Caves & Cliffs

The official logo for Caves & Cliffs.

Caves & Cliffs is an upcoming major themed update set to release in mid-2021 as Java Edition 1.17 and Bedrock Edition 1.17.0. It was announced in Minecraft Live 2020 and includes new features for caves, mountains, and new mobs.

This update's development on Java Edition started with snapshot 20w45a, which was released on November 4, 2020.

This update's development on Bedrock Edition started with beta 1.16.200.52, which was released on October 28, 2020, although most of the features are behind experimental gameplay toggle until 1.17.0 and were not included in the full 1.16.200 release.

Notable features

Main articles: Java Edition 1.17 and Bedrock Edition 1.17.0

This section is about features that are included in the development versions. For planned additions, see  § Planned additions. For planned changes, see  § Planned changes.

Blocks

• Amethyst Buds and Amethyst Cluster

• Grow on any side of budding amethyst blocks over time.
• Is a light source.
• Fully grown crystals break to produce an amethyst shard item.
  • These can be crafted into spyglasses and tinted glass.

• Azalea
  • Has variants with either no blossoms or pink blossoms.

• Azalea Leaves
  • Part of a new tree, marking the location of the lush cave.
  • Has variants with either no blossoms or pink blossoms.

• Big Dripleaf
  • A plant that can be used for platforming.
  • If the player stands on top of the plant for 2 seconds (40 ticks), the player falls through the plant.
  • Can be placed on a grass block.
  • Will still tilt, even if the player is sneaking.
  • If hit by a projectile (snowballs, arrows, etc.), it will tilt over.
  • If it is powered by a redstone block, it will not tilt, unless hit by a projectile.
  • Can be bonemealed to grow higher.

• Block of Amethyst

• Can be crafted with 4 amethyst shards.
• Generates only in amethyst geode structures.
• Makes a sparkling sound when placed or walked on.

• Budding Amethyst

• When it receives a random tick, it has a 20% chance to generate or grow an amethyst bud on one of its sides.
• Relatively rare, generates only in amethyst geode structures.
• Not obtainable, even with Silk Touch.

• Calcite

• Spawns between tuff and blocks of amethyst, much like real-life geodes.
• Visually similar to diorite, but with a smoother texture.
• Found underground surrounding the outsides of amethyst geode formations.

• Candles and Candle Cakes

• A light source, has light level of 3.
• Can have up to four in a single block, similar to sea pickles. If 1 more candle is placed in a block, it increases the light level by 3, making a max light level of 12.
• Variants for uncolored and all 16 colors.
• Emits fire particles.
• Can be lit with a flint and steel, fire charge, an arrow fired from a flame-enchanted bow, or a fire charge shot by a dispenser if it hits the candle.
• When lit, the player can left click it to snuff it.
• Can only be placed if there is a solid surface below.
  • Can still float if the block below them is broken.
• Right-clicking a candle on an uneaten cake makes a "birthday cake", which can have 1 candle placed on it.
  • If the cake is eaten, the candle will pop off.
• Uncolored candle crafted with 1 string and 1 honeycomb.
• Colored candle crafted using one of the 16 dyes and one uncolored candle.

• Cauldron

• Can now be filled with lava in Java Edition, which was previously a Bedrock Edition exclusive.
  • Striders are not affected by lava cauldrons.
• Can now be filled from the snowfall in mountains creating powder snow. Can be collected from buckets.

• Cave Vines
  • Light source.
  • Grows edible glow berries.

• Copper Block and variants

• Copper blocks are used for storage.
  • Made with 4 copper ingots.
• Only cut copper can be used to make stairs and slabs.
  • Made with 4 copper blocks.
  • Can't be turned back into regular copper blocks or copper ingots.
• Develops a patina of pale green copper carbonate over multiple stages, which might be sped up by weather such as rain.
  • Honeycombs can be used to make waxed copper, which does not progress beyond the patina stage it has at the time.
  • Drowned can drop copper ingots
  • The stonecutter can be used to craft the different copper block variants

• Copper Ore

• New ore that is found underground.
• Drops itself when broken, like other metal ores.
• Spawns in ore veins similar to iron (current generation is not the final version).
• Can be smelted into a copper ingot, which can be used to craft copper blocks, lightning rods, and spyglasses.

