How to enter the Sift
In Minecraft Dungeons II, step into a rift: the glowing tears that open across the Overworld early in the story. Beating the Twisted Warden opens a second way in: the Deep Dark portal in the Ancient City. In vanilla Java and Bedrock there is no way in yet; the Sift arrives there next year.
For an edition-by-edition answer, see is the Sift coming to Java and Bedrock?
Door one: walk into a rift
Rifts open across the Overworld in the opening stages of the game. On Steam, 84.0% of players have the achievement for entering the Sift and 41.0% have the one for beating the Twisted Warden, the guardian of the other door.
- 1
Play the opening of the story
Rifts start appearing across the Overworld in the game's opening stages. - 2
Step through the tear
Walk into the glowing opening and it carries you to the Sift. - 3
Arrive in the Meadows
The first region is the Meadows: red sculk underfoot, teal grass, blue trees. - 4
Come back for more
Rifts return as fights full of enemies and loot chests. They pay out enchantment books and echo shards, which upgrade your gear and the merchants back home.
“The first biome you arrive in in the rift is the meadows.”
Door two: the Deep Dark portal
Deep under the Howling Woods sits an Ancient City with a huge stone gateway, the Deep Dark portal (the wiki also calls it the Ancient Portal). The Twisted Warden, a colossal warden boss, guards it.
- Reach the Deep Dark through its surface cave entrance in the Howling Woods.
- Defeat the Twisted Warden. Watch for its sonic boom and the soul flames it raises from the floor.
- Talk to the echo golems, then play the note blocks in front of the portal.
- Step through. You come out in the Meadows (Singer's Meadow), where the Sift tides tutorial pops up on your first visit.
Fall in battle anywhere in the Sift and you resurrect at Brave Haven, then use the minecart stations and teleport statues to get back in quickly.
| Rift | Deep Dark portal | |
|---|---|---|
| When | From the opening stages | After the Twisted Warden |
| Where | Anywhere across the Overworld | Ancient City, under the Howling Woods |
| Lands you in | The Meadows (the wiki calls it Singer's Meadow) | |
| Kind of door | A tear that shows up as an encounter | A stone gateway in the Ancient City |
| Worth it for | Loot chests, enchantment books, echo shards | The rest of the Sift: Lullaby Hills, the Carapace |
In vanilla Java, Bedrock or Pocket Edition
You cannot enter the Sift yet. It is not in any snapshot, preview or release build, and Mojang has not shown what the vanilla entrance will look like.
“Mojang isn't talking too much about how to access the Sift, or how it will stand out from Dungeons II's expression of it”
The YouTube videos titled “how to enter the Sift in Minecraft” are real gameplay, but of a fan mod. The Java one is Mielon's The Sift; Bedrock has an add-on called The Sift Dimension. Neither is made by Mojang, and anything sold as a “Minecraft PE Sift update” download is not a real version. See Sift mods and fake downloads before you install anything.
Next: what is waiting inside, region by region, in regions, tides and ichor, and who is out to get you in every Sift mob.