Talk:Guardian

Should the page be split into a page for the Guardian and the Elder Guardian? At the moment it seems like a mess of information intertwined for both. –Goandgoo ᐸ Talk
Contribs
Edits 07:58, 19 June 2014 (UTC)

Yes. –Matt ᐸ Talk
Contribs ⎜ 11:01, 19 June 2014 (UTC)

I don't think it is a good idea. The Elder Guardian and the normal Guardian have too much in common. The pages are identical. — Itouchmasterpro ^{d c} 12:53, 19 June 2014 (UTC)

Could we factor out the duplicate information, and just describe how the Elder is different from the regular Guardian, and make it clear at the top that's what is going on? – Sealbudsman (Aaron) (talk) – 16:19, 19 June 2014 (UTC)

OK, stupid question here: In the "Drops" section of the guardian the raw fish is listed under both common and rare drops, and in the edit page there is this comment next to it: "The guardian has raw fish as both a common drop *and* a rare drop.". Can somebody shed some light on this? –Preceding unsigned comment was added by 92.80.146.185 (talk) at 05:33, 20 June 2014 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

The "common drops" function is called on every death, and drops 0-2 Prismarine Shards (max increased with Looting), 1 raw fish (33% chance, chance improved with looting) or 1 Prismarine Crystal (33% chance if the fish drop failed, chance improved with looting), and 1 sponge if it was an Elder and registered as a player kill. The "rare drops" function, which is only called 2.5% of the time (improved with Looting) on player kills, does basically the same thing that a fishing rod does when you're catching a fish (not junk or treasure). Anomie x (talk) 17:24, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

When I open up the texture files in paint.net, the word "jeb" is in the bottom right corner. Should that be added to trivia? PlasmicPyrotechnic (talk) 01:26, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

Same in MCD 76.141.102.14 21:16, 26 June 2024 (UTC)

It is said on this Wiki that the Guardians only spawn in the Ocean Monuments, but I know of one instance where they spawn otherwise. See Etho's SSP LP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dho3KHcerYs. He has a River biome that he's building up a Guardian Farm. The way he talks about it, it sounds as though there's certain chunks that spawn them. Any verification for this? ~ChaseNetwork –Preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.180.229.81 (talk) at 01:05, 27 July 2014 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

I watched the video, and it actually seems he is in old 1.6 terrain, and he is in the location where a ocean monument would be in 1.8. For some reason, it may not load the ocean monument based on the new structure code, or it just adds it upon starting the world, instead of adding it from generation. He even refereed to the area as a temple --KnightMiner ^(t|c) 02:02, 27 July 2014 (UTC)

Do these spawn only in water source blocks, or will they spawn in downward-pouring water as well? --72.223.80.114 01:09, 23 September 2014 (UTC)

Based on several farm designs I've seen, they will spawn in downwards flowing water. --KnightMiner ^(t|c) 01:17, 23 September 2014 (UTC)

"Specifically, spawning will fail 95% of the time if the spawning water block is below Y=63, all blocks between the spawning water block and Y=63 are liquid or fully transparent, and the block at Y=63 has a view of the sky. Above Y=63, spawning will fail 95% of the time if the spawning water block has a view of the sky." These two sentences are very confusing. The way it is worded, it states that spawning fails 95% of the time if there is a view of the sky, in either situation. The authors intent seems to be that this is not the case. Is there a way to restate this by saying what needs to happen to be successful? –Preceding unsigned comment was added by Qqtpie (talk • contribs) at 15:22, 3 January 2015 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

The quoted text is correct. If Y=63 or above, the game checks if the block itself has a view of the sky. Otherwise it checks whether the block at Y=63 can see sky and that all blocks between the spawning block and Y=63 are fully transparent or liquid. From MCP:

 public boolean getCanSpawnHere() {
 return (this.rand.nextInt(20) == 0 || !this.worldObj.canBlockSeeSky(new BlockPos(this))) && super.getCanSpawnHere();
 }

How does this make any sense? Guardians can't spawn above Y=61! This implies that not only are spawn attempts happening above Y=63 (which is impossible), but that they are successful 5% of the time! --71.114.70.87 01:17, 11 June 2021 (UTC)

