Minecraft Biomes: Everything You Need to Know (April 2022)

There’s a lot that goes into identifying a biome other than its name. As you read through this guide, you will learn how to identify and make the most of each biome, divided into the overworld, underwater, Nether, End Dimension, Cave & Cliffs update, and the upcoming 1.19 The Wild biomes. This knowledge will come in handy to find some mobs and even a few rare blocks. Furthermore, knowing about biomes will help you get the materials you need for survival in disastrous situations. So let’s take it one step at a time and first understand what makes an area a Biome.

What is a Biome in Minecraft?

A biome in Minecraft is a unique geographical region that players can usually identify visually. Each biome has its unique features. You can witness different block colors, flora, temperatures, mobs, heights, and even different villages. In each world, the biome generation is random, with some biomes having lesser probability than the others.
Making things a little more complex, Minecraft also offers modified and hilly variants of some Biomes. These variants are a combination of different biomes and lead to some astonishing sceneries. If you are a Minecraft veteran, you already know that we have different dimensions within a single world. It means that we can find more biomes in the Nether and the End dimensions (more on this below).

How to Identify What Minecraft Biome You Are in?

The tough method to identify a Minecraft biome is by guessing using its features. Unless you have played the game long enough, it will be hard for you to identify some of the lesser-known biomes. Even though our guide to Minecraft Biomes can get you pretty close to visual identification, Minecraft’s in-game feature saves you from working so hard. On PC, you can press the “F3” button to open the debug screen in Minecraft Java Edition. It shows an overlay with a lot of information about the game and your system. Towards the lower-left section of the content, you will discover the biome information. Minecraft displays it as “Biome: Name of your current Biome.” Here’s what it looks like in-game:
Note: The debug screen is only accessible in Minecraft Java Edition using the F3 shortcut. For all other versions of Minecraft, you will need to rely on this third-party add-on to open the debug screen and view biome information. This method can be especially useful when you can’t identify the biome directly. If you are in a house, underground, or above the clouds, it will show the biome at the ground level. With that clear, let’s see the types of Biomes available in the game.

Categories of Minecraft Biomes

To make it easier for you to understand each biome, we have divided them into a few categories. These categories will help you make more sense as we go over individual biomes in detail. Based on the dimensions, the biomes can be categorized into:

Overworld Biomes: These are the biomes you can spawn into. They do not need a special portal to be accessed and are all based in the general world of Minecraft.Aquatic Biomes: Home to fishes and many unique mobs, these are large open biomes located under oceans. Here, you can discover a lot of exclusive content if you go in with the right equipment.Nether Biomes: These are dangerous hell-like biomes that you can access by a Nether portal. It’s home to the game’s most deadly mobs and also the best loots.End Biomes: Entering the most mysterious dimension of this game leads you to literal darkness. If you follow storylines in video games, this is where you meet Minecraft’s final boss: the Ender Dragon. Cave Biomes: An extension to the overworld biome type, Caves are the biomes that expand your underground world with increased risks, constant deadly mobs, and unique terrain.

Now, with the categories and basic details out of the way, let’s learn about each Minecraft biome in this extensive guide.

The Complete List of Biomes in Minecraft Right Now!

Our differentiation will be a little different than the official Minecraft Fandom wiki. That should make the biomes easier to discover the biomes and understand. You can also use the official community list to find in-game names and IDs of the biomes.

1. Snow Biomes

We will begin our guide to Minecraft biomes with the ones that are easiest to identify. Snow biomes are hard to miss. Here, irrespective of the height, there is snow almost everywhere you see. All the rivers and lakes will be either frozen or purple in color. You can expect snow instead of rain while exploring such biomes.
Officially, you can notice several types of snow-based biomes like snowy tundra, ice spikes, snowy beaches, and frozen rivers. Wolves, polar bears, foxes, and rabbits are common in these biomes. You can also expect to find igloos, ice spikes, packed ice, and snow villages while exploring these snowy terrains.

2. Mountains

Just like the real world, there’s a wide variety of mountains in Minecraft. Gravel, wooden, grass, and many more types of Mountains biomes can be found throughout the game. In general, mountains are elevated pieces of land with waterfalls, cliffs, peaks, and overhangs surrounding them. And since it’s Minecraft, you will also notice a floating island now and then.
You must be careful in mountains because the fall damage from such heights can be deadly. It is the only place where you can easily find emerald ore and silverfish naturally. As you go higher on mountains, you can expect temperatures to drop and snowfall. The number of trees also drops with elevated heights.

