A lava-filled cavern
Caverns or Caves are commonly-found cavities in the Stone layer of a map. Many caverns have tunnels branching off and winding in other directions, some of which connect to the surface of the map creating natural entries to the cavern. Caverns can be quite deep, extending from the surface all the way to the Bedrock layer, which is impossible to break through. These caverns are randomly generated so no two of them will look exactly alike, making guides hard to be formed. It can sometimes be attached to natural dungeons.
In caverns it is expected to contain at least one type of exposed ore block. Hostile mobs often spawn in naturally occurred caverns so it is advisable to bring along a weapon if on any difficulty other than peaceful.
Caverns can be useful as a starting point for creating player-made dungeons and other underground structures with. Since it is a natural cave, it can save quite a bit of time on trying to find ore. However, caverns could be quite deep, like a pit, so accidentally breaking into one from above could inflict a lot of fall damage. Players should be aware of the presence of lava as it is one of the main risk factors of exploring caverns, even on peaceful.
Pits
A pit is a hole in the ground that falls straight down. Pits are usually found in caverns, or when mining down you may fall into one. Pits are a good way to go farther underground, but are dangerous because they can lead into lava, a dungeon, or the fall may kill the player. It is advised that the player should bring ladders or create a water elevator or stairway before exploring a pit.
Finding Caverns
There are a number of ways to find caverns. Below is a table, designed to make cavern-hunting easier.
| Method | Details |
|---|---|
| Exploring Surface | By exploring the surface of the map, there is a good chance that an exposed cavern can be found. |
| Digging | Digging around might uncover caverns, but it is not easy as the map is infinitely big. |
| Listening | By following the source of ambience, or the sound of mobs coming from underground, there is a big chance to find a cavern. |
| Cartographer | Use 3rd party software (such as Cartographer) to make maps of caves. This can easily lead the player to Dungeons or Caverns. This is considered cheating by some players. |
| The Nether | Travelling to The Nether, going down roughly 20-30 blocks, and creating a new portal there will likely cause the earth portal to spawn in a cavern as a portal is spawned in the nearest suitable space for the portal. |
Classification of Caverns
A cavern can be classified into 3 rates of cave systems.
Dud Cave
A Cave, short; not many ores... Many can be found near ground level however, some require digging.
Abundant Cave
A Cave, short or medium; many, or a abundant selection of ores, including gold, diamond, and Redstone, some lava; and water may be found in these caves.
Epic Cave
A gigantic cave system, huge in size, many selection of ore, lava rivers, diamonds, gold, redstone, dungeons can be found in these caves.
Lava River Travel Rumor
Some say that if you follow a Lava River that you will likely find another cave, with diamonds, and abundance of ore. The lava river surfaces at 11 squares from bedrock, and usually is the source of many diamonds, and gold; redstone.