A badlands biome.
The badlands, formerly and commonly referred to as the mesa biome, are arid-land biomes, featuring mounds of terracotta bands, coming in various colors. There are three different variants of the badlands biome.
Description[]
Badlands biomes feature large mounds of terracotta bands, in layers of various colors; specifically, red, orange, yellow, white, light gray, brown, and regular terracotta may all naturally generate. At high altitudes, the topmost layer of stained terracotta is often weathered into regular terracotta, most often on plateau tops. At low altitudes, the terrain surface is weathered into a layer of red sand (or red sandstone if floating), with orange terracotta under it extending to Y=63. The underwater surface is covered with a layer of orange terracotta, and in shallow water, sometimes interspersed with some white terracotta; in deep water, sometimes interspersed with some gravel.
Badlands biomes can usually be found bordering deserts, and they usually do not border oceans, but they can also generate by the ocean in areas with mountain peaks. Normal badlands and eroded badlands often appear on the two banks of a river.
Cactus and dead bushes generate frequently across the landscape, similarly to deserts, but dead bushes are more common than in deserts, and cactus are rarer. Sugar canes may generate along water.
Mineshafts generate at much higher elevations in these biomes, often exposed to fresh air. Their supporting planks and fences are made of dark oak rather than oak. Additionally, extra gold ore generates up to elevation Y=255 (rather than the normal Y=32), and at much higher rates than the rest of the world, making badlands tunnels excellent sources of gold.
While all badlands biomes are rich in unique building materials and gold ore, there are no passive mobs. Furthermore, trees and grass are uncommon because they appear only atop wooded badlands. So, food cultivation can be difficult.
Badlands biomes never rain, meaning lightning strikes are impossible. The exceptions are the rivers that cut through the badlands, where it can still rain and cast lightning.
Terracotta band generation[]
The colors of specific terracotta layers in these biomes are almost the same throughout all badlands biomes for any particular world. Each world seed generates 192 layers of terracotta for each Y-coordinate to pick from[1]. At each horizontal coordinate, each layer may shift up and down by at most ±7 blocks based on a noise.
Variants[]
There are three badlands biome variants (badlands, wooded badlands and eroded badlands), with three removed variants (badlands plateau, modified badlands plateau, and modified wooded badlands plateau) in previous versions.
Badlands[]
The badlands is the ordinary badlands biome.
The following mobs are naturally spawned here：
| Mob | Spawn weight | Group size |
|---|---|---|
| Underground water creature category | ||
| Glow Squid | 1 | 4–6 |
| Ambient category | ||
| Bat | 1 | 8 |
| Monster category | ||
| Creeper | 100⁄515 | 4 |
| Skeleton | 100⁄515 | 4 |
| Slime[note 1] | 100⁄515 | 4 |
| Spider | 100⁄515 | 4 |
| Zombie | 95⁄515 | 4 |
| Enderman | 10⁄515 | 1–4 |
| Witch | 5⁄515 | 1 |
| Zombie Villager | 5⁄515 | 1 |
- ↑ Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.
| Mob | Spawn weight | Group size |
|---|---|---|
| Monster category | ||
| Creeper | 100⁄495 | 1 |
| Slime[note 1] | 100⁄495 | 1 |
| Spider | 100⁄495 | 1 |
| Zombie | 95⁄495 | 2–4 |
| Skeleton | 80⁄495 | 1–2 |
| Enderman | 10⁄495 | 1–2 |
| Witch | 5⁄495 | 1 |
| Zombie Villager | 5⁄495 | 2–4 |
| Creature category | ||
| Glow Squid | 1 | 2–4 |
- ↑ Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.
Wooded Badlands[]
The wooded badlands generates groves of trees at high altitudes, and therefore is the forest variant of the badlands. The uppermost layers of terrain is grass block and coarse dirt, with oak trees and grass growing on them. Here, the grass and oak leaves take on a dull greenish-brown color darker than that of the savanna biome, giving it a droughted appearance; additionally, all naturally generated trees are small variants. This variant is a rare source of wood in the otherwise barren badlands. The forest begins generating above elevations of roughly Y=103. This variant generates at higher humidity values compared to the default badlands, which means that it can often be found bordering jungles, or having lush caves underground.
Wooded badlands use the same mob spawning chances as badlands.
Eroded Badlands[]
The eroded badlands features unique formations of terracotta hoodoos, narrow spires that rise up from the red sand floor of the biome's drainage basins. This biome is intended to resemble the famous Bryce Canyon in Utah, USA, which features hoodoos across its landscape.
