Our guide to every biome currently in Minecraft
Source: Windows Central
Minecraft divides its Overworld into a variety of biomes, which are interconnected areas with different ecosystems, features, weather patterns, and resources. They spice up your exploration with a dash of diversity and showcase different NPC structures like temples and villages. Here’s every biome you can currently find in Minecraft, and what makes each on special.
Too much to explore
Minecraft
Diverse and free to explore
Besides all the awesome things you can do in Minecraft, there’s no end to the stuff you can discover and the lands you can explore. If you want to chart the seas and map the world, this game is for you.
Plains
Source: Windows Central
They also usually border forests, so almost all resources you might need are within easy reach. Plains are one of the best places to start, because it’s easy to keep your bearings and even easier to build up your awesome base.
Sunflower plains
Source: Windows Central
Other than the sunflowers, these biomes are pretty much identical to normal plains. In fact, they’re usually contained inside of much larger plains, so they’re definitely a sub-biome.
Forest
Source: Windows Central
This is a perfect biome to start with, if you remain wary at night of hostile mobs. The closed and clustered environment means it’s difficult to see, so forests are best paired with an open biome like plains.
Flower forest
Source: Windows Central
This forest is a great find, even if it’s not as rich in wood as its normal counterpart. If you’re hunting for every color of dye in the game or are cultivating a beautiful garden, this is the place to go.
Birch forest
Source: Windows Central
If you’re a massive fan of birch wood, finding one of these forests might be a big boon for you. Otherwise, most will be better served by a traditional forest.
Dark forest
Source: Windows Central
Beyond that, dark forests are the only biome that can spawn woodland mansions. These are among the rarest structures in all of Minecraft. They are truly massive houses that contain dangerous, hostile mobs and tons of loot.
Jungle
Source: Windows Central
Jungles are varied in terrain but are almost always annoying to come across. You can find cocoa pods, melons, vines, parrots, pandas, and jungle temples here, so jungles do partially make up for it with all you can find here — a biome for the more adventurous.
Bamboo jungle
This unique biome typically generates inside of larger jungle biomes. It features far fewer jungle trees and overall foliage in comparison, but has a tremendous amount of bamboo covering the ground. Regular wildlife like ocelots and parrots can spawn here.
The most significant feature of the bamboo jungle, besides the bamboo, is the increased spawning rate of Minecraft’s adorable pandas. What do pandas do? Not much, besides eating bamboo. It’s still an interesting biome. It’s also relatively rare, which is why I have yet to capture a picture of one. Stay tuned.
Jungle edge
Source: Windows Central
Anything that can spawn in jungles can technically spawn in a jungle edge biome, just in much smaller numbers. For the most part, this biome is typically clear and has a gradually sloping terrain.
Mountains
Source: Windows Central
Mountains are also the only biome that emerald ore generates in, making them a useful place to set up shop for a mine. An excellent place to start if you’re willing to put in the enormous amount of time required to make the mountains your home.
Gravelly mountains
Source: Windows Central
They otherwise share many of the same traits as the mountains, although not as good of a choice for mines. Gravel is always a danger when mining underground due to cave-ins, and the risk is considerably higher in these biomes.
Wooded mountains
Source: Windows Central
This biome makes for an interesting landscape but is difficult to scale, with little return. Out of the three primary mountain biomes, this one is possibly the most extreme.
Desert
Source: Windows Central
You can also find desert villages, temples, wells, pillager outposts, and the occasional lake to break it all up. The desert is filled with hostile mobs at night, mostly creepers and husks, but it’s easy to stay safe if you pay attention to your surroundings. Deserts are pretty flat and have little to disrupt your view.
Desert lakes
Source: Windows Central
Taiga
Source: Windows Central
Taigas can feature wolves, foxes, sweet berry bushes, villages, pillager outposts, and much more. They’re one of the best biomes to begin with and come in snowy and mountainous variations.
Giant tree taiga
Source: Windows Central
The idea is likely that the massive trees are sapping the life out of the forest by hogging all the sunlight and water. All I know is it looks awesome. Other than the differences above, giant tree taigas don’t generate villages, making them less of a good choice than the normal taiga.
Snowy taiga
Source: Windows Central
Villages and pillager outposts can also generate in a snowy taiga, so they’re not as desolate as some of the other snowy biomes. A solid place to start if you enjoy the cold, as caves and ravines can generate in snowy taigas.
Taiga mountains
Source: Windows Central
Unlike the normal taiga biome, it’s more difficult to recommend this biome for those just starting out or looking for a new place to live. Hey, at least it’s not snowy and icy, right?
Snowy taiga mountains
Source: Windows Central
While snowy taiga mountains share the same wildlife and plant-life characteristics of their more demure cousins, villagers and pillagers avoid these biomes, making them a little less appealing.
