Overview
Forest is the default temperate woodland and the biome most worlds put you next to at spawn. Oak and birch grow together closely enough to need a path cut through them, the floor carries grass, flowers, mushrooms in the shade and enough clearings that cows, sheep, pigs and chickens all spawn, so wood, food and a buildable surface all occur in the same place. That combination is why more starter bases are built in a forest than anywhere else. Wolves spawn here, and since 1.20.5 they carry a biome-specific coat: forest wolves are the woods variant, and a tamed wolf follows you to any dimension. Oak trees occasionally generate with a bee nest, and the fancy oak variant grown from a sapling reaches far higher than the standard one. The catch is light: a mature forest canopy leaves patches of the floor dark enough for hostile mobs to spawn during the day, so clear or light the ground around a base rather than assuming daylight covers it. Forest borders plains, birch forest, dark forest, swamp, river and mountain biomes, which makes it a useful hub to build from.
Oak and birch logs for the whole early game, apples from oak leaves, wolves to tame with bones, mushrooms from the shaded floor, and the flat clearings that make the easiest first base site.
Forest sits in the temperate band of Minecraft's biome table, generating in the Overworld at a base temperature of 0.7.
Weather reaches Forest: it rains during storms, so crops grow and cauldrons fill on their own.
One mob names Forest specifically among its spawn biomes: Wolf.
Forest biomes are the game's default temperate terrain: trees dense enough to need a path cut through them, grass and flowers on the floor, and passive animals in the clearings. They are where most players build, because wood, food and a flat-enough surface all occur together.
How to get it
Forest is one of the most common Overworld biomes and generates in temperate regions everywhere. Most worlds place one within 200 blocks of spawn, mixed with plains and birch forest.
Tips
- Oak leaves drop apples at about 0.5% per leaf block, so clearing one full canopy usually yields 1 or 2 apples.
- Tame a wolf with bones — it takes 1 to 6 bones on average — and it will fight anything you hit, including a creeper.
- Plant saplings 2 blocks apart in a row; oak needs only a 1-block gap and 5 blocks of headroom to grow.
- Light the floor under the canopy before nightfall. See how to survive your first night for the rest.
Climate and generation
Forest has a base temperature of 0.7, which puts it in the temperate 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 | 0.7 | Decides whether rain falls as snow, whether water freezes, and the grass and foliage tint. |
| Precipitation | Yes | Cauldrons fill on their own and farmland stays hydrated during a storm. |
| Dimension | Overworld | Sets which mobs, structures and ores can generate at all. |
| Grass and water tint | #79A6FF | The colour the game applies to grass, leaves and water in this biome. |
Properties
- Grass and water tint
- #79A6FF
- Structures generating here
- 0
Mobs in Forest
Wolf name Forest 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
Guides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
Where do I find Forest?
Forest 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 Forest?
Wolf spawn here specifically, and the usual Overworld mobs can appear given the right light level.
Does it rain in Forest?
Yes — as rain. Cauldrons fill on their own during a storm and farmland stays hydrated.
Related pages
Biomes that generate in the same dimension and, where there are any, in the same climate family as Forest.
