Java Edition 1.9

, the first release of the Combat Update, is an upcoming major update to Minecraft with no set release date. Dinnerbone has stated that many of the features he has shown for 1.9 are not “100% final”, so things may change later.

General

 * Splash text
 * "More Digital!"
 * "doot doot"
 * World selection screen
 * Worlds now display the version they were last played in or "unknown" if the version was older than snapshot 15w32a.
 * The version number will display in red if it has been played in a newer version before.
 * Now displays a thumbnail per world, showing a glimpse of the world (it takes a screenshot when you have just created or opened it for the first time in the 15w32b snapshot or higher).
 * When the world hasn't been opened in snapshot 15w32b or before, or if the game couldn't make a screenshot thumbnail, there will be a gray-scale image.
 * The thumbnail will be saved in the world folder under  with the name "icon.png".
 * This allows the player to modify it easily and safely.
 * An exclamation mark will appear on top of the thumbnail, indicating that the world has not been played in the current snapshot yet.
 * It displays the following message when hovered over: "Don't forget to backup this world before you load it in this snapshot."
 * It will also warn if a world was played in a newer version of Minecraft, telling the player that the world may corrupt if they open it in an older version.
 * The player can now click the play arrow on the thumbnail to open the world, just like the server list.
 * When edit world is clicked, you have two new options:
 * Reset icon: This allows you to reset the thumbnail without going into the folder.
 * Open folder: It will open the folder for the world, under.
 * Dominant hand option
 * An option for players to change their dominant hand on their player model.
 * A toggle under "Skin Customization".
 * Also changes the orientation of the offhand slot in the hotbar (left for right-hand players and vice versa).
 * As well as the attack charge indicator, when set to the hotbar (on the opposite side of the offhand slot).
 * Attributes
 * Measures fully-charged attacks per second.
 * The attack speed value is shown as a tooltip on the respective tool.
 * Base is 4.0, meaning the bar refills in 0.25s.
 * Swords have a modifier of -2.4, resulting in a default modifier of 1.6 (refilling in about 0.63s).
 * Pickaxes have a modifier of -2.8, resulting in a default modifier of 1.2 (refilling in about 0.83s).
 * Shovels have a modifier of -3, resulting in a default modifier of 1 (refilling in about 1s).
 * Axes have a modifier based on the tier.
 * Wooden and stone axes have a modifier of -3.2, resulting in a default modifier of 0.8 (refilling in about 1.25s).
 * Iron axes have a modifier of -3.1, resulting in a default modifier of 0.9 (refilling in about 1.25s).
 * Wooden and gold axes have a modifier of -3, resulting in a default modifier of 1 (refilling in about 1s).
 * Hoes have a modifier based on the tier.
 * Wooden and gold hoes have a modifier of -3, resulting in a default modifier of 1 (refilling in about 1s).
 * Stone hoes have a modifier of -2, resulting in a default modifier of 2 (refilling in about 0.5s).
 * Iron hoes have a modifier of -1, resulting in a default modifier of 3 (refilling in about 0.33s).
 * Diamond hoes have a modifier of -0, resulting in a default modifier of 4 (refilling in about 0.25s).
 * The Haste effect increases the attack speed by 10% per level, while Mining Fatigue decreases it by 10% per level.
 * Measures the amount of protection of armor.
 * Capped at 0 and 30.
 * The modifier of attributes can be changed using NBT tags.
 * Statistics
 * : Tracks the number of times the player has slept in a bed.
 * : Tracks the amount of ticks the player has held the key, regardless if the player was moving.
 * : Tracks the amount of items that are picked up into the inventory from the ground.
 * : Tracks the amount of items that are dropped from the inventory to the ground.
 * Keyboard shortcuts
 * + to toggle between creative and spectator mode, if the player is in either of them.
 * The player needs to be OP in the case of servers for this to work and have cheats enabled in the case of singleplayer.
 * + to show a statistic of FPS.
 * Particles
 * Used for the defensive "swipe" sword attack.
 * Used for the new attack of the ender dragon.
 * Produced by end rods while placed.
 * Used for the defensive "swipe" sword attack.
 * Used for the new attack of the ender dragon.
 * Produced by end rods while placed.
 * Produced by end rods while placed.
 * Produced by end rods while placed.

