Bedrock Edition 1.18.0

1.18.0, the second release of Caves & Cliffs, is an upcoming major update to set to release in November/December 2021. It was first announced alongside the release of the Java Edition 1.17 snapshot 21w15a when Mojang stated the Caves & Cliffs update would be split in two. Features from 1.18.0 are being developed alongside 1.17.0 through experimental gameplay. This is the third major update for Bedrock Edition that is split into several updates since Village & Pillage in 2019.

World generation

 * Caves
 * Completely overhauled.
 * Now stretch down to Y=-59.
 * The caves now generate in 2 layers of different stone bases depending on the depth.
 * The layer above Y=0 is made up of regular stone.
 * Stone transitions to deepslate from Y=0 to Y=-7.
 * Deepslate completely replaces stone from Y=-8 to bedrock.
 * Certain types of ores and structures still generate in the deepslate layer, as well as tuff.
 * Dirt, gravel, diorite, granite and andesite do not generate in this layer.
 * Biomes such as the dripstone caves and lush caves now generate in the underground.
 * Contain aquifers, bodies of water with different heights, independent of sea level (Y=63).
 * Aquifers below Y=0 sometimes generate with lava instead of water.
 * Improved old caves to blend in with the new generations of caves better
 * New noise caves, coming in 3 forms, "cheese", "spaghetti", and "noodle".
 * Cheese caves have large stone towers stretching from the bottom of the cave to the top, and are often large enough to allow safe elytra flight.
 * Spaghetti caves are long, thin caves that have small aquifers and are more similar to original caves.
 * Noodle caves are thinner, squigglier, and more claustrophobic variants of spaghetti caves.


 * Mountains
 * Come in 6 sub-biomes:
 * Meadow
 * A flat but elevated biome that looks like a flowery and colder plains, with an aqua grass color and dark blue water color.
 * Generates in plateaus and the lowest layers of some mountains, usually near plains and other temperate biomes.
 * Contains grass, tall grass, dandelions, azure bluets, cornflowers, poppies, daisies and alliums
 * Birch and oak trees can rarely appear in this biome, and always have bee nests.
 * Only rabbits, donkeys, and sheep spawn in this biome.
 * Plains villages and pillager outposts can generate in this biome
 * Grove
 * Reminiscent of a snowy taiga with a surface of snow blocks and powder snow, instead of grass blocks.
 * Generates in the slopes of a snowy mountain when next to forested biomes.
 * Rabbits, wolves, foxes, sheep, pigs, chickens and cows spawn in this biome.
 * Pillager outposts can generate in this biome
 * Snowy Slopes
 * Generates in the slopes of a mountain when next to plains and snowy tundras
 * Covered in snow, snow block and powder snow.
 * Only rabbits and goats spawn in this biome.
 * Igloos and pillager outposts can generate in this biome
 * Jagged Peaks
 * One of three biomes that generate in the mountain peaks.
 * Covered in snow, snow blocks and stone.
 * Tends to generate in sharp and jagged peaks in areas with snowy, cold, and temperate biomes.
 * Only goats spawn in this biome.
 * Pillager outposts can generate in this biome
 * Frozen Peaks
 * Covered in snow, snow blocks, ice, and packed ice.
 * Tends to generate in smoother and smaller peaks in areas with snowy, cold, and temperate biomes.
 * Only goats spawn in this biome.
 * Stony Peaks
 * Covered in stone, gravel, and strips of calcite.
 * Tends to generate in any peak surrounded by warm biomes such as jungles and savannas, to avoid temperature clashes.
 * Pillager outposts can generate in this biome


 * Ore veins
 * Long and rare ore formations.
 * Copper ore veins mixed with granite and blocks of raw copper generate above Y=0.
 * Iron ore veins mixed with tuff and blocks of raw iron generate below Y=0.

Blocks

 * Sculk Sensor
 * Now available outside experimental gameplay toggle.

Items

 * Goat Horn
 * Now available outside experimental gameplay toggle.

Mobs

 * Axolotls
 * Now spawn only in water in lush caves.


 * Goat
 * Now spawn only in snowy slopes, jagged peaks, and frozen peaks biomes.


 * General
 * Hostile mobs spawn only in areas where the light level is equal 0. This change affects block-light and not sky-light.

World generation

 * Overworld
 * Now uses the multi-noise biome source type.


 * Lush Caves
 * Now generate naturally underground and inside hills or mountains.
 * Azalea trees now generate above lush caves.


 * Dripstone Caves
 * Now generate naturally underground and inside hills or mountains.


 * Deep Warm Ocean
 * Now generates naturally.


