Java Edition 21w18a

21w18a is the twentieth snapshot for Java Edition 1.17, released on May 5, 2021, which makes changes to goats and experimental ore generation, as well as fixes some bugs.

Blocks

 * Infested Blocks
 * Now instead of breaking instantly, infested blocks take twice as long to break as their non-infested counterparts.


 * Light
 * Changed the textures of the light block displayed in the inventory or when holding a light block.

Mobs

 * Goats
 * Screaming goats will use their ram attack more often than other goats will.

General

 * Tags
 * Added raw gold block s to the block tag.
 * Added raw gold blocks to the block tag.


 * Textures
 * Removed the unused mouth textures from the axolotl textures.

Experimental
Changes have been made to the official Caves & Cliffs world generation preview datapack, which gives early access to the world generation coming in Java Edition 1.18.


 * Caves
 * Cave carvers generate below y=0 in ocean biomes.
 * Increased the minimum size of noodle caves and carvers, to make them easier to traverse and less likely to break up into fragments.
 * Noodle caves no longer generate above y=30.


 * Ore distribution
 * Reduced copper spawning a bit, to compensate for large ore veins.
 * Large ore veins are slightly more rare and slightly smaller on average. They now vary significantly, meaning players can still find huge ore veins like the ones in previous versions.
 * Increased chance of finding raw ore blocks in ore veins.
 * Removed deepslate blobs above y=0.
 * Extended the vertical range of the smaller blobs of iron ore, to make it possible to find iron in caves near the surface.
 * Slightly reduced the amount of normal-sized iron blobs, to compensate for large ore veins and the increased range of smaller blobs.

Trivia

 * This snapshot lacked an image, when the changelog was released on minecraft.net. Its "alt" description said: "A goat standing on a hill. Very regal."