Gameplay

 * Dual wielding
 * Players can now use both hands to perform different actions using the left and right mouse buttons.
 * For example, if a player has a pickaxe in his/her main hand and a torch in their other hand, right clicking will place the torch.
 * This happens because because a pickaxe lacks a right click use, and therefore the game tries to then treat the other item as if it's being right clicked.
 * The player cannot click both buttons at the same time.
 * This is achieved through an extra inventory slot called the "offhand" slot.
 * Pressing (by default) will switch whatever item is selected in the hotbar with the item in the offhand (including no item).
 * The offhand slot is displayed next to the hotbar when it's not empty (left for right-hand players and vice versa).
 * It's available on all iterations of the inventory screen.
 * It is distinguished by an outline of a shield like symbol.
 * Only the main hand can be used for physical attacks.
 * Bows choose their arrow type based on the offhand.
 * Arrows in the offhand take priority over arrows in any other slot.
 * If there are multiple arrow types and none in the offhand or selected hotbar slot, the arrow that is in the lowest numbered slot will get fired.
 * The offhand model is invisible in first person view while it's empty.
 * Some attributes and enchantments will apply to the offhand item, if specified through a new tag.
 * Combat
 * New “attack strength” combat mechanic.
 * A meter shows up after switching items or attacking.
 * Damage done depends on the fullness of the meter.
 * Fills at different rates depending on the new attack speed attribute (see table on the changes to gameplay section for a complete list).
 * Can be displayed next to the hotbar (left or right based on the player's main hand), under the crosshair or turned off.
 * Looks like the icon for the effect on the side of the hotbar, or like a dagger under the crosshair.
 * This is controlled in video settings.
 * A cooldown animation is displayed of the tool slowly being lifted up, when first switching to it.
 * Status effects
 * Received when the player is hit by shulker projectiles.
 * Makes player involuntarily float high into the air.
 * Can be used to get to higher places.
 * Listed as a negative effect due to the potential to kill from fall damage.
 * Higher levels of levitation result in faster floating.
 * Effect levels 128-254 result in floating downwards at a constant speed, with level 128 being the fastest and level 254 the slowest (one block per second).
 * Effect level 255 disables falling and jumping altogether, to an effect not entirely unlike flying in creative mode. Gaining or losing elevation is impossible without using pistons.
 * Received when players or mobs are hit by spectral arrows.
 * Makes player's outline glow, even through non-transparent blocks.
 * Listed as a negative effect because it prevents players from hiding from other players.
 * It becomes colored differently if the player is part of a team to match its team color.
 * Listed as a negative effect because it prevents players from hiding from other players.
 * It becomes colored differently if the player is part of a team to match its team color.

Command format

 * Gamerules
 * Added the gamerule.
 * Determines whether players in spectator mode should generate chunks.
 * Defaults to.
 * Scoreboard
 * Added
 * The player can add and remove tags for any entity based on NBT tags of that entity/player.
 * For example  will add the tag "test" to all players that are in the air.
 * Tags can be accessed by using the parameters after the selector.
 * For example  will give 1 stone to all players that have the tag "test".
 * The player can use  to see what tags are on an entity.
 * Tags are stored in the  file as strings, not in the scoreboard files.
 * This means that any tag the player binds has to be bound to an existing online player or an existing entity.
 * Unlike objectives, tags cannot be displayed anywhere on the HUD or inventory.
 * Only via the list sub-command can the player see which tags an entity has on the chat.
 * Through  it is possible to obtain the number of scoreboard tags an entity has via.
 * Added five new objective types: XP, hunger, oxygen, armor and level.
 * "xp" can be used to track the players exact amount of XP points.
 * "food" can be used to track the hunger level of the player (ranges from 0 to 20).
 * "air" can be used to see how long the player has been underwater.
 * Starts at 300 (out of water) and then decreases 1 per tick as long as the player´s head is underwater (resets when the player gets out of the water).
 * The water breathing status effect freezes the timer and the respiration enchantment slows down the countdown from 300, each time more with each level.
 * "armor" can be used to track the armor bar, which in turn tracks the total amount of protection of all currently worn armor pieces.
 * "level" can be used to track the player's level directly, which is the number displayed above the experience bar.
 * It is not directly correlated to the experience points, since increasing levels each time takes more xp than before.
 * This could be tracked before, but it required some intermediate steps.
 * Added  to the team options.
 * It controls whether or not players can push other players and whether or not is team dependent.
 * The modes are:,  ,  ,
 * NBT tags
 * All entities
 * (byte): Controls whether or not an entity is affected by the new glowing status effect.
 * For example  will summon a glowing creeper.
 * Note this does not work on all entities, such as snowballs.
 * (list): Contains a list of string values that can be used with the "tag" selector parameter.
 * The command can assign tags itself.
 * All mobs
 * (lists): Defines what item is within the main hand and offhand.
 * It manages this by using two records, for the main hand and the offhand in that order.
 * For example
 * (lists): Used to specify the armor worn by the mob.
 * Contains four records: feet, legs, chest and head in that order.
 * For example
 * (byte): Boolean tag that controls the dominant hand of mobs.
 * Set to 1 for left handed mobs and 0 for right handed.
 * For example
 * &  (lists): Used to specify the dropping chances of worn armor and held items of specific mobs respectively.
 * For example
 * For example
 * All items
 * string tag within  (string): Determines which slot the item has to be, for the modifier to be applied.
 * Available slots are: "mainhand", "offhand", "feet", "legs", "torso", "head".
 * For example
 * End gateway portal block
 * (compound): Holds a set of X/Y/Z coordinates to determine the general location the player will be "safely" teleported to when entering.
 * (byte): When set to 1, it teleports entities to the specified coordinates exactly instead of at a safer location around those coordinates.
 * (long): Determines how long the end gateway has existed.
 * When lower than 200, the block will emit a purple beam.
 * This is to easily locate the gateway when it first spawns.
 * For example
 * Command blocks
 * (byte): When set to 1, the command block will no longer require a redstone signal in order to activate.
 * When applied to an impulse mode block, its command will activate only once right after finishing writing the command.
 * When applied to a repeat mode block, it will constantly activate every tick.
 * When applied to a chain mode block, it will always be available to activate its signal when called.
 * For example
 * (byte): States whether or not the command block behind the conditional command block was successful in output. Will be 1 if that block is successful and 0 if unsuccessful.
 * Non-conditional command blocks will always be 1.
 * For example
 * Command blocks & note blocks
 * (byte): now have the "powered" tag associated with them, stating whether or not the block is currently receiving a redstone signal.
 * They can be edited through block data so the block are activating even though no redstone is adjacent.
 * Changing a command block through the "always active" toggle, effectively makes that command block to always have a 1 powered state, even when the block is updated.
 * For example
 * Shulker tags
 * (byte): Percentage to indicate the progress of its idle and attacking animations, so the height of its shell is correctly updated.
 * (byte): Determines the direction the shulker has attached to a block face. ***Summoning shulkers will make them attach to the ground by default.
 * (int): Set of integer coordinates that the shulker should be located at.
 * These coordinates will be obtained from the coordinates entered by a command through a truncation function.
 * entity
 * Used to track the target location of shulker projectiles.
 * Relevant NBT structure:
 * Potion items
 * (string)
 * Used to determine the type of potion it is using new name IDs.
 * For example
 * ThrownPotion entity
 * (byte)
 * When  is set to 1, the potion will create the   entity when it lands.
 * (compound)
 * Holds the item data for the potion thrown.
 * For example
 * TippedArrow entity
 * (compound): Holds the item data for the specific tipped arrow.
 * For example
 * SpectralArrow entity
 * (integer): Specifies how long the effect will last when the arrow strikes the target.
 * For example
 * MinecartHopper entity
 * (byte): Determines whether or not the minecart hopper will pick up items into its inventory.
 * For example
 * Ender crystals
 * (compound): Used to assign a custom target to the beam.
 * For example
 * Ender dragon
 * (integer): determines the current action the dragon will complete.
 * For example
 * Horses
 * (byte): Indicates whether the horse is a skeleton trap.
 * If it is, the horse will spawn 4 skeleton horses, ridden by skeletons and a lighting bolt in its place when a player gets within 10 blocks of it.
 * For example
 * (integer), incremented each tick when  is set to 1. The mob automatically despawns when it reaches 18000 (15 minutes). This will prevent the hostile horses from overflowing the world, similar to chicken jockeys.
 * For example
 * For example