 * Beaches
 * Beaches are generally wider.
 * In some places there is a chance where no beaches generate at all, to provide some variation.


 * Stony Shore
 * Now generate with strips of gravel
 * Can generate alongside any biome instead of just extreme hills.


 * Badlands
 * Now can generate in mountain peaks.
 * Red sand generates a bit higher.


 * General
 * Terrain generation is now independent from biomes, with biomes adapting to whatever terrain they happen to generate throughout.
 * This allows for natural variation in the terrain of any individual biome, both in terms of shape and elevation.
 * For example, forests and deserts could form up on a hill without needing a special biome just for that purpose.
 * This additionally allows for smoother transitions between biomes.
 * Terrain is now smoother and more extreme.
 * Existing chunks now generate new terrain below the bedrock layer, with the old bedrock layer replaced with deepslate.


 * Sub-biomes
 * Since the terrain height is no longer controlled by biomes, the following sub-biomes no longer generates naturally and become unused in the game:
 * {| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"

! Unused biomes
 * }
 * As a result of this change:
 * All deserts are now eligible for village and desert pyramid generation.
 * All taigas are now eligible for village and outpost generation.
 * All swamps are now eligible for swamp hut generation.
 * All snowy taigas are now eligible for igloo generation.
 * }
 * As a result of this change:
 * All deserts are now eligible for village and desert pyramid generation.
 * All taigas are now eligible for village and outpost generation.
 * All swamps are now eligible for swamp hut generation.
 * All snowy taigas are now eligible for igloo generation.
 * }
 * As a result of this change:
 * All deserts are now eligible for village and desert pyramid generation.
 * All taigas are now eligible for village and outpost generation.
 * All swamps are now eligible for swamp hut generation.
 * All snowy taigas are now eligible for igloo generation.
 * }
 * As a result of this change:
 * All deserts are now eligible for village and desert pyramid generation.
 * All taigas are now eligible for village and outpost generation.
 * All swamps are now eligible for swamp hut generation.
 * All snowy taigas are now eligible for igloo generation.
 * }
 * As a result of this change:
 * All deserts are now eligible for village and desert pyramid generation.
 * All taigas are now eligible for village and outpost generation.
 * All swamps are now eligible for swamp hut generation.
 * All snowy taigas are now eligible for igloo generation.
 * }
 * As a result of this change:
 * All deserts are now eligible for village and desert pyramid generation.
 * All taigas are now eligible for village and outpost generation.
 * All swamps are now eligible for swamp hut generation.
 * All snowy taigas are now eligible for igloo generation.
 * }
 * As a result of this change:
 * All deserts are now eligible for village and desert pyramid generation.
 * All taigas are now eligible for village and outpost generation.
 * All swamps are now eligible for swamp hut generation.
 * All snowy taigas are now eligible for igloo generation.
 * }
 * As a result of this change:
 * All deserts are now eligible for village and desert pyramid generation.
 * All taigas are now eligible for village and outpost generation.
 * All swamps are now eligible for swamp hut generation.
 * All snowy taigas are now eligible for igloo generation.
 * }
 * As a result of this change:
 * All deserts are now eligible for village and desert pyramid generation.
 * All taigas are now eligible for village and outpost generation.
 * All swamps are now eligible for swamp hut generation.
 * All snowy taigas are now eligible for igloo generation.
 * All swamps are now eligible for swamp hut generation.
 * All snowy taigas are now eligible for igloo generation.

Gameplay

 * Patrols
 * Vindicators can no longer spawn in patrols.


 * Raids
 * Changed raid boss bar colour from pink to red.
 * Raid mobs now despawn after a raid ends if the players move too far away


 * Status effects
 * Hero of the Village effect now applies to all players who helped kill a raider once a raid is defeated, and the effect remains on the players, even if they travel outside the village.

General

 * Height limit
 * Has been increased to 384 blocks, expanding 64 blocks up and 64 blocks down, with 319 being the limit upward and -64 being the limit downward.


 * Clouds
 * Raised cloud level from 128 to 192.

Fixes

 * Stability and Performance
 * Players are no longer disconnected if server and client have different Runtime Block IDs.
 * Optimized the time it takes to place vines in the Overworld.


 * Accessibility
 * Added missing screen reader on the "Controller lost connection" prompt.


 * Commands
 * Order of function calls triggered by '/execute' inside a function are now consistent.


 * Gameplay
 * Corrected Portal locations when the Portal was moved but the location was not updated.
 * Breaking a block below fire no longer creates an invisible fire block when the 'doFireTick' gamerule is disabled.