Yes, "Guardians can spawn between Y=39–61" (as it's stated in the article), but notice that this only concerns Bedrock Edition. The Java Edition can implement another conditions (probably in super.getCanSpawnHere()). TwoBlocksMC (talk) 14:21, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

Spawning succeeds if a 5% chance passes or if there is not a view of the sky. The somewhat-misnamed "canBlockSeeSky" implements the stuff about above and below Y=63. Anomie x (talk) 16:41, 3 January 2015 (UTC)

The drops section is confusing to me; someone other than myself may have to tackle it. – Sealbudsman ^talk/_contr 18:55, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

A few months ago I was cruising along over the ocean in creative mode, when I came across a monument. I dove in and started exploring it. When I returned to the surface to fly back to a nearby island, I noticed a large area of dead fish floating on the surface. Curious, I dove back into the water, and saw the monument guardians firing their lasers at random fish. It was a sight to behold. Lines of bubbles shooting every couple of seconds, each one lined up on a fish.

I'm playing Bedrock. This was a while back, 1.4 or 1.5 I recall, before the aquatic update (it's now at 1.7 as I write this).

Since then, I've sought out other ocean monuments to see this phenomenon again, hoping to capture a video, but it hasn't happened.

Was this a glitch? Or has anyone else seen guardians shooting at fish (Bedrock or Java), and not just squid? ~Amatulić (talk) 06:19, 6 November 2018 (UTC)

Next time, if you are lucky enough to encounter that situation again, immediately press then you can paste it in an image editor. Lê Duy Quang (Make some words | Contributions) at 10h49:08 | 10/11/2018 (UTC)

(Guardian#Laser) What exactly does this mean technically? Does armor reduce less damage from guardian attacks than it does other forms of damage? More details and possibly the math involved with this would be helpful.--Madminecrafter12 ^{(Talk to me | View what I've done)} 15:16, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

I think it simply means that armor gives you some protection from lasers, the same way it gives you some protection from any other attack. All attacks penetrate armor "to some extent". Amatulic (talk) 04:12, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

Does a guardian fire at a target through transparent blocks like air or glass, or must the laser pass only through water blocks? The article doesn't say. I'm wondering if I conquer a monument and make a glass observation room at the top, would guardians fire through it? I do recall getting hit by something while standing on the edge of a floating dirt platform over a monument, suggesting that a guardian fired at me from underwater while I was above water, but I didn't see it happen, I just heard a 'hit' sound and saw my hearts go down a bit. Amatulic (talk) 05:11, 13 January 2021 (UTC)

Update: I built a glass observation room at the top of a monument in creative and then switched to survival. The guardians swam around and occasionally came up to the glass and looked in, but didn't seem to notice me at all. Amatulic (talk) 05:29, 13 January 2021 (UTC)

The Light section states that "guardians flock around light sources"; however this is a piece of information that I've been questioning for a while. They do appear to have a higher tendency to move towards light sources in Java, which is supported by a quick look through pathfinding code; however they don't seem to "flock around" them, and most other mobs have similar code where pathfinding preferences are affected by light (animals generally preferring higher light levels and most monsters preferring lower light). I'm not sure what the best way to describe this pathfinding behavior is, as "flocking around light sources" seems inaccurate and doesn't match what I'm seeing in-game. –Sonicwave ^talk 06:15, 22 July 2022 (UTC)

Curious where you saw the light source attraction in the code. None of the goals seem to involve light or conduits. It's mostly random stroll, looking around, and targeting players, squids and axolotls. - AD OffKilter (talk) 06:33, 22 July 2022 (UTC)

It took me a while to find it, but in the random stroll goal, the function to get a random position to move to eventually calls "getWalkTargetValue" which includes light level as a factor for guardians and certain other mobs. It looks like this value is also used to determine where the mob should move to and not just for pathfinding, though I haven't looked at these functions too in-depth yet to know exactly how they work. –Sonicwave ^talk 06:53, 22 July 2022 (UTC)

Interesting, it was right in front of me the whole time :-/ Thanks for the pointer. I just wrote a quick test and it actually seems to do the opposite: the cost goes up as it gets brighter. In pitch dark the cost seems to be 9.5 and right next to a sea lantern the cost is about 10.2. I am assuming higher costs are less desirable so if anything it would seem they favor darker places over lighter (if the cost direction assumption is correct). But in any case the range is not that vast. There might be a slight tendency to favor one of the other, but nothing that I think would result in "flocking" as to your original point in all of this. - AD OffKilter (talk) 15:20, 22 July 2022 (UTC)