World generation

 * The End
 * Generates many islands in every direction from the main island, though separated by a gap of about 1,000 blocks.
 * Mini islands generate between the center and main islands.
 * End islands and mini end islands (except for the main one) will have chorus trees spread throughout them, as well as end cities with end ships.
 * End city
 * Generates on the new outer end islands.
 * Dungeon-type structure fashioned like a branching tower made of endstone and many of the new blocks.
 * Resembles a tree house.
 * Contains loot inside of chests.
 * Generates with shulkers in it.
 * End ship
 * It sometimes generates up in the air next to the end city dungeon.
 * It always appears to sail away from what appears to be a pier.
 * Composed of many of the same materials as the End City.
 * Generates with shulkers in it.
 * Has a hopper, a dragon head, a brewing stand with potions of healing, 8 blocks of iron and other various loot.
 * The hopper generates in the middle of the 8 blocks of iron.
 * The hopper has a written book in it, by Searge.
 * It reads: "We will have something here soon..."
 * Chorus trees
 * Generate on the outer islands of the End.
 * Tree-like arrangements of the new chorus plant and chorus flower blocks.
 * The whole structure is destroyed when the bottom-most block is destroyed, like cacti.
 * Can be farmed by planting the chorus fruit flowers that come from the top of the plants, on top of endstone.
 * Unlike cacti, chorus plants do not require the supporting block to be below it, but rather adjacent.
 * This allows the structure to grow around obstacles, like other chorus trees.
 * End gateway
 * It is generated in a radius around the main portal each time the dragon is killed.
 * Up to 20 gateways can be generated this way.
 * It is the usual way of traveling to the outer end islands, without having to build or fly all the way over there.
 * It consists of the gateway block in the middle, and two little bulbs of bedrock on the top and bottom.
 * Since the bulbs of bedrock only leave a one block slit on the horizontal plane, it is only accessible by throwing ender pearls at it, or by riding pigs, boats or minecarts.
 * When used, it generates another gateway at the player's destination.
 * The gateways are linked so the player has a way back.
 * Superflat
 * New preset: The Void
 * Spawns the player on a stone platform. No other terrain generates.
 * The Void is now a biome with an ID of 127.

