Generated loot

Generated loot is a common way of finding naturally generated items. Generated loot occurs in naturally spawning structures, when a chest or another container is randomly generated to contain items from that structure’s loot table.

Locations

The following locations only generate chests containing loot:

• Bonus chest
• Monster room
• Stronghold
• Village
• Nether fortress
• End city
• Igloo
• Woodland mansion
• Shipwreck
• Buried treasure
• Pillager outpost
• Bastion remnant
• Ruined portal
• Ancient city

The following locations generate loot in other blocks or entities:

Structures appearing in April Fool's updates that generate loot:

Behavior

The loot in naturally-generated containers is not determined upon the container's generation. The contents generate when a player interacts with the containers by opening it, placing a hopper under it, inserting an item using a hopper, or destroying it. (Trial spawners and vaults work differently; for their mechanics, see the respective pages).

This also means that if a loot container is generated in an older version of the game but has never been interacted with, it can still generate with new loot if it's opened for the first time in a newer version; similarly, if a loot container uses a loot table that is location-dependent (such as in the case of minecart with chests in mineshafts), moving the loot container to a different location before interacting with it can generate different loot than if interacted with where it originally generated.

There are different kinds of loot tables, for example a desert temple or a stronghold. There can also be different loot tables for a certain structure, such as those in bastion remnants and shipwrecks.

Commands

In Java Edition 1.12 and below, the /setblock command can be used to place a chest. The command /setblock ~ ~ ~ minecraft:chest 2 replace {LootTable:"chests/simple_dungeon"} sets the chest to a dungeon chest. For a minecart chest, use /summon chest_minecart ~ ~ ~ {LootTable:"chests/simple_dungeon"} instead.

In Java Edition 1.13 and above, the syntax has changed to e.g. /setblock ~ ~ ~ chest{LootTable:"chests/simple_dungeon"} replace

Such artificial chest is random every time player places one, no matter the location. That is a difference between normal natural chests and artificial loot tables chests. One can set the seed of the loot table using LootTableSeed, by default it is the world seed.

In Bedrock Edition, the /loot command can be used to give loot, spawn loot or place loot in a container. The command /loot give @s loot "chests/simple_dungeon" can be used to give yourself loot in your inventory

You can use /loot replace block ~ ~ ~ slot.container 0 loot "chests/simple_dungeon" to place loot inside a container if you input the right coordinates of the container.

History

Java Edition

Legacy Console Edition