Updated for Java Edition 26.3 (October 2026).
The End barrens is the outer rim of the large islands in the outer End, where the End stone thins out before the void. Nothing grows there, no structures generate, and only endermen spawn. In our sample of 300 Java 26.3 seeds it covered 11% of the End and always started just past 1,000 blocks from the center. You cross it on the way to end cities.
| Dimension | The End (outer End) |
|---|---|
| Where it generates | The edges of the large outer islands, between the End midlands and the void |
| How common | 11% of the End in our sample, the fourth most common End biome |
| Distance from 0,0 | Median 1,015 blocks from the End’s 0,0; never within 1,000 blocks, always within 2,000 (our sample) |
| Mobs | Endermen only |
| Notable blocks | End stone and nothing else; no chorus plants |
| Structures | None |
| Biome ID | minecraft:end_barrens |
| Added in | Java Edition 1.9 (Combat Update, 2016) |
What are the End barrens?
The outer End is split into biomes by how much land there is. The thick middle of a big island is End highlands, the slopes around it are End midlands, and the thin outer edge, just before the island drops away into the void, is the End barrens. Past that come the small End islands: open void with tiny floating rocks. Our sample fits that picture. The End barrens’ edge touched End midlands 52% of the time and small End islands 48% of the time, and it almost never touched the central island.
So the barrens is not a separate kind of island you go looking for. Every big outer island has a ring of it, and you walk across it every time you arrive at or leave an island.
What’s in the End barrens
Very little, which is the point of the name. The ground is plain End stone. Chorus plants only generate in the End highlands, and end cities only in the highlands and midlands, so the barrens has no chorus fruit, no shulkers and no loot.
The only mob that spawns here is the enderman, as on the rest of the outer islands. Don’t look one in the eyes, or wear a carved pumpkin so you can look freely. There is no rain or snow, and like the rest of the End there is no day and night.
The real hazard is the edge itself. The barrens is where the land gets thin, and the next step can be the void. If you are walking between islands, stay on the higher ground toward the midlands until you have an elytra, and carry ender pearls and blocks for bridging.
How to get to the End barrens
The outer End starts about 1,000 blocks from the End’s center, past a ring of empty void. In all 300 seeds of our sample, the nearest End barrens was between 1,000 and 2,000 blocks from 0,0, with a median of 1,015. To get across, defeat the Ender Dragon and throw an ender pearl into the End gateway that appears near the edge of the main island. Once you are out there, the barrens is the edge of whichever big island you are on.
These Java 26.3 seeds have End barrens right at the start of the outer End. Coordinates are End coordinates, checked at block level, and the map links open in the End.
| Seed | End barrens at | From 0,0 | Map |
|---|---|---|---|
547032377997846341 |
X -790, Z -630 | 1,010 blocks | Open on the map |
4711785765194039058 |
X -630, Z -790 | 1,010 blocks | Open on the map |
7800897251448445915 |
X -790, Z -630 | 1,010 blocks | Open on the map |
With cheats on, /locate biome minecraft:end_barrens finds the nearest one from anywhere in the End, or paste your seed into the biome finder. If you are really after loot, the end city finder is more useful. These are Java seeds; Bedrock worlds from the same number are different.
End barrens vs the other End biomes
The End has five biomes, and the barrens is the second smallest:
| End biome | Share of the End (our sample) | What’s there |
|---|---|---|
| Small End islands | 44% | Void and tiny End stone islands |
| End midlands | 25% | Island slopes, end cities |
| End highlands | 17% | Island centers, chorus plants, end cities |
| End barrens | 11% | Island edges, nothing else |
| The End (central island) | 3% | The main island, the dragon fight and the void around it |
What changed in 2025-26
In Wilderness Bound (Java 26.3, September 2026), a long-standing bug was fixed that made outer End terrain fail to generate in shrinking rings around the End’s center (MC-159283).
In The Copper Age (Java 1.21.9, September 2025), the End gained sky flashes: from time to time a purple flash lights up the whole dimension with a rumbling sound. The “Hide Sky Flashes” accessibility option turns the lighting off.
In Spring to Life (Java 1.21.5, March 2025), the End barrens counts as a cold biome for the new farm animal variants, so a pig, cow or chicken spawned here (with a spawn egg, for example) comes out as the cold variant. They don’t spawn here naturally.
Source: the official 26.3, 1.21.9 and 1.21.5 release notes.
How we measured
The numbers on this page come from our own seed map engine, running Java Edition 26.3 world generation. We generated 300 random seeds and sampled every 16th block across a 10,240 by 10,240 block square of the End centered on 0,0. “How common” is each biome’s share of those samples, including the central island; “distance from 0,0” is how far the nearest End barrens sample was. The seeds above were picked from the same run, and each coordinate was re-checked at block level.
