Updated for Java Edition 26.3 (October 2026).
Stony peaks are the mountain summits of warm regions: bare stone streaked with white calcite, with no snow, no trees and no animals. They are rare. In our sample of 300 Java 26.3 seeds they covered 0.09% of the surface, and only 13% of worlds had one within 1,000 blocks of spawn. Come for calcite, emeralds and exposed iron.
| Dimension | Overworld |
|---|---|
| Where it generates | The highest peaks in warm regions, usually rising out of forest or savanna plateau |
| How common | 0.09% of the surface in our sample (about 1 block in 1,100) |
| Distance from spawn | Median 2,467 blocks; within 1,000 blocks in 13% of seeds, within 2,000 in 37% (our sample) |
| Mobs | No animals spawn here; only the usual hostile mobs at night and in caves |
| Notable blocks | Stone, calcite, emerald ore, iron and coal ore in the cliffs, infested stone underground |
| Structures | Pillager outposts, ruined portals |
| Climate | Temperature 1.0, downfall 0.3 (rain, never snow, even at the top) |
| Biome ID | minecraft:stony_peaks |
| Added in | Java Edition 1.18 (Caves & Cliffs: Part II, 2021) |
How rare are stony peaks?
Very. In our sample of 300 Java 26.3 seeds, stony peaks covered 0.09% of the surface. Of all the Overworld surface biomes we measured, only the pale garden and windswept gravelly hills covered less. Four of the 300 seeds had none inside the sampled area, the nearest one was a median 2,467 blocks from spawn, and only 37% of seeds had one within 2,000 blocks. Plan on a real trip, or pick a seed below that starts you next to one.
Stony peaks vs jagged peaks
Both are peak biomes, the tops of the tallest mountains. Which one you get depends on the climate around it: cold regions get jagged peaks or frozen peaks, warm regions get stony peaks.
| Feature | Stony peaks | Jagged peaks |
|---|---|---|
| Surface | Bare stone with bands of calcite | Snow over stone |
| Weather at the top | Rain | Snow |
| Animals | None | Goats |
| Usual neighbours (our sample) | Forest, savanna plateau | Grove, snowy slopes |
| Emerald ore, pillager outposts | Both | |
| How common (our sample) | 0.09% of the surface | 0.14% of the surface |
| Median distance from spawn (our sample) | 2,467 blocks | 1,658 blocks |
Is stony peaks a mountain biome?
Yes. The game groups it with the meadow, cherry grove, snowy slopes, jagged peaks and frozen peaks as its mountain biomes, which is why pillager outposts can generate on it. It doesn’t generate in snowy areas: in our sample its neighbours were forest (51% of its border), savanna plateau (30%), jungle (5%) and savanna (5%).
Do goats spawn in stony peaks?
No. On Java Edition, goats spawn in jagged peaks, frozen peaks and snowy slopes. Stony peaks have no animal spawns at all, so bring your own food.
How to find stony peaks
Look for a bare grey summit rising above forest in warm country, or above the flat-topped hills of a savanna plateau. The savanna link works both ways: in our sample, 30% of the stony peaks’ border touched savanna plateau, and 11% of the savanna plateau’s border touched stony peaks. If you spawn near acacia trees and see mountains, head for them.
These three Java 26.3 seeds put stony peaks within 300 blocks of spawn, which is unusual for this biome. Each coordinate is inside the biome, checked at block level.
| Seed | Stony peaks at | From spawn | Map |
|---|---|---|---|
-871536498923176616 |
X 18, Z -134 | 86 blocks | Open on the map |
-4053015578178522146 |
X -78, Z -262 | 98 blocks | Open on the map |
2116928645752233519 |
X 278, Z -58 | 278 blocks | Open on the map |
Already in a world? Type /locate biome minecraft:stony_peaks (cheats on) for the nearest one, or paste your seed into the biome finder. These are Java seeds; the same number on Bedrock gives a different world.
What stony peaks are good for
Calcite
The white bands across the stone are calcite. Anywhere else, you mostly get it from the middle layer of an amethyst geode, a few blocks at a time. Here it sits on the surface, so a pickaxe and an afternoon give you enough for a full build.
Iron and coal
Iron ore has an upper layer that runs from Y 80 up into the mountains and is richest around Y 232, and coal has a layer that starts at Y 136 and runs to the top of the world. A stony peak is a big mass of stone at those heights, with cliffs that show the ore without any digging. Walk the cliff faces before you start a mine.
Emerald ore
Emerald ore only generates in mountain and windswept biomes, and it gets more common the higher you go, so the stone inside a stony peak is a good place to look. Deeper down, below Y 63, watch for infested stone, which releases a silverfish when broken.
Pillager outposts
Pillager outposts can generate on stony peaks, as they can in the other mountain biomes. An outpost on a summit has the high ground, so expect crossbow fire while you climb.
What changed in 2025-26
Wilderness Bound (Java 26.3, September 2026) did not change stony peaks.
In Spring to Life (Java 1.21.5, March 2025), stony peaks were listed 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 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 centered on each world’s spawn. “How common” is the biome’s share of those samples; “distance from spawn” is how far the nearest sample of the biome was. The seeds above were picked from the same run, and each coordinate was re-checked at block level.
