Desert Hills

This article describes content that has been officially made unobtainable in Bedrock Edition.

It can still be obtained using third-party software. However, this can cause unexpected behavior such as bugs and crashes.

This page describes content that has been removed from Java Edition.

This feature was present in earlier versions of Java Edition, but has since been removed.

Desert Hills

Structures	Desert Pyramid‌[BE only]
Features	Fossil Desert Well
Blocks	Sand Sandstone Cactus Cactus Flower Short Dry Grass Tall Dry Grass Dead Bush Sugar Cane
Climate
Temperature	2.0
Downfall	0.0
Precipitation	No
Colors
Grass color	#BFB755
Foliage color	#AEA42A
Dry foliage color	#A38046
Water color	#3F76E4‌[JE only]  #1A7AA1‌[BE only]
Vibrant Visuals
Atmospherics	Desert
Lighting	Desert
Volumetric fog	Default
Color grading	Desert

The desert hills biome is a variant of the desert that no longer generates since Caves & Cliffs: Part II and was removed in Java Edition.

Description

Old

Like all other hills biomes, desert hills featured hillier terrain with occasional overhangs, cliffs, and floating islands. Sand often generated floating here, providing a risk of suffocation when the sand fell down. Desert hills were comprised mostly of sand and sandstone like the rest of the desert, decorated with dead bushes and more sugar cane near water. Unlike the regular desert, desert villages and pillager outposts didn't generate here, but fossils, desert pyramids,‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} and desert wells did. Desert hills didn't generate in the thin desert border around a badlands biome.

Current

In Bedrock Edition, desert hills in older worlds still received updates. When generated through single biome or behavior packs, they can also generate new blocks.

They appear similar to deserts, with patches of short dry grass and tall dry grass while cactus flowers generate on some cacti, although desert villages still don't generate. Camels uncommonly spawn at daytime, while parched and camel husk jockeys can also spawn at nighttime.

With Vibrant Visuals, desert hills re-use desert atmospherics, the sky is tinted turquoise-green at daytime and much brighter during the night. Moonlight is much more vibrant blue, and the warm color grading temperature tints everything yellow/orange.

Mobs

Desert hills use the same mob spawning chances as deserts.

The following mobs naturally spawn here:

In Java Edition

Mob	Spawn weight	Group size
Creature category
Rabbit[note 1]	1	2–3
Monster category
Spider	100⁄515	4
Skeleton	100⁄515	4
Creeper	100⁄515	4
Slime[note 2]	100⁄515	4
Husk	80⁄515	4
Zombie	19⁄515	4
Enderman	10⁄515	1–4
Witch	5⁄515	1
Zombie Villager	1⁄515	1
Ambient category
Bat	1	8

{ "hasNotes": true, "notes": { "Slime": "Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.", "Rabbit": "All spawned rabbits are gold." }, "1": { "totalWeight": 4, "mobs": [ { "note": "All spawned rabbits are gold.", "mob": "Rabbit", "weight": 4, "notename": "Rabbit", "size": "2-3" } ], "category": "passive" }, "2": { "totalWeight": 515, "mobs": [ { "size": "4", "mob": "Spider", "weight": 100 }, { "size": "4", "mob": "Skeleton", "weight": 100 }, { "size": "4", "mob": "Creeper", "weight": 100 }, { "note": "Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.", "mob": "Slime", "weight": 100, "notename": "Slime", "size": "4" }, { "size": "4", "mob": "Husk", "weight": 80 }, { "size": "4", "mob": "Zombie", "weight": 19 }, { "size": "1-4", "mob": "Enderman", "weight": 10 }, { "size": "1", "mob": "Witch", "weight": 5 }, { "size": "1", "mob": "Zombie Villager", "weight": 1 } ], "category": "hostile" }, "3": { "totalWeight": 10, "mobs": [ { "size": "8", "mob": "Bat", "weight": 10 } ], "category": "ambient" } }

In Bedrock Edition

Mob	Spawn weight	Group size
Monster category
Husk	240	2–4
Creeper	100	1
Slime[note 1]	100	1
Spider	100	1
Zombie	95	2–4
Skeleton	40	1–2
Parched	40	1–2
Camel Husk[note 2]	25	1
Enderman	10	1–2
Witch	5	1
Zombie Villager	5	2–4
Creature category
Glow Squid	10	2–4
Rabbit	4	2–3
Camel	1	1
Ambient category
Bat	1	2

{ "hasNotes": true, "notes": { "Slime": "Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.", "Camel Husk": "Camel husks will always spawn being ridden by a [[husk]] wielding an [[iron spear]] with a [[parched]] passenger." }, "1": { "totalWeight": 760, "mobs": [ { "size": "2-4", "mob": "Husk", "weight": 240 }, { "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": 40 }, { "size": "1-2", "mob": "Parched", "weight": 40 }, { "note": "Camel husks will always spawn being ridden by a [[husk]] wielding an [[iron spear]] with a [[parched]] passenger.", "mob": "Camel Husk", "weight": 25, "notename": "Camel Husk", "size": "1" }, { "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": 15, "mobs": [ { "size": "2-4", "mob": "Glow Squid", "weight": 10 }, { "size": "2-3", "mob": "Rabbit", "weight": 4 }, { "size": "1", "mob": "Camel", "weight": 1 } ], "category": "creature" }, "3": { "totalWeight": 10, "mobs": [ { "size": "2", "mob": "Bat", "weight": 10 } ], "category": "ambient" } }

Sounds

Music

Desert hills use the same music as deserts, in the latest version.

Data values

ID

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID
[No displayed name]	desert_hills	17

History

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Data history

Issues

Issues relating to "Desert Hills" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Gallery

• 
  A desert hills biome
• 
  Another desert hills biome
• 
  Desert hills in Bedrock Edition
• 
  A desert pyramid in desert hills in Bedrock Edition
• 
  A frozen ocean next to desert hills in Bedrock Edition. Note the ocean ruins in an iceberg.
• 
  A desert hills single biome world
• 
  Desert hills with ray tracing

See also

• Desert
• Desert Lakes
• Biome/Before 1.18