In Java Edition, eroded badlands use the same mob spawning chances as badlands. In Bedrock Edition, passive mobs can spawn here.
| Mob | Spawn weight | Group size |
|---|---|---|
| Monster category | ||
| Creeper | 100⁄495 | 1 |
| Slime[note 1] | 100⁄495 | 1 |
| Spider | 100⁄495 | 1 |
| Zombie | 95⁄495 | 2–4 |
| Skeleton | 80⁄495 | 1–2 |
| Enderman | 10⁄495 | 1–2 |
| Witch | 5⁄495 | 1 |
| Zombie Villager | 5⁄495 | 2–4 |
| Creature category | ||
| Sheep | 12⁄50 | 2–3 |
| Chicken | 10⁄50 | 2–4 |
| Glow Squid | 10⁄50 | 2–4 |
| Pig | 10⁄50 | 1–3 |
| Cow | 8⁄50 | 2–3 |
| Ambient category | ||
| Bat | 1 | 2 |
- ↑ Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.
Sounds[]
Music[]
These music tracks play while the player is in the Badlands.
Data values[]
ID[]
| Name | Identifier | Translation key |
|---|---|---|
| Badlands | badlands | biome.minecraft.badlands |
| Wooded Badlands | wooded_badlands | biome.minecraft.wooded_badlands |
| Eroded Badlands | eroded_badlands | biome.minecraft.eroded_badlands |
| Name | Identifier | Numeric ID |
|---|---|---|
| [No displayed name] | mesa | 37 |
| [No displayed name] | mesa_plateau_stone | 38 |
| [No displayed name] | mesa_bryce | 165 |
History[]
| Java Edition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2, 2013 | Jens tweeted the first image of the mesa biome. He jokingly referred to them as "disco mountains". | ||||
| 1.7.2 | 13w36a | Mesa biome added, along with its variants, many other biomes, and the temperature system. | |||
| Each 48-bit world seed generated 64 layers of terracotta that repeated every 64 blocks on the Y-axis, for use in generating terracotta layers in mesa biomes. | |||||
| 13w37a | Slightly changed mesa biome generation to appear more layered. | ||||
| 13w39a | Red sand now generates in mesa biomes and their variants. | ||||
| 1.8 | 14w32a | Red sandstone now generates below red sand in mesa biomes and their variants. | |||
| 1.10 | 16w20a | Mineshafts can now generate on the surface in mesa biomes, using dark oak planks and fences rather than oak. | |||
| In mesa biomes, hardened clay no longer generates more than 15 blocks deep, if the mesa is more than 15 blocks above sea level. | |||||
| The normal 2 blobs of gold ore below Y=32 in mesas now attempt to generate 20 blobs at elevations between 32 and 79. | |||||
| Mesas can now generate dark oak mineshafts above ground. | |||||
| 1.13 | 18w16a | Renamed Mesa Plateau F to Mesa Forest Plateau. | |||
| Renamed Mesa Plateau F M to Mutated Mesa Forest Plateau. | |||||
| Renamed Mesa Plateau M to Mutated Mesa Plateau. | |||||
| 18w19a | Renamed Mesa to Badlands. | ||||
| Renamed Mesa Forest Plateau to Wooded Badlands Plateau. | |||||
| Renamed Mesa Plateau to Badlands Plateau. | |||||
| Renamed Mesa (bryce) to Eroded Badlands. | |||||
| Renamed Mutated Mesa Forest Plateau to Modified Wooded Badlands Plateau. | |||||
| Renamed Mutated Mesa Plateau to Modified Badlands Plateau. | |||||
| pre5 | Changed the ID mesa to badlands. | ||||
Changed the ID mesa_rock to wooded_badlands_plateau. | |||||
Changed the ID mesa_clear_rock to badlands_plateau. | |||||
Changed the ID mutated_mesa to eroded_badlands. | |||||
Changed the ID mutated_mesa_rock to modified_wooded_badlands_plateau. | |||||
Changed the ID mutated_mesa_clear_rock to modified_badlands_plateau. | |||||
| 1.18 | Experimental Snapshot 1 | Badlands plateaus, modified badlands plateaus, modified wooded badlands plateaus, and eroded badlands no longer generate. | |||
| World seeds now generate 192 layers of terracotta per world seed, instead of 64 layers of terracotta, for use in generating terracotta in badlands biomes. | |||||
| experimental snapshot 2 | Eroded badlands generate once again. | ||||
| experimental snapshot 3 | Badlands sometimes show up in flat areas next to plateaus. | ||||
| Increased the maximum Y-level for red sand to generate. | |||||
| Eroded badlands no longer create floating pillars on top of a water surface. | |||||
| experimental snapshot 4 | Badlands biomes are now larger and less likely to show up as "microbiomes." | ||||
| Increased the minimum Y-level for grass and coarse dirt to generate in wooded badlands plateaus. | |||||
| experimental snapshot 5 | Badlands biomes are slightly smaller on average. | ||||
