Around the Block: Wooded Badlands

Minecraft’s badlands, as we’ve previously discussed, aren’t actually that bad at all – in fact they’re one of my top choices for a biome to call home. They’re stunningly beautiful, contain plenty of flat land for building, and it never rains.

But there’s an even better variant that’s well worth seeking out while you’re adventuring. The wooded badlands biome is just like a regular badlands biome but the tops of the mesas are covered in oak forest – just the thing for enthusiastic builders seeking plentiful materials.

Wooded badlands joined the Minecraft biome collection in The Update that Changed the World in October 2013. Originally they were known as “mesa plateau f”, but then they were renamed to "mesa forest plateau" and then to wooded badlands plateau. Finally, in Caves & Cliffs: Part II, they were given their modern name: wooded badlands. What can I say, we just like renaming things!

The badlands mesas are made up of multicolored terracotta, making them a great choice for harvesting natural-shaded blocks to build with. Normally the tops are bare clay, but wooded badlands are covered with grass and coarse dirt, as well as the aforementioned oak trees. The increased humidity that the trees bring allows this biome to spawn bordering jungles or above lush caves.

As well as the plentiful supply of oak wood, you’ll also find red sand, terracotta, cactus, and lots of dead bushes here. Oh, and gold – lots of gold. Much more than most biomes. It’s for this reason that you’ll often find the remains of past mining expeditions here. Who knows what happened to the miners?

There are two downsides to living in the badlands. First, there’s not much in the way of water – it never rains, and there isn’t much standing water either – unless you find a river carving its way through the dramatic terrain. Second, the barren climate means that there are no passive mobs that spawn here. So if your dream is to own a huge herd of cows, you’ll need to import them from elsewhere.

Don’t let this put you off, though. With plentiful building materials, great views, and zero chance of getting struck by lightning, Wooded badlands are a wonderful place to set up home.