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This page documents a major update currently being worked on. 
Therefore, not all official feature names or items are mentioned.
For a guide about all content currently released in this update, see Java Edition guides/Caves & Cliffs.

1.18,[1][2] the second release of Caves & Cliffs, is an upcoming major update to Java Edition set to release in late 2021.[3] It was first announced alongside the release of 1.17 snapshot 21w15a when Mojang stated that the Caves & Cliffs update would be split in two.[4] Features from 1.18 were developed alongside 1.17, previewed in official data packs used with a corresponding 1.17 snapshot.[5]

Additions

World generation

Caves
  • Completely overhauled.
  • Now stretch down to Y=-59.
  • The caves now generate in 2 layers of different stone bases depending on the depth.
    • The layer above Y=0 is made up of regular stone.
    • Stone transitions to deepslate from Y=0 to Y=-7.
    • Deepslate now completely replaces stone from Y=-8 to bedrock.
      • Certain types of ores and structures still generate in the deepslate layer, as well as tuff.
      • Dirt, diorite, granite and andesite do not generate in this layer.
  • Dripstone Caves and Lush Caves now generate naturally underground.
  • Contain aquifers, bodies of water with different heights, independent of sea level (Y=63).
    • Aquifers below Y=0 sometimes generate with lava instead of water.
  • Improved old caves to blend in with the new generations of caves better
  • New noise caves, coming in 3 forms, "cheese", "spaghetti" and "noodle".
    • The original caves still exist with their generation slightly tweaked to better blend in with noise caves.
    • Cheese caves have large stone towers stretching from the bottom of the cave to the top.
      • Very large, often large enough to fly with an elytra.
      • Abundant with springs, aquifers and ores.
    • Spaghetti caves are long, thin caves that have small aquifers and are more similar to original caves.
    • Noodle caves are thinner, squigglier, and more claustrophobic variants of spaghetti caves.
Mountains
Ore veins

Technical

Debug screen
  • Added two new lines: Multinoise and Terrain.
    • Only appear if the dimension where the player is uses the multi-noise biome source type.
    • Multinoise lists the parameters used at the player's position in order to place a biome. C is continentalness, E is erosion, T is temperature, H is humidity and W is weirdness.
    • Terrain lists values related to terrain generation.[more information needed]

General

Commands
  • /jfr
    • When enabled, begins profiling with Java FlightRecorder, as well as the following custom events:
      • minecraft.ServerTickTime: Sampling event exposing average server tick times in intervals of a second
      • minecraft.ChunkGeneration: Time taken to generate individual chunk stages
      • minecraft.PacketRead / minecraft.PacketSent: Network traffic
      • minecraft.WorldLoadFinishedEvent: Initial world loading duration
    • The profiling can be stopped in-game by using /jfr stop.
Font
  • Added illageralt, the rune-like font from Minecraft Dungeons.
    • Currently only usable via commands
Loot tables
  • Added the type field, which is mandatory.
    • Written into BlockEntityTag.id to ensure that the tag can be migrated correctly between versions
Options
  • Can now disable lightning flashes, which prevents lightning from making the sky flash. Lightning bolts themselves will still appear.
  • The device the game outputs audio to can now be chosen in-game.
  • Added "Priority updates" to video settings.
    • Determines as to which chunk sections are updated synchronously in a single frame.
      • Three options:
      • nearby, which corresponds to how chunk sections were updated before 21w37a, and by player and none, which reduce stuttering when placing or removing blocks.
        • However, the latter two options may cause rare visual delays in world updates. These options also appear to be improperly capitalized.[6]
        • Added ''Simulation distance'', it was before on bedrock edition, but added to java in 21w38a.
        • Can change to 2 to 32, like the render distance.
Tags
  • Spawners now have a new  CustomeSpawnRules tag, which lets players override the spawn rules of the spawned mob.
    • In the tag, players can specify  BlockLightLimit, which indicates the highest block-light the spawners will spawn mobs at.
Subtitles
  • Added subtitles for various bundle sounds.