3. Taiga

Quite popular among Minecraft players, Taiga is a very rare biome in this guide. Consider yourself lucky if you ever directly spawn into a Taiga area. You will notice rich flora with tall dark trees giving a rainforest vibe to the game. This biome is home to spruce trees of all sizes. Even though we mostly see them as plains, the Taiga mountains can be witnessed every once in a while.
You can expect to find berry bushes, flowers, ferns, mushrooms, foxes, and even wolves across the map. There’s also the possibility of discovering mossy cobblestone boulders and spruce-based villages in Taiga biomes.

4. Plains

While starting with Minecraft, you will discover a lot of plains. This is usually the biome where you spawn for the first time. You will mostly see grass everywhere you look in this biome. Fortunately, there are always enough trees to make a crafting table and a boat. Moreover, you can discover villages, lakes, lavafalls, and waterfalls in this biome.
As variants, you can discover sunflower, grass, and even empty plains in-game. Naturally, this is the only biome where you can find horses or sunflowers. Other common items that you can discover in this biome include bees, oak trees, donkeys, and flowers. If you want to build large structures and bases in Minecraft, plains are a great biome to plan them out.

5. Forest

As you might have guessed, this biome is home to a lot of trees. Usually common and small, forests in Minecraft are a wonderful source of resources. You not only get wood but can also find animals, mushrooms and a lot of flowers. If you stumble upon a forest early in the game, the bulk amount of wood will get you all the tools you need. The forests in Minecraft can be further classified into:

Flower Forest: Low on trees, these forests have a variety of flowers. If you want to collect in-game dye, they are a jackpost for you. You might discover a few rabbits in them too.Oak Forest: It is the most common type of forest and is rich in oak trees. These will most probably be the place where you find your first wood block.Birch Forest: Here, instead of oaks, you get a lot of Birch trees. As an uncommon varient of the same, you can also discover forests with really tall birch trees. Additionally, no wolves spawn in brich forest.

There are more not so common types of forests too. We will discuss them separately below in our guide to Minecraft biomes.

6. Dark Forests

Sometimes on a plain field and sometimes on hills, these forests are a great hiding spot. They are composed of dark oaks whose leaves don’t let light enter through them easily. Due to that, these are a hotspot for mobs even during the day. The dark forests formed as hills have more light sources, thus, making them less prone to mobs. However, due to elevated height, they become extremely dangerous due to fall damage.
Additionally, the legendary Woodland mansions can only be found in these forests. If you aren’t aware, they are home to powerful mobs and the best in-game chests. With proper weapons and smart attacks, you can get a handful of resources from them.

7. Swamp

Home to the witches, Swamp biomes have several exclusive resources to offer, including sugar canes and mushrooms. Swamps feature shallow pools of seemingly dirty water with lily pads in them. Trees growing out from the same water are usually covered with vines. At night, you can expect slimes and even drowned zombies in swamps. If you aren’t careful, you might die at the hands of the witches. They spawn inside swamp huts with a black cat alongside them. You can find slimes, seagrass, and clay in this Minecraft biome. Even the villagers that spawn here have a distinct themed look. However, no full-fledge villages are present in Swamp.

8. Jungle

You can consider this as the upgraded version of the forest biomes. Jungles offer tall trees and a lush green environment. You will notice vines on tree trunks and even on the surface of caves that generate in this biome. Generally, on a jungle tree, there are more leaves than trunks creating a bush-like structure. They have numerous interesting spawns, including pandas, parrots, melons, ocelots, and even pyramids.
On the same path, we have its variant – the modified jungle. These are more hilly with the surface being hard to find. They also have dangerous cliff-like drops that might appear out of nowhere. Then, you also have trees that can reach above the clouds, making them even more special. Even though they might not have as many mobs as dark forests (due to steep edges), they are equally dangerous at night.

9. Bamboo Jungle

Unlike other biomes, these aren’t exactly independent of the Jungle biomes. They still have enough individual features that set them apart from the rest. Bamboo forests have tall jungle trees in them alongside vast thick layers of bamboo trees. The huge number of bamboo trees makes them the natural spawn point for pandas. In the Java edition of Minecraft, you can’t find a panda outside the bamboo jungle biome.
In comparison, these are easier to navigate through than the regular jungles. You can expect to see features similar to a Jungle biome with less steep falls, and for some reason, a lot more water.

