Badlands

For the biome in Minecraft Legends, see Legends:Badlands.

Badlands

Structures	Badlands Mineshaft
Blocks	Red Sand Red Sandstone‌[JE only] Terracotta Cactus Cactus Flower Short Dry Grass Tall Dry Grass Dead Bush Gold Ore Stained Terracotta: Orange Terracotta Red Terracotta Yellow Terracotta White Terracotta Brown Terracotta Light Gray Terracotta
Climate
Temperature	2.0
Downfall	0.0
Precipitation	No
Colors
Grass color	#90814D
Foliage color	#9E814D‌[JE only]  #AEA42A‌[BE only]
Dry foliage color	#9E814D‌[JE only]  #A38046‌[BE only]
Water color	#3F76E4‌[JE only]  #4E7F81‌[BE only]
Water fog color	#050533‌[JE only]  #4E7F81‌[BE only]
Vibrant Visuals
Atmospherics	Mesa
Lighting	Warmish
Volumetric fog	Default
Color grading	Mesa

The badlands or mesa are an arid-land mountainous biome, featuring red sand and mounds of terracotta bands, coming in various colors. Badlands generate in arid lands next to deserts and their eroded and wooded variants.

Generation

Badlands biomes generate at the highest temperature and lower erosion, meaning they border deserts near oceans with stony shores at lower altitudes. Badlands biomes often border their wooded and eroded variants. Near lower temperature zones, they border savannas, forests, and plains.

Badlands generate from mid-altitude plateaus and valleys up to the highest mountain peaks where they can elevate up to Y=256 and border stony peaks. Rivers are often in deep fjords.

Because badlands often generate in mountainous terrain, the deep dark is often found underground. Dripstone caves are also common inland.

Description

On the higher grounds, 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. The topmost layer of stained terracotta is often weathered into regular terracotta.

At low altitudes, the terrain surface is weathered into one layer of red sand (rarely red sandstone if floating),‌^{[JE only]} with orange terracotta under it extending to Y=63. In Java Edition, the underwater surface is covered with a layer of orange terracotta, and in shallow water, sometimes interspersed with some white terracotta, while in Bedrock Edition, it is composed entirely of stone. Deeper water bodies generate gravel like in any other biome.

Cacti and dead bushes generate frequently across the landscape, similarly to deserts, but dead bushes are more common than in deserts, and cacti are rarer, as they may only generate on the red sand valleys. Sugar canes may generate along water. Cacti have a chance of generating a cactus flower on top.

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. However, if an underground biome generates under badlands for example a Dripstone cave, then there wouldn't be extra gold ores in the area of the cave biome.

As badlands are arid-land biomes, rainfall never occurs here, but dry thunderstorms still allow hostile mobs to spawn.

Armadillos spawn in badlands, as well as warm animal variants, but the latter can only spawn on player-created grass blocks.

With Vibrant Visuals, badlands have unique atmospherics, the sky is tinted turquoise-green at daytime and much brighter during the night, while the daytime horizon is tinted brown. Moonlight is more vibrant blue, and the warm color grading tints the environment more yellow, although color saturation is slightly lower.

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 noise.

Mobs

The following mobs naturally spawn here:

In Java Edition

Mob	Spawn weight	Group size
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
Creature category
Sheep	12⁄46	4
Warm Pig	10⁄46	4
Warm Chicken	10⁄46	4
Warm Cow	8⁄46	4
Armadillo	6⁄46	1–2
Underground water creature category
Glow Squid	1	4–6
Ambient category
Bat	1	8

