Minecraft is, in essence, a very accessible game where, with time and effort, you can achieve almost anything. However, there are still some rare things and anomalies that you might never encounter, even after several hundred hours of play. And that’s exactly what we are addressing today! Because Minecraft conceals many rare items, mobs, and landscape features. Some of these you might not even know exist. We’ve already discussed funny Easter Eggs (Discover the Best Minecraft Secrets and Easter Eggs) , and now we take a look at very rare moments in the game itself.
Finding the Enchanted Golden Apple
While this shimmering golden apple is not as rare as it once was, it’s still a great item to find in your world. Since you cannot craft this apple yourself, you should definitely search for it. Your best chance is a sinister chest in a trial chamber, which has a 22.5% chance of containing such an apple. This gives you extremely good status effects, including regeneration, absorption, fire resistance, and normal resistance. It’s a lifesaver for tough boss fights.
Breeding a Blue Axolotl
Axolotls are already creatures that perhaps not every player will come across. They can only be found in lush caves and can then be brought to your base with a bucket. However, if you breed two axolotls, there is a 1 in 1200 chance that one will have a violet-yellow colouring! It will cost you some buckets of tropical fish until this happens. This rare axolotl is likely inspired by the Pokémon Mudkip, which has a similar colour.
Discovering Fossils Underground
Did you know that you can find extremely rare fossils in caves? Many players have never stumbled upon one. They only generate in the desert, swamp, or mangrove swamps and have just a 1 in 64 chance of appearing in a chunk. There are two types of fossils, one with coal between Y-level 0 and 320 and one with diamonds between -8 and -63. They come in eight variants, so finding them all seems almost impossible unless you actively search for them.
End Portal Activated with All 12 Eyes
It may seem incredible, but yes, an end portal in a stronghold can actually be already activated when you arrive. Many of Minecraft’s seed finders have taken it upon themselves to search for such worlds. Each of the twelve end portal frames has a 10% chance of having an eye already placed. Overall, there is a 1 in 1,000,000,000,000 chance that all eyes are filled. Wow, that’s rare! But it is possible.
Finding Monoliths in Alpha
Let’s take a look at a very strange structure from old Minecraft days. Monoliths originate from the InfDev and Alpha days and are terrain errors that cause it to rise to the maximum height of a Minecraft world (back then only 128 blocks). A large hollow space forms underneath, sometimes even lifting bedrock. This error is super rare; if you’re lucky, one will appear every few 10,000 blocks. With the tool Monolith Finder, you can specifically search for them in Alpha worlds.
Breeding a Brown Mooshroom Cow
You find Mooshrooms in corresponding mushroom biomes, and they are usually always red. However, on rare occasions, they can turn into brown ones. This happens when a red Mooshroom cow is struck by lightning. Interestingly, this transformation works in reverse as well! Additionally, when breeding two of these mushroom cows, there’s a 1 in 1204 chance of getting a brown mushroom cow. So such a cow is almost as rare as the blue axolotl. Once you have a brown cow, you can breed it further.
Zombie Village
You spot a new village from afar and are already excited about the villagers, but as you get closer, it starts to look strange. There are cobwebs everywhere, only zombie villagers, and the houses are dilapidated. Congratulations! You’ve stumbled upon an abandoned village, sometimes referred to as a zombie village. Each village in the world has a 2% chance of being abandoned when the world is generated.
Mining Deepslate Emerald Ore
Emeralds themselves are not easy to find, but an extremely rare variant is emerald ore, which consists of deepslate instead of regular stone. It is so rare because emeralds are only found in mountainous and snowy regions, and the rate decreases the deeper you dig. Although the ore can be found up to Y-level -16, the chances become vanishingly small. Your best chances are to search under a windswept hill between 8 and -16.
Discovering Mushroom Biome on Land
The mushroom biome is typically only found as an island. They are isolated from the normal Minecraft map and already rare to find, with only 0.15% of the total landmass. However, there are some rare seeds where this biome generates on land. Normally, these islands only appear when the map’s continentality is low, but in very, very rare cases, they also appear on land. Unfortunately, this only works up to version 1.18.
Riding a Skeleton Horse
Skeleton horses sound like a myth, but they are indeed to be found in vanilla Minecraft! You need to wait for a thunderstorm at night and hope for a “horse trap.” During this event, a lightning bolt strikes the ground, spawning a group of skeleton riders. The higher your difficulty, the more likely this event is. If you only kill the skeletons on the horses, the horses become neutral. You can even saddle them and ride! They can even walk underwater.
Conclusion
Minecraft truly hides some rare things that not every player will encounter. But if you’re looking for something different to do, use this list to search for unexpected treasures and rare formations in your world. Rent one of our Minecraft servers and embark on a quest with your friends to find some of the things on this list!
