Minecraft snapshot 25w18a patch notes: Lead now more accessible, dried ghast crafting recipe change, and splash potion revamp

On April 29, Mojang released Minecraft snapshot 25w18a for Java Edition. This is a small snapshot with no brand-new features, but it does come with some exciting changes, such as easier lead crafting, dried ghast blocks now requiring soul sand instead of bone blocks, and a revamp to how splash potions work.

Previously, many players avoided crafting leads since they required slime balls, which are not easy to obtain. But now, instead of a slime ball, the crafting recipe for leads requires string. Likewise, dried ghast blocks are now cheaper to craft, as they require soul sand blocks instead of bone blocks. You can also obtain them by bartering with a piglin.

Splash potions have also received some interesting changes in Minecraft snapshot 25w18a. Below, you can find the complete patch notes for Minecraft snapshot 25w18a.

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Minecraft snapshot 25w18a patch notes: All you need to know

Changes

• Splash Potions effect strength is now based on the distance of the hitboxes
• The Slime Ball in the Lead recipe has been replaced with a String
• Piglins can now give Dried Ghast Blocks when bartered with
• The recipe for the Dried Ghast Block has been updated to now require a Soul Sand Block rather than a Bone Block

Splash Potions

• Splash Potions distance to affected entities now depends on the closest distance between the entity hitbox and the splash potion hitbox where it landed
• This means that if an entity is hit directly by the splash potion, it will receive the full effect of the potion
• If the entities are grouped together, they will receive the same effect strength

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Technical changes in Minecraft snapshot 25w18a

• The Data Pack version is now 75
• The Resource Pack version is now 59
• All JSON files (in worlds, packs, configuration, etc.) are now parsed in strict mode

Data Pack Version 75

Entity Data

• Added home_pos and home_radius fields to all mobs
• Mobs with set home position will limit their pathfinding to stay within the indicated area
• Some mobs, like Bats, Slimes, Magma Cubes, Phantoms and Ender Dragons may ignore it
• Interacting with leashes or riding may change the home position of the mob

Entity Tags

• Updated #followable_friendly_mobs to include the Happy Ghast

Resource Pack Version 59

• Updated Unifont to 16.0.03

UI Sprites

• The hud/locator_bar_arrow_up and hud/locator_bar_arrow_down sprites are now animated with a standard animation definition in the corresponding .mcmeta files

Font Unifont

• Updated Unifont to 16.0.03
• Added previously omitted Unifont glyphs for Private Use Areas
• Those glyphs are loaded as a separate sub-font minecraft:include/unifont_pua and are not included in any normally used font
• Characters in those areas are managed by Under-CSUR (Under-ConScript Unicode Registry), which adds various scripts not present in official Unicode set, like Tengwar or Sitelen Pona

unihex Font Provider

• Field size_overrides is now optional (defaults to empty list)

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Fixed bugs in Minecraft snapshot 25w18a

• MC-200925 - Ghasts are not affected by potions thrown on their head
• MC-262268 - Keyboard navigation does not work in the book and quill GUI
• MC-264431 - #minecraft:sand tag has two minecraft:suspicious_sand
• MC-278459 - unifont.json contains trailing comma
• MC-279284 - Experience orbs from thrown bottles o' enchanting are very prone to getting stuck inside blocks
• MC-279875 - Cannot diagonally climb slab through suspended scaffolding
• MC-280281 - Fishing bobbers rapidly jitter when attached to entities that are moving
• MC-280502 - Translation key snbt.parser.undescore_not_allowed has a typo
• MC-295879 - Sprint-hitting boats and then getting in them causes the boat to fall through the block underneath
• MC-295914 - Loot table files accept invalid JSON
• MC-296354 - Happy ghasts aren’t affected by potions thrown on their heads
• MC-296784 - The "Welcome to Minecraft" screen is missing its fade out
• MC-296866 - Predicates of particular namespaces failed to be accessed on /execute
• MC-296898 - Happy ghasts' home slightly drift over time
• MC-297112 - You cannot use CTRL+NUM to navigate to tabs within the configure realms menu
• MC-297114 - The realms menu incorrectly claims that realms are expiring soon
• MC-297115 - The “This is a Snapshot Realm…” box no longer renders with a black background
• MC-297184 - 'Realms' is lowercase in mco.errorMessage.realmsService.configurationError.

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Minecraft snapshot 25w18a is now out and