Overview
Eroded badlands is the most striking terrain generation in the Overworld: instead of the solid plateaus of ordinary badlands, the rock has been cut away into freestanding spires and arches — hoodoos — that rise 40 blocks or more out of red sand with nothing supporting them. The banded terracotta palette is the same as the normal badlands, white through orange and red, but here you see it in cross-section on every column. Like all badlands it never rains, there is no grass and no passive mobs, and the same generous gold distribution applies: gold ore generates up to about Y 256 and is visible in the cliff faces without any tunnelling. What eroded badlands adds is exposure. Abandoned mineshafts here often generate with their supports hanging in mid-air between the spires, so you can loot a chest minecart without digging at all, and the same erosion opens caves straight into the sides of the columns. The hazard is falling: the spires are narrow, the drops are long and there is no water anywhere to break a fall. Eroded badlands generates as a rare variant inside or beside ordinary badlands and wooded badlands.
Surface gold ore in quantity, terracotta in 6 natural colours for building, exposed mineshafts with chest minecarts, and the most photogenic natural terrain in the game for a build site.
Eroded Badlands sits in the hot band of Minecraft's biome table, generating in the Overworld at a base temperature of 2.
No precipitation falls in Eroded Badlands. It never rains or snows here, so cauldrons stay empty and lightning does not strike.
One generated structure can appear here, among them Fossil.
One mob names Eroded Badlands specifically among its spawn biomes: Armadillo.
Badlands are the only biome where gold ore generates near the surface rather than at depth, which makes them worth a trip on their own. Terracotta in a dozen natural colours and no grass to speak of make them unmistakable from a distance.
How to get it
Eroded badlands generates only within a badlands region, which is itself rare. Once you find any badlands, follow it — the eroded variant usually appears within 300 to 600 blocks along the same formation.
Tips
- Mine gold straight out of the spire walls: badlands gold generates from about Y 32 to Y 256, so no tunnel is needed.
- Carry a water bucket for the descent — a spire fall is 40 blocks or more and there is no natural water to land in.
- Terracotta needs a pickaxe and takes about twice as long to mine as sandstone, so bring Efficiency if you want it in bulk.
- Look for mineshaft rails hanging in the open air between columns; they lead to chest minecarts you can reach without digging.
Climate and generation
Eroded Badlands has a base temperature of 2, which puts it in the hot band. Temperature is not a thermometer reading — it is the single number that decides snow versus rain, whether water freezes over, and what colour the grass renders.
Above 0.15 water stays liquid and any precipitation falls as rain.
| Property | Value | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Temperature | 2 | Decides whether rain falls as snow, whether water freezes, and the grass and foliage tint. |
| Precipitation | No | Nothing falls here, so a cauldron has to be filled by hand. |
| Dimension | Overworld | Sets which mobs, structures and ores can generate at all. |
| Grass and water tint | #6EB1FF | The colour the game applies to grass, leaves and water in this biome. |
Properties
- Grass and water tint
- #6EB1FF
- Structures generating here
- 1
Mobs in Eroded Badlands
Armadillo name Eroded Badlands specifically as a spawn biome, so this is where you go to find them.
On top of those, the mobs that spawn in open terrain anywhere in the Overworld can appear here too, given the right light level. Mobs that only come from a structure or a spawner — breezes from trial chambers, blazes from fortresses, evokers from mansions — are deliberately not in this list.
Also spawns throughout Overworld
Structures found here
One structure can generate in Eroded Badlands: Fossil.
- Fossil — A buried skeleton of bone blocks shaped like a spine, rib cage or skull, occasionally with coal ore mixed in.
Guides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
Where do I find Eroded Badlands?
Eroded Badlands generates in the Overworld. A locate command finds the nearest one instantly; without cheats, exploring in one direction and watching the F3 screen's biome line is the reliable method.
What spawns in Eroded Badlands?
Armadillo spawn here specifically, and the usual Overworld mobs can appear given the right light level.
Does it rain in Eroded Badlands?
No. Precipitation does not occur here at all.
Related pages
Biomes that generate in the same dimension and, where there are any, in the same climate family as Eroded Badlands.
