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For the secret level in Minecraft Dungeons, see MCD:Soul Sand Valley.

A soul sand valley is a dry biome located in the Nether. It is formed of large caverns with nether fossils and different blocks, mainly including soul sand and soul soil.

Description[]

The soul sand valley is mostly composed of soul sand and soul soil, with gravel found on its coastlines. Soul fire is scattered throughout the valley and nether fossils poke out of the terrain. It lacks a diverse set of plants, with the only native vegetation being crimson roots and mushrooms, although fungi, nether sprouts, various roots and huge fungi may spawn where the valley borders a crimson forest or warped forest. Its fog is cyan and the air particles are gray as the sounds of winds and the voices of ghosts fill the air. Giant columns of basalt called basalt pillars can be found stretching from the floor to the ceiling. Caverns, fortresses and bastions can be found in the soul sand valley.

Glowstone blobs can be found in this biome, although they are significantly rarer than in other Nether biomes,[1] since the ceiling of this biome is made of soul sand or soul soil, below which glowstone blobs cannot generate; they can still occasionally generate in caves and canyons in this biome,[2] because the ceiling is made of netherrack.

The following mobs are naturally spawned here:

In Java Edition
MobSpawn weightGroup sizeCharge[note 1]Budget[note 1]
Monster category
Skeleton207150.70.15
Ghast[note 2]507140.70.15
Enderman17140.70.15
Creature category
Strider11–20.70.15
  1. a b When spawning a mob with a budget, take the sum of the charge of each existing mob divided by the distance to that mob. If the total times the new mob's charge is greater than the new mob's budget, the spawn fails. See Spawn#Spawn costs for details.
  2. Only 5% of spawn attempts succeed.
In Bedrock Edition
MobSpawn weightGroup size
Monster category
Skeleton801261–2
Ghast401261
Enderman61261
Creature category
Strider12–4

Sounds[]

Music[]

These music tracks play while the player is in the Soul Sand Valley.

Filename
in Minecraft
Gameplay Soundtrack Title Soundtrack Track preview Weight
nether1.ogg The Nether "Concrete Halls" Minecraft - Volume Beta No. 7 1
nether2.ogg The Nether "Dead Voxel" Minecraft - Volume Beta No. 3 1
nether3.ogg The Nether "Warmth" Minecraft - Volume Beta No. 11 1
nether4.ogg The Nether "Ballad of the Cats" Minecraft - Volume Beta No. 15 1
so_below.ogg Soul Sand Valley and Basalt Deltas "So Below" Minecraft: Nether Update (Original Game Soundtrack) No. 3 7

Ambience[]

Nether ambience plays while the player is in the Nether.

Name Sound Group
Soulsand Valley Ambience Loop
Soulsand Valley Sand 1 Loop Additions
Soulsand Valley Sand 2
Soulsand Valley Sand 3
Soulsand Valley Voices 1
Soulsand Valley Voices 2
Soulsand Valley Voices 3
Soulsand Valley Voices 4
Soulsand Valley Voices 5
Soulsand Valley Whisper 1
Soulsand Valley Whisper 2
Soulsand Valley Whisper 3
Soulsand Valley Whisper 4
Soulsand Valley Whisper 5
Soulsand Valley Whisper 6
Soulsand Valley Whisper 7
Soulsand Valley Whisper 8
Soulsand Valley Wind 1
Soulsand Valley Wind 2
Soulsand Valley Wind 3
Soulsand Valley Wind 4
Soulsand Valley With 1
Soulsand Valley Mood 1 Mood
Soulsand Valley Mood 2
Soulsand Valley Mood 3
Soulsand Valley Mood 4

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID Translation key
Soul Sand Valleysoul_sand_valley170biome.minecraft.soul_sand_valley

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID
Soul Sand Valleysoulsand_valley178

History[]

September 28, 2019The soul sand valley is announced at MINECON Live 2019.
Java Edition
1.1620w06aAdded the soul sand valley.
20w10aAdded soul sand valley ambience.
20w15aAdded the music track "So Below", which plays in the soul sand valley biome.
20w18aMobs in soul sand valleys no longer spawn near each other.
20w19aBlobs of soul sand now generate in soul sand valleys at level of the lava ocean.
Pre-release 4The spawning weight of skeletons was changed from 2 to 10.
Increased the overall amount of hostile mob spawns. Each mob's chance was changed from 0.08 to 0.15.
Pre-release 7The spawning weight of skeletons was changed from 10 to 20.
The biome's total spawning energy was changed from 1.0 to 0.7.
Bedrock Edition
1.16.0beta 1.16.0.51Added the soul sand valley.
beta 1.16.0.57Added ambience.
Added music.
Added Nether Fossils in the soul sand valley.
Soul sand now generates below lava level in the soul sand valley.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Soul Sand Valley" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

  • Despite its name, the soul sand valley is not actually a valley due to its cave-like generation.
  • In the official artwork of the Nether Update, a wither skeleton can be seen in the soul sand valley instead of normal skeletons, despite wither skeletons not naturally spawning there.
  • Warped Forest biomes never share their border with Soul Sand Valley biomes.

Gallery[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. MC-171520 — "Glowstone clusters cannot generate in Soul Sand Valley biomes" — resolved as "Works As Intended".
  2. MC-192936 — "Glowstone clusters generate on netherrack in Soul Sand Valley" — resolved as "Works As Intended".

External Links[]

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