10. Beaches & Rivers

No guide for Minecraft biomes can be complete without the biome connectors. Both rivers and beaches are biomes that generate at the edge of the ocean and another biome. Unless it’s a rare game-world, all Minecraft rivers are connected to or moving towards an ocean. They work to connect oceans to far away biomes and also to separate two different biomes.
On a similar tangent, beaches are found on the edge of a biome meeting an ocean. These areas have no trees on the beach, and you can see iconic sand blocks all around. The only mob you can usually see on beaches are the turtles. In some worlds, you can see variants of beaches that we can call shores. These are also created on the edge of a biome meeting an ocean. What sets them apart is that they have blocks other than sand blocks, like stone, at the ocean’s edge.

11. Mushroom Fields

This is a very rare biome and also safe heaven of Minecraft bases. Mostly there are hills and a lot of Mushroom fields next to the ocean. It is rare to find this biome near any biome other than an ocean. The huge full-scale mushrooms spawn naturally only in this biome. You can also find a lot of Mooshrooms here, which are a variant of the cows with mushrooms over their body. Other than mushrooms, the Mycelium surface blocks all around are iconic enough to identify this biome just by looking.
Then to top it off, no other mobs can spawn in this biome. That applies to the underground area of this biome as well. Whether it’s night or day, you can freely stay and explore this area without worrying about any threats. Not to forget, you can still discover shipwrecks and buried treasures on the shore.

12. Desert

Just like the real world, the desert in Minecraft is home to sand dunes, cacti, bushes, and high temperatures. At times, you can also discover fossils under the desert sand. No trees spawn in this biome, but you can see diversity in the mobs. Rabbits are common during the day whereas you can expect husks as the hostile mob during the night. Next, there are also desert villages which can be a little hard to see with consistent scenery. If there’s water around this biome, you can also spot sugarcanes at the edge. If it’s a variant: the Desert Lake, villages, and desert pyramids might not generate here.

13. Savanna

This biome is similar to the desert in vibes but is filled with brownish grass and acacia trees. You can even see villages covered in acacia and terracotta blocks. The naturally spawning mobs consist of horses and llamas in this biome.
The variant version of this biome is called Scattered Savanna. In it, you can notice giant steep mountains and waterfalls. Most of these are almost impossible to climb and will lead to huge damage if you are not careful. Then, they also compete with the mountains biome by generating cloud-touching cliffs.

14. Badlands

Badlands is another rare biome in our guide to Minecraft biomes, and you can call it a reddish version of the desert biome. Red sand replaces the sand blocks along with blocks of terracotta and stained terracotta. You can find cacti and dead bushes in the biome. In terms of benefits, gold ores are commonly found here. It is difficult to find a badland biome but looking around deserts is a good way to start.
If you ever stumble upon it, here are some interesting variants to explore:

Eroded Badlands: Here, you will see spikes of terracotta coming on the badland floors. It is also covered in red sand but doesn’t generate near a desert.Wooded Badlands Plateau: The difference between a general badland and this variant isn’t much. They might look exactly the same at first glance, but this biome variant has oak trees and grass growing in it. Modified Wooded Badlands Plateau: This biome generates next to the eroded badlands. They are generally small but have trees and grass growing inside it. The area and block height of this biome are random.

15. Warm Ocean

The next segment of our guide to Minecraft biomes will focus on the underwater locations. These biomes are a little difficult to explore because of the lack of oxygen underwater. They will all be extensions of the ocean biome that we learned about earlier. Making a boat in Minecraft might be the best way to explore them. Plus, since you can’t clearly see what’s in the ocean bed from the top, we have added a comparison image to give you a better view of these biomes and easily identify them.
With a light greenish color at the top, this part of the ocean has a floor of sand blocks. You will notice seagrass growing over it. You can expect the same spawns as a general ocean in this biome too. What makes it stand out is the presence of coral reefs and sea pickles. It’s also worth noting that kelp can’t spawn in this area.

16. Lukewarm Ocean

This variant of the ocean biome has light blue water towards the top, and its floor is a combination of sand, dirt, and clay. Seagrass and kelp usually spawn in this Minecraft biome. What sets them apart is that coral can’t spawn in this biome.
As a variant, you can also find deep lukewarm oceans in the game. The only difference they have is in their depth. These deeper oceans can have mountains forming in them, along with ocean monuments and hostile guardian mobs. It is risky to explore the deeper ends of a lukewarm ocean without proper resources. But doing so sometimes can lead you to valuable loot.

17. Cold Ocean

This dark blue variant of the ocean biome has floors made up of gravel and irregular sand blocks. As the name implies, the ocean’s temperature will be lower than the regular game temperature. They also have a deep cold ocean variant. Like other deep variants, you can find ocean monuments with elder guardians, prismarine, and sponges in them. Do keep in mind that due to darker water, your visibility will be compromised too. Keep multiple light sources with you while exploring this biome.