{ "hasNotes": true, "notes": { "Slime": "Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks." }, "1": { "totalWeight": 515, "mobs": [ { "size": "4", "mob": "Creeper", "weight": 100 }, { "size": "4", "mob": "Skeleton", "weight": 100 }, { "note": "Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.", "mob": "Slime", "weight": 100, "notename": "Slime", "size": "4" }, { "size": "4", "mob": "Spider", "weight": 100 }, { "size": "4", "mob": "Zombie", "weight": 95 }, { "size": "1-4", "mob": "Enderman", "weight": 10 }, { "size": "1", "mob": "Witch", "weight": 5 }, { "size": "1", "mob": "Zombie Villager", "weight": 5 } ], "category": "monster" }, "2": { "totalWeight": 46, "mobs": [ { "size": "4", "mob": "Sheep", "weight": 12 }, { "size": "4", "mob": "Warm Pig", "weight": 10 }, { "size": "4", "mob": "Warm Chicken", "weight": 10 }, { "size": "4", "mob": "Warm Cow", "weight": 8 }, { "size": "1-2", "mob": "Armadillo", "weight": 6 } ], "category": "creature" }, "3": { "totalWeight": 10, "mobs": [ { "size": "4-6", "mob": "Glow Squid", "weight": 10 } ], "category": "underground" }, "4": { "totalWeight": 10, "mobs": [ { "size": "8", "mob": "Bat", "weight": 10 } ], "category": "ambient" } }

In Bedrock Edition

Mob	Spawn weight	Group size
Monster category
Creeper	100	1
Slime[note 1]	100	1
Spider	100	1
Zombie	95	2–4
Skeleton	80	1–2
Enderman	10	1–2
Witch	5	1
Zombie Villager	5	2–4
Creature category
Sheep	12	2–3
Warm Chicken	10	2–4
Warm Pig	10	1–3
Warm Cow	8	2–3
Armadillo	6	1–2
Glow Squid	10	2–4
Ambient category
Bat	1	2

{ "hasNotes": true, "notes": { "Slime": "Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks." }, "1": { "totalWeight": 495, "mobs": [ { "size": "1", "mob": "Creeper", "weight": 100 }, { "note": "Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.", "mob": "Slime", "weight": 100, "notename": "Slime", "size": "1" }, { "size": "1", "mob": "Spider", "weight": 100 }, { "size": "2-4", "mob": "Zombie", "weight": 95 }, { "size": "1-2", "mob": "Skeleton", "weight": 80 }, { "size": "1-2", "mob": "Enderman", "weight": 10 }, { "size": "1", "mob": "Witch", "weight": 5 }, { "size": "2-4", "mob": "Zombie Villager", "weight": 5 } ], "category": "monster" }, "2": { "totalWeight": 56, "mobs": [ { "size": "2-3", "mob": "Sheep", "weight": 12 }, { "size": "2-4", "mob": "Warm Chicken", "weight": 10 }, { "size": "1-3", "mob": "Warm Pig", "weight": 10 }, { "size": "2-3", "mob": "Warm Cow", "weight": 8 }, { "size": "1-2", "mob": "Armadillo", "weight": 6 }, { "size": "2-4", "mob": "Glow Squid", "weight": 10 } ], "category": "creature" }, "3": { "totalWeight": 10, "mobs": [ { "size": "2", "mob": "Bat", "weight": 10 } ], "category": "ambient" } }

Sounds

Music

These music tracks play while the player is in the badlands:

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Translation key
Badlands	badlands	biome.minecraft.badlands

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID
[No displayed name]	mesa	37

