The Ancient Temple is a large ruined structure from the Deeper and Darker mod, and it generates underground in the Deeplands biome of the Otherside. It’s the only structure you’ll find in the dimension, and its chests are the place to look for a 
Sculk Transmitter, along with Sculk Bones, Echo Shards and plenty of enchanted gear.
The temple is full of Ancient Vases, some of which hide Stalkers and Sculk Leeches, and its Sculk Shriekers are able to summon a Warden just like the ones in an Ancient City. Bringing Bad Omen inside also turns it into Sculk Omen, which makes the fake vases far more common, and that’s the easiest way to farm Stalkers for their Soul Crystals.
Finding One
Ancient Temples only generate in the Deeplands, which is the gray, Sculk-covered biome of the Otherside, and they’re buried low in the ground at around Y 18 to 28. Most of the temple sits below the surface, so you’ll often spot the top of it poking out of a cave wall, or find it by digging down where the ground looks flat.
The 
Ancient Compass is made for this, as it locks onto the nearest temple the first time you carry it in the Otherside, then points the way there. It’s crafted from a 
Compass and 4 
Warden Carapace, though it was added in 1.4, so it isn’t in the 1.20.1 version of the mod, which stops at 1.3.3.
Layout
The temple is built in two levels, with a basement at the bottom and an upper floor above it, and each one is pieced together from different rooms, so no two temples look quite the same. The rooms are linked by long aisles, and the staircases between them are often choked with Cobwebs, so a Sword or Shears will speed things up.
The Basement
The basement is built around a central hall with rooms leading off it, like storerooms full of chests and blocks of Raw Iron, Gold and Copper, a throne room, and portal rooms with a 
Reinforced Deepslate frame. One of those portal rooms has a complete frame with a 6 by 3 opening, which you’re able to light with a 
Heart of the Deep to make a second way home.
Some of the staircases off the aisles have chests of their own, and one of them is set up as an enchanting room, with an 
Enchanting Table, Bookshelves and a 
Grindstone. The corner rooms are mostly empty, but every so often one of them hides a 
Block of Diamond surrounded by 
Sculk Stone Diamond Ore.
The Secret Aisle
Some temples have a secret aisle, which is closed off by a wall of 
Iron Bars with a chest sitting behind it, and that chest will always have a Sculk Transmitter inside. There’s a 
Sculk Shrieker in there with it as well, so it’s worth breaking in quietly, as it’s able to call up a Warden just like the others.
Not every temple will have one, since it’s only one of the aisle pieces the temple chooses from, so you might need to check a few. Looking through the basement for a row of Iron Bars where a normal aisle should be is the easiest way to spot it, as the rest of the aisles are open.
The Upper Floor
The upper floor is built around fountain rooms with a little water in them, with smaller rooms and corners branching off, and quite a few of those have a chest. It can be topped off by the apex, which is the biggest room in the temple, and it holds two chests with the best loot along with a pair of 
Ender Chests.
Loot
There are five kinds of chest in the temple, and each one has its own loot table, so it’s worth knowing which is which before you go looting. The table below shows where each chest is found and the best things it can hold.
| Chest | Where | Best Finds |
|---|---|---|
| Apex | The top room | Diamonds, Echo Shards, enchanted Diamond armor, Resonarium Upgrade Smithing Template |
| Basement | Staircases | Soul Dust, Sculk Bones, Echo Shards, Name Tags, a Catalysis book, Potion of Strength II, Music Disc Otherside |
| Fountain | Upper floor rooms and corners | Diamonds, Soul Dust, Sculk Sensors, a rare Soul Crystal |
| Storage | Basement storerooms | Sculk Stone, Echo Logs, Raw Iron, Raw Gold, Raw Copper |
| Secret | Behind the Iron Bars | Sculk Transmitter every time, Echo Shards, a rare Warden Upgrade Smithing Template |
On top of this, the basement chests get two more rolls for gear, which might give you an enchanted piece of Iron or Diamond equipment, or a Potion of Strength II. Most of their enchanted books are random, but one of the books they’re able to hold is always Catalysis, which spreads Sculk wherever you kill a mob.
The Secret Chest
The secret chest is the one that’s most worth finding, as it’s the only reliable way to get a Sculk Transmitter. The rest of it is mostly Cobwebs, with a good chance of Echo Shards on top.
Secret Chest
Echo Shard 
Diamond 
The chances above are for the whole chest, since each one gets 3 to 6 rolls. You might be lucky and find a 
Warden Upgrade Smithing Template here, but it’s rare, so the chests in an Ancient City are still a much better place to look for one.
Mobs and Traps
When the temple generates, it already has some Shattered and Sculk Snappers inside it, and the Deeplands around it will keep spawning more, along with Sculk Centipedes. Light levels don’t matter in the Otherside, so you won’t be able to stop them spawning by lighting up the halls.
The Sculk Sensors and Sculk Shriekers scattered through the halls work the same as they do in an Ancient City, so the shriekers will summon a Warden if they’re set off four times. That’s the only place a Warden turns up in the Otherside, as it doesn’t spawn there on its own.
Ancient Vases
Nearly every room is lined with 
Ancient Vases, which drop a bit of loot when they’re broken, but there’s a 16% chance of any one being a fake. A fake vase will release a few Sculk Leeches most of the time, or a Stalker instead, which is the only mob that drops 
Soul Crystals.
Sculk Omen
Sculk Omen is a status effect you’ll get by walking into an Ancient Temple with Bad Omen, which you can get by drinking an 
Ominous Bottle. The Bad Omen is swapped out for Sculk Omen at the same level, and it lasts for 15 minutes.
While it’s active, every Ancient Vase you break is much more likely to be a fake, and the higher the level, the bigger the boost. That makes Sculk Omen the best way to farm Stalkers, as the odds below show.
| Sculk Omen Level | Fake Vase Chance | Stalker Chance |
|---|---|---|
| None | 16% | 5% |
| I | 17% | 5% |
| II | 31% | 10% |
| III | 44% | 14% |
| IV | 56% | 18% |
| V | 68% | 21% |
It only affects vases that were part of the temple when it generated, as anything you’ve placed yourself is always safe. Sculk Omen was added in 1.4, so it isn’t in the 1.20.1 version of the mod, which stops at 1.3.3, and there’s more on it on the Sculk Affinity and Sculk Omen page.
FAQ
You’ll find them in the Deeplands biome of the Otherside, where they’re buried under the ground at around Y 18 to 28. The Ancient Compass will point you to the nearest one, and if you have cheats turned on, you’re able to use /locate structure deeperdarker:ancient_temple as well.
The secret aisle is in the basement, closed off by a wall of Iron Bars with a chest and a Sculk Shrieker behind it. Not every temple has one, as it’s only one of the aisle pieces a temple can be built with, so you might have to check another temple.
The secret chest will always hold a Sculk Transmitter, which is what makes it worth finding. On top of that there’s a good chance of Echo Shards, a small chance of Diamonds, and around a 3% chance of a Warden Upgrade Smithing Template.
Walking into an Ancient Temple while you have Bad Omen will turn it into Sculk Omen at the same level for 15 minutes. Drinking an Ominous Bottle is the easiest way to get Bad Omen, and a higher level makes fake Ancient Vases, and Stalkers, a lot more common.