Blocks

 * Chorus flower
 * Spawn on the top of the chorus trees.
 * Breaks if the supporting block below is broken.
 * It only drops when mined directly.
 * Can only be planted on end stone in any dimension.
 * It will show a different texture when it stops growing.
 * Chorus plant
 * Generate in the End.
 * Can be grown using chorus flowers.
 * Breaks in quick succession if the supporting chorus plant below is broken.
 * Drops chorus fruit.
 * Command blocks
 * New "repeat" and "chain" variants of command blocks.
 * Have a blue and green texture respectively.
 * The old orange variant is now called "impulse" (see the below section on changes to command blocks, for more info).
 * New textures that now vary depending on what direction they are placed from, similar to dispensers and pistons.
 * It consists of a front, a back and a side texture (looks like arrows), so the orientation can be easily determined.
 * The texture is animated - the colored "buttons" in the middle change color.
 * The middle panel texture has a black outline.
 * Impulse mode (orange): Command is run once on rising edge.
 * Same behavior and color as previous versions.
 * Repeat mode (blue): Command is run every game tick while powered.
 * Like a minecart with command block but faster.
 * Chain mode (green): Command is run whenever another command block pointing into it executes, and the chain command block itself is powered.
 * The chain signal is forwarded until the blocks get out of loaded chunks.
 * The signal is independent of the powered state of any block in the chain, as well as the command (or lack thereof) inside.
 * Each new mode has its own block id and is obtainable with and.
 * Power received is now a data tag, allowing command blocks to have such a state under control, independent of any nearby redstone signal.
 * "Unconditional" and "Conditional" toggle.
 * Defaults to unconditional (previous behavior).
 * The back of the arrow texture is curved when the command block is set to conditional.
 * When conditional is set, the command block will only run if the command in the block of the "back" side was successful.
 * "Needs Redstone" and "Always Active" toggle.
 * Needs redstone is the previous behavior (default).
 * Always active causes the command block to behave as if it was powered, even if it is updated.
 * Support tab auto-completion.
 * Dragon head
 * While a player wears the head and moves, the head's mouth opens and closes repeatedly.
 * When powered with redstone while it's placed on solid block, the jaw starts to open and close.
 * It will keep the mouth position of the exact moment it was unpowered.
 * It generates on the bows of end ships
 * End gateway (block)
 * A portal block used to transport the player to the new outer regions of the end.
 * The destination of the teleport can be customized using NBT tags.
 * The player cannot use or  to obtain it.
 * It can only be set by using.
 * Naturally generates inside the end gateway structure after killing the dragon and traveling someplace new in the end with it.
 * Shows purple beacon beams when created, and yellow beams used.
 * Its texture does not get deformed due to perspective, but rather it displays the same texture as the end portal block on all its footprint, independent of angle.
 * End rod
 * Generates in the end city dungeons.
 * Placeable horizontally and vertically.
 * The model has a little base that is oriented against the block it was placed against.
 * If it's placed on top of another rod, then it will have the opposite orientation.
 * Produces white particles.
 * Used as a lighting source with the same efficacy as torches.
 * Unlike torches, they are tangible.
 * Horizontal end rods can be stepped up onto like slabs.
 * End stone brick
 * Generates in the End city dungeons.
 * Can be crafted with 4 blocks of end stone.
 * Grass path
 * They are 15/16 of a block (15 pixels) high, just like soulsand.
 * Obtainable by right-clicking grass blocks with a shovel.
 * This drains the shovel's durability.
 * Its texture is very similar to that of grass.
 * Always drops dirt, even when using silk touch.
 * It isn't available in the creative inventory screen.
 * functions normally with it.
 * Purpur block
 * Generates in the End city dungeons.
 * Can be crafted with popped chorus fruit.
 * Purpur pillar
 * Generates in the End city dungeons.
 * Can be crafted with purpur slabs.
 * Purpur stairs
 * Generates in the End city dungeons.
 * Can be crafted with purpur blocks.
 * Purpur slab
 * Generates in the End city dungeons.
 * Can be crafted with purpur blocks.
 * Structure block
 * Only placable via, but unusable.
 * It has 4 different modes: save, load, corner and data.
 * It has an "S" on the texture in save mode, "L" in load mode, "C" in corner mode and "D" in data mode.

Items

 * Arrows
 * New spectral arrow:
 * The tip is gold colored in both the item and the entity model.
 * Shows mob and player outlines in their respective team color when hit (even when invisible).
 * NBT tags can be used to both disable and force outlines.
 * The glowing is a status effect.
 * Crafted by surrounding an arrow with 4 glowstone dust.
 * Yields 2 spectral arrows.
 * The duration of the effect when the arrow strikes its target can be customized using NBT data.
 * Arrows can be tipped with potions.
 * 14 new arrow types in total.
 * Each differently tipped arrow is available in the creative menu, just like enchanted books or potions.
 * Except for the "splashing arrow" that corresponds to the new water splash potion.
 * Corresponding status effect is applied upon impact to mobs and players.
 * Tipped arrows can be customised with commands.
 * Beetroot
 * Restores.
 * Spawns naturally in villages.
 * Can be used to craft beetroot soup.
 * Can also be used to craft rose red dye.
 * Used to be a pocket edition exclusive.
 * Beetroot soup
 * Restores.
 * Crafted from 6 beetroots and a bowl.
 * Used to be a pocket edition exclusive.
 * Beetroot seeds
 * Used to grow beetroots.
 * Drop chances for beetroot seeds average 2 per crop harvested.
 * Used to be a pocket edition exclusive.
 * Chorus fruit
 * Obtained from chorus plants.
 * Can be eaten even if the player is not hungry, similar to golden apples.
 * Teleports the player to a random nearby location when eaten (like an enderman).
 * Does not heal hunger points if the hunger bar is full.
 * Otherwise it will heal.
 * Can be cooked in the furnace to obtain Popped Chorus Fruits.
 * It has a cool down time every time they are eaten, like ender pearls.
 * It is visible in the item icon, through a "rolling curtain" animation.
 * Stacks to 64.
 * Popped chorus fruit
 * Obtained from cooking chorus fruit.
 * Used to craft purpur blocks.
 * Cannot be eaten.
 * Dragon's breath
 * Shot by the ender dragon at the player as an attack.
 * Leaves a patch of purple particles that deal damage when stood on top.
 * Also spawn upon impact of an "ender acid" charge.
 * Can only be collected by right clicking an empty bottle in the middle of the cloud.
 * Found in the brewery section of the creative inventory.
 * Can be used to brew lingering potions with dragon's breath as the ingredient and a splash potion.
 * Stacks to 64.
 * Lingering potion
 * Thrown like a splash potion.
 * Leaves a patch of the potion particle effect on impact.
 * Entities that walk into it get the effect.
 * Has all the potion types, and works with potions whose effect are instant.
 * Brewed with dragon's breath and a splash potion.
 * Cloud duration can be controlled through a data tag.
 * Does not stack, just like other potions.
 * Travels with the same speed as splash potions when shot through dispensers.
 * Water splash potion
 * It extinguishes any fire block that it's thrown at, as well as a maximum of five of them in the vicinity.
 * Shield
 * Crafted using 6 planks and one iron ingot.
 * The default texture looks like wood.
 * New tool used for blocking incoming attacks.
 * If the player holds right click while being attacked, the damage inflicted is reduced, and the shield loses durability.
 * This works when the shield is either in the main hand or in the offhand.
 * The player can hold 2 shields at once, but it does not affect the damage taken.
 * When an attack is blocked by a shield, the attacker may be knocked back.
 * The player cannot while blocking.
 * Can be combined with banners to transfer its pattern to it.
 * The banner is not consumed on use.
 * Can only be combined with banners if no pattern was previously applied.
 * Can only be repaired on the anvil.
 * Requires planks to repair it.
 * They cannot be enchanted directly.
 * Can receive the "Unbreaking" enchantment through an enchanted book
 * Some other enchantments applied via commands will still function, such as Thorns or Protection.
 * Arrows can ricochet off a shield to hit other entities.
 * Shulker spawn egg
 * Used to spawn a shulker.
 * Purple with darker purple spots.