• Dripstone Block

• Spawn in Dripstone Caves.
• Can be crafted from four pointed dripstone.

• Glow Lichen

• A decorative block.
• Can be water-logged.
• Looks similar to vines.
• Emits a light level of 7.
• Spreads to a random nearby block when bonemealed,

This block was hinted at by Henrik Kniberg, who explained that the glowing ores at Minecraft Live 2020 were prototypes for this.

• Grimstone

• Can be found under Y=0.
• Can be found in large chunks.
• Is tougher to mine than normal stone.
• Can be crafted into the following blocks with this new stone type:

• Grimstone Slab
• Grimstone Stairs
• Grimstone Wall
• Polished Grimstone
• Polished Grimstone Slab
• Polished Grimstone Stairs
• Polished Grimstone Wall
• Grimstone Bricks
• Grimstone Brick Slab
• Grimstone Brick Stairs
• Grimstone Brick Wall
• Grimstone Tiles
• Grimstone Tile Slab
• Grimstone Tile Stairs
• Grimstone Tile Wall
• Chiseled Grimstone

• Hanging Roots
  • Seen in the distance of a lush caves biome behind a spore blossom.

• Lightning Rod

• Crafted with 3 copper ingots.
• Redirects nearby lightning strikes to the top of the rod, which can prevent flammable structures from catching fire during thunderstorms.
• Emits a redstone signal when struck by lightning.
• Can be oriented in different directions.
• Can create lightning when struck by a channeling trident in a thunder storm, but does not output a redstone signal.

• Tinted Glass

• A type of glass that does not allow light to pass through.
• Crafted with a glass block in the middle and 4 amethyst shards around it.
• Drops itself when broken, even without Silk Touch, unlike glass.

• Moss Block
  • An opaque block that appears grassy on all sides.
  • Can be bonemealed to grow grass, tall grass, moss carpets and both types of azaleas on it and in its vicinity.
  • Can be bonemealed to grow over (expand) across stone surfaces, but not grass surfaces.
  • Breaks when pushed by a piston.

• Moss Carpet
  • Same texture as the moss block, but one pixel thick. Similar to a carpet.

• Pointed Dripstone

• Comes in two forms, stalactites and stalagmites.
  • Stalactites hang from the ceiling and will drip water or lava, based on what was above them. The stalactites will still drip water naturally without a source block above it, but it does not fill the cauldron.
    • Placing a cauldron under a stalactite will slowly fill the cauldron with water or lava depending on the source block above them (enables renewable lava).
    • If the block on which a stalactite hangs is broken, the stalactite will fall, and this will damage players and mobs.
  • Stalagmites are found on the floor of the cave and deal damage if landed on.
    • Falling from a greater height deals more damage than from a shorter height.

• Powder Snow

• Similar to snow, but entities fall through it, similar to the effect of cobwebs, but faster.
• "Snowier snow" was announced to be part of the Mountains biome in the biome vote at MINECON Live 2019, a joke teaser for powder snow.
• When wearing leather boots, it acts like scaffolding and also protects from freezing.
• If the player does not have leather boots equipped and they walk or fall in, they will start to freeze and take damage.
• Freezing lowers the player's FOV (field of view) and puts a frosty vignette on their screen.
• Any leather armor prevents freezing.

• Rooted Dirt
  • Part of the Azalea plant.
  • Resembles a dirt block, but with the roots of the Azalea tree intertwined.

• Sculk Sensor

• Generates in the deep dark cave biome.
• Can be used for wireless redstone.
• Senses vibrations created by things such as block placement, footsteps, and projectiles, including fishing rods.
• Wool can occlude its ability to sense. This can be placed between or completely around the source of the input.
• Cannot detect players sneaking.
• Can be used with a piston to create a wireless redstone clock.
• Emits particles (animation here: File:Particle of the Vibration.gif) when it senses a vibration nearby except when waterlogged.
• Are not affected by ambient weather such as rain, nor other sculk sensors and/or the warden.

