Minecraft: Every Biome, Ranked By Pros And Cons

The choice of a biome to live in is one of the most important early game decisions Minecraft players will need to make. And with so many biomes available in the Overworld and the Nether, it's by no means an easy decision to make. Builders in particular, who want an aesthetically pleasing area, will struggle with this.

That's why this list has compiled all of the primary biome types and ranked them by their pros and cons. These biomes include their sub biomes, which usually are just terrain variants of the same biome archetype. The End biomes have not been considered for the list. For those wondering where to start their first Minecraft base, here are all the biomes in Minecraft ranked according to their pros and cons.

21 Basalt Delta

Pros:

Easy to farm Magma Cream

Cons:

Hard to navigate
Too much lava
No food or wood
Hard to build in
Few structures spawn here

This Nether biome is perhaps the worst choice in the game. There's not much to see here, other than basalt, lava, and Magma Cubes that will attack the player on sight. It's easily the worst biome in the game right now, and also the worst Nether spawn.

20 Soul Sand Valley

Pros:

Easy to farm skeletons
Bone blocks drop bone meal

Cons:

Soul sand makes it hard to navigate
Dangerous due to skeletons
No food or wood

Soul Sand Valleys might look impressive, but they're a pretty dead biome without any major resources. There are bone blocks around, certainly, which makes it a great place to come and farm bone meal. Otherwise, this is a terrible biome to live in.

19 Nether Wastes

Pros:

Structures spawn commonly here
Great for mining gold, quartz, and Netherite

Cons:

Lots of hostile mobs spawn here
Terrain is unpredictable
No food or wood

The classic Nether biome, the Nether Wastes are an okay Nether spawn, but a horrible place to live in. All sorts of mobs spawn here, not just Zombie Pigmen, but also Piglins, Skeletons, and such. Their redeeming quality is the fact that they're the easiest biome to mine in.

18 Crimson Forest

Pros:

Great for trading with Piglins
Great for farming Hoglins for food
Structures spawn here
Wood in abundance

Cons:

Dangerous without any gold armor
Hoglins can gang up on players easily
Unlivable due to abundance of mobs

Impressive visually, the Crimson Forest is a highly dangerous biome to live in. Sure, there's a lot of trading to be made with Piglins, and Hoglins provide a steady source of food in the Nether, but there are just too many mobs for it to be a good biome for long-term base building.

17 Warped Forest

Pros:

Fewer mobs spawn here
Great for farming Endermen
Wood readily available

Cons:

No source of food
Still in the Nether, so beds can't be used

The Warped Forest is also visually quite stunning and is actually the safest Nether biome due to the fact that it doesn't spawn Piglins or Hoglins. Both mobs seem to avoid this place like the plague. Endermen, on the other hand, call this their Nether home.

16 Ice Spikes

Pros:

Visually stunning biome
Polar bears and rabbits can be found here

Cons:

Hard to navigate
Difficult to build in
No structures spawn here
No easy food sources

Ice Spikes are an impressive sight, but as a cold biome, it's among the worst. It's very hard to build here, and there's barely any food to be found nearby. Wood is also practically nonexistent here, and let's not even talk about how difficult it is to navigate this biome.

15 Desert

Pros:

Villages and pyramids spawn here
Easy to navigate
Easy to build in

Cons:

Very little food, wood, and water
Visually bland
No weather changes
Mobs seem to spawn more abundantly due to flat ground

The flatness of a desert biome might sound appealing, but it's a very barren biome with no versatility or weather changes. In short, it's a lot of the same, which gets really boring after a while. Plus, finding animals for food and getting wood here is practically impossible.

14 Badlands

Pros:

Easy place to find gold abundantly
Mineshafts spawn at a higher elevation
Terracotta and colorful sand are abundantly available

Cons:

No reliable food sources
Not enough trees
Villages don't spawn here

Looking for gold? Badlands is the best biome for finding gold in Minecraft. It spawns mineshafts at the surface level as well, so they're quite nice for exploration and mining. However, living and building here is a bad idea due to the lack of food and wood.

13 Snowy Mountains

Pros:

Goats and rabbits spawn here
Igloos sometimes spawn here
Visually stunning, with good visibility
Emerald, coal, and copper are readily available

Cons:

Fewer trees
No easy sources of food
Other structures are rare

Mountains are a loved biome among Minecraft players, but never pick a snowy mountain if food and wood are important resources. These snowy peaks and their variants barely spawn any passive mobs that are useful for food, and trees are usually located on the low ground, which can make farming for them annoying.

12 Snowy Plains

Pros:

Easy visibility
Easy to build in
Villages, igloos, and pillager outposts can spawn here

Cons:

Few easy sources of food
Almost no trees
Difficult to farm in

Snowy plains are another barren biome in Minecraft. There are barely any trees or passive mobs ideal for food farming, so survival in a biome like this is quite difficult. Only an igloo, village, or pillager outpost will make a snowy plains biome valuable.

