Desert

The Desert biome is a common biome you will run into often, generated in the Overworld dimension and classed as a warm biome. Its climate is extremely hot and arid, so it never rains here, so the Desert gets no precipitation at all and stays permanently dry. In technical terms the game tracks it with a temperature value of 2 and the biome ID minecraft:desert.

Its defining terrain features are sand dunes, dead bushes, cacti and sandstone layers. It never rains in deserts. Desert temples contain trapped chests with TNT. Husks replace zombies. Sugar cane can generate near water.

The Desert biome was added to Minecraft in Alpha 1.2.0 and is still generated in version 1.21. Like all Overworld biomes it is shaped by the surrounding temperature and humidity, so the exact borders of any Desert you find will shift from world to world.

The Desert biome only generates in the Overworld. It commonly borders Plains, Savanna, Badlands and River, so finding any of those is a good sign you are close.

Look for open sand dunes with cacti and dead bushes under a cloudless, rainless sky.

If cheats or operator permissions are available, the fastest method is the command “/locate biome minecraft:desert”, which points you to the nearest Desert and gives its coordinates. Without commands you have to explore for the Desert on foot: because it is common, ordinary travel through the Overworld will usually reveal one before long.

On the peaceful side, the Desert biome is home to Rabbit. The Rabbit, for example, drops rabbit hide, raw rabbit and occasionally a rabbit's foot.

On the dangerous side of the Desert biome, watch for Husk. The Husk is a desert zombie that inflicts Hunger and does not burn in daylight.

The blocks that give the Desert biome its character include Sand, Sandstone, Cactus, Dead Bush and Red Sand. Within the Desert, Sand, Sandstone, Cactus and Dead Bush are the most useful to gather early, whether for building, crafting or decoration.

In terms of mining, sand and sandstone are unlimited; gold, diamond and other ores still appear underground as normal.

The Desert biome can generate a Village, a community of trading villagers with farms, an iron golem and beds, where the building palette matches the biome's wood and stone, a Desert Pyramid, a sandstone temple hiding a treasure room rigged with a TNT pressure plate below four buried chests, a Pillager Outpost, a watchtower guarded by pillagers and a captain whose banner triggers the Bad Omen effect and a Fossil, a buried skeleton of bone blocks and coal ore that is the only natural source of bone blocks.

With Village, Desert Pyramid, Pillager Outpost and Fossil all able to appear in the Desert biome, it is well worth exploring thoroughly, as each of these 4 structures offers its own loot and challenges.