Snowy tundra
Source: Windows Central
This is one of the biomes that freeze water, and it also snows rather than rain. Villages can generate in a snowy tundra, as well as the occasional pillager stronghold. They’re hardly the most exciting biomes, and can be a challenge if you decide to start here. Starting resources are slim.
Ice spikes
Source: Windows Central
This biome is even sparser than the snowy tundra, featuring even fewer resources and wildlife, other than some rabbits or a polar bear. Ice spikes are fantastic to look at, and could make for a seriously wicked fortress, but you definitely don’t want it to be the only biome for miles around.
Swamp
Source: Windows Central
Swamps are dangerous because of their dreary overcast, the ease at which zombies can get trapped underwater and become drowned, and the fact that slime commonly spawns naturally in swamps at night. More than that, swamps are the only biome in which witch huts can generate.
Savannah
Source: Windows Central
Villages constructed of acacia wood and pillager outposts can generate in these biomes too, so they’re a solid biome to start out in due to their well-rounded roster of resources and structures until you shatter one.
Shattered savannah
Source: Windows Central
The mountains in a shattered savannah are some of the tallest and steepest in the game, sometimes even reaching the limits of the sky. This makes them basically impossible to climb up. Not that you’d want to anyway. Other traits include vast, deep lakes, waterfalls of lava and water, and a wild collection of entirely random drops, divets, and craters. Llamas still manage to live here. Don’t be a llama.
Badlands
Source: Windows Central
Does anything live here? No. Does anything spawn here? Also no, unless you count monsters at night. Is there any reason to come here? Actually, yes. Badlands have a ton of terracotta, and gold is more common here. On top of that, you’re more likely to find an abandoned mineshaft jutting out of the ground.
Eroded badlands
Source: Windows Central
Otherwise, this biome is pretty similar to the normal badlands, besides one significant difference. While the badlands often generate next to a desert, the eroded badlands never will. They’re on their own.
Wooded badlands
Source: Windows Central
Beach
Source: Windows Central
If you’re really interested, beaches can also be an excellent place to do some fishing. It’s worth keeping an eye out for them, but beaches are pretty common.
Stone shore
Source: Windows Central
As these biomes are usually tiny, they’re not really a choice for starting out. Making your way into the nearby mountains or trying your luck on the water is a more logical choice. Might find some treasure if you’re lucky, though.
Snowy beach
Source: Windows Central
It is possible to find a shipwreck from the ocean stranded on the beach, however, so it may be worth a quick peek whenever you spot one.
River
Source: Windows Central
Usually, rivers try to connect to the nearest ocean. They’re not always successful, and sometimes just loop back into the same ocean they originated from, but rivers do try their darndest.
Frozen river
Source: Windows Central
One advantage of a frozen river is the reduced threat of hostile mobs. Other than the drowned, no other monsters will bother you on a frozen river. Not exactly a great biome to make your home, though.
Hills
Source: Windows Central
Ocean
Source: Windows Central
However, a major update to Minecraft drastically altered the oceans, leading to colorful and beautiful vistas and a bunch of exciting features and structures to explore. The basic ocean biome is deep blue, with seagrass, kelp, and fish being the defining features.
Warm ocean
Source: Windows Central
These biomes are very exciting to discover and explore, but they’re not deep enough to generate the more interesting ocean structures like temples. All you’ll find here is the occasional shipwreck.
Lukewarm ocean
Source: Windows Central
If you want to explore one of these monuments for yourself, you’ll need to venture into deeper waters. You can also find drowned here.
Cold ocean
Source: Windows Central
This means you can also find ocean monuments here, as well as everything that protects them.
Frozen ocean
Source: Windows Central
At their deepest, frozen oceans can still spawn ocean monuments, but you better dress warmly to handle them.
Mushroom fields
Source: Windows Central
On that note, the mushroom fields are filled with mushrooms of all kinds, including large mushrooms. Mushrooms are the only things that grow naturally on these islands, and a special kind of cow-like mob called mooshrooms are the only kinds of mobs that naturally spawn on the islands. Great for being safe, not great for having a lot to do. Unless you really like mushrooms.
The End
Source: Windows Central
This center island has gigantic obsidian pillars, armies of endermen, a collection of gateways, the End portal, and Minecraft’s quintessential boss: the ender dragon. Coming to the End is an endeavor in and of itself, and isn’t something you’re going to come across accidentally.
End islands
Source: Windows Central
End midlands
Source: Windows Central
It’s useful to explore these biomes if you’re interested in shulkers or want to unlock the secrets of the End cities.
End highlands
Source: Windows Central
The End highlands are the outermost edge of the End, with only one other biome dividing them from the infinite void, and certain death.
End barrens
Source: Windows Central
There’s nothing beyond the barrens, and there’s nothing to do here. It’s about as interesting as the End islands.
The Nether
Source: Windows Central
As of right now, the Nether has only one biome. However, an upcoming update to this iconic nightmare zone will add a ton of new things to the Nether, as well as some additional biomes. I’ll be sure to update this guide when that happens.
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