Changes

Blocks

Enchanting Table
  • Now emits a light level of 7.
Cave Vines, Kelp, Twisting Vines and Weeping Vines
  • Will stop growing if shears are used on the tip.
  • Also it makes a sound when using shears on the tip.
Sculk Sensor
  • Have been re-added to the Creative Mode inventory. Can detect vibrations execpt if there's wool near them.

Items

Bundle
  • Have been re-added to the Creative Mode inventory.
  • Can once again be crafted.
  • Added sounds when a item is packed or unpacked.

Mobs

Realms Plus Icon
This section would benefit from the addition of isometric renders. 
Please remove this notice once you've added suitable isometric renders to the article.
The specific instructions are: Render of Dinnerbone animals being fed from MC-231721, as all animals except the sheep seem to have been fixed.
Axolotls
  • Now only spawn in lush caves.
  • Now has its own mob cap.
Evoker, Pillager, Vindicator and Ravager
Goat
General

World generation

Overworld
  • Now uses the multi-noise biome source type.
Lush Caves and Dripstone Caves
  • Now generate naturally underground and inside hills or mountains.
Deep Warm Ocean
  • Now generates naturally.
Beaches
  • Beaches are generally wider.
    • In some places there is a chance where no beaches generate at all, to provide some variation.
Extreme Hills
  • Renamed mountains back to extreme hills, and gravelly mountains to gravelly hills.
Stone Shore
  • Now generate with strips of gravel
  • Can generate in any biome instead of just mountains and wooded mountains.
Badlands
  • Now can generate in mountain peaks
  • Red sand generates a bit higher
General
  • Terrain generation is now independent from biomes, with biomes adapting to whatever terrain they happen to generate throughout.
    • This allows for natural variation in the terrain of any individual biome, both in terms of shape and elevation.
      • For example, forests and deserts could form up on a hill without needing a special biome just for that purpose.
    • This additionally allows for smoother transitions between biomes.
  • Terrain is now smoother and more extreme.
Sub-biomes

General

Height limit
  • Has been increased to 384 blocks, expanding 64 blocks up and 64 blocks down, with 319 being the limit upward and -64 being the limit downward.
Clouds
  • Raised cloud level from 128 to 192.
Options
  • The Sneak and Sprint, and Auto-jump options have been moved to the Controls tab.
  • Render distance now causes chunks to load in a cylinder shape around the player instead of a square.
Splashes
  • The splash "[this splash text has been delayed until part 2]" has been changed to "[this splash text is now available]".
Tags
  • Renamed the lava_pool_replaceables block tag to lava_pool_stone_cannot_replace.
World types
Other
  • Removed length limits for scoreboards, score holders and team names.
  • Data pack format has been increased to 8.

