How difficult is trial chamber compared to other structures in Minecraft?

The different naturally generated structures scattered across a normal Minecraft survival world are as useful as they can be dangerous to find and explore. They are often filled with incredible loot for players, useful in the early game for skipping progression, and helpful in the late game for providing rare or otherwise impossible-to-find resources.

Minecraft's upcoming 1.21 update will add trial chambers and repeatable mega-dungeons to provide players with the deadliest combat experience in the game thus far. But did Mojang succeed?

They did, with the trial chamber being the Overworld's deadliest structure by far, with more detailed comparisons below.

---

Minecraft's trial chamber vs other dangerous overworld structures

Woodland Mansions

Woodland mansions used to be the most dangerous structure in the game (Image via Mojang)

Woodland mansions, one of Minecraft's rarest structures, have been the most dangerous structure to players since its introduction. They are large, imposing buildings with ample room for hostile mobs to spawn in the darkness. The addition of illagers, such as evokers and vindicators, kept these structures deadly even into the late game.

Trial chambers are even deadlier than these mansions due to the dangerous mobs found within. While vindicators might deal more damage than the mobs within trial chambers, the sheer number that can pop out of the different spawners, as well as the multiple sources of poison, make trial chambers more dangerous.

---

Strongholds

Hunting for the portal room in strongholds can be deadly (Image via Mojang)

Strongholds are one of the most important structures in the game, being a required pitstop on the way to Minecraft's final boss fight against the ender dragon. They are also very scary to explore due to the sheer number of mobs found within them, combined with the fact that any wrong move could result in a swarm of hostile silverfish appearing.

However, since silverfish are one of Minecraft's weakest mobs, even this danger is lesser than the hordes that can seemingly crop up out of nowhere within trial chambers due to the number of spawners found within. Fighting off a dozen silverfish is much less stressful than fighting off a handful of skeletons, bogged, the new breeze, husks, and cave spiders, after all.

---

Abandoned Mineshafts

Abandoned mineshafts tend to be dangerous due to their labyrinthine nature (Image via Mojang)

Minecraft's iconic abandoned mineshafts are as classic as they are dangerous. They were first added back in the game's beta, making them one of the oldest structures available to players. The inclusion of cave spider spawners in combination with cobwebs is what makes them so dangerous, even to armored players.

These cave spiders can also be found in trial chambers, alongside Minecraft's new bogged skeleton variant, which also inflicts players with poison, but at a range. The cobwebs have been replaced by extra spawners and dangerous pitfalls. This has contributed to trial chambers becoming more dangerous than these cave-carving tunnels.

---

Ancient Cities

Ancient cities may not be the deadliest, but they should still be handled with caution (Image via Mojang)

Ancient cities were one of the Caves and Cliffs pair of updates, adding abandoned cityscapes to the foreboding and mysterious deep-dark biomes found underground. These cities are so dangerous due to the ever-present threat of Minecraft's deadly Warden being summoned because of the player's noise.

However, since these structures tend to be very open and a careful player can avoid the biggest threat from them entirely, they are generally a less dangerous place to visit than trial chambers. Ancient cities can even be looted without having to fight a single mob, which cannot be said for trial chambers.

---

Ocean Monuments

Assuming the water itself is no threat, ocean monuments aren't awful to conquer (Image via Mojang)

The mobs found within ocean monuments, Minecraft's farmable guardians, are not really where the threat of the structure comes from. The laser attacks these enemies use are easy to avoid by constantly moving around corners to break lines of sight.

No, the true danger from ocean monuments comes from the near-constant threat of drowning. Safely tackling an ocean monument requires a hefty investment of water-breathing potions or, if the player is on Java Edition, carefully using a door to create temporary air pockets.

However, since much of the threat of the monument can be removed with items and the mobs are not super dangerous on average, they do end up being a generally easier-to-tame structure.