| Badlands can now generate on sharp peaks. | |||||
| Water lakes no longer generate in badlands. | |||||
| 21w40a | "Wooded Badlands Plateau" has been renamed to "Wooded Badlands". | ||||
The ID wooded_badlands_plateau has been changed to wooded_badlands. | |||||
| The badlands plateau, modified badlands plateau, and modified wooded badlands plateau biomes have been removed. | |||||
| 21w42a | The extra gold ore in badlands biomes now generates up to Y=255. | ||||
| 1.18.2 | 22w03a | Tweaked generation of eroded badlands to generate more cohesively with the rest of the surrounding badlands. | |||
| 22w05a | Temporarily reverted changes in the previous snapshot. | ||||
| 1.19 | 22w13a | Eroded badlands now require weirdness to be positive to generate, rather than negative. Other requirements such as temperature/humidity are unchanged. | |||
| 1.20 | 23w17a | "A Familiar Room", "Crescent Dunes", and "Echo in the Wind" can now be played in all type of badlands biomes. | |||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| v0.9.0 | build 1 | Mesa biomes added, along with many other biomes. | |||
| The hoodoos in mesa bryce biomes do not generate correctly, consisting of only a few layers of stone near sea level. | |||||
| v0.9.5 | Hoodoos now generate correctly in mesa bryce biomes. | ||||
| v0.10.0 | build 1 | Mesa biomes now have gold ore at every elevation. | |||
| Mesas can now generate mineshafts on the surface. | |||||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.11.0 | beta 1.11.0.1 | Mesa plateau biomes now generate more like those in the Java Edition. | |||
| Caves & Cliffs (experimental) | ? | Hoodoos no longer generate in eroded badlands, making them undistinguishable from regular badlands. | |||
| beta 1.17.30.23 | Badlands plateaus, modified badlands plateaus, modified wooded badlands plateaus, and eroded badlands no longer generate. | ||||
| beta 1.17.40.20 | Eroded badlands generate once again. | ||||
| 1.18.0 | beta 1.18.0.21 | Hoodoos once again generate in eroded badlands. | |||
| beta 1.18.0.22 | The extra gold ore in badlands biomes now generates up Y=255. | ||||
| beta 1.18.0.25 | The amount of hoodoos generated in eroded badlands was decreased to match Java Edition. | ||||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU31 | CU19 | 1.22 | Patch 3 | 1.0.1 | Added mesa biomes, along with many other biomes. |
| TU43 | CU33 | 1.36 | Patch 13 | Mineshafts can now generate on the surface in mesa biomes, using dark oak planks and fences rather than oak. | |
| New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
| 0.1.0 | Added mesa biomes. | ||||
Trivia[]
- Regular oak mineshafts do not generate in the badlands biomes, but they can generate into one if a neighboring biome generates the mineshaft.
- Although dark oak mineshafts generate in badlands, dark oaks do not grow in this biome.
Gallery[]
The first image of the mesa, tweeted by Jens.
Ground-view of a badlands biome.
Badlands with a lake.
A rare occurrence of eroded badlands and ice spikes touching.
A badlands and jungle biome generated together, with an exposed mineshaft.
A village that generated almost entirely within the badlands and eroded badlands biomes.
A badlands cave.
Beach in a badlands biome.
A view of the badlands biome.
Eroded badlands near world border.
An eroded badlands in "Nothingness" part of the Far Lands.
Jungle and badlands biome generated next to each other.
Ruined portal generated in wooded badlands.
Eroded badlands generation prior to Pocket Edition v0.9.5 alpha.
A ruined portal in a badlands biome.
Red sand flats below a terracotta cliff.
A badlands mineshaft exposed on the surface.
A badlands plateau.
A wooded badlands.
Eroded badlands near a beach.
An extremely tiny badlands biome.
A river cave entrance in a badlands biome.
Hoodoos on the coast.
Sunset atop a mesa.
Badlands in development.
A river valley in a badlands biome.
An extremely thin hoodoo.
Eroded badlands across a river.
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ layers[(noiseValue + Y + 192) % 192]
External Links[]
- Around the Block: Badlands – Minecraft.net on July 8, 2021
- Around the Block: Eroded Badlands – Minecraft.net on November 14, 2022
- Around the Block: Wooded Badlands – Minecraft.net on August 11, 2023