Updated for Java Edition 26.3 (October 2026).
The nether wastes is the classic Nether biome: open caverns of red netherrack over a lava sea, with glowstone on the ceilings, ghasts in the air and zombified piglins everywhere. It is the most common Nether biome, covering over a third of the Nether in our sample. Come here for quartz, gold, glowstone and Nether fortresses.
| Dimension | Nether |
|---|---|
| Where it generates | Everywhere in the Nether, between the other four Nether biomes |
| How common | 36% of the Nether in our sample (crimson forest 22%, soul sand valley 17%, basalt deltas 16%, warped forest 8%) |
| Distance from 0,0 | Median 41 blocks from the Nether’s 0,0 (our sample), so a portal near Overworld spawn often opens right into it |
| Mobs | Zombified piglins, ghasts, piglins, magma cubes, endermen, and striders on lava |
| Notable blocks | Netherrack, glowstone, nether quartz ore, nether gold ore, magma blocks, blackstone, gravel, soul sand, ancient debris |
| Structures | Nether fortresses, bastion remnants, ruined portals |
| Biome ID | minecraft:nether_wastes |
| Added in | The original Nether biome; named nether wastes in Java Edition 1.16 (Nether Update, 2020) |
What block are the nether wastes made of?
Netherrack. The red, rough stone makes up almost all of the floor, walls and ceilings. It mines in a blink with any pickaxe, and fire placed on top of it burns forever, which is why you see patches of flame across the ground. Mixed into the netherrack you find nether quartz ore, nether gold ore, magma blocks, blackstone and gravel, with clusters of glowstone hanging from the ceilings.
What spawns in the nether wastes
Six mobs spawn here. Zombified piglins are by far the most common. They are neutral, but hit one and every zombified piglin nearby comes for you, so never swing at them by accident. Ghasts float over the open caverns and shoot exploding fireballs; punch or swing at a fireball to knock it back and kill the ghast with its own shot. Piglins attack unless you wear at least one piece of gold armor, and will barter if you drop a gold ingot near them. Magma cubes and endermen turn up now and then, and striders walk on the lava sea.
Ghast tears and the happy ghast
Ghasts drop ghast tears and gunpowder. Since Java 1.21.6, eight ghast tears and a soul sand block craft a dried ghast, which hatches a ghastling after it sits in water for about 20 minutes; the ghastling grows into a rideable happy ghast. Piglins can also give you a dried ghast when you barter with them, so the nether wastes covers both routes.
Crossing the lava
The lava sea is the biggest danger here. Striders spawn on it, and if you put a saddle on one you can steer it across the lava with a warped fungus on a stick. A potion of fire resistance is the best insurance for your first trips.
Does netherite spawn in the nether wastes?
Yes. Ancient debris, which smelts into netherite scrap, generates under every Nether biome, nether wastes included. Only the height matters: dig around Y 15. The nether wastes is a good place for it because the terrain is open and the mobs are mostly neutral, but watch for ghasts when you come back up.
How to find the nether wastes
You usually don’t have to. In our sample of 300 Java 26.3 seeds, the median distance from the Nether’s 0,0 to the nearest nether wastes was 41 blocks, a quarter of seeds had it within 11 blocks, and every seed had some within 1,000. Its edges touched crimson forest 33% of the time, basalt deltas 28%, soul sand valley 24% and warped forest 16%. If your portal opens in another biome, walk until the ground turns plain red and the ceiling opens up.
These Java 26.3 seeds have a large nether wastes near the Nether’s center. Coordinates are Nether coordinates, checked at block level.
| Seed | Nether wastes at (Nether) | From 0,0 | Map |
|---|---|---|---|
6344123284989658485 |
X -70, Z -178 | 191 blocks | Open on the map |
547032377997846341 |
X 82, Z 6 | 82 blocks | Open on the map |
-9083720909831523632 |
X -14, Z 218 | 218 blocks | Open on the map |
With cheats on, /locate biome minecraft:nether_wastes gives the nearest one. Remember that one block in the Nether is eight in the Overworld when you plan a portal link.
Nether wastes vs the other Nether biomes
The nether wastes has the widest mix of mobs in the Nether, and it is the only biome where zombified piglins, ghasts and piglins all spawn together.
| Feature | Share of the Nether (our sample) | Mobs that spawn |
|---|---|---|
| Nether wastes | 36% | Zombified piglins, ghasts, piglins, magma cubes, endermen, striders |
| Crimson forest | 22% | Hoglins, piglins, zombified piglins, striders |
| Soul sand valley | 17% | Skeletons, ghasts, endermen, striders |
| Basalt deltas | 16% | Magma cubes, ghasts, striders |
| Warped forest | 8% | Endermen, striders |
Nether fortresses and ruined portals can generate in any Nether biome. Bastion remnants generate in the nether wastes, crimson forest, warped forest and soul sand valley, but never in basalt deltas.
What changed in 2025-26
Nothing changed in the nether wastes in Wilderness Bound (Java 26.3, September 2026).
In Chaos Cubed (Java 26.2, June 2026), a bug was fixed so piglins now spawn naturally on Peaceful difficulty.
In Mounts of Mayhem (Java 1.21.11, December 2025), the Nether’s fog stopped depending on your render distance; it is now always applied from 10 to 96 blocks.
In Spring to Life (Java 1.21.5, March 2025), the nether wastes counts as a warm 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 warm variant. They don’t spawn here naturally.
Source: the official 26.2, 1.21.11 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 Nether centered on 0,0, at about Y 60. “How common” is the biome’s share of those samples; “distance from 0,0” is how far the nearest nether wastes sample was. The seeds above were picked from the same run, and each coordinate was re-checked at block level.
