Desert

The desert is a common warm biome. It has three variations.

A vast Desert with its typical dunes and a village

Description

Desert biomes are usually vast, quite barren, and lifeless, with the only vegetation being cacti and dead bushes. Among the mobs that can spawn in the desert, only rabbits spawn in the wild, while villagers, cats, cows, sheep, and pigs appear in desert villages. The terrain is flat and the surface is made entirely of sand, with sandstone generating underneath the sand to prevent it from falling into caves below. Water ponds do not generate in deserts aside from the Desert Lakes variant, though lava ponds may still generate. Deserts make up for their barrenness by featuring a relatively large number of structures, such as pillager outposts, villages, desert pyramids, fossils, and desert wells. Villages and desert temples may offer refuge and valuable loot, desert wells may serve as a rare source of water, and fossils can provide large numbers of bone blocks and bone meal, or simply a neat archaeological find, while pillager outposts are the only source of wood on the desert surface.

Deserts are usually found next to other warm biomes, such as savannas, badlands, and warm ocean. They also sometimes generate beside jungles and plains. Deserts may also generate as a thin border around badlands biomes should they generate freestanding. Like other warm biomes, they rarely generate near cold biomes.

Despite the structures, survival in deserts can still be very difficult if one does not bring their own resources, as the desert has virtually no resources of its own. Wood logs can be obtained only from pillager outposts or mineshafts, though dead bushes provide a source of sticks. The only desert water sources are villages, desert wells, rivers, and the uncommon Desert Lakes variant. At night, most zombies that spawn in deserts and variants are replaced by husks, variants of zombies that inflict the hunger effect and do not burn in the sun, resulting in more hostile mobs present during daytime.

Variants

Deserts have three variants.

Desert

Desert

Type	Dry/Warm
Rarity	Common
Temperature	2.0
Structures	Desert Temples Villages Desert wells Fossils Pillager outposts
Blocks	Sand Sandstone Cactus Dead Bush
Grass color	#bfb755
Water color	#32a598
Data value	dec: 2 hex: 2 bin: 10
Biome ID	desert

The Desert is the standard variant of deserts. It contains villages, desert pyramids, desert wells and fossils. It is mostly flat, with a few small hills.

Desert Hills

Desert Hills

Type	Dry/Warm
Rarity	Common
Temperature	2.0
Structures	Fossils Desert Wells Desert Pyramids‌[BE only]
Blocks	Sand Sandstone Cactus Dead Bush
Grass color	#bfb755
Data value	dec: 17 hex: 11 bin: 10001
Biome ID	desert_hills

Desert Hills variants feature hillier terrain, just like all other hills biomes in the game. Desert hills can reach slightly higher elevations than other hills, and are comprised mostly of sand and sandstone like the rest of the desert. No structures other than fossils, desert pyramids‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}, and desert wells may generate within the hills, making this variant overall more difficult. Players should be careful digging up sand in the hills, as it may generate unsupported and cause all other unsupported sand blocks near it to fall if dug up. Desert hills do not generate if their base desert is a thin border around a badlands biome.

Desert Lakes

Desert Lakes

Type	Dry/Warm
Rarity	Uncommon
Temperature	2.0
Structures	Fossils Desert Well
Blocks	Sand Sandstone Water Cactus Dead Bush
Grass color	#bfb755
Data value	dec: 130 hex: 82 bin: 10000010
Biome ID	§ Data values

The uncommon Desert Lakes variant features oases of water across its landscape, making this variant a potentially valuable source of water. The terrain is slightly rougher and hillier than the base desert biome, though not as much as the desert hills. No structures other than fossils and desert wells may generate here.

Data values

Java Edition:

Biome	Namespaced ID
Desert	desert
Desert Hills	desert_hills
Desert Lakes	desert_lakes

Bedrock Edition:

Biome	Namespaced ID
Desert	desert
Desert Hills	desert_hills
Desert Lakes	desert_mutated

History

Java Edition Alpha
v1.2.0		preview			Added true biomes, including deserts.
					Deserts were defined by having a rainfall value of less than 20% and a temperature value over 95%.
Java Edition Beta
1.2					Added sandstone to deserts.
1.6					Added dead bushes to deserts.
September 2, 2011					Notch teases a screenshot of the new desert biome.
1.8					Added villages to deserts, and as a result of the new world generator, deserts became larger and more flat.
Java Edition
1.2.1		12w04a			Added desert wells to deserts.
1.3.1		12w21a			Added desert temples to deserts.
		?			Hills in deserts are now taller.
1.6.1		13w17a			Water lakes no longer generate in deserts.
1.7.2		13w36a			Desert M variant has now been added, along with many other biomes.
1.10		16w20a			Added Husks, which replace most zombies in deserts.
					Added fossils, which may generate in deserts.
1.13		18w16a			Renamed DesertHills to Desert Hills.
					Renamed Desert M to Mutated Desert.
		18w19a			Renamed Mutated Desert to Desert Lakes.
		pre5			Changed the ID mutated_desert to desert_lakes.
1.14		18w47a			Added pillager outposts, which can spawn in desert biomes.
		18w50a			Updated look of desert villages.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.1.0					Added biomes, including deserts.
0.1.3					Cacti now generate in deserts.
0.9.0		build 1			Added Desert M variant, along with many other biomes.
					Added desert villages.
0.11.0		build 1			Added desert wells to deserts.
0.13.0		build 1			Added desert temples to deserts.
					Added rabbits, which can spawn in deserts.
0.15.0		build 1			Added husks, which replace most zombies in deserts.
Pocket Edition
1.1.3		alpha 1.1.3.0			Added fossils, which may generate in deserts.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			Added pillager outposts, which can spawn in desert biomes.
1.11.0		beta 1.11.0.1			Added illager patrol which can spawn in desert.
Legacy Console Edition
TU5	CU1	1.00	Patch 1		Added desert biomes.
TU12					Desert wells have now been added.
TU14		1.04			Added desert temples.
					Hills in deserts have now been made taller.
TU19	CU7	1.12			Water lakes no longer generate in deserts.
TU31	CU19	1.22	Patch 3		Added Desert M variant along with many other biomes.
TU43	CU33	1.36	Patch 13		Added fossils, which may generate in deserts.
PlayStation 4 Edition
1.91					Added pillager outposts, which can spawn in desert biomes.

Gallery

• 

  A pre-village & pillage desert village, with a partially buried desert temple.

• 

  A desert well.

• 

  Sunrise in a desert.

See also

• Badlands
• Savanna

Biomes

View at: Template:Biomes/content [edit]