The savanna is a common warm biome. It typically generates bordering a desert or plains biome, and has four variations total.
Description
Savannas are mostly flat biomes, with vast amounts of tall grass all over the terrain. Acacia and small oak trees are the two types of trees that grow here; this is the only place where acacia trees naturally generate.
Villages that generate in savannas are made mainly of terracotta, acacia logs, and planks; the bright-orange acacia planks make savanna villages easy to spot from a distance. Lakes generate infrequently.
Horses and llamas spawn in savannas, making it the only biome where both horses and llamas can spawn together. As the savanna has an arid climate, it never rains here, and thus lightning can never naturally strike; however, overcast skies (and daytime hostile mobs spawning in the case of thunderstorms) still apply. Grass and leaves in the savanna take on a dull, olive-green color, giving an illusion of warmness.
Survival in the normal savanna, along with its plateau variant, is generally easier than other biomes. The acacia and oak trees provide a decent source of wood, tamed horses can allow for fast travel and outrunning hostile mobs, tamed llamas can serve as useful pack animals, and villages can serve as a refuge and a way to trade items. However, the vast amounts of tall grass can prove to be a nuisance when building a shelter; additionally, it may serve as an obstacle when fighting hostile mobs, as the player might end up hitting the grass rather than the mob. Survival in the shattered savanna variant, however, is very dangerous for even experienced players, due to the utter extremes of the generated mountains.
Savanna biomes generate commonly next to plains and desert biomes, and rarely next to badlands biomes, due to the latter's rarity.
Variants
The savanna has four different variant biomes.
Savanna
This is the standard and most common savanna variant. It is a flat, low-elevation plain with scattered trees. Villages may generate here.
Savanna Plateau
The Savanna Plateau is similar to the hills variants of other biomes, being a gradual rise in terrain, though flattens on the top about 20-30 blocks above sea level. The top of the plateau is similar to the regular savanna, featuring acacia trees and tall grass, though villages do not generate here. Horses and llamas both still spawn on the plateaus.
Shattered Savanna
The rare Shattered Savanna variant features arguably the most chaotic terrain in the game, a contrast from the otherwise flat savanna. The terrain is covered with some coarse dirt patches and stone patches. It is full of extremely steep mountains, enormous overhangs, floating islands, and huge waterfalls and lavafalls, with higher and rougher terrain than even the mountains biome. In Java Edition in many cases, the mountains can go past Y-level 200 and even reach the world height limit, even without the Amplified terrain option. Horses cannot spawn and villages and pillager outposts cannot generate in this biome, though llamas and other passive mobs remain prevalent on the cliffs, and trees can still grow. Enormous deep lakes often form on the bases of the mountains. The steep generated mountains make this variant almost entirely unsuitable for shelter, and even just exploring quite hazardous, due to the sharp cliffs often risking fatal fall damage if not above water. Additionally, the giant overhangs often reduce skylight on the terrain below them, not only enough to spawn hostile mobs in daylight, but to produce complete darkness similarly to caves, further adding to the difficulty of this biome.
Shattered Savanna Plateau
Like the normal Shattered Savanna, the Shattered Savanna Plateau variant features very steep mountains, cliffs, and overhangs, making it a treacherous place to explore. Though nearly indistinguishable from the regular shattered savanna at first glance, the shattered plateau's terrain is slightly gentler, though still often risks fatal fall damage if not above water. The giant lakes characteristic of the regular shattered savanna do not generate here either.
Data values
| Biome | Namespaced ID |
|---|---|
| Savanna | savanna
|
| Shattered Savanna | shattered_savanna
|
| Shattered Savanna Plateau | shattered_savanna_plateau
|
| Biome | Namespaced ID |
|---|---|
| Savanna | savanna
|
| Shattered Savanna | savanna_mutated
|
| Shattered Savanna Plateau | savanna_plateau_mutated
|
History
| alpha | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| v1.2.0 | preview | Added true biomes, including savannas. | |||
| Savannas were defined by having a rainfall value of 20% or lower and a temperature value between 50% and 95%. | |||||
| Beta | |||||
| 1.8 | Pre-release | The savanna biome has now been removed. | |||
| Java Edition | |||||
| 1.7.2 | 13w36a | Savanna biomes have now been re-added with variant biomes, along with many other biomes. | |||
| 13w43a | Savannas will now generate with new logs and leaves. | ||||
| 1.13 | 18w16a | Renamed Savanna M to Mutated Savanna. | |||
| Renamed Savanna Plateau M to Mutated Savanna Plateau. | |||||
| 18w19a | Renamed Mutated Savanna to Shattered Savanna. | ||||
| Renamed Mutated Savanna Plateau to Shattered Savanna Plateau. | |||||
| pre5 | Changed the ID savanna_rock to savanna_plateau. | ||||
Changed the ID mutated_savanna to shattered_savanna. | |||||
Changed the ID mutated_savanna_rock to shattered_savanna_plateau. | |||||
| 1.14 | 18w47a | Added pillager outposts, which can spawn in savanna biomes. | |||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| 0.9.0 | build 1 | Added savannas, along with many other biomes. | |||
| Added villages, which can now generate in savanna biomes. | |||||
| 0.15.0 | build 1 | Villages that generate in savanna biomes will now use acacia wood in their structures instead of oak. | |||
| Added horses, which can now spawn in savanna biomes. | |||||
| Pocket Edition | |||||
| 1.1.0 | alpha 1.1.0.0 | Added llamas, which can now spawn in savanna biomes. | |||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | Added pillager outposts, which can spawn in savanna biomes. | |||
| 1.11.0 | beta 1.11.0.1 | Added illager patrol which can spawn in savanna. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU5 | CU1 | 1.00 | Patch 1 | Savannas, along with some other biomes, have now been removed from the base game. | |
| TU31 | CU19 | 1.22 | Patch 3 | Savannas and their variants have now been re-added. | |
| PlayStation 4 Edition | |||||
| 1.91 | Added pillager outposts, which can spawn in savanna biomes. | ||||
Gallery
A pre-Village & Pillage savanna village that partially generated on a plateau, leading to some unique building generation.
A shattered savanna biome, noted by the coarse dirt and exposed stone, that failed to properly generate due to a river. The mountains in the background are part of a flower forest.