I think higher values are actually more desirable; in RandomPos.generateRandomPos it appears to take 10 random positions (I haven't checked how they're generated), apply the pathfinding cost to each and keep the one with the highest value. Regardless, I'll go ahead and remove or reword the mention in the article, as it seems safe to assume that the light level preference is a subtle behavior (that may or may not be noticeable to the average player) and not an obvious "flocking". –Sonicwave ^talk 05:34, 23 July 2022 (UTC)

Ooh, I think you're right about the higher values being more desirable. This of course goes against any past cost-function pathfinding I've done before, but it also might explain why guardians tend to gravitate towards the surface of the water and/or stay near the monument. Interesting. But as you mention, probably not noteworthy. - AD OffKilter (talk) 05:50, 23 July 2022 (UTC)

I've /fill:ed out an entire monument with water and I'm only seeing guardians popping at Y=61, with the additional spawning requirement that Y=62 is water. I've even filled all of Y=60 and Y=63 with stone. --Mikk (T) 01:17, 30 April 2023 (UTC)

Hm, no, trying this on a Realm now doesn't work the same at all. (Those tests were in a local Creative mode copy.) I'll have to poke around further...

--Mikk (T) 01:50, 1 May 2023 (UTC)

• Bare temple: they really really seem to like spawning at Y=61.
• 59:Stone, 60-62:Water, 90:Stone. Spawns at Y=60.
• 59-62: Stone. 90:Stone. Spawns now happen on top of solid blocks of the temple, e.g. Y=44
• 59:Stone, 60-62:Air, 90:Stone. Spawns are now completely suppressed. One would THINK that they should be happening down below but .. nope.
• 29-62: Water. No spawns, regardless of 90 being Air or Stone.
• 29-46: Water. 47: Stone. 48-62: Water. 90:Stone. Spawns at 48.
• 29-46: Water. 47: Stone. 48-62: Water. 90:Air. No spawns? This MAY have been due to light levels? Needs further testing since it conflicts with how bare temples operate.
• 29-46: Water. 47: Stone. 48-58: Water. 59:Button&Air. 60-62:Water. 90:Stone. Spawns at 48.
• 29-46: Water. 47: Stone. 48-58: Water. 59:Glass. 60-62:Water. 90:Stone. Spawns at 48.
• 29-46: Water. 47: Stone. 48-58: Water. 59:Sea Lantern. 60-62:Water. 90:Stone. Spawns at 60.
• 29-46: Water. 47: Stone. 48-58: Water. 59-60:Sea Lantern. 61-62:Water. 90:Stone. Spawns at 61.

So, no, not only at Y=61. But in most situations Y=61.

And yeah as far as I can tell, there are no Guardians spawning inside a bare monument, at all.

-- Mikk (T) 21:06, 5 May 2023 (UTC)

• 29-57:Solid. 58:Water. 59-62:Button&Air. 90:Stone. Spawns now occur at 58. Yes folks, not even the 2-water-block rule is true for Bedrock?
• 29-57:Solid. 58:Water. 59+:Air. 90:Stone. Spawns still at 58.
• 29-60:Solid. 61:Water. 62+:Air. 90:Stone. Spawns at 61.
• 29-61:Solid. 62:Water. 63+:Air. 90:Stone. No spawns. (Had to check our assumptions at this point.)
• 29-60:Solid. 61:Water. 62:Stone. 63+:Air. 90:Stone. No spawns.
• 29-60:Solid. 61:Water. 62:Air. 63:Stone. 64+:Air. 90:Stone. No spawns.
• 29-60:Solid. 61:Water. 62:Glass. 63:Stone. 64+:Air. 90:Stone. Spawns at 61.
• 29-60:Solid. 61-74:Water. 75+:Air. 90:Stone. Spawns at 61.

