Note: This page documents an update very early in development and has many links which link here. Please create the desired pages
Official logo for Caves & Cliffs.
Caves & Cliffs is the name for a major update that will be released for most versions of Minecraft, likely as Java Edition 1.17 and Bedrock Edition 1.17.0. It was announced in Minecraft Live 2020.[1] It will include new cave and mountains features, as well the glow squid, a mob that was voted for during the second Minecraft mob vote. Everything in this page is still a work in progress, because Mojang has not yet released the official information. Many names of blocks, items, and entities are merely guesses, but only temporarily.
Planned additions
Please note that the names of many features are currently placeholders.
Blocks
- Part of a new exclusive tree, marking the location of the lush caves.
- Part of the Azalea tree.
- Resembles a dirt block, but with roots textured within.
- Generates amethyst crystals on top given time.
- Unobtainable in survival, and probably cannot be moved with pistons.
- Extremely rare, only generates in amethyst geode structures.
- Grows on top of geode blocks over time.
- Makes a jingling noise when walking over them.
- Break to produce a crystal shard item.
- These can be crafted into telescopes.
- New ore, found underground.
- Drops itself when broken, like other metal ores.
- Spawns in new large ore veins.
- Can be used to craft a Lightning Rod or a Telescope.
- File:Block of Copper Age 1.png File:Block of Copper Age 2.png File:Block of Copper Age 3.png Develops a patina of pale green copper carbonate over multiple stages, which might be sped up by weather such as rain.
- The time it takes to age fully is about 16 Minecraft days.
- File:Copper Stairs Age 1.png File:Copper Stairs Age 2.png File:Copper Stairs Age 3.png Develops a patina of pale green copper carbonate over multiple stages, which might be sped up by weather such as rain.
- The time it takes to age fully is about 16 Minecraft days.
- File:Copper Slab Age 1.png File:Copper Slab Age 2.png File:Copper Slab Age 3.png Develops a patina of pale green copper carbonate over multiple stages, which might be sped up by weather such as rain.
- The time it takes to age fully is about 16 Minecraft days.
- Ceramic Shards can be incorporated into an unfired pot.
- Can be fired by lighting fire under the pot.
- File:New Vine.png File:New Vine 2.png Spore plant
- Light source.
- Grows edible glow berries.
- Sends particles downward when opened.
- A plant that can be used for platforming.
- If the player stands on top of the plant for a period of time, the player falls through the plant.
- File:Baby dripleaf plants.png Small dripleaf plant-like blocks
- Appear highly varied in models.
- Looks grassy on all sides and opaque.
- File:Foliage carpet.png Moss Blanket
- Same texture as the moss block, but one pixel thick.
- File:Roots bloody roots.png Unknown hanging roots block
- Seen in the distance of a lush caves biome, behind a spore blossom.
- File:Baby azalea tree.png File:Baby blooming azalea tree.png Small versions of azalea trees or azalea bushes.
- May or may not be saplings.
- Generates in the mysterious new biome, referred to as "Deep Dark" temporarily.
- File:Sculk Something.png Sculk Chute
- Generates in the Deep Dark biome.
- File:Sculk Growth.png Sculk Growth
- Generates in the Deep Dark biome.
- A layer that generates on top blocks like snow.
- Some have parts are transparent, allowing the player to see the block it is on top of.
- Generates in the Deep Dark biome.
- Can be used for wireless redstone.
- Senses block placement, footsteps, or projectiles.
- Wool can occlude its ability to sense.
- Can be used with a piston to create a wireless redstone clock.
- Can be found in the new dripstone caves on the floor.
- Deals damage when landed on.
- Can be found in the new dripstone caves on the ceiling.
- Can fall, but unlike sand or gravel breaks apart on impact.
- Drips water, which can fill cauldrons placed below it.
- File:Unknown speleothem block.png Unknown block associated with speleothems
(possibly Dripstone, based off of the name of the biome which it is found in)
- Appears to be made of the same materials as stalactites and stalagmites, but as a full cube.
- Crafted with copper.
- Redirects nearby lightning strikes to the top of the rod, which can prevent flammable structures from catching on fire during thunderstorms.
- Powder Snow[2]
- Deceptively similar to snow, but entities fall through it. Likely related to the "snowier snow" announced when the Mountains won the 2019 biome vote.
- This is how regular snow layer blocks worked in old versions of Minecraft, but it was changed because it created accidental booby-traps when lava ponds generated at the right height to cut out the ground but not the snow.
- File:Unidentified Stalagmite Torches.png File:White candles.png Candle-like blocks
- Can be up to four in a block, similar to sea pickles
- Comes in black or white
- Emits fire particles
- File:Unnamed Stone.png Unknown grey stone block
- Can be found around the deep dark cave biome walls.
- Can be found in large groups.
- Similar to diorite, but with a smoother texture.
- Found underground surrounding the outsides of geode formations.
Items
- Drops from Amethyst Crystals.
- Used to make telescopes.
- Obtained by using a water bucket on an axolotl, similar to fish.
- Had no name in the Minecraft Live 2020 demo, showing its translation string "item.minecraft.axolotl_bucket".
- Used to sweep away debris from archaeological items
- Sweeps debris off archaeological items one layer at a time, but similar to the block breaking animation, does not permanently change the block it is used on
- Also comes in a blue variant: File:Blue brush.png
- Can contain one cumulative stack of any number of item types.
- Stacksizes are sustained: It can hold 8 ender pearls and 32 blocks for example, as enderpearls only stack to 16. Unstackable items like minecarts remain unstackable.
