Overview
Windswept hills is the classic mountain biome from before the Caves & Cliffs rework, and it survives as steep, stony terrain with sheer cliffs, floating overhangs, exposed grass ledges and scattered spruce. Its defining practical feature is exposure: because so much bare stone is open to the air, ore veins are visible in the cliff faces and cave systems open directly onto the slopes, which means you can prospect and mine here without ever digging a staircase. Emerald ore generates in windswept hills under the restricted mountain distribution — only ten biomes in the game have emerald at all, and this is the most common of them. Llamas spawn here in small herds and can be tamed and leashed into caravans carrying up to 15 slots each. Sheep, cows and the usual temperate animals fill the grass ledges. The terrain is genuinely dangerous to move across at speed: the cliffs generate with no warning and the overhangs mean you can fall while apparently walking on flat ground. It borders windswept forest, windswept gravelly hills, forest, taiga, meadow and stony shore.
Emerald ore, exposed ore veins and cave mouths that need no tunnel, llamas for transport, and dramatic terrain that makes an excellent build site with natural defences.
Windswept Hills sits in the cold band of Minecraft's biome table, generating in the Overworld at a base temperature of 0.2.
Weather reaches Windswept Hills: it rains during storms, so crops grow and cauldrons fill on their own.
2 mobs name Windswept Hills specifically among their spawn biomes: Llama and Silverfish.
Windswept biomes are steep, stony and largely bare, with exposed stone and gravel and scattered spruce. The exposed stone means ore veins are visible from the surface far more often than elsewhere.
How to get it
Windswept hills generates in cool temperate regions and is fairly common; most worlds have one within 1,000 blocks. Emerald ore in the exposed stone confirms you are in a mountain biome rather than an ordinary hilly forest.
Tips
- Scan the cliff faces before you dig: coal, iron and copper are all visible from outside in windswept terrain.
- Emerald generates as single blocks, so a horizontal tunnel through the hill finds more than a vertical shaft.
- Tame a llama by riding it repeatedly, then lead 1 and up to 10 more will follow it as a caravan.
- Bring a water bucket: the overhangs here produce falls of 30 blocks or more with no warning.
Climate and generation
Windswept Hills has a base temperature of 0.2, which puts it in the cold 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 | 0.2 | 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 | #7DA2FF | The colour the game applies to grass, leaves and water in this biome. |
Properties
- Grass and water tint
- #7DA2FF
- Structures generating here
- 0
Mobs in Windswept Hills
Llama and Silverfish name Windswept Hills 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 Windswept Hills?
Windswept Hills 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 Windswept Hills?
Llama and Silverfish spawn here specifically, and the usual Overworld mobs can appear given the right light level.
Does it rain in Windswept Hills?
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 Windswept Hills.