-- Mikk (T) 23:34, 5 May 2023 (UTC)

Can someone please find the texture and upload it as [File:EntitySprite guardian-beam.png]? --Simanelix ^(T|C) 11:43, 23 April 2024 (UTC)

The beam's texture seems fair enough, but why make an entity sprite? The beam is not a separate entity. – ZacNVR (talk) 14:13, 23 April 2024 (UTC)

It does not look smooth. RandoGuy (talk) 09:55, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

This one? Framerate isn't choppy at all. Oakar567 (talk) 10:12, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

I was a bit vague, the edges don't look very smooth. I can see the pixels, like it was poorly cropped out of an image RandoGuy (talk) 16:01, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

Relatively low resolution (image height being lower than standardized block render) and no-antyaliasing(seems like this is the case only for gif, because regular png's have some of it in donwscaled thumbs) on the downscaled image are probably two main factors why the pixels are more noticeable. Oakar567 (talk) 16:49, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

"Specifically, spawning fails 95% of the time if the spawning water block is below sea level" -- So you're saying guardians cannot spawn under water 95% of the time? Obviously that is not true. I have a guardian farm on my server where several guardians spawn below sea level. I think the entire spawning section could be re-written better to make more sense and to be easier to comprehend. The current paragraph reads like an equation with all of the variables it mentions-- that information could be explained better. Perhaps a visual or a table with all of the variables and how they effect spawning could help. As the information is now, I think that it is too vague and needlessly complicated, which is troublesome given that many players go to pages like this for technical information like spawning. CelesteMC (talk) 02:51, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

Drop percentages make no sense for raw/cooked cod. Rare drops are those marked with [C] note. For raw cod it should be 2,5% * 60% = 1,5% (other fish seem to be ok - raw salmon 2,5% * 25% = 0,625%, pufferfish 2,5% * 13% = 0,325%, tropical fish 2,5% * 2% = 0,05%. Where does the 40,90% come from? Also raw/cooked cod with [C] note should not have quantities 0-2 up to 0-5 with Looting III, only percentage is higher 2,5% - 5,5%, not the quantities (adequate changes too should be on Fraction, Distribution, Expectation tabs).

Also for common drop raw/cooked cod with note [A] the note itself "Only dropped when not killed by a player or a tamed wolf." is not correct. How can Looting enchantment influence the drop rates, if guardians are NOT killed by player? 146.212.178.195 17:49, 3 July 2025 (UTC)

When the guardian is killed by player or wolf, cod will drop from both common and rare loot. For common loot, it is 40%. For rare loot, it is 2.5%×60%=1.5%. The "Chance" in the table refers to dropping at least one item. According to independent event probability formula, the probability of dropping at least one cod when a guardian is killed is 100%-(100%-40%)×(100%-1.5%)=40.9%. 👁 Image
Wilf233_zhMCW（论·功） 03:37, 4 July 2025 (UTC)

I was doing some testing with spawning guardians from trial spawners recently and found that when I had lots of their lasers targeted onto me I was unable to swim upwards. When only one was targeting me it seemed completely fine so I went on here to check if there was some kind of small movement restriction that stacks if you have lots of them targeting you. I see no mention of anything like this on this page, but apologies if I missed it. HardComet (talk) 12:42, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

I find the new drop table helpful, but confusing for mobs with some sort of unique drop mechanic, like the witch with her secondary drops, the zombi's rare drop or the guardian's drops. For starters, we have our primary drop, the Prismarine Shard which is always rolled, 0 - 2, +1 to max. per lvl of looting. Then, we have the secondary drop which first gets picked what to roll. 4/10 for Primarine Crystal, 4/10 for Cod and 2/10 to skip the drop. When not skipping 0 - 1 items, +1 to max. per lvl of looting. All these drops seemingly can happen without kill credit given to a player The last drop is the rare drop known from zombies, which has a 2.5 % chance of happening when kill credit is given to the player and increases by 1 % per level of looting. When the rare drop happens, a singular fish is rolled from the fishing looting table (60 % cod, 25 % salmon, 13 % pufferfish, 2 % tropical fish).

The drop table currently suggests that one can get all these drops each time a guardian is killed which isn't true. For the cod drop from the rare drop table, it's also wrong, as it suggests looting increases the number of max. drops. You think there is some way to make it a bit more clear how the drops actually work without making it super confusing? StefanBR462 (talk) 11:34, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

Retrieved from "https://minecraft.wiki/w/Talk:Guardian?oldid=3419051"