- Items are added by dragging bundle to an item.
- Tooltip shows icons of contained items.
- Items drop to inventory when right clicked.
- Obtained with brush at archeological sites.
- Come in different colors and different designs, each depicting a different picture, such as an ender dragon, Alex, a skeleton, a tree and a vindicator.
- Can be placed/customized on clay pots.
- Currently using placeholder art, according to Jasper Boerstra.[3]
- Can be eaten.
- May be able to use as a light source.
- Crafted from crystal shards and copper.
- When held, allows the player to see far away through a small circle.
Mobs
- Small, critically-endangered mexican salamanders found in bodies of water within Lush Caves biomes.
- Will be the first ever amphibian added to Minecraft.
- Can be caught in a bucket like with fish. (Can be tamed by capturing it in a bucket)
- Come in different colors (leucistic, yellow, green, brown, and purple/pink).[1]
- Plays dead when damaged, receiving Regeneration Appears to turn invisible or teleport after this, although the latter may be just a bug or a glitch.
- Attacks drowned, guardians, elder guardians and fish.
- Sometimes can give Regeneration to the player who tamed it
- Originates from Minecraft Earth.
- Glows in the same way that magma cube cores, blazes and the eyes of spiders, drowned, Vexes, and endermen do.
- Lives in flooded caves.
- Spawns in mountain biomes.
- Can jump very high (4-5 Blocks) to avoid obstacles.
- Attacks close animals and knocks them up to 10 blocks away.
- There is a baby variant and therefore presumably a way to breed them.
- Spawns in the Deep Dark biome.
- When sensing movement, they move towards the source of the movement.
- When attacked, they head towards the player.
- Seems to follow the same rules as the Sculk sensor when detecting noise.
- Does not detect players that are sneaking.
- Incredibly strong (at most 30
× 15 damage), bringing full-netherite players to 7


health points. - Has at least 84
× 42 health points. - At least as fast as the player's walking speed.
- Seems to move faster when attacked.
- Seems to have some knockback resistance.
- Likely spawns in relation to the hut seen in the clip (now called The Warden’s Dungeon).
- Can be tricked by snowballs and other throwable items which also count as movement.
- It is the first blind mob.
- It has strange faces on its chest that resemble those of Soul Speed effect
World generation
- Generate below Azalea trees.
- Contain glow berries.
- Can spawn axolotls
The preview of updated mountain generation given during Minecraft Live 2020.
- Revamped
- Contain powdered snow and goats.
- New biome at the "deepest depths of the world".
- A warden is found inside.
- Contains the unidentified stalagmite torches.
- Contains Sculk blocks, a new block which responds to sound.
- Contains unknown greyish block
- Contain stalactites and stalagmites.
- Revamped to generate bigger, more adventurous caves.
- Seems to increase max world height and sea level.
- A tiny underground cave-like feature.
- Contains geode blocks and the amethyst crystals they generate.
- Bell-like sounds can be heard here — whether a block emits these or if it's biome-related (like the exclusive ambience for nether biomes) is unknown.
- Archaeological Excavation
- New structure where archeological items and ceramic shards can be found
- The Warden's Dungeon
- Can be found in the Deep Dark biome.
- Contains cobwebs and the unknown candle-like blocks.
- Stripped spruce log support beam runs across ceiling.
- Barrels, a double chest, and a blast furnace are included.
- Appears to be a man-made structure made for the trailer according to Xilefian during an after-show Twitch stream.
A picture of the local water levels in use forming an underwater lake or ocean shown in Minecraft Live 2020.
Local Water Levels
- A new generation aspect has been introduced, which allows for certain areas of a world to generate with a water level different than another area.
- Allows for the generation of underground lakes, and oceans.
- Allows for the generation of many underground waterfalls.
- Allows for under water entrances.
- Will be revamped, at least for copper.
Gameplay
- The player can find items and blocks in gravel and dirt inside the dig site structure by using the brush.
- Possible items shown in the alpha footage include:
- Diamond blocks,
- Emerald blocks and
- Ceramic shards of varying color, which depict different images.
- Dark Flashing
- While in the deep dark biome, the screen occasionally darkens limiting the player's visibility. This may be the unknown candle like block's light darkening.
- This could also be related to the warden.
Trivia
- This update is the first to add a new ore to the overworld since Java Edition 12w21a in 2012 when emerald was added.
- Although the Axolotl is the first amphibian mob to be implemented into Minecraft, it is not the first announced, as frogs were mentioned during the 2019 biome vote.
- Ores were shown to emit light during the reveal of this update. This was later confirmed to just be for demonstration purposes, and not for the final game.
Gallery
Minecraft Live 2020
Screenshots of the Caves and Cliffs Update from Minecraft Live 2020:
- Amethyst Geode.png
A view of an amethyst geode.
- Screen Shot 2020-10-04 at 12.50.50 PM.png
A copper roof house which shows the copper aging as the days go by
Concept artwork
References
- ↑ a b "Minecraft Live: The Recap" – Minecraft.net, October 3, 2020
- ↑ "Powder Snow!! Couldn't wait to talk to you about this one - especially to our technical players who build awesome farms! Let me know what you think about a new trap possibility! More details soon! #MinecraftLive" – @Mega_Spud on X, October 3, 2020
- ↑ "Note: Everything in the archeology vid was placeholder art" – @JasperBoerstra (Jasper Boerstra) on X, October 3, 2020