Fixes

52 issues fixed
From released versions before 1.18
  • MC-7200 – Cave/tunnel generation may cut tunnels a bit too soon.
  • MC-29274 – Withers will not pursue players in survival mode unless attacked.
  • MC-30560 – River through eroded badlands biome generates floating rock formations at water surface.
  • MC-44055 – Game fails to switch the audio output from one device to another after the game has started (from title screen).
  • MC-54545 – Client render distance doesn't adjust to server render distance if they are different, causing faulty chunk loading.
  • MC-65628 – Desert pyramids generate underground when using amplified or custom terrain.
  • MC-72831 – Water lakes can generate in deserts.
  • MC-101917 – Andesite, diorite and granite won't generate above a height of about 80.
  • MC-123277 – Too long scoreboard objectives and team names are not detected when commands are parsed.
  • MC-129266 – Jagged ocean transitions and slower biome generation.
  • MC-132175 – Beaches generate along swamp hills when bordering an ocean.
  • MC-138801 – The interactions between a biome and another biome and its variants are inconsistent.
  • MC-140151 – Modified jungle edge biomes only generate when a jungle borders a swamp hills biome.
  • MC-140690 – Giant spruce taiga hills have no difference with giant spruce taiga.
  • MC-159025 – Drowned do not spawn in warm ocean biomes.
  • MC-160710 – Chat messages written while sleeping are deleted after waking up.
  • MC-166423 – Splash water bottles don't damage endermen.
  • MC-175929 – Ice spikes get cut off below height limit on AMPLIFIED worlds.
  • MC-182362 – Score callbacks with a too long name break callback chain.
  • MC-183184 – Sprinting stops as soon as you touch another block.
  • MC-186042 – Plains biome is always generated when a swamp borders a desert, snowy tundra or snowy taiga.
  • MC-190363 – Some biomes generate as "Single biome" worlds in "Floating islands" world type.
  • MC-202376 – Rabbits, instead of spawning on snow blocks, spawn on snow layers.
  • MC-208601 – Axolotls do not avoid danger when pathfinding.
  • MC-212113 – Glow lichen can spawn underwater whilst not in a cave.
  • MC-213779 – FPS dramatically decreases when looking up in world with large height.
  • MC-214783 – Oceans generate with stone floors.
  • MC-214797 – Pointed dripstone can generate floating at transitions between local water levels.
  • MC-214799 – Aquifiers sometimes create air pockets.
  • MC-214864 – Hard edges when new caves generate near surface.
  • MC-215296 – Mineshafts often don't generate in floating island worlds.
  • MC-215876 – Dirt can generate below Y=0 from mineshafts.
  • MC-216784 – Ruined portals don't generate below Y=0.
  • MC-216952 – Some chunks interrupting with cave systems filled with blocks.
  • MC-216967 – Kelp and seagrass can generate in aquifers.
  • MC-217465 – Unnatural shape looking like a chunk border but appears to be completely unrelated to chunk borders.
  • MC-217509 – Inefficient generation of aquifers, noise caves and ore veins.
  • MC-219774 – Magma blocks spawn everywhere underwater in 21w10a.
  • MC-219946 – Weird flat sections of terrain.
  • MC-221777 – Horses, donkeys, mules, llamas, and trader llamas do not follow players holding food.
  • MC-221815 – Flat roofs in underwater caves.
  • MC-221917 – Dripstone, pointed dripstone, and cave magma generate in oceans.
  • MC-222051 – Iron ore generation was not increased in 21w13a.
  • MC-222379 – Magma can spawn under air in underwater caves.
  • MC-223044 – Floating water can generate in ravines.
  • MC-223051 – Dripstone can generate in surface lakes.
  • MC-223148 – New extended height message goes behind the scrolling bar.
  • MC-226184 – Axolotls pathfinding to water can sometimes fall in wide holes.
  • MC-227244 – Ore blocks from ore veins float in underwater magma ravines.
  • MC-230343 – Parity issue: Enchanting tables do not emit a light level of 7.
  • MC-231863 – Game crashes when trying to access the Realms settings.
  • MC-233050#lava_pool_stone_replaceables tag name is misleading.

Planned additions

  • An option for existing chunks to have new terrain generate below the bedrock layer, with the old bedrock layer replaced with deepslate[7]

Blocks

Sculk in redstone

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

Sculk BE1 Sculk (block)
  • Generates in the mysterious new cave biome where the Warden lives, called the Deep Dark.
  • Has an animated texture.
  • May be used in redstone.[8]
Sculk Catalyst Sculk Catalyst[9]
  • Generates in the Deep Dark cave biome.
  • Made of sculk and a bone-like material.[10]
  • Sculk Catalyst (bloom) Has bloom state.
  • May be used in redstone.[8]
  • May have something to do with axolotls.[11]
  • Glows, but does not emit light, similar to the glow squid or the glow item frame.
Sculk Vein BE1 Sculk Vein[12]
  • Generates in the Deep Dark cave biome.
  • Generates in a layer on top of blocks, similar to snow.
  • Can be placed in all directions, like glow lichen.
  • Has an animated texture.
  • 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.[8]
Sculk Shrieker Sculk Shrieker[9]
  • Generates in the deep dark biome.
  • Perhaps made of sculk and a bone-like material.
  • Has 2 soul-shaped patterns in the center.
  • Has the ability to 'shriek' as revealed by internal textures.

