Trial Keys in Minecraft 1.21: Where to Find Them and What They Open

Trial Chambers in Minecraft 1.21 introduced a strange new item to your inventory: the Trial Key. If you cleared a Trial Spawner and walked away with one of these jingling in your hotbar, you are probably wondering what it actually does. Short answer first, full explanation below.

Where Trial Keys Come From

Trial Keys only appear inside Trial Chambers. The reliable source is a Trial Spawner: once you defeat every mob it spits at you, the spawner has roughly a 50% chance of dropping a key. On much rarer occasions, one will turn up inside a Chamber chest or hidden in a decorated pot, although you should not plan a farming session around either. Those two locations are currently the only sources of Trial Keys in the game.

What Trial Keys Actually Unlock

Tucked away inside every Trial Chamber is a second secret: the Vault block. A Trial Key is the only way to open one and claim what is inside. The interesting part for multiplayer servers is that each player on the server can pull rewards from the same Vault block once, as long as they bring their own key. One Vault, many happy players.

Vault Block Loot Pool

The final loot table has not been locked in yet, but current snapshot data points to the items below. Expect this list to shift slightly as Mojang finalizes drops.

• Enchanted Book
• Emerald
• Diamond
• Saddle
• Damaged Shield
• Iron Horse Armor, Golden Horse Armor, Diamond Horse Armor
• Enchanted Iron Axe, Pickaxe, Shovel
• Enchanted Iron Helmet, Chestplate, Leggings, Boots
• Enchanted Crossbow
• Enchanted Golden Apple
• Enchanted Diamond Axe
• Enchanted Diamond Chestplate

Quick Recap

Clear a Trial Spawner, pocket the key, locate the Vault, and cash in. Servers running 1.21 benefit the most, since every account can score loot from a single Vault block. Keep an eye on snapshot notes for updates to the drop pool, and good luck digging through those Chambers.