 * General
 * Players with higher than recommended render distance settings are now prompted to change it to the recommended value.
 * Render distance default and max settings have been updated for better performance.
 * A prompt now warns players that they are returned to the main menu if they sign-in while in-game.
 * Added caching support for subchunk requests and fixed issues with holes in the terrain.
 * Fixed a rendering error that could occur when attempting to render a Vanilla mob in a base game version prior to the version that mob was introduced through JSON files.
 * Most content errors and warnings now display only once per world.


 * Graphical
 * The Carved Pumpkin enchantment glint now covers only the item instead of the entire slot.
 * Fixed a bug that could occur on older worlds where looking up in a Minecart would display the inside of the Minecart, blocking the player's view.
 * Updated item rendering so enchanted items are no longer be invisible in the Nether.


 * Marketplace
 * Store update prompt no longer appears for no internet connection or session start failure.


 * Mobs
 * Mobs can now path over Trapdoors.
 * Mobs no longer walk through Campfires.
 * Axolotls now animate correctly when airborne.
 * Sweet Berry Bushes now damage mobs.
 * Mobs no longer try to path through Sweet Berry Bushes.


 * User Interface
 * Structure Block can now be saved and loaded within current dimension height limits.
 * Fixed an issue where searching for non-existent content brought up the incorrect "1 result" message.
 * Fixed overlapping text on offerings occurring in 4:3 resolution screens.
 * Fixed Java Edition parity while lying in bed in multiplayer game. A message shows how many players are lying in bed while waiting for all players to fall asleep.
 * Provide better visual feedback and hints for different render distance settings.
 * Renamed some occurrences of "level" in the user interface to the more accurate "world".
 * When a value for a stepped slider does not correspond to a step it will display at the closest step.
 * Replaced the missing "Always Day" option in world settings.


 * Vanilla Parity
 * Raid mobs now despawn after a raid ends if the player moves too far away.
 * Raid boss bar color changed to red from purple.
 * Vindicators no longer naturally spawn in Illager Patrols.
 * Shield blocking animation now plays smoothly.


 * Villages
 * Hero of the Village effect now applies to all players who helped kill a raider once a raid is defeated, and the effect remains on the players, even if they travel outside the village.


 * Actors
 * Lightning bolts do not have a shadow anymore.


 * Blocks
 * Snow Grass Block and all types of Snow blocks now use similar colors.


 * Bone Meal
 * Nether Sprouts once again generate when using Bone Meal on Warped Nylium.


 * Player
 * Fixed player hitbox not resetting after gliding with Elytra.
 * Fixed player flight with Elytra being cancelled when hitting a wall and taking damage.


 * Items
 * Ender Pearls no longer generate as Glow Sticks in Woodland Mansion chests.


 * Particles
 * Water drips now trigger splash effects.

Items

 * Bundle


 * Crafted with 2 string and 6 rabbit hide.
 * Used to store other items (except shulker boxes) inside of it.
 * Can hold only one stack of items, but is able to hold different types of items inside of it.
 * Items with smaller stacks, such as ender pearls, take up more room in a bundle, and non-stackable items take up the whole bundle.
 * The bundle's contents can be opened by pressing while holding it, throwing out its entire content into the world. When destroyed as an entity, it drops the items it currently has as well.
 * Right-clicking a bundle in the inventory empties one item from the bundle.
 * Even though bundles are not stackable, bundles can be nested.
 * Can hold up to 16 bundles.
 * Only empty bundles can be placed in other bundles without using commands.
 * Has a GUI when hovering over it.
 * Shows contained items in its GUI's inventory slots when hovering over it, as well as fullness as a number.
 * Note: Bundles can hold any amount of any item if added using commands.

World generation

 * Likely change to the generation of alternate stone types, to make them appear in larger but less numerous deposits.
 * Possibly seen in a screenshot tweeted by Henrik Kniberg, in which diorite appears to generate in a long and flat horizontal strip, rather than a small unevenly shaped patch.
 * Ore generation has further rebalancing to add strategy to mining.
 * This is also largely through the addition of ore veins, which influence surrounding stone.




 * Blobs


 * Copper ore generates in a different fashion - the blob generation was a temporary solution.


 * Fossils


 * The fossils in the deepest part of the underground generate with Deepslate Diamond Ore instead of Coal Ore.


 * Strongholds


 * Try to generate fully encased in stone, or deepslate at low y-levels.

Unconfirmed features

 * Lush caves overview concept art.jpg Blossom


 * Can close.


 * Azalea Log


 * Between Java Edition snapshots 21w05a and 21w10a, many blocks (flowers, leaves, grass, ferns, sweet berry bushes, small dripleaves) had a block tag called "azalea_log_replaceable", possibly implying the existence of azalea logs.