Mobs

 * Shulker
 * Short for "Shell Lurker".
 * A hostile mob with the appearance and some behavior of a solid purple block.
 * Only spawns on the ground or at the walls of end cities when they first generate.
 * When attacking, it opens its shell on a spinning animation revealing the creature inhabiting.
 * The creature looks a like a little white cube with big eyes.
 * Its attack consists of shooting projectiles with the appearance of white sea urchins.
 * The projectiles chase the player until he/she is out of range.
 * It won't chase a spectator.
 * They can only move along one of the three grid axes at a time and on integer steps.
 * This means they can only move through taxicab geometry.
 * They can be knocked away by attacking them.
 * Getting hit by a projectile causes of damage and inflicts the  status effect.
 * Shulkers take more damage if they are attacked while their shell is open.
 * It has an idle animation where it opens its shells a little to peak through.
 * It can be pushed by pistons and resists being placed on any position that isn't 3 integers (except if they are riding minecarts).
 * It sometimes teleports like an enderman or dragon egg while being attacked.
 * It always teleports on the following circumstances:
 * Removing its support block.
 * Pushing it into a non-air block (except piston heads).
 * Pushing a non-air block into its position (except piston heads).
 * It's one of the few entities (apart from boats and minecarts) that can be stood on.
 * It even displaces the player properly during its attacking and idle animations.
 * Has various NBT tags associated with it, which can control its animation, block attached, location and target location of projectile.

Non-mob entities

 * AreaEffectCloud
 * Applies potion effects to mobs and players within its radius during a specific duration.
 * Used for lingering potions and the ender dragon's breath.
 * Various attributes can be configured using NBT data.
 * For example

General

 * Bosses
 * Proper support for multiple bosses’ health bars, so they can show at the same time without obstructing each other.
 * Damage tooltips
 * Now read "When in main hand:" for all tools by default.
 * Now show absolute damage instead of damage increase.
 * Death messages
 * Will now be displayed on the player's death screen in gray as well as in the chat.
 * Resource packs
 * The required pack version number was changed to "2" in.
 * Older resource packs require user acknowledgment to use.
 * Resource packs that were selected in an older version are unselected automatically.
 * Models:
 * Different models/textures can be used for each different damage value, item states, and whether the item is held in a different hand.
 * This works on compasses, clocks, and anything that can have a durability bar.
 * It also contains additional tags for bows and fishing rods.
 * Models can be put together based on block state attributes, such as fences.
 * As a result, the vanilla set of block models has been reduced by almost 300.
 * Block model JSON is now strict, meaning that comments and quote-less identifiers are not allowed.
 * tag defaults have changed, and the  and   tags were replaced with ,  ,  , and.
 * and  tags can coexist now, but the top level elements tag overwrites all former ones.
 * Options
 * Removed the Broadcast Settings section, the Super Secret Settings button and the Alternate Blocks toggle from video settings.
 * Inventory
 * Rearranged the survival inventory and the creative "survival tab" to accommodate for the new offhand slot.
 * Unified the orientation of many items in the inventory.
 * Statistics
 * New column on the statistics items screen to accommodate for the new  and   statistics.
 * Structure data
 * Now comes from.
 * Pick block
 * In survival, pick block now works on items outside the hotbar but inside the player's inventory.
 * Respects the enchantment of items in item frames.
 * Performance
 * Optimized memory usage when connected to servers.
 * Improved chunk generation, loading and sending.
 * Improved rendering "by building a chunk only once where it was rebuilt up to 5 times in worst case".
 * Optimized mob AI, path finding and block ticking.
 * Particles are no longer entities, reducing memory usage.
 * Throwing an egg or a snowball at an entity, produces particles.
 * Redstone and piston contraptions visibly update much faster.
 * Better performance on older computers.

Gameplay

 * Entities
 * Most entities (except for items, ender crystals,paintings and xp orbs) can now be pushed by other entities.
 * The same class of entities are now "magnetic" to the bobber of the fishing rod and won't longer suffer knockback or take pseudo-damage from it.
 * Tools
 * Damage done by tools has been rebalanced:
 * Axes are much stronger but slower, swords and pickaxes are slightly weaker, but swords are faster than axes, shovels are slightly stronger, hoes are the fastest but also the weakest, and now take durability damage when attacking.