Biome definition

{
  "attributes": {
    "minecraft:audio/background_music": {
      "default": {
        "max_delay": 24000,
        "min_delay": 12000,
        "sound": "minecraft:music.overworld.badlands"
      }
    },
    "minecraft:gameplay/creature_world_gen_spawn_probability": 0.03,
    "minecraft:gameplay/natural_mob_spawns": {
      "argument": {
        "spawn_costs": {},
        "spawns_by_category": {
          "ambient": [
            {
              "type": "minecraft:bat",
              "count": 8,
              "weight": 10
            }
          ],
          "creature": [
            {
              "type": "minecraft:sheep",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 12
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:pig",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 10
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:chicken",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 10
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:cow",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 8
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:armadillo",
              "count": {
                "type": "minecraft:uniform",
                "max_inclusive": 2,
                "min_inclusive": 1
              },
              "weight": 6
            }
          ],
          "monster": [
            {
              "type": "minecraft:spider",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 100
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:zombie",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 95
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:zombie_villager",
              "count": 1,
              "weight": 5
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:skeleton",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 100
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:creeper",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 100
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:slime",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 100
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:enderman",
              "count": {
                "type": "minecraft:uniform",
                "max_inclusive": 4,
                "min_inclusive": 1
              },
              "weight": 10
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:witch",
              "count": 1,
              "weight": 5
            }
          ],
          "underground_water_creature": [
            {
              "type": "minecraft:glow_squid",
              "count": {
                "type": "minecraft:uniform",
                "max_inclusive": 6,
                "min_inclusive": 4
              },
              "weight": 10
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      "modifier": "overlay"
    },
    "minecraft:gameplay/snow_golem_melts": true,
    "minecraft:visual/sky_color": "#6eb1ff"
  },
  "carvers": [
    "minecraft:cave",
    "minecraft:cave_extra_underground",
    "minecraft:canyon"
  ],
  "downfall": 0.0,
  "effects": {
    "foliage_color": "#9e814d",
    "grass_color": "#90814d",
    "water_color": "#3f76e4"
  },
  "features": [
    [],
    [
      "minecraft:lake_lava_underground",
      "minecraft:lake_lava_surface"
    ],
    [
      "minecraft:amethyst_geode"
    ],
    [
      "minecraft:monster_room",
      "minecraft:monster_room_deep"
    ],
    [],
    [],
    [
      "minecraft:ore_dirt",
      "minecraft:ore_gravel",
      "minecraft:ore_granite_upper",
      "minecraft:ore_granite_lower",
      "minecraft:ore_diorite_upper",
      "minecraft:ore_diorite_lower",
      "minecraft:ore_andesite_upper",
      "minecraft:ore_andesite_lower",
      "minecraft:ore_tuff",
      "minecraft:ore_coal_upper",
      "minecraft:ore_coal_lower",
      "minecraft:ore_iron_upper",
      "minecraft:ore_iron_middle",
      "minecraft:ore_iron_small",
      "minecraft:ore_gold",
      "minecraft:ore_gold_lower",
      "minecraft:ore_redstone",
      "minecraft:ore_redstone_lower",
      "minecraft:ore_diamond",
      "minecraft:ore_diamond_medium",
      "minecraft:ore_diamond_large",
      "minecraft:ore_diamond_buried",
      "minecraft:ore_lapis",
      "minecraft:ore_lapis_buried",
      "minecraft:ore_copper",
      "minecraft:underwater_magma",
      "minecraft:ore_gold_extra",
      "minecraft:disk_sand",
      "minecraft:disk_clay",
      "minecraft:disk_gravel"
    ],
    [],
    [
      "minecraft:spring_water",
      "minecraft:spring_lava"
    ],
    [
      "minecraft:glow_lichen",
      "minecraft:patch_grass_badlands",
      "minecraft:patch_dry_grass_badlands",
      "minecraft:patch_dead_bush_badlands",
      "minecraft:brown_mushroom_normal",
      "minecraft:red_mushroom_normal",
      "minecraft:patch_sugar_cane_badlands",
      "minecraft:patch_pumpkin",
      "minecraft:patch_cactus_decorated",
      "minecraft:patch_firefly_bush_near_water"
    ],
    [
      "minecraft:freeze_top_layer"
    ]
  ],
  "has_precipitation": false,
  "temperature": 2.0
}

Achievements

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Adventuring Time	Discover 17 biomes.	Visit any 17 biomes. Does not have to be in a single world.	40	Silver

