Eroded Badlands

Eroded badlands are the most dramatic desert canyons in Minecraft. Thin terracotta spires, called hoodoos, rise straight out of red sand. If you want one for a build or a gold trip, use this eroded badlands finder. Enter your seed and the map above shows where the nearest spires stand.

Where eroded badlands generate

This biome needs very high temperatures and low humidity. It is usually separated from regular badlands by a river, though it can border them directly. Deserts are frequent neighbours. As it gets cooler, you reach savannas or savanna plateaus.

Eroded badlands can also climb into mountain terrain, rarely as high as Y=256. There they may touch stony peaks. Dripstone caves and the deep dark are common underground.

It is a rare biome. You often see it as a small basin inside a larger badlands region.

What makes eroded badlands special

The hoodoos are the main feature. These narrow terracotta spires only appear in the low basins of the biome. Higher up, the land looks like regular badlands. The look is based on Bryce Canyon in Utah.

• Blocks: red sand, red sandstone (Java), and terracotta in red, orange, yellow, white, light gray and brown.
• Plants: cactus and cactus flowers on red sand, plus dead bushes and dry grass.
• Gold: gold ore generates more often and closer to the surface than in normal badlands.
• Mobs: armadillos spawn here.
• Structure: dark oak badlands mineshafts, often exposed to the air.

Using the eroded badlands finder

Put your seed in the search box. The map flies to the closest eroded badlands and marks them with a biome icon. Small basins are easy to miss on foot, so this saves real time. The list on the left gives you more spots; click one to jump to it.

In game, try /locate biome minecraft:eroded_badlands. If cheats are on, travel with /tp @s X ~ Z. Otherwise, follow your coordinates and look out for the tall spires on the horizon.

Tips for eroded badlands

Hoodoos make great natural landmarks. Many players build a base on top of one or carve rooms into the spire.

For mining, scan the canyon walls first. Gold ore is often visible from the ground. Exposed mineshafts can also hold chests with rails and useful loot.

Take care at night. The open basins give hostile mobs plenty of room, and there is little cover. Lightning never strikes here, so you do not need to worry about storms.

Eroded badlands vs regular badlands

The two biomes share most blocks, so how do you tell them apart? Look for the spires. Regular badlands have wide mounds and plateaus. Eroded badlands add the thin hoodoos in their low basins.

Gold is another difference. Both have extra gold ore, but in eroded badlands it generates more often and closer to the surface. That makes this biome slightly better for a gold run.

Finally, eroded badlands are rarer. A river often separates them from the regular badlands next door. On the map, they usually show up as smaller patches at the edge of a larger badlands region.

Eroded badlands version history

The biome was added in Java 1.7.2 as mesa (bryce). It became eroded badlands in 1.13. During 1.18 development it was removed for a while and then restored with new generation rules.

Armadillos arrived in 1.20.5. Dry grass, cactus flowers and warm farm animals followed in 1.21.5.

Eroded Badlands FAQ