Desert Well

For other uses, see Well.

Desert Well

Biomes	Desert Desert Hills‌[BE only] Desert Lakes‌[BE only]
Generates in existing chunks	No
Consists of	Sand Sandstone Sandstone Slab Suspicious Sand Water

Desert wells are structure-like features consisting mostly of sand, sandstone, and suspicious sand.

Desert wells generate in desert biomes. They have a ¹⁄₁₀₀₀‌^{[JE only]} or ¹⁄₅₀₀‌^{[BE only]} chance to be generated in the given chunk. It is possible for a well to generate around a cactus. The well is considered a feature rather than a structure, and therefore it generates with the "Generate Structures" option disabled.^[1]

The game always tries to place the desert well on top of the first non-air block at a given position. For the generation to succeed, said block must be sand situated on solid ground in a 5-by-5 radius. In practice, none of the 25 positions in the radius are allowed to be only air on the two y-levels below the central sand block.

The same requirements apply for /place feature minecraft:desert_well to succeed.

Desert wells are built of sandstone blocks and slabs with a water source inside. Underneath the water source are two suspicious sand blocks that can be brushed to get various items. The first suspicious sand generates directly below the water source blocks, and the second generates below that layer.

In Java Edition and Bedrock Edition, each desert well's suspicious sand contains 1 item stack, with the following distribution:

Item	Stack Size [A]	Weight [B]	Chance [C]	Avg. per block [D]	Avg. # blocks to brush [E]
Arms Up Pottery Sherd	1	2⁄8	25.0%	0.250	4.0
Brewer Pottery Sherd	1	2⁄8	25.0%	0.250	4.0
Brick	1	1⁄8	12.5%	0.125	8.0
Emerald	1	1⁄8	12.5%	0.125	8.0
Stick	1	1⁄8	12.5%	0.125	8.0
Suspicious Stew[F]	1	1⁄8	12.5%	0.125	8.0

Java Edition:

Feature type	Identifier
[No displayed name]	desert_well

Configured feature	Identifier
[No displayed name]	desert_well

Bedrock Edition:

Feature	Identifier
[No displayed name]	desert_well_feature

Java Edition:

{
  "type": "minecraft:desert_well",
  "config": {}
}

Java Edition
1.2.1			12w04a				Added desert wells.
1.19.4 Experiment Update 1.20			23w07a				Desert wells now include sand and suspicious sand under its water.
							The suspicious sand may contain arms up pottery sherds, brick, sticks, suspicious stew, and emeralds.
1.20			23w12a				The loot of the suspicious sand in desert wells has been changed.
							Brewer pottery sherds now spawn in desert wells with the probability of 1/4.
							The probability of arms up pottery sherds spawning in desert wells is now 1/4, and the probability of other items spawning in desert wells is now 1/8.

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.9.0			build 1				Desert wells were intended to be added in this version, but they did not generate at all.[2]
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				The textures of desert wells has been changed.
1.18.0			?				Desert wells can now generate on terrain higher than Y=128.
1.19.70 Experiment Next Major Update			Preview 1.19.70.23				Desert wells now include suspicious sand under its water.

Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU12	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added desert wells.

Issues relating to "Desert Well" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

• 
  A desert well
• 
  Another desert well
• 
  The well feature found near a caved-in dungeon
• 
  An excavated well
• 
  A well partially buried in sand
• 
  Two desert wells generated close to each other
• 
  Another example of a desert well
• 
  Two desert wells overlapping each other

• 
  A zombie villager chasing a baby villager by a well

• Feature

• "Building Blocks: Desert Well" by Duncan Geere – Minecraft.net, September 16, 2025.

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Features Overworld Lava Lake Spring Surface Bonus Chest Desert Well Disk Iceberg Blue Ice Ice Patch Ice Spike Freeze Top Layer Forest Rock Pile Sulfur Spring Underground Amethyst Geode Pointed Dripstone Dripstone cluster Large dripstone Monster Room Fossil Ore Underwater Magma Sulfur Pool Sulfur Spike Vegetation Patched vegetations Bamboo Coral Reef Kelp Sea Pickle Seagrass Glow Lichen Sculk Vein Sculk Patch Huge Mushroom Root System Tree Oak Swamp Spruce Birch Jungle Bush Acacia Dark Oak Azalea Mangrove Cherry Pale Oak Poplar​[upcoming: Third Drop 2026] Fallen Tree Vines Cave Vegetation Patch Pale Moss Patch Bedrock Edition only Tree with Vines Superflat only Void Start Platform Java Edition only Fill layer The Nether Basalt Columns Basalt Pillar Blob Glowstone Delta Lava spring Fire patch Vegetation Nether Forest Vegetation Twisting Vines Weeping Vines Huge Fungus The End Chorus Plant End Gateway End Platform End Podium End Spike End Island Removed Clay Blob Water Lake Utility Java Edition only no_op Random Boolean Selector Random Selector Replace Single Block Simple Block Simple Random Selector Joke Hash Well Potato Geode Potato Tree

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