Ocean Ruins: Warm vs Cold, Sniffer Eggs and Drowned

JavaBedrock

You can't sail far without passing over an ocean ruin, so nobody thinks about them until they want a sniffer. Then it suddenly matters which kind you're standing on. We counted 5,290 ruins around spawn on 200 seeds and found that about a quarter of worlds don't have a single warm one nearby.

Updated 9 Nov 2026 · 5 min read · Java & Bedrock up to 26.3

Ocean ruin finder on seed 90 with ocean ruin icons scattered through the lukewarm ocean around spawn — Seed 90, Java 26.3, around spawn at 112, 144. Almost every ruin here is in lukewarm ocean, so they're the sandstone kind. The closest is at 176, 16.

Try it on the mapSeed 90 warm ocean ruinsJava 26.3 · warm ruins all around spawn, the nearest 143 blocks away

Two kinds, and only one has the egg

Ocean ruins are piles of broken walls and pillars on the sea floor. Some are one small building, some are a big one with a few smaller bits scattered around it. They come in two flavours, and the ocean decides which you get.

Which ruin you get depends on the ocean it generates in.
	Warm ruins	Cold ruins
Oceans	Warm, lukewarm, deep lukewarm	Every other ocean
Built from	Sandstone	Stone bricks
Archaeology block	Suspicious sand	Suspicious gravel
Pottery sherds	Angler, Shelter, Snort	Blade, Explorer, Mourner, Plenty
Sniffer egg	Yes	No

That last row is the whole reason people go looking. Warm ocean ruins are the only place the game puts a sniffer egg, and you get it by brushing their suspicious sand. Cold ruins have good sherds but you can brush them all day and never see an egg.

How common are warm ruins, really?

Ruins are packed in tight. We took seeds 1 to 200 on Java 26.3 and counted every ruin in a 3,000 × 3,000 block square around spawn: 5,290 ruins, a median of 26 per seed. Even the emptiest seed had one, and the busiest had 54. On a typical seed the closest ruin was 358 blocks from spawn.

Warm ones are another story. Only 1,617 of those ruins, 31%, sat in warm, lukewarm or deep lukewarm ocean. And they cluster: warm oceans are big continuous patches, so a seed either has a bunch of them or none. 53 of the 200 seeds had zero warm ruins inside that square. On the seeds that did have one, the nearest was a median 810 blocks from spawn.

So if you just started a world and want a sniffer, check the map before you build a boat. Plenty of worlds make you sail 1,000+ blocks for one.

Biome finder on seed 90 with lukewarm ocean highlighted and ocean ruin icons inside the highlighted area — Seed 90, Java 26.3, lukewarm ocean highlighted around spawn. Every ruin inside the highlight is a sandstone ruin with suspicious sand.

Seed 90: warm ruins next to spawn

Seed 90 is the one we'd start a sniffer world on. Spawn is at 112, 144, right at the edge of a lukewarm ocean, and there were 39 warm ruins in the square around it. The closest is at 176, 16, just 143 blocks away. The next two are at −176, 0 and 176, −272. That's three ruins on your first trip without going far.

Seed 90 warm ocean ruinsJava 26.3 · warm ruins all around spawn, the nearest 143 blocks away

The marker is the start of the ruin, and big ruins can have smaller pieces scattered a few chunks around it. Once you're there, look around. The map won't tell you whether a given ruin is big or small, but you'll see that the moment you dive.

Brushing underwater

You need a brush: one feather, one copper ingot and one stick. Find the suspicious sand (it looks like sand with a slightly dotted texture) and hold use on it. The item pops out after a few seconds. If you mine it with a shovel instead, it just breaks and you lose whatever was in it, so be patient.

Bring Respiration or a turtle shell. Brushing takes time, and you'll be doing a lot of it on the sea floor.
A few doors placed next to you give you air pockets to stand in.
Night vision makes the dotted sand much easier to spot in deep water.
Light the area with sea lanterns or glowstone if you'll be there a while. Drowned spawn around ruins.

Each block gives one item. Most of it is filler like coal, wheat, emeralds and gold nuggets, so don't expect an egg from the first ruin. Brush every suspicious block you can find, then move to the next ruin. That's why a seed with warm ruins close together is worth so much.

Drowned, tridents and the chests

Ruins come with drowned guards, and more drowned spawn in the dark water around them. Most are just annoying, but some spawn holding a trident, and that's the only way to get one in survival. If you want a Riptide or Channeling build, ruins are a natural place to hang around. Kill the ones holding tridents from range; they throw them hard.

Some ruins also have a chest tucked in the rubble. The big ones are the most likely to have one, with things like emeralds, gold, a treasure map or an enchanted fishing rod. It's a nice bonus, but nothing like a shipwreck, which has up to three chests and a much better chance of a treasure map.

Using the finder (and Bedrock)

Open the ocean ruin finder, enter your seed and version. Every ruin is marked. To pick out the warm ones, switch to the biome finder on the same seed and highlight warm and lukewarm oceans; any ruin inside the highlight is sandstone.

Bedrock ruins are exact too: the finder uses Bedrock's own placement, so pick Bedrock in the edition box and the markers move. On seed 90 the closest Bedrock ruins to spawn are at 120, −168 (312 blocks), 152, 488 and 424, 344, still all in lukewarm or deep lukewarm ocean.

Ocean ruin finder on Bedrock for seed 90 with ocean ruin markers in different positions than on Java — Seed 90, Bedrock 26.3. Different positions from Java; the nearest Bedrock ruin is at 120, −168, still in warm water.

Want more archaeology on land? Trail ruins are the other big source of sherds, and they're where the armor trims you can't get at sea come from.

Questions

Which ocean ruins have sniffer eggs?

Only warm ocean ruins, the sandstone ones in warm, lukewarm and deep lukewarm oceans. Brush their suspicious sand. Cold stone brick ruins never give eggs.

How far is the nearest warm ocean ruin?

On the seeds we scanned with at least one nearby, a median of 810 blocks from spawn, and 53 of 200 seeds had none within 1,500 blocks. Check your seed in the finder.

How many ocean ruins are there?

A lot. We counted 5,290 in 3,000 × 3,000 block squares around spawn on 200 seeds, a median of 26 per seed, with the nearest a median 358 blocks from spawn.

Can you brush suspicious sand underwater?

Yes. It's slow, so bring Respiration or a turtle shell, and use a brush rather than a shovel. A shovel breaks the block and you lose the item.

Are ocean ruins exact on Bedrock?

Yes. The finder uses Bedrock's placement, so switch the edition to Bedrock and the markers move to the right spots.

Written by the Minecraft Tools team from the same world-generation engine that runs the seed map. Coordinates quoted here were computed with it for the stated seed, edition and version, and the engine is tested against the real game.