Items

Goat Horn
  • Dropped by a goat if it rams into a block.
  • When used for a short period of time, it makes a sound identical to the horn heard during raids.
  • Obtainiable only on bedrock with the Caves and Cliffs experimental option. Maybe can be added on a 1.18 snapshot.
Spawn Eggs

Mobs

Warden&Golem

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

Warden
  • Will spawn in the new deep dark cave 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.[note 1]
      • 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.[14]
    • When aggravated for long enough, the warden follows the player continuously, regardless of any other distractions.
  • Will burn in direct daylight. [15]
  • Incredibly strong, doing 30♥ × 15 damage, bringing players wearing full netherite armor from full health to 7♥♥♥♥ health points.
  • It is the only mob that spawns in the Deep Dark.[16]
  • Does not spawn like normal hostile mobs, but instead uses completely new spawning rules. [17]
  • A mob designed to be extremely difficult, intended to be fled from.[18]
  • Has a way to counter the strategy of building up 3 blocks to avoid attacks.[19]
  • 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).[note 2][20]

Biomes

Deep Dark
  • New biome at the "deepest depths of the world".
  • May not contain any water or lava aquifers.[21]
  • May be the rarest biome out of the three cave biomes.[22]
  • May go deep underneath very continental/mountainous areas and stretch all the way to -64.[23]
  • Wardens can spawn here.
  • Contains sculk blocks and sculk sensors.
  • Contains deepslate.
    • Generates exclusively within the deepslate layer between Y=-1 and Y=-64.[24]
  • May contain black candles.
  • May contain loot chests.[25]
  • With the exception of spawners, no other mobs can spawn here, similar to mushroom fields.[16]

Gameplay

Darkness effect[unofficial name]
  • 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.[26]

Planned changes

World generation

  • Likely change to the generation of alternate stone types, to make them appear in larger but less numerous deposits.[27]
    • Possibly seen in a screenshot tweeted by Henrik Kniberg,[28] in which diorite appears to generate in a long and flat horizontal strip, rather than a small unevenly shaped patch.
  • Ore generation has further rebalancing to add strategy to mining.
    • This is also largely through the addition of ore veins, which influence surrounding stone.
1

The new ore distribution compared to the old distribution.

Blobs
  • Copper ore will generate in a different fashion - the blob generation was a temporary solution.
Fossils
  • The fossils in the deepest part of the underground generate with Deepslate Diamond Ore instead of Coal Ore.
Strongholds
  • Try to generate fully encased in stone bricks, or deepslate bricks at low y-levels.
General
  • Terrain generation is now independent from biomes, with biomes adapting to whatever terrain they happen to generate throughout.[29]
    • This allows for natural variation in the terrain of any individual biome, both in terms of shape and elevation.
      • For example, forests and deserts could form up on a hill without needing a special biome just for that purpose.
    • This additionally allows for smoother transitions between biomes.
  • Terrain is now smoother and more extreme.

Unconfirmed features

Blocks

Sculk Jaw (pre-release)Sculk Jaw
  • Generates in the Deep Dark biome.
  • Has a different top texture than the Sculk Block and Sculk Catalyst.[30]
  • Sculk Jaw 2 (pre-release) Has state with unknown name.
  • May not make it into the final release.[31]
Lush caves overview concept art

Concept art showing how the spore blossom may open and close

Spore Blossom
  • Can close.
Azalea Log
Azalea Planks
Stripped Azalea Log
Azalea Door
Azalea Fence
Azalea Fence gate
Azalea Trapdoor
Azalea Slab
Azalea Stairs
Azalea pressure plate

World generation

Underground Cabin[unofficial name]

Trivia

  • This is the first major update for Java Edition that is split into two updates since Adventure Update in 2011.
  • This is also the first update that starts with experimental snapshots, instead of regular snapshots.

Notes

  1. The Warden does not attack other entities but it does follow the vibrations that they make.
  2. Height of the Warden is based from the image found on Twitter.