 * Enchanting
 * Sharpness and Protection enchantments have been nerfed.
 * Each sharpness level now adds damage to the base damage at level I and an additional 0.5 ( × 0.25) for each additional level, down from a flat  per level.
 * Protection enchantment bonuses are now linear instead of quadratic.
 * Status effects
 * Status effect icons are now displayed on the HUD on the right hand corner, instead of just in the inventory (similar to the pocket edition).
 * They are ordered by the time of infliction from right to left.
 * Positive effects are on the top row and negative effects on the bottom row.
 * Effects that are about to run out, blink.
 * They blink faster when they are closer to running out and start fading away.
 * Hardcore
 * Upon death the player can now choose to respawn in spectator mode, rather than the world being deleted.
 * Difficulty
 * Now controls the chance of a "skeleton trap" spawning on natural lightning strikes.
 * Chance is calculated from the regional difficulty score: 5% * raw regional difficulty score
 * 3.75–7.5% chance on Easy, 7.5–20% chance on Normal, 11.25–33.75% chance on hard.

Command format

 * NBT Tags
 * All entities
 * Introduced a 1024 tag limit on the amount of strings an entity can have within the  tag.
 * If it's surpassed, then it displays an error message saying: "Cannot add more than 1024 tags to an entity."
 * All items
 * tag used to convert numerical IDs to name IDs has been removed.
 * (string): Applied to mobs to make them be part of teams.
 * will summon a creeper that is in the red team.
 * will make the name tag on mobs show in the same way as on players.
 * and  (list) tags are no longer used and are replaced with ,  ,   and.
 * All mobs
 * tag was replaced by the  tag, replacing the short-valued tag of that name.
 * New  tag for zombie villagers is used to determine what profession the zombie is represented as, as well as what profession it will become when cured.
 * The appearance of the zombie will match the assigned profession.
 * This tag is preserved during the villager's transformation to a zombie and viceversa.
 * (compound): Now works on shields in addition to banners, to allow for customization.
 * If you use the /give command to give yourself a shield but don't specify the BlockEntityTag the shield will start with the default texture, but may change colors on entity updates to it if it has other tags.
 * (integer): Numerical value that states which version the player is playing within.
 * It cannot be changed via commands, but it can be tested for.
 * (compound) and  (string): Can now be applied to spawn eggs.
 * The resulting mob will spawn with all of the tags.
 * Mob spawners
 * (string): Placed directly within the old  compound.
 * It's essentially the same as  except at a different depth.
 * (compound): The original  tag has been replaced by the   tag. As well, to define which entity is used, the   tag within "Entity" states the ID.
 * Removed the  and   tags, deprecated the   tag
 * can be used to obtain the number of "scoreboard tags" an entity has via
 * Example: will return the number of scoreboard tags applied to the target.
 * If the target previously had 3 tags added, a score of "3" is returned upon running this command.
 * Fireball, DragonFireball, SmallFireball and WitherSkull entities
 * (list/double): Now requires exactly 3 internal Doubles to be listed in order for the entity to be summoned.
 * (list): New list of 3 Doubles that determine which direction to shoot in. Unlike "direction" however, the motion does not consider air resistance, causing the fireball to endlessly move in that specified direction.  is still required, but can be set to 0.
 * Removed the  and   tags, deprecated the   tag
 * can be used to obtain the number of "scoreboard tags" an entity has via
 * Example: will return the number of scoreboard tags applied to the target.
 * If the target previously had 3 tags added, a score of "3" is returned upon running this command.
 * Fireball, DragonFireball, SmallFireball and WitherSkull entities
 * (list/double): Now requires exactly 3 internal Doubles to be listed in order for the entity to be summoned.
 * (list): New list of 3 Doubles that determine which direction to shoot in. Unlike "direction" however, the motion does not consider air resistance, causing the fireball to endlessly move in that specified direction.  is still required, but can be set to 0.
 * (list): New list of 3 Doubles that determine which direction to shoot in. Unlike "direction" however, the motion does not consider air resistance, causing the fireball to endlessly move in that specified direction.  is still required, but can be set to 0.

World generation

 * The End
 * A set amount of differently-sized obsidian pillars are arranged in a circular fashion.
 * The tallest pillars have iron bars around their ender crystal to deflect projectiles.
 * The exit portal is pre-generated at the center of the main island, but without the dragon egg and portal blocks.
 * Villages
 * Farms now include beetroot crops.

