Swamp

A swamp biome.

Swamps are temperate, murky biomes. There are two variants in the biome family.

Description

Swamps are mostly flat biomes, with elevations low enough to go below sea level throughout much of the area. Large portions of swamps are flooded, from marsh-like patches of single blocks of grass forming in shallow water, to large lakes, with patches of clay on the lakebed. Water in swamps takes on a gray-green color at the surface, turning pale yellow when submerged in it. Unlike most biomes, swamps have varying temperatures, which affects the color of grass blocks, grass and leaves.

Vegetation includes oak trees, that can grow in shallow water and generate with vines growing on them. Sugar cane is found often growing on shores, while seagrass litters the bottom of flooded areas. Blue orchids may grow among the grass, while lily pads dot the surfaces of lakes; both are found exclusively in swamps. In Bedrock Edition, huge mushrooms can generate as well.

Swamp huts can be rarely found in swamps, housing a witch and a black cat. Only witches can spawn in and around the hut. Swamps, alongside deserts, can generate fossils, rare structures found underground around Y=50.

Slimes can spawn in swamps at low light levels, alongside common monsters, between elevations of Y=50 and Y=70 (exclusive). Their spawn rate is affected by the moon phase, spawning most often during full moon and not spawning at all during new moon.

Villagers that spawn in swamps get a unique swamp-themed look. While villagers have swamp-specific types, no village featuring these villagers can be generated. The only way for these villagers to spawn is either by being bred in swamp, curing a zombie villager that spawned in a swamp, or when a naturally-generated village spreads into a swamp.

Survival in swamps can be somewhat easy if the player finds a large-enough clearing for a shelter. Wood supply is good without being overwhelming, water is abundant, and terrain is often flat. Swamp huts can also be converted into witch farms, should the player want to easily harvest their drops. However, slimes spawning alongside hostile mobs can make nighttime survival more difficult if the player does not sufficiently light their surroundings.

Swamp biomes are usually found next to other lush biomes, such as forests, dark forests, birch forests, and plains biomes. Like aquatic biomes, swamp biomes undergo little to no change when generated in the Amplified world type.‌^{[Java Edition only]}

Variants

There are a total of two different swamp biome variants.

Swamp

Swamp

Type	Medium/Mild
Rarity	Common
Temperature	0.8 (default; varies within swamp)
Structures	Swamp Huts Fossils Huge Mushrooms‌[BE only]
Blocks	Grass Block Water Lily Pad Seagrass Clay Vines Oak Log Oak Leaves Blue Orchid Mushrooms Dead Bush

The swamp biome is the standard swamp variant. Non-flooded areas of this biome feature relatively flat terrain, similarly to plains biomes, though with significantly more trees and less tall grass. Some parts of the swamp may have marsh-like terrain, where the grass has multiple single blocks of water generating within it. At nighttime, depending on the moon phase, slimes may spawn at Y-levels 50-70 alongside other hostile mobs, making swamps the only places aboveground where slimes can be found. Swamp huts and fossils also generate in this biome.

In Java Edition:

Mob	Spawn chance	Group size
Passive category
Sheep	12⁄40	4
Pig	10⁄40	4
Chicken	10⁄40	4
Cow	8⁄40	4
Hostile category
Spider	100⁄516	4
Zombie	95⁄516	4
Zombie Villager	5⁄516	1
Skeleton	100⁄516	4
Creeper	100⁄516	4
Slime	100⁄516	4
Enderman	10⁄516	1–4
Witch	5⁄516	1
Slime	1⁄516	1
Ambient category
Bat	10⁄10	8

In Bedrock Edition:

Mob	Spawn chance	Group size
Passive category
Sheep	12⁄40	2–3
Pig	10⁄40	1–3
Chicken	10⁄40	2–4
Cow	8⁄40	2–3
Hostile category
Spider	100⁄595	1
Zombie	95⁄595	2–4
Zombie Villager	5⁄595	2–4
Skeleton	80⁄595	1–2
Creeper	100⁄595	1
Slime	100⁄595	1
Enderman	10⁄595	1–2
Witch	5⁄595	1
Slime	100⁄595	1
Ambient category
Bat	10⁄10	2

Swamp Hills

Swamp Hills

Type	Medium/Mild
Rarity	Rare
Temperature	0.8 (default; varies within swamp)
Structures	Fossils Swamp Huts‌[BE only] Huge Mushrooms‌[BE only]
Blocks	Grass Block Water Lily Pad Clay Vines Oak Log Oak Leaves Blue Orchid Mushrooms

