Because of their ability to clear water, Sponges in Minecraft can carve out large areas beneath any water source to create breathable spaces. With this, they allow you to craft majestic underwater bases and regions tucked beneath the water’s surface.
However, they’re not too easy to obtain and you may find yourself roaming for hours on end only to find yourself with only a few Sponge after hours of grinding or worse, none at all. Fret not, we’re here to guide you on how you can get them.
What Are the Ways You Can Get Sponge in Minecraft?
There are two ways in which you can get Sponge in Minecraft: by defeating an Elder Guardian so you can loot the Sponge it drops, and by raiding an Ocean Monument, one of the biggest updates added to the game by far, in hopes of finding a Sponge Room or two to loot.
Given how tough it is to defeat an Elder Guardian in Minecraft, you might think sneaking past them and just raiding Ocean Monuments to loot Sponge Rooms is a lot easier. However, in addition to the mining fatigue they give you, there is only one out of three chances that you can find a Sponge Room. Whichever fate you face, here’s how to get Sponge in Minecraft.
How to Find an Ocean Monument
To find an Ocean Monument, you can simply boat around an ocean to manually search for them underneath as they can be pretty common.
You can also trade 12-13 emeralds and a compass for an Ocean Explorer map with a cartographer villager. You can use F3 to further help you pinpoint the direction of where you’re supposed to head towards based on the map. For this, you need to put your map in your offhand to get a better view while exploring. The map starts to fill in with color as you move about which helps you better locate an Ocean Monument.
How to Mine Sponges
Each Sponge Room contains an average of 30 wet sponges. If you get lucky enough to find at least one Sponge Room in an Ocean Monument without having an Elder Guardian get in your way, you can mine sponges by hand which may take you longer.
It’s better to use a gardening hoe tool which you can graft by placing two sticks and two of any of these materials on the crafting table: wood, stone, iron, gold, or diamonds.
How to Defeat an Elder Guardian
The Elder Guardian guards the Ocean Monument and instantly gives players severe mining fatigue. This is easily one of the hardest mobs to beat, but it is possible when you come prepared.
To guarantee success, you need to bring some, if not all of the following:
- Potion of Water Breathing
- Potion of Night Vision
- Potion of Regeneration
- A good quality armor with Respiration III
- 3 blocks of Redstone to make water-breathing potions last eight minutes
- A Riptide Trident or a Loyalty Impaling Trident, or a good quality sword in general
- Building blocks that are unnatural to the monument such as Dirt
- A TNT for every Elder Guardian
- Milk Bucket to take away the effects of mining fatigue
The Elder Guardian renews the effect of the mining fatigue easily, so time is of the essence when defeating them. Quickly circle around one of the pillars in the monument to evade their beams when they start attacking you.
To find an Elder Guardian and be able to kill it, place a TNT on the center and surround it with dirt, all the while circling around as you do so to avoid its attacks. Once blown up, this gives you an entrance to the monument where the Elder Guardian is.
How to Defeat All Elder Guardians in an Ocean Monument
The soonest you go underneath and find the Elder Guardian, take your Potion of Water Breathing. You can also use your Potion of Night Vision or Regeneration as needed.
With your weapon of choice, attack the Elder Guardian and defend yourself by hiding behind pillars. Its large spikes may sometimes hit you when you attack as well, but using a good quality sword and armor quickens this process and makes the chances of losing much slimmer.
You wouldn’t want to waste all your preparations, and considering the big chance that you may not come across a Sponge Room at all, you might as well kill the two other Elder Guardians to get the most out of your exploration for sponges.
Remember to use your ability to build to your advantage by building pillars of dirt around you or the Elder Guardian to defend yourself from its damaging beams. By doing this and using a good quality armor and sword, defeating all three Elder Guardians in an Ocean Monument is highly possible.
How Much Sponge Does an Elder Guardian Drop?
Once all of the Elder Guardians are dead and you have also used a Milk Bucket to take away the effect of the mining fatigue, you can now freely roam and loot to your heart’s content.
Smaller guardians may cause harm and drop fish and prismarine shards around you, so don’t forget to take your water-breathing potions from time to time when exploring.
Although an Elder Guardian only drops one Sponge (it can be wet or dry,) when defeated, it can be your last option, especially when coming across an Ocean Monument that doesn’t have a single Sponge Room.
It is also important to note that when in Survival Mode, it is hard to risk trying to find a Sponge Room without expecting an Elder Guardian to be spawned after the discovery of one, so it’s better to come prepared.
How Does a Sponge in Minecraft Absorb Water?
A Sponge instantly absorbs water nearest to it upon contact. They instantly turn wet after absorption and are not able to absorb more afterward. Sponges absorb both flowing water and its source blocks for up to seven blocks away in all six directions around it. They do not absorb any more than 135 blocks of water.
How to Reuse a Sponge in Minecraft
You can dry a wet Sponge by combining it with any fuel to form a smelting recipe in the furnace. Once dried out, it can again absorb 135 blocks of water, making it good as new. You can also put a Bucket in the fuel slot instead, and the water will drain into the bucket. Otherwise, it evaporates in the process.
A wet Sponge placed in the Nether also makes it dry out instantly with a puff of steam, turning it into a normal sponge once more. With this, finding only a few sponges in one Ocean Monument isn’t too bad at all.