Blocks

 * Dead bushes
 * Now drop around 0–2 sticks.
 * Farmland
 * Now has an inventory icon.
 * Crops
 * Slightly improved drop chances for seeds (average $1 5/7$ per crop harvested instead of $1 3/5$).
 * Slightly improved drop chances for potatoes and carrots (average $2 5/7$ per crop harvested instead of $2 3/5$).
 * Fire
 * The block states flip and alt were removed, and the integer state upper was re-implemented as the byte state up.
 * This reduced the number of states representing fire from 3072 to 512.
 * Fire goes out less often under the rain.
 * The chance of going out each fire tick is reduced from 100% to 0–45%, depending on the  property.
 * Trapdoors
 * No longer require supporting blocks.
 * Therefore they can be moved by pistons freely.
 * An open trapdoor may be climbed like a ladder if it is directly above a ladder and on the same side of the block.
 * Stairs
 * Are now rotated 90° in the inventory.
 * Pressure plates
 * Now have a slightly thinner item model.
 * Glass panes & Iron bars
 * Glass panes/iron bars without any connecting blocks are now 2x2 pixels in footprint.
 * This is compared to the big cross configuration that was default.
 * Doors
 * Changed the shading on acacia, birch, dark oak and jungle doors.
 * Dispensers
 * Now equip pumpkins on the heads of players, mobs and armor stands.
 * Note blocks
 * Their powered state is now controlled through the  tag (like command blocks), so it can now be activated independent of any nearby redstone signal.
 * Command blocks
 * New textures that now vary depending on what direction they are placed from, similar to dispensers and pistons.
 * It consists of a front, a back and a side texture (looks like arrows), so the orientation can be easily determined.
 * The texture is animated - the colored "buttons" in the middle change color.
 * The middle panel texture has a black outline.
 * "Unconditional" and "Conditional" toggle.
 * Defaults to unconditional (previous behavior).
 * The back of the arrow texture is curved when the command block is set to conditional.
 * When conditional is set, the command block will only run if the command in the block of the "back" side was successful.
 * "Needs Redstone" and "Always Active" toggle.
 * Needs redstone is the previous behavior (default).
 * Always active causes the command block to behave as if it was powered, even if it is updated.
 * Supports tab auto-completion.
 * Command block contraptions from earlier versions will still work.
 * The "Done" button is now always available to press, even when the command line is empty.

Items

 * Armor
 * Now show armor points in tooltips.
 * Can be edited using  attribute.
 * Armor protects less overall.
 * Max (20) armor points damage reduction reduced form 80% to 66%.
 * Armor points count for less as the attack strength increases: each done by the attack reduces the effective defense points by.
 * Axes
 * New offensive axe attack.
 * Hitting another player who is blocking with a shield has a chance to disable the player's shield for 5 seconds.
 * It is shown in the item icon of the shield, as a "rolling curtain" animation.
 * 25% base chance, plus 5 percentage points for each level of Efficiency on the axe, plus 75 percentage points if sprinting.
 * Bows
 * Now shows an animation for drawing back an arrow in the hotbar/inventory.
 * Arrows in the off hand are prioritized over arrows in the rest of the inventory slots.
 * Ender pearls
 * Can now be thrown in creative mode.
 * Have a cool down time everytime they are used, that is visible in the item icon. through a "rolling curtain" animation (just like chorus fruit and shields).
 * Golden Apples
 * Enchanted Golden Apple regeneration level has been reduced from V to II.
 * Enchanted Golden Apple regeneration time has been reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.
 * Enchanted Golden Apple absorption level has been increased from I to IV.
 * Golden Apple regeneration level has been reduced from II to I.
 * Maps
 * Now display as a mini map when held in the off hand, or if the offhand slot is occupied.
 * The (old) large version is only visible when held in the dominant hand with both hands free.
 * Maps now start at a zoom level of 1:4, rather than 1:1.
 * New recipe for zooming in on a map: shears and a map together in any shape.
 * Zooms in on the lower-right quadrant of the original map.
 * Fishing rods
 * Casting fishing rods now has an animation in the hotbar/inventory.
 * Can now hook on entities without causing knockback or pseudo-damage.
 * Potions
 * Mixed potions' colors now blend.
 * An NBT  tag is used instead of numeric metadata to differentiate the types of potions.
 * e.g..
 * Added Mundane, Thick and Awkward potions to the creative inventory.
 * Glowstone dust or redstone can no longer be added to extended or tier-II potions respectively.
 * Most recipes for the potion of were removed (see: brewing for all the removed recipes).
 * Extended potion of, extended potion of and potion of  II had their durations reduced.
 * Potion of changed from 130% bonus damage to, i.e. an absolute bonus rather than a relative one.
 * Potion of changed from 0.5 ( × $1/4$) reduction to damage to.
 * Now travel much faster (like other projectiles) when being shot from dispensers.
 * Now have a separate data value and ID name from regular potions.
 * Swords
 * Can no longer be used for blocking.
 * Function replaced by shields.
 * New defensive sword "sweep" attack when swinging the sword while crouching or standing.
 * Mobs near the one hit (bounding box expanded by 1 block horizontally and 0.25 vertically) and within 3 blocks of the attacker are knocked back without damage.
 * The knockback inflicted is 80% of that done by the knockback I enchantment.
 * Using the knockback enchantment only affects the mobs/players that were hit.
 * Creates a sweep attack particle.
 * Hoes
 * Now take damage while attacking with them.