• Small Dripleaf
  • Appears highly varied in models.
  • Can only be placed in water or on clay, which counts as a 'moist' block.
  • Can be bonemealed to turn into Big Dripleaf .
  • Can be sold by the Wandering Trader.

• Spore Blossom
  • Can be placed on ceilings.
  • Sends particles downward when opened.

• Tuff

• Spawns as an outer- covering of amethyst geodes on the outer side of calcite, similar to real-life geodes.

Items

• Amethyst Shard

• Drops 4 (without the fortune enchantment) from Amethyst Crystals.
• Used to make spyglasses and tinted glass.

• Bucket of Axolotl

• Obtained by using a water bucket on an axolotl, similar to fish.

• Bundle

• Can contain one cumulative stack of any variety of item types.
  • Stack sizes are sustained. For example, a bundle containing 32 blocks with a stack size of 64 could hold only an additional 8 ender pearls, as the stack size of an ender pearl is 16; the half stack of ender pearls added to the half stack of blocks is calculated as one full stack. Unstackable items like minecarts remain unstackable.
• Displays a blue bar, similar to a durability bar, that shows how full it is.
• Items are added by holding the bundle within the inventory and clicking an item or vice versa.
• Tooltip shows icons of contained items.
• Items drop to inventory when right clicked.
• Are crafted with rabbit hide and string.

• Copper Ingot

• Created by smelting copper ore.
• Can be used to craft copper blocks, lightning rods, and spyglasses.

• Glow Berries

• Can be eaten.
• Used as a light source.

• Glow Ink Sac

• Drops from Glow Squid.
• Used to make Glow Item Frames.

• Goat Horn ‌

• Goats have a chance to drop this item when they ram into a block.
• Holding use while holding this item plays the raid horn sound effect.

• Powder Snow Bucket

• Using a bucket on powder snow creates a powder snow bucket.
• Powder snow buckets can be used to place powder snow.
• Powder snow buckets can also be filled from cauldrons filled with powder snow.

• Spawn Eggs

• Spawn eggs for the new mobs are added.
  • The axolotl spawn egg, currently available in Java Edition.
  • The glow squid spawn egg.
  • The goat spawn egg, currently available in Bedrock Edition.

• Spyglass

• Crafted from an amethyst shard and 2 copper ingots.
• When used while held, it allows the player to see far away objects through a small square.
• Switching to third person view while using the spyglass shows the player holding up the spyglass to where the eyes would be.

Mobs

• Axolotl

The five varieties of axolotl: lucy (pink), wild (brown), gold, cyan, and a rare blue variety.

• Based on the critically endangered Mexican salamander with the same name in real life.
• Planned to be found in bodies of water within lush caves biomes.
• The first amphibian added to Minecraft.
• Can be caught in a bucket like fish.
• Comes in four common varieties, lucy (pink), wild (brown), gold, and cyan, and a rare blue variety, which has a ¹⁄₁₂₀₀ (~0.08334%) chance of spawning.
• Plays dead when damaged, receiving Regeneration.

• This regeneration ability is likely based on how real axolotls can regrow lost limbs.

• Attacks fish and squid, and attacks drowned and guardians (doesn't include Elder Guardians) if tempted with tropical fish by a player.

A glow squid in Java Edition.

• Glow Squid

• Originates from Minecraft Earth.
• Glows in the same way that magma cube cores, vexes, blazes and the eyes of spiders, drowned, and endermen do.
• Drops Glow Ink Sacs, used to make Glow Item Frames.
• Spawns in the deep oceansunderwater caves.
• Was decided on based on a mob vote between it, the Moobloom from Minecraft Earth, and the Iceologer from the Minecraft Dungeons DLC Creeping Winter.

A goat.

