more damage. Its laser charges the same way and its spikes hurt you in melee, only harder. Break the line of sight to cancel a beam.
- Bring a Trident. Impaling deals extra damage to it like to every aquatic mob.
- Bring an axolotl in a bucket. Axolotls always attack Elder Guardians, and when you finish off a mob an axolotl was fighting, you get Regeneration and your Mining Fatigue is removed.
- Clear the path first: the regular Guardians on the way are the main danger, since the curse keeps you from digging shortcuts.
What you get
Each Elder Guardian killed by a player always drops a Wet Sponge. Any Elder Guardian, whoever kills it, also has a one in five chance to drop the Tide Armor Trim template. Dry the sponge in a furnace to get a Sponge, which soaks up water around it: the monument's own sponge rooms hold more, handy for draining it. Once the three are dead, you can break into the treasure room in the heart of the monument and mine its blocks of gold at normal speed.
✓ Checked in Java Edition 26.3 · updated 1 November 2026
Elder Guardian — FAQ
How do you get rid of Mining Fatigue in an Ocean Monument?
Kill the three Elder Guardians. Milk removes the effect for a while, but the curse comes back as long as one of them is alive.
Do Elder Guardians respawn?
No. Each monument generates with three Elder Guardians, and once they are dead they are gone for good.
How do you get the Tide Armor Trim?
Kill Elder Guardians: each one has a one in five chance to drop the template, and there are three per monument.
Where does the Elder Guardian spawn?
It doesn’t spawn naturally in biomes. You find it in Ocean Monument.
What does an Elder Guardian drop?
Prismarine Shard, Wet Sponge, Raw Cod, Prismarine Crystals, Raw Salmon, Tide Armor Trim, Pufferfish and Tropical Fish. Only when killed by a player: Wet Sponge.
Blaze
Bogged
Creaking
Creeper
Endermite
Evoker
Frostbite
Ghast
Husk