18. Frozen Ocean

Dropping the temperature even further, we have frozen oceans. Expect a scene out of Antarctica while discovering these biomes. You will see an ocean covered with a layer of ice. To make it realistic, its surface gets consistently broken into pieces. In terms of mobs, polar bears, rabbits, and strays spawn here frequently. If you choose to dig deeper and go under the surface, you will find a biome similar to the cold ocean. You can expect similar resources under the frozen ocean as the cold ocean.
Its deep-frozen variant offers a surface made out of gravel. And as you may expect, ocean monuments and floating icebergs will constantly greet you in this biome. Now and then, you can expect a polar bear in the water too. But don’t take them lightly as they can swim almost as fast as you and do lethal damage when angered.

19. Crimson Forest

Our guide to Minecraft biomes is entering dangerous territory with the Nether biomes. Almost every mob that you meet here will have the ability to kill you. That is if you can survive the environment first. Water cannot be spawned or used in any of the biomes listed below, and lava is there on every turn. You can reach these biomes by creating a Nether Portal inside the game.
Starting with an interesting entry, a scary-looking forest with Piglins and Hoglins roaming around. Even Zombified Piglins might spawn here. You can trade with Piglins, and they don’t harm you as long as you have gold on you. Meanwhile, the Hoglins will require some extra security. Without proper precautions, these hostile mobs can easily overpower you and take you down.
Coming to the biome itself, as you can see in the image, its name comes from its color. This reddish biome had crimson fungus growing all around. There are even blocks with weeping vines or shroomlight on them. If you look up, you will notice glowstone, nether wart, and vines. As for the floor, it is covered with netherrack, nether wart, and crimson nylium blocks.

20. Soul Sand Valley

The good thing about this biome is that isn’t as dark as many other Nether biomes. But it’s way more dangerous. As the name suggests, the biome is made of soul sand, basalt, and soul soil. Ghasts and skeletons are constantly spawning, and both of them can mortally harm you from a distance. You can even find a lot of blocks of bone lying around for you to mine.
The soul sand reduces your walking speed. So, do carry a shield because you might not be able to run away from the mobs. An interesting concept that you will notice is a blue fire at certain places. Soul fire does more damage than regular fire, and you can create it by lighting a fire on soul sand or soul soil. You can do it using flint & steel in the overworld too.

21. Nether Wastes

If you have ever been to the Nether, chances are you already know this Minecraft biome. This is the biome that was the whole of Nether in earlier versions of the game. You usually will witness it as soon as you enter Nether. Mobs such as Endermen, magma cubes, Piglins, ghasts, zombified Piglins, and sometimes even skeletons spawn here.
The interesting part here is that you can find Nether fortresses in it. They are home to great loots if you can survive the dangerous mobs that spawn inside them. Nether quartz ore and glowstone groups can also spawn near nether fortresses.

22. Basalt Deltas

This biome looks lifeless and is comparatively safer than the other biomes. The floor is made up of basalt, netherarrack, and blackstones. You will see random structures generated throughout the biome making up a scenic view. The main mob you will find here is the Magma cubes, and on rare occasions, ghasts. Try not to fall into small lava pools while trying to avoid them.

23. Warped Forest

Safer than even the basalt deltas, this greenish-blue biome is similar to a crimson forest. There are fungus structures all around the biome. You will see warped nylium on the floor as well as on the ceiling. Blocks of netherrack and warped warts also appear at certain times.
The only mobs that spawn here are Striders and Endermen. Both of them are non-hostile until you look into an Enderman’s eyes or attack it. If there’s a Nether fortress nearby, you can use this biome as a safe base that you can come back to after looting and exploration.

24. The End

Let’s assume you have spent a few days inside the game and have ample resources ready. Now will be the time to take on the Enderdragon in the End Dimension biome. You can enter it by using an Ender portal filled with 12 Eyes of Ender. The world beyond the portal is what we will discuss in this segment of our Minecraft biomes guide.
What you spawn in as soon as you enter the Ender portal is the biome called The End. It is a small circular biome. In the middle is an exit portal platform that opens once you kill the Ender Dragon. Obsidian pillars, Endermen, end gateways, the dragon’s power source, and end crystals are what you can expect to see in this daunting biome.