References

  1. "Minecraft: Caves & Cliffs Update FAQ" – Minecraft Help Center, April 17, 2021. "the first (1.17) this summer, and the second (1.18) around the holiday season"
  2. "I've seen some confusion around 1.17 and 1.18, thinking that it's weird that Part 2 is considered 1.18. As a general note, remember that versions are just a way to keep track of changes in a game, and Part 2 will be considered 1.18 because it is a major version change from 1.17."@kingbdogz on X, April 25, 2021
  3. "A Caves & Cliffs announcement" – Minecraft.net, April 14, 2021
  4. "Minecraft Snapshot 21w15a" – Minecraft.net, April 14, 2021
  5. Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack for Minecraft Java Edition
  6. MC-236615
  7. https://youtu.be/tJ6lV_ob23Q?t=12m15s
  8. a b c "Caves, Cliffs & Other Updates: How We Make Minecraft - Episode 5" – Minecraft on YouTube, November 27, 2020
  9. a b "New skulk textures and UI file for "darkness effect""@NetherNinja on X, August 25, 2021
  10. "That is actually a bone-like material, not End Stone :)"@kingbdogz on X, November 13, 2020
  11. "My day: experimenting with Axolotls and Sculk Catalysts... for reasons. How's your day going?"@kingbdogz on X, August 4, 2021
  12. "This is really cool, but won't be necessary because Sculk Veins (on the edge of growths) can be placed in all directions like Glow Lichen. That means you can find veins on top of anything, including Grimstone Bricks, which is a better approach than a specific block type."@kingbdogz on X, February 18, 2021
  13. "Feeling kinda short myself..."@kingbdogz on X, October 6, 2020
  14. "Wardens will still be able to detect entities that are invisible :)"@kingbdogz on X, October 26, 2020
  15. "3. Nope, but in the current design it will burn in sunlight."@kingbdogz on X, May 21, 2021
  16. a b "1) Deep Dark is the name for now, but like anything names can change. I like it though. 2) Deep Dark is one of the only Overworld biomes where only one type of enemy can spawn: Wardens. So no Zombies, Creepers, etc. 3) That is a mystery for you players to reveal in-game."@kingbdogz on X, June 17, 2021
  17. "They will not spawn like normal hostile mobs - not like anything that's in the game so far."@kingbdogz on X, June 17, 2021
  18. "I'd actually consider it something entirely new. The Warden is a force of nature, not a boss. When a tornado is barreling toward you, you don't try to kill it - you run away! The Warden is exactly the same."@kingbdogz on X, October 3, 2020
  19. "It absolutely has some tricks up its sleeves to counter that particular strategy :)"@kingbdogz on X, October 26, 2020
  20. "Looking kinda short there, Iron Golem."@kingbdogz on X, October 6, 2020
  21. "We're aiming to have no aquifers/lava in the Deep Dark"@kingbdogz on X, September 2, 2021
  22. "It will likely be the most rare biome out of the 3, but not impossible to find either. And when you find it, it should be a big area."@kingbdogz on X, September 2, 2021
  23. "Getting the Deep Dark biome distribution right has been tricky. Generally we're looking to get it deep underneath very continental/mountainous areas, and it will stretch all the way to -64. Looking forward to see how it feels."@kingbdogz on X, September 2, 2021
  24. "Also, to clarify, the Deep Dark won't take up all of below y 0. Other biomes like Lush Caves and Dripstone Caves will be able to generate there too, it's just that Deep Dark can only be found below y 0. Grimstone is its natural stone ;)"@kingbdogz on X, February 17, 2021
  25. "The point is to have special loot in the chests. We don't want players encouraged to kill the Warden."@kingbdogz on X, February 16, 2021
  26. "The mechanical purpose is to warn you that the Warden is nearby. You should get ready if you start to see pure darkness like that..."@kingbdogz on X, October 4, 2020
  27. "Lol been prototyping that today actually! Thx for the pic though very useful."@henrikkniberg on X, October 8, 2020
  28. "Sometimes weird things happen when messing around with world generation. The villagers up there look mighty confused :) #devbloopers"@henrikkniberg on X, October 22, 2020
  29. "Minecraft 1.18 experimental snapshot" – Henrik Kniberg on YouTube, June 13, 2021
  30. "While not related, Sculk name was inspired by Jeb's process with naming the Shulkers - he liked the word "Lurker", but changed it around a bit to feel new. Sculk is one letter changed of Skulk, meaning "keep out of sight, typically with a sinister or cowardly motive""@kingbdogz on X, October 13, 2020
  31. "Sculk Trap (which is actually called Sculk Jaw) is unlikely to make it into the game, wasn't very happy with its design. Sculk Shrieker is a completely different block"@kingbdogz on X, August 29, 2021
  32. "Minecraft Live 2020: Full Show @ 42:16" – October 3, 2020 on YouTube
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