Minecraft introduces improved rarity system in latest beta and preview

Minecraft's rarity system is a means of indicating the approximate "rarity" of a given item, denoted by a text color and a specific category that's tied to it. Bedrock preview 1.21.30.21, released on August 1, 2024, has reworked and improved this system to better reflect actual in-game rarity. Since recent updates and game changes have changed item/block access, Mojang decided to reflect this.

In Minecraft Bedrock preview 1.21.30.21, various items and blocks that have been given a rarity designation have had their categories and text color changed. While most items/blocks remain common with white text, some that were previously in other categories have been switched. Mojang has reevaluated the majority of them to reflect their rarity based on a collection of different factors.

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The rarity system in Minecraft and the changes in preview 1.21.30.21

Tridents have been reduced to rare (aqua) rarity instead of epic (magenta) (Image via Mojang)

According to the patch notes for Minecraft preview 1.21.30.21, the majority of items and blocks have been re-categorized in Bedrock Edition's rarity system. An item/block is assigned a rarity to each with its own corresponding text color including common (white text), uncommon (yellow), rare (aqua), and epic (magenta) based on the following criteria:

• The chance of finding an item/block in a loot table, including via mob drops.
• The amount of traveling required to find the item/block.
• The difficulty of obstacles that must be overcome to obtain the item/block.
• The potential amount of an item/block that would exist in the game world.
• If an item/block is crafted, it will inherit the highest rarity of its crafting ingredients (ie. A mace is epic rarity due to heavy cores being used to craft them which are also epic rarity).

With that in mind, several of Minecraft's items and blocks were reshuffled to fit a new collection of rarities based on the criteria above. The rarity system after preview 1.21.30.21 now includes the following rarity categories and items/blocks:

Rarity	Item/Blocks	Text Color in Bedrock Edition
Common	The vast majority of blocks and items not found in other categories.	White
Uncommon	Creeper Charge Banner Pattern Enchanted Book Snout Banner Pattern Sniffer Egg Chainmail Armor Recovery Compass Disc Fragment 5 Nautilus Shell Echo Shard Goat Horn Pottery Sherd Ominous Bottle Netherite Upgrade Smithing Template Ominous Banner Sentry Armor Trim Dune Armor Trim Coast Armor Trim Wild Armor Trim Tide Armor Trim Snout Armor Trim Rib Armor Trim Wayfinder Armor Trim Shaper Armor Trim Raiser Armor Trim Host Armor Trim Flow Bolt Armor Trim 13 Music Disc Cat Music Disc Blocks Music Disc Chirp Music Disc Creator (Music Box) Music Disc Far Music Disc Mall Music Disc Mellohi Music Disc Stal Music Disc Strad Music Disc Ward Music Disc 11 Music Disc Wait Music Disc Relic Music Disc 5 Music Disc Precipice Music Disc	Yellow
Rare	Flow Banner Pattern Guster Banner Pattern Enchanted Golden Apple Trident Nether Star Ward Armor Trim Eye Armor Trim Vex Armor Trim Spire Armor Trim Wither Skeleton Skull Skull Charge Banner Pattern Thing Banner Pattern Pigstep Music Disc Otherside Music Disc Creator Music Disc	Aqua
Epic	Elytra Dragon Head Silence Armor Trim Heavy Core Mace	Magenta

Because heavy cores have epic rarity in Bedrock, the maces crafted from them do too (Image via Mojang)

As Minecraft Bedrock continues to evolve, Mojang may change the rarity system and its categories again. However, for the time being, and unless additional changes are made after the 1.21.30.21 preview, these categories and items/blocks in the rarity system will be represented as shown above.

Hopefully, this improvement to the rarity system allows players to better understand the time and effort they'll have to put in so they can acquire items and blocks of various rarities.

It has been quite some time since the rarity system received any attention, so it certainly helps to accurately portray just how precious certain resources are in Mojang's sandbox title.