• Goat ‌

• Spawns in mountain biomes.
• Can jump high to avoid obstacles, about 5 blocks tall.
• Attacks nearby mobs by charging and knocking them a considerable distance.
• Takes reduced fall damage.
• Avoids powder snow by jumping over it.
• Can be bred with wheat, which produces a baby goat.
• Drops one goat horn when ramming into a block. Goat horns do not regrow.

Non-mob entites

• Glow Item Frames

• A variant of the Item Frame that is made using a Glow Ink Sac.
• Appears to glow but does not give any actual light.

World generation

• Amethyst Geodes

File:Amethyst Geode.png

Inside an amethyst geode.

• A tiny underground cave-like feature.
• Contains tuff, calcite, blocks of amethyst, budding amethyst, and the amethyst clusters they generate.
• An amethyst geode that generates underwater will cause water block textures to appear in openings. Placing or breaking a block next to the water blocks causes them to start flowing into the geode.
• Twinkle-like sounds can be heard near amethyst crystals, which used placeholder sounds when it was showcased, and not the final version.

• Caves

• Completely overhauled.
• Biomes inside of caves introduced such as dripstone caves.
• New noise caves, coming in 2 forms, cheese and spaghetti.

• The original caves still exist, mixing with the noise caves.
• Cheese caves have large stone towers stretching from the bottom of the cave to the top.

• Very large, large enough to fly with an elytra
• Abundant with aquifers and ores.

• Spaghetti caves are long, thin caves which only have small aquifiers and are more similar to original caves.

• Contain aquifers, bodies of water with different heights, independant of sea level (Y=63).
• Now stretch down to Y = -61.

• Mineshafts

• For support, if in the air, can generate with log pillars below or chains on fence posts above.

• Strongholds

• Try to generate fully encased in stone.

Biomes

• Dripstone Caves

A dripstone caves biome.

• Contains pointed dripstone and dripstone blocks.

Gameplay

Vibrations

• An action can cause vibrations in the air, which can be picked up by sculk sensors and wardens.
• Can be caused by player and mob movements, blocks being placed or broken, containers opening, projectiles being fired and landing, blocks like pistons moving, buttons, levers and pressure plates activating, and blocks activating. Vibrations are not caused by ambient weather such as rain or snow.

General

Height limit

• Has been increased to 384 blocks, expanding 64 blocks up and 64 blocks down, with 320 being the limit upwards and -64 being the limit downwards.

Planned additions

Please note that the names of many features are currently placeholders. They may be marked with .

Blocks

File:Restoring clay pots.png Clay Pot

• Uses the texture of clay.
• Ceramic Shards can be incorporated into an unfired pot.
• Can be fired by lighting fire under the pot.
• Pot can fit up to 8 Ceramic Shards.

File:Painted clay pot.png Painted Clay Pot

• Uses the texture of terracotta.
• Created by firing a clay pot.
• Upon firing, any placed Ceramic Shards become permanently incorporated on to the clay pot.

Sculk Block

• Generates in the mysterious new cave biome, referred to as the "deep dark" temporarily.
• Has an animated texture.
• May be used in redstone as seen in this video when they talk about the sculk sensor.[1]

File:Unidentified Sculk Block.png Sculk Trap

This image shows the sculk blocks in redstone, implying that the other sculk blocks also have redstone uses.

• Generates in the deep dark biome.
• Has a different top texture than the Sculk Block and Sculk Chute.
• May be used in redstone as seen in this video when they talk about the sculk sensor.[2]

File:Sculk Something.png Sculk Chute

• Generates in the deep dark caves.
• Made of sculk and a bone-like material.
• May be used in redstone as seen in this video when they talk about the sculk sensor.[3]
• Glows but does not emit light, similar to the Glow Squid or the Glow Item Frame.

File:Sculk Growth.png Sculk Growth

• Generates in the deep dark cave biome.
• Generates in a layer on top of blocks, similar to snow.
• Some have parts that are transparent, allowing the player to see the block it is on top of.
• May be used in redstone as seen in this video when they talk about the sculk sensor.[4]

Processing rubble

• A technical block associated with archaeology.
• At least comes in dirt and gravel variants.
• Created upon using a brush on what appears to be normal dirt or gravel.
• Has 16 layers.