25. Small End Islands

Once you have defeated the Ender Dragon, you can explore the outer islands of the End biome. Here, you will notice small end islands loosely covering spaces between the larger ones. They are usually circular in shape.

26. End Midlands

These are the biomes you should be on the lookout for. Chorus flowers or End cities generate on these islands. But not at the same time. The cities are home to shulkers and can hold some of the rarest loot in the game. The cities are tower-like structures that have a treasure room which you should look for.

27. End Highlands

Similar to midlands, this biome has end cities too. But taking it a step further, you can also notice chorus trees here. You can use them to get chorus fruit and chorus flowers. You can use that flower to create a new tree by planting it on an end stone.

28. End Barrens

This biome is located at the edge of each island. Falling from them will mean inevitable death. You should stay away from the End Barrens as nothing useful spawns here other than the occasional Endermen.

29. Lush Caves

Lush Caves is an overworld biome that extends the regular caves by including trees and plants in them. Azalea trees generate in this biome along with rooted dirt, vines, glow berries, grass, moss carpets, azalea, and hanging roots. You can even notice dry and shallow lakes underground in these caves. If you want to find Axolotls in Minecraft, you have to come here only.

30. Dripstone Caves

Overwhelming at first look, we get caves with dripstones and pointed dripstones. They grow out of the ground or spawn hanging from the roof. Now, you might also notice a few tiny water blocks on the cave floor with dripstones around. Here, the ores and mobs generate naturally like any normal cave. But due to open areas, they are much easier to find, making dripstones feel like the most resourceful biome in our Minecraft biomes guide.

31. Deep Dark

Home to the Warden in Minecraft, these caves are the scariest part of the underground biomes. There is almost no light source to tell us of the presence of mobs, steep falls, and sculk sensors. But if the sculk sensors sense you, the Warden will spawn, and it can detect you in no time, even though it’s blind. Other than that, you can find Ancient Cities in this biome where you can get the best loot in the game, even at an early stage. Well, as long as you know how to defeat the Warden in Minecraft.

32. Meadow

Meadow is one of the calmest biomes in Minecraft. It is a mountainside grassland with staircase-like hills that are filled with flowers. At times, you can also find oak trees generating in this biome. And when they do, they usually have a bee nest on them, thus, completing the whole scenery. Moreover, this biome also has an exclusive meadow village. But unfortunately, that’s a replica of the plains village with no differences at all.

33. Mountain Peaks

With the Minecraft 1.18 update‘s terrain generation, the mountains have received a variety of tops. Each of these peaks makes up a new Minecraft biome in the guide:

Frozen Peaks: It is completely made up of either snow or ice. You hard to find any vegetation in this biome, but spruce trees find a way to grow here. As for the mobs, only goats and hostile mobs spawn here.Stony Peaks: This biome is mostly made up of stone, but you can also find different types of exposed ores here. Only hostile mobs spawn in this location, and that too only during the night.Jagged Peaks: Similar to snowy peaks, jagged peaks also have ice and snow, with goats being the only daytime mob. The only difference here is that jagged peaks are much closer to the ground, and you can find them in warmer areas as compared to the other variants.

34. Grove

The Grove is a snow-based Minecraft biome made up of spruce trees covered in snow, hills, frozen lakes, and more. The biome looks quite beautiful, but that should not distract you. Groves have a lot of areas made up of powder snow. If you step on powder snow, it can sink you in and kill you within a few seconds.

35. Snowy Slopes

The snowy slopes are a variant of mountains that are covered in mostly snow, but unlike the peaks, they can generate structures. You can find pillager outposts and igloos in this biome. As for the mobs, goats and rabbits generally spawn here. At times, you can also find polar bears in the area.

36. Mangrove Swamp

The next entry in our guide to Minecraft biomes is a variant of the swamp biome, but it has exclusive mangrove trees. These trees and their roots make mangrove swamps one of the densest biomes in Minecraft. Other than the trees, this biome also has exclusive mud blocks that you can use for a variety of reasons. You can find out more about the mangrove swamps in Minecraft through our linked guide.

A Detailed Guide to Minecraft Biomes

From the nether to our friendly overworld, we have covered every biome that Minecraft has to offer. There are numerous biomes that the developers have removed, but you can try some of them as mods in Minecraft. If you want to make most of this guide to Minecraft biomes and explore the game’s world, you should start using Optifine to improve your performance. It will help you to level up your experience in the nether biomes by a lot. Even if the game didn’t have so many biomes, the players have been diversifying the game with creations like a model of planet earth in Minecraft. Now, don’t wait around because there’s a lot to explore. Start mining right away!