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	Adventuring Time	Discover every biome	Visit all of these 56​[until: Fourth Drop 2026]/57​[upcoming] biomes: Badlands Bamboo Jungle Beach Birch Forest Cherry Grove Cold Ocean Dappled Forest Dark Forest Deep Cold Ocean Deep Dark Deep Frozen Ocean Deep Lukewarm Ocean Deep Ocean Desert Dripstone Caves Eroded Badlands Flower Forest Forest Frozen Ocean Frozen Peaks Frozen River Grove Ice Caves Ice Spikes Jagged Peaks Jungle Lukewarm Ocean Lush Caves Mangrove Swamp Meadow Mushroom Fields Ocean Old Growth Birch Forest Old Growth Pine Taiga Old Growth Spruce Taiga Pale Garden Plains River Savanna Savanna Plateau Snowy Beach Snowy Plains Snowy Slopes Snowy Taiga Sparse Jungle Stony Peaks Stony Shore Sunflower Plains Sulfur Caves Swamp Taiga Warm Ocean Windswept Forest Windswept Gravelly Hills Windswept Hills Windswept Savanna Wooded Badlands The advancement is only for Overworld biomes. Other biomes may also be visited, but are ignored for this advancement.

History

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Legacy Console Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

Data history

Old generation

Before Caves & Cliffs, the badlands biome generated only as an edge around all wooded badlands plateaus and badlands plateaus, or as small spots within those biomes. It had mostly flat terrain at the red sand levels, occasionally topped with terracotta layers, but when next to the plateau biomes, steep eroded cliffs formed. Beaches did not generate next to oceans, and the biome was separated from other land biomes by a thin desert border. It was often replaced by eroded badlands as a mutation.

Issues

Issues relating to "Badlands" or "Mesa" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

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.
• If a badlands biome generates above y level 256, it generates orange terracotta as the default rather than undyed terracotta. This cannot be seen through normal gameplay as the game cuts off any terrain above y level 256, however it can be seen on Java Edition using an amplified world.

Gallery

Screenshots

• 
  Ground-view of a badlands biome
• 
  Badlands with a lake
• 
  A badlands cave
• 
  Jungle and badlands biome generated next to each other
• 
  A badlands mineshaft exposed on the surface
• 
  A ruined portal in badlands
• 
  A player riding a horse into an overpass, with several monsters nearby
• 
  A large mountain in badlands
• 
  Side view of a large badlands mountain
• 
  A badlands single biome world

Historical screenshots

• 
  A very small old badlands clearing
• 
  Older badlands bordering an ocean, with no beaches
• 
  Transition layers between temperate biomes and badlands plateaus
• 
  A relatively large badlands clearing with a river
• 
  A badlands single biome world before 1.18
• 
  A village in the desert border surrounding badlands
• 
  A pillager outpost next to a badlands biome
• 
  An exposed cave spider spawner on a badlands cliff
• 
  Badlands with ray tracing

Development images

• 
  The first image of the mesa
• 
  Caves cutting through hardened clay in the mesa
• 
  An extremely tiny badlands biome
• 
  A river cave entrance in a badlands biome
• 
  A lake in badlands with Vibrant Visuals

In other media

• 
  Official logo of the Badlands biome used during the promotion of the Biome Vote 2019
• 
  Noor looking out over a badland with several wolves
• 
  Artwork of a creeper roaming in a badlands
• 
  Artwork of a cave spider lurking in a badlands mineshaft
• 
  Pixel art of Sunny, Steve and Ari building a nether portal in a badlands
• 
  Crown Mesa, a badlands settlement from Minecraft: Story Mode
• 
  A render of a badlands from Minecraft Earth
• 
  Narrator and MARILLA confronting Jonathan Minecraft in a badland, a scene from Around the Minecraft World in 80 Biomes
• 
  Durango and River in a badlands
• 
  The badlands as seen in Minecraft Legends.

See also

• Eroded Badlands
• Wooded Badlands
• Badlands Plateau
• Modified Badlands Plateau
• Modified Wooded Badlands Plateau
• Desert
• Mountains
• Terracotta

References

External links

• "Around the Block: Badlands" by Duncan Geere – Minecraft.net, July 8, 2021.