The swamp hills variant features hillier terrain rising up between the flat marshes. These hills are generally shorter than the hills in other biomes, though can still tower over the otherwise low-elevation swamp. Additionally, flooded areas in swamp hills tend to reach lower depths than the rest of the swamp, sometimes deep enough to have a gravel floor in place of a dirt floor, like normal oceans. Swamp huts do not generate in swamp hills‌^{[Java Edition only]}, nor do slimes spawn, but fossils may still generate underground. Additionally, seagrass does not generate in flooded areas of swamp hills. If it is connected to a jungle, it has a chance of creating a modified jungle edge biome

Swamp hills use the same mob spawning chances as swamps.

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Translation key
Swamp	swamp	biome.minecraft.swamp
Swamp Hills	swamp_hills	biome.minecraft.swamp_hills

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Numeric ID
[No displayed name]	swampland	6
[No displayed name]	swampland_mutated	134

History

Java Edition Alpha
v1.2.0		preview			Added proper biomes, including swamps.
					Forests are defined by having a rainfall value of 40% or greater and a temperature value between 50% and 70%.
Java Edition Beta
1.8		September 3, 2011			Notch teased a screenshot of the new swamp biome, with oak trees with vines.
		Pre-release			Swamp biome generation has been overhauled.
					Snow no longer generates in swamps.
Java Edition
1.0.0		Beta 1.9 Prerelease			Grass, leaves, and water blocks are now tinted darker on swamps.
					Lily Pads now generate in swamps.
1.1		12w01a			Color transitions in swamp biomes have been smoothed.
1.4.2		12w40a			Added witch huts, which may generate in swamps.
					Slimes now spawn in swamp biomes.
1.7.2		13w36a			Swampland M variant added, along with many other biomes. Its grass color now varies.
		13w38b			Marsh-like areas and dead bushes no longer generate in swamp biomes.
1.8		14w26a			Marsh-like areas and dead bushes generate again in swamp biomes.
1.10		16w20a			Added fossils, which can generate in swamps.
1.13		18w15a			Changed the tint of water in the swamp biomes from blue to gray to match Bedrock Edition. However, mutated swamps still use the same tint, resulting in chlorine-colored water.
		18w16a			"Swampland M" has been renamed to "Mutated Swampland".
		18w19a			"Swampland" has been renamed to "Swamp".
					"Mutated Swampland" has been renamed to "Swamp Hills".
		pre3			Swamp hills now use the correct water color.
		pre5			The ID swampland has been changed to swamp.
					The ID mutated_swampland has been changed to swamp_hills.
1.14		18w43a			Drowned no longer spawn during the day in swamps.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.9.0		build 1			Added swamps and swamp hills, along with many other biomes.
v0.10.0		build 1			The water in swamps is now tinted dark gray.
					Huge mushrooms now generate in swamps.
v0.14.0		build 1			Added witch huts, which generate in swamps.
Pocket Edition
1.1.3		alpha 1.1.3.0			Added fossils, which can be found in swamps.
Bedrock Edition
1.4.0		beta 1.2.13.8			Added drowned, which can spawn in swamps.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			Drowned no longer spawn during the day in swamps.
Legacy Console Edition
TU5	CU1	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added swamps.
TU9					Color transitions within swamps have been smoothed.
TU19	CU7	1.12			Added witch huts, which generate only in swamps.
TU31	CU19	1.22	Patch 3		Added Swampland M variant.
					Generation of marsh-like areas in swamp biomes has been changed.
TU43	CU33	1.36	Patch 13		Added fossils, which can generate in swamps.

Gallery

Note that images with blue water were taken before Java Edition 1.13, which changed the color of water in swamps from blue to gray.

• 

  A swamp in Bedrock Edition, showing huge mushrooms.

• 

  Another swamp in Bedrock Edition.

• 

  A slime and a swamp hut in a swamp.

• 

  Another view of a swamp, with Swamp Hills in the background.

• 

  View of marsh-like terrain characteristic of swamps.

• 

  An example of the temperature variation in swamps, leading to different shades of green for the grass blocks.

• 

  Same as the previous image, edited for better visibility.

• 

  A river running through a swamp.

• 

  A swamp generated next to a frozen ocean.

• 

  An oddity at the intersection of a desert biome and a swamp biome.

• 

  Another view of a swamp.

See also

• River
• Plains
• Mountains
• Ocean
• Frozen Ocean
• Deep Ocean

References

Biomes

View at: Template:Biomes/content [edit]