Swamps are mild, 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, very rare structures found underground around Y=50.
Slimes can spawn in swamps at low light levels, alongside common monsters, between elevations of Y=60 and Y=80. Their spawn rate is affected by the moon phase, spawning most often during full moon and not spawning at all during new moon.
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 doesn't light up 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 very 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
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 outside of slime chunks where slimes can be found. Swamp huts and fossils also generate in this biome.
Swamp Hills
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 will not generate in swamp hills[Java Edition only], nor will slimes spawn, but fossils may still generate underground. Additionally, seagrass does not generate in flooded areas of swamp hills.
Data values
| Biome | Namespaced ID |
|---|---|
| Swamp | swamp
|
| Swamp Hills | swamp_hills
|
| Biome | Namespaced ID |
|---|---|
| Swamp | swampland
|
| Swamp Hills | swampland_mutated
|
History
| alpha | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| v1.2.0 | preview | Added true biomes, including swamps. | |||
| Forests were defined by having a rainfall value of 40% or greater and a temperature value between 50% and 70%. | |||||
| beta | |||||
| 1.8 | ? | Overhauled swamp biome generation. Snow no longer generates.[verify] | |||
| Java Edition | |||||
| 1.0.0 | September 3, 2011 | Notch teased a screenshot of the new swamp biome. | |||
| 1.1 | ? | Smoothed color transitions in swamp biomes. | |||
| 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. | |||
| 13w38b | Marsh-like areas no longer generate in swamp biomes. | ||||
| 1.8 | 14w26a | Marsh-like areas generate again in swamp biomes. | |||
| 1.10 | 16w20a | Added fossils, which can generate in swamps. | |||
| 1.13 | 18w16a | Renamed Swampland M to Mutated Swampland. | |||
| 18w19a | Renamed Swampland to Swamp. | ||||
| Renamed Mutated Swampland to Swamp Hills. | |||||
| pre5 | Changed the ID swampland to swamp. | ||||
Changed the ID mutated_swampland to swamp_hills. | |||||
| 1.14 | 18w43a | Drowned no longer spawn during the day in swamps. | |||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| 0.9.0 | build 1 | Added swamps and swamp hills, along with many other biomes. | |||
| 0.10.0 | build 1 | The water in swamps is tinted dark gray. | |||
| Huge mushrooms now generate in swamps. | |||||
| 0.14.0 | 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 | Added swamps. | |
| TU9 | Smoothed color transitions within swamps. | ||||
| TU19 | CU7 | 1.12 | Added witch huts, which only generate in swamps. | ||
| TU31 | CU19 | 1.22 | Patch 3 | Added Swampland M variant. | |
| Changed generation of marsh-like areas in swamp biomes. | |||||
| 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.
A slime and a swamp hut in a swamp.
An example of the temperature variation in swamps, leading to different shades of green for the grass blocks.