Items

Brush

• Used to sweep debris away from archaeological items.
• Sweeps debris off archaeological items one layer at a time. If interrupted, the block it was being used on simply disappears, and does not yield custom block heights.
• Also comes in a blue-green variant:

Ceramic Shards

• Obtained with a brush at archeological sites.
• Come in different colors and different designs, each depicting a different picture, such as an ender dragon, a cow, Alex, a skeleton, a tree and a vindicator.
• Can be placed/customized on clay pots.
• Currently using placeholder art, according to Jasper Boerstra.

Spawn Eggs

• The Warden spawn egg is visually confirmed but not yet implemented.

Mobs

Warden

A picture of the Warden and Iron Golem standing side by side

• Spawns in the new deep dark biome.
• The first fully blind mob (bats, despite relying almost exclusively on echolocation, still have basic eyesight).
• When sensing movement, it moves toward the source of the movement.
  • It follows and attacks players, mobs, and other entities that make vibrations.
    • It does not attack other Wardens.
  • When attacked, it path finds toward the player.
  • Seems to follow the same rules as the sculk sensor when detecting noise.
    • When it detects a vibration, the growths on its head rattle and light up, similar to the sculk sensor.
  • If any projectile (e.g. egg, snowball, arrow) lands near the Warden, the mob inspects the location where the projectile landed, due to the projectile creating movement and noise. This feature can be used in order to cause a distraction.
  • Does not detect players that are sneaking.
  • Can detect players that are invisible.
  • When aggravated for long enough, the warden follows the player continuously, regardless of any other distractions.
• Incredibly strong, doing 30 × 15 damage, bringing players wearing full netherite armor from full health to 7 health points.
• A mob designed to be extremely difficult and fled from.
• Has a way to counter the strategy of building up 3 blocks to avoid attacks.
• At least as fast as the player's walking speed.
• Seems to have knockback resistance.
• The warden's chest has a glowing core that appears to brighten and dim in tandem with the ambient lighting of the deep dark cave biome.
  • The core creates a low throbbing sound as it pulses. The sound and animation seem to speed up rapidly when the warden notices a player.
• Is about 3.5 blocks tall, making it one of the tallest mobs in the game, exceeding the iron golem and enderman in height and width (the same).

World generation

Deep dark biome

• New biome at the "deepest depths of the world".
• Wardens can spawn here.
• Contains sculk blocks and sculk sensors.
• Contains grimstone.
  • Likely generates within the grimstone layer between -1 Y and -64 Y.
• May contain candles.

Lush caves

• Generate below azalea trees.
• Can be reached by following azalea roots underground.
• Contains tall grass, glow berries, dripleaf plants, spore blossoms, moss blocks, moss carpets, clay blocks, hanging roots, and azalea variants.
• Can spawn axolotls.

Mesh caves

• Seems to be possibly a large tunnel-like cave generation.
• Not much is known about this cave variation yet, but it was confirmed on Twitter by Henrik Kniberg.
• Possibly contain "catacomb" style branching cave sections.

General

• More extreme and smooth terrain.
• 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 will see further rebalancing and will influence the surrounding stone

Gameplay

Archaeology

• 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 preview footage include:
  • Ceramic shards of varying color that depict different images.
  • Diamond blocks and emerald blocks are probably not a part of this list and serve as a placeholder for something else.

Dimming of light

• While in the deep dark cave biome, the ambient lighting occasionally dims temporarily, limiting the player's visibility. This serves as a warning that the warden is nearby.

Planned changes

World generation

Mountains

File:Caves & Cliffs Mountains largersize.png

The preview of updated mountain generation given during Minecraft Live 2020.

• Height dependent generation.
• Revamped, featuring some new small spruce trees on the slopes and ice or packed ice above the peaks.
• Contain goats, snow blocks, and powder snow.

