How to find Tricky Trials in Minecraft

Minecraft's 1.21 update is otherwise known by its official name: Tricky Trials. But what exactly are these "Tricky Trials," and where can they be found? The update pretty blatantly references the update's new trial chamber structures, but what exactly are the trials themselves? By all indications, the trial moniker points to the combat challenges within the chambers.

Trial chambers may be the setting for Tricky Trials in Minecraft 1.21, but the trials themselves involve taking on the structures' various trial spawners and the hostile mobs they create. With that in mind, it doesn't hurt to examine how to find these combat trials in the latest content update for Mojang's landmark sandbox game.

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Finding and taking on Tricky Trials in Minecraft 1.21

Trial spawners as seen in Minecraft 1.21, the Tricky Trials update (Image via Mojang)

Finding trial spawners in Minecraft requires locating trial chambers that contain them. These structures can be found underground in the Overworld, typically between the height levels of Y=-20 and Y=0. They're not particularly uncommon, and if you're willing to do a bit of digging and mining, you're more likely to find one than not, particularly by sticking to the outlined height level range.

Once inside a trial chamber, starting a Tricky Trial should be straightforward as long as you're actively exploring the structure. Trial spawner blocks can be found throughout the various rooms and corridors of trial chambers, and they can easily be seen from a distance due to their unique appearance. Trial spawners can create different hostile mobs depending on the blocks they're resting on.

Once you've entered a 14-block range of a trial spawner, it will begin spawning hostile mobs. By default, if you're the only one near the spawner, the block will generate one mob every two seconds, initiating what amounts to a "Tricky Trial." Additional mobs will spawn as you defeat them until the block has spawned six hostile mobs total (though more can be spawned if additional players are present).

A trial key is dispensed by a trial spawner in Minecraft 1.21 (Image via Mojang)

When you've defeated all of the hostile mobs created by the trial spawner, it will dispense a collection of loot items, including trial keys on occasion. These keys can be used to unlock vaults within the trial chambers for even more loot.

However, these vaults can only be opened once per player. Additionally, there are sparse ominous vaults throughout trial chambers that you can unlock with extra effort.

Specifically, if you obtain an ominous bottle from a trial chamber's trial spawner block or loot chest (or a pillager raid captain outside of a raid setting), you can consume it to give yourself the reworked Bad Omen effect. This can trigger an ominous trial when you approach Minecraft's trial spawners, converting them into ominous trial spawners that can spawn more difficult hostile mobs.

However, if you manage to defeat these improved mobs, you can collect even better rewards from the ominous trial spawner compared to its standard counterpart. This includes ominous keys, which can be used to open ominous vaults for improved rewards compared to ordinary vaults. The added combat challenge is risky, but it might be worth pursuing if you want better items.

Players take on an ominous trial in Minecraft 1.21 (Image via Mojang)

All in all, when it comes to the Tricky Trials that give Minecraft 1.21 its namesake, these repeatable combat challenges have enriched the game in ways that haven't been seen in other structures. Hopefully, Mojang continues to develop and evolve them as the 1.21 update fades into the rearview.