11 Snowy Taiga

Pros:

Loads of trees
Villages, igloos, and pillager outposts can spawn here
Foxes spawn here, along with sweet berry bushes

Cons:

No easy sources of food
Farming is difficult due to the cold
Can get boring

The snowy taiga is probably the easiest biome to live in out of all the snowy variants. While food is still rare, villages, igloos, and pillager outposts have a chance of appearing here. Plus, sweet berry bushes provide a bit of food in a pinch, and there's tons of wood around for building.

10 Hills

Pros:

Great visibility and height
Passive mobs are more abundant when not snowy
Emeralds spawn here, along with surface coal
Visually great for building

Cons:

Fewer trees for wood
Structures don't spawn here

If building up high is important, players should pick hilly biomes that are temperature. These will still spawn passive mobs. While trees will still be rare, the biome makes up for it with great mining opportunities. Emerald can be found here, along with surface-level coal.

9 Bamboo Jungle

Pros:

Bamboos and pandas can be found here
Loads of trees and greenery
Passive mobs can be found for food

Cons:

Bamboo can make navigating the forest more difficult
Hard to find since it's rare
Pandas have limited utility

Bamboo jungles are a cool choice for players who want something new and different from their environment. Plus, they have a chance of seeing pandas spawn near their home. While there's an abundance of natural resources and food, usually, these biomes are rare and the bamboo forests are sometimes difficult to navigate.

8 Dark Forest

Pros:

Lots of wood
Lots of passive mobs for food
Woodland Mansions occasionally spawn here
Giant mushrooms provide extra food

Cons:

Very dense, so visibility at ground level is low
Mobs spawn under the trees during day time
Lots of clearing is needed for building

When it comes to wood, Dark Forest biomes are the best biomes in Minecraft. There's simply no shortage of natural resources, and passive mobs are usually around as well, and in great numbers. The problem is that these forests are quite dense and dark, so mobs can spawn under the foliage during the daytime, and these forests require a lot of clearing for building.

7 Swamp

Pros:

Loads of trees
Loads of passive mobs for food
Slimes spawn abundantly during a full moon
Witch huts can spawn here

Cons:

Visually stale
Spots of water make it difficult to navigate and build on

Sure, swamps aren't the most visually appealing biome in Minecraft, but they are still an okay choice. There are a ton of resources in swamps, from passive mobs to wood. Plus, slimes spawn here more often than in other biomes. The only issue is that the biome just looks dirty and depressing.

6 Jungle

Pros:

Loads of wood and greenery
Loads of food from passive mobs
Rare mobs like parrots and ocelots
Melon and cocoa beans are found here
Jungle Temples can be found here

Cons:

Very hard to traverse
Building requires a lot of clearing
Mobs can spawn under trees in dense areas

Regular jungle biomes are a great find for any player, due to the rare resources they carry. Players can find melons, cocoa beans, parrots, ocelots, and even jungle temples. There's a lot of food and wood to be farmed here, but the price is a lot of clearing with shears to get rid of the dense undergrowth on the jungle floor.

5 Mushroom Fields

Pros:

No hostile mobs, ever
Mooshrooms can be milked for infinite mushroom stew
Unique terrain
Giant mushrooms provide extra food

Cons:

No wood
Structures don't spawn here
Rare to find
Impossible to farm hostile mob drops

An extremely rare biome, the Mushroom Field biome is somewhat of a fantasy land. They typically spawn as islands and are quite difficult to find. Their specialty is the fact that no hostile mobs will ever spawn there. Moreover, the local Mooshrooms can be milked for mushroom stew, so food is very abundant. On the other hand, there are no trees for building.

4 Old Growth Taiga

Pros:

Visually unique biome
Loads of trees and passive mobs
Spawns mossy cobblestone and

Cons:

Rare to find
Building requires clearing tall trees

If players love the idea of giant trees, this Old Growth Taiga biome is perfect. It also just brings in something new and fresh into the taiga archetype. There are rare blocks like podzol and mossy cobblestone to be found, too. Overall, it's a very solid choice for players, though a bit rare.

3 Plains

Pros:

Lots of passive mobs
Easy visibility
Villages and pillager outposts spawn regularly
Horses spawn here
Easy for building

Cons:

Wood is sparse but close by

Plains are an excellent biome to build in and survive. There's a lot of food around, as passive mobs spawn in large herds here and there. Horses also spawn quite abundantly in this biome. No clearing is needed for building, though trees don't spawn here very often so actually finding wood might be challenging unless there's a forest nearby. Villages are very common here, along with Pillager Outposts, too.

2 Forest

Pros:

Loads of wood
Loads of passive mobs for food
Beehives and bees can spawn here
Great for starting out in the game

Cons:

No villages or other overground structures usually spawn here

The most common biome has to be the basic forest and its variants. It's an extremely boring biome for many players, but no one can deny the fact that it's a very good one due to the abundance of resources. There's plenty of wood, tons of food thanks to passive mobs spawning here, and it's not too much of a hassle to clear space for a build. The only downside is that regular, temperate forests don't spawn any overground structures.