Mineral veins

• To be revamped, possibly to balance the generation of copper. This may also be to adjust ores generating due to the new world depth.
• Some stone appears a little different and when that stone is mined, more of the ore should be found behind it.

Other Stones

• Diorite or calcite and what appears to be tuff spawn in layers of stone in straight lines instead of splotches.

An example of how the other stones may generate

Unconfirmed features

Structures

Underground Cabin

• Seen in the Deep Dark biome during the Minecraft Live 2020 stream.
• Consists of a chamber with a cobblestone floor and stripped log support beams, containing 3 barrels, a blast furnace, and a large chest, with cobwebs and candles in and around it.
• May possibly not be a generated structure, but instead a construction built for the purpose of the Warden showcase.

Trivia

• Swedish painter John Bauer was one of the main inspirations behind the design and idea of the lush caves biome, specifically Bauer's 'Oskuldens Vandring' (Innocent's Journey) painting.
• This is the first update to add a new ore to the Overworld since emerald ore was added in 1.3.1 (12w21a) for Java Edition and v0.9.0 alpha for Bedrock Edition, in 2012 and 2014 respectively.
• This is the first update to add a real-world metal into the game since Classic 0.0.14a in 2009 for Java Edition, which brought both iron and gold, and v0.3.0 alpha in 2012 for Bedrock Edition, which brought iron.
• Although the axolotl is the first amphibian mob implemented into Minecraft, it was not the first announced one, since frogs were announced during the MINECON Live 2019 biome vote.
• Despite ores being shown to emit light during the reveal of this update, this was later confirmed to be just for demonstration purposes, to give a much clearer vision for viewers, and not for the final version.
  • It was confirmed to be a placeholder for new, biome-specific light sources.
• The name "Sculk" is derived from the word "skulk", meaning "keep out of sight, typically with a sinister or cowardly motive".
• Mojang Studios employees explored real caves to research for the update. This helped give inspiration and ideas for the update, including for the mesh caves.
  • Henrik Kniberg also recalled memories of past visits to caves around the world.
• Tinted Glass is the name of Stained Glass in the April Fools' joke Minecraft 2.0.
• During Java Edition 1.17 snapshots, Waxed Lightly Weathered Cut Copper Stairs was longest item name in the game, with 41 characters between (20w45a), and (21w05a).
• The art style of the concept art for Caves & Cliffs was inspired by the concept art of Diamonds and Lemons, the Adventure Time episode featuring a Minecraft crossover.

Gallery

Caves

Screenshots of the Caves & Cliffs Update from Minecraft Live 2020 and other sources:

• 

  A view of the lush caves.

• 

  Big Dripleaves.

• 

  A player boating inside of a cave in spaghetti cave, showcasing a subterranean water feature.

• 

  A path of glow lichen in spaghetti cave.

• 

  A large underground lake in cheese cave.

• 

  A mesh cave.

• 

  How the other stones may now generate.

• 

  A view of the dripstone caves.

• 

  Various sculk blocks.

• 

  The Warden.

• 

  Multiple goats, showcasing jump height.

• 

  Inside of an amethyst geode.

• 

  A copper roof house with weathered copper.

• 

  Lightning striking a lightning rod.

• 

  Bundles

• 

  Archeology.

• 

  Multiple axolotls in a lush cave.

• 

  An axolotl army attacking an Elder Guardian.

• 

  Glow Squids. Winners of the Mob Vote 2020.

• 

  A leaked screenshot showing "waterlogged-rail" in the title.

Concept artwork

• 

  Concept art of the lush caves and its vegetation.

• 

  Concept art of the lush caves and its vegetation at night.

• 

  Concept art of the stalactites and stalagmites in the dripstone caves.

• 

  Concept art of some flooded caves.

• 

  Concept art for the Warden.

• 

  Possible early designs for the Warden.

• 

  Concept art for the Axolotl. The "Cutie in a Bucket"

• 

  Concept art for the Axolotl, Goat, and Warden. Known as the "Scale of Cuteness"

• 

  Concept art for the Axolotl and Warden.

• Archaeology concept art.png

  Concept art for Archaeology.