Mobs

 * All mobs
 * Have a 5% chance to spawn left-handed.
 * Mobs able to hold items will hold them according to their dominant hand.
 * Mobs have both main hand and offhand slots, both of which can be edited independently.
 * Give off brown heart particles when hurt.
 * The amount of particles depends on the damage dealt.
 * Mobs no longer reset their AI when hit.
 * All hostile mobs can now draw a line of sight through solid blocks in order to track the player.
 * Ender dragon
 * The fight has been changed to be more similar to the one on the console edition.
 * The dragon can be respawned infinitely many times, by creating a creeper face configuration out of clay in the End.
 * Subsequent dragons will spawn new gateways up to a total of 20, but won't create new dragon eggs and will only drop 500 experience.
 * When the dragon is respawned, the circle of pillars and the crystals reappear.
 * Explosion particles appear on the tops of the pillars as they are being rebuilt.
 * No longer take damage from snowballs, eggs or fishing rods.
 * Its attacks have been changed:
 * The "charge" attack has been given a great amount of knockback.
 * Breathes fire/purple particles (called "dragon breath") while on top of the portal.
 * During the attack, it knockbacks and damages all players on all angles in the vicinity (as if hitting with other body parts).
 * Immediately charges the player right after.
 * Right clicking the dragon's breath cloud with an empty bottle will turn in into dragon breath.
 * It is used to transform splash potions into lingering potions
 * Shoots special projectiles at the player called "ender acid".
 * These produce a dragon breath cloud on impact and light the ground on fire.
 * While on top of the portal arrows will bounce back and be set on fire.
 * NBT tags can determine the dragon's phase.
 * Its AI was changed:
 * It sometimes returns to the center of the island to "perch" on top of the portal and shoot dragon breath.
 * It charges right after.
 * Defends the obsidian pillars more, the further the fight progresses.
 * Flies back to the portal once it gets killed, to complete its animation.
 * Villagers
 * Farmer villagers now harvest beetroot.
 * Zombies
 * Now lift their arms slightly when becoming hostile.
 * Zombie villagers now have different textures based on the profession and career of the original villager.
 * The profession is restored once cured but not its trades.
 * Zombie Pigmen
 * Now lift their arms slightly when becoming hostile, like regular zombies.
 * Skeletons
 * Have new idle sounds.
 * Have an animation for lifting up and drawing back their bow when becoming hostile.
 * Mapmakers can make skeletons shoot potion-tipped arrows.
 * Skeletons can now walk, strafe and shoot at the same time.
 * They walk away from players that are too close and towards players that are too far.
 * They will also sprint towards the player when very far away.
 * Now can spawn riding "skeletal horses" through the new "skeleton trap" horse.
 * Endermen
 * Remain aggravated towards the player despite being in contact with water.
 * Drop the block they were holding when killed.
 * Pigs
 * Can be led and bred with potatoes and beetroots, in addition to carrots.
 * Chickens
 * Can be led and bred with melon, pumpkin, and beetroot seeds, in addition to regular seeds.
 * Horses
 * Added "skeleton trap" horses. When a player approaches to within 10 blocks, the following will happen:
 * The  flag is cleared.
 * Lightning strikes the horse.
 * The horse will become skeletal if it isn't already.
 * The horse becomes tame.
 * The horse becomes fully grown (if a baby) and the breeding cooldown is reset.
 * A skeleton is spawned riding the horse.
 * The skeleton has damage immunity for 3 seconds.
 * The skeleton will not despawn ( is set).
 * The skeleton will be wearing an iron helmet, unless it randomly spawned with some other headgear.
 * The skeleton's bow and helmet will be enchanted as if on an enchantment table at level 5–22.
 * The level is higher depending on regional difficulty; on Easy it will always be a level-5 enchantment.
 * Three additional skeletal horses with riders will be spawned in the vicinity.
 * Tamed Ocelots & Wolves
 * Deaths (and killers) are now announced to their owners in chat, even if unnamed.
 * Creepers, skeletons & zombies
 * Must be closer to notice players wearing the corresponding mob head.
 * Specifically, their detection range is reduced to be half of the normal range.
 * This reduction stacks with the reductions from sneaking and invisibility.

Non-mob entities

 * Projectiles
 * Slightly altered the path of projectiles.
 * Lightning
 * Natural lightning strikes may spawn a "skeleton trap" style skeletal horses.
 * Chance is calculated from the regional difficulty score: 5% * raw regional difficulty score
 * 3.75–7.5% chance on Easy, 7.5–20% chance on Normal, 11.25–33.75% chance on hard.
 * Armor stands
 * Can now be summoned to dual wield with commands.
 * Minecarts with command blocks
 * Now have the new impulse command block variant texture.
 * The "Done" button is now always available to press, even if the command line is empty.

General

 * Captions/Subtitles
 * Subtitles which display for each sound for the hard of hearing/deaf.
 * An example would be “Creeper hissing”.
 * Would have "<" or ">" to point in the direction this sound is coming from.

Gameplay

 * Brewing
 * Possibly new potions.
 * It is uncertain if this was already referring to the lingering potion.


 * Enchanting
 * Possibly new enchantments.

Mobs

 * More skins for mobs
 * Will allow mobs to have additional random skins, similarly to horses.
 * May have been referring to the new clothes for zombie villagers.

Non-mob entities

 * Craftable ender crystals
 * A version of the ender crystal that can be crafted, which can be used to spawn another ender dragon.

Command format

 * Commands
 * will be able to rotate and mirror structures.

Items

 * Shields
 * Used to block attacks from the side the shield is held on.
 * Sounds for when you block an attack.
 * Increased durability.

Trivia

 * This is now the longest wait for a major update to Minecraft, with 3616 days days now having elapsed since the release of 1.8 on September 2, 2014.
 * Until this point, the longest waits had been those between 1.7.2 and 1.8 (312 days), and between 1.2.1 and 1.3.1 (153 days).
 * This has also been the longest span of time between the release of a major update to Minecraft and a snapshot for the next major update, with 330 days having elapsed between the release of 1.8 on September 2, 2014, and 15w31a on July 29, 2015.
 * Until this point, the longest waits had been those between 1.7.2 and 14w02a (76 days), between 1.4.2 and 13w01a (70 days), and between 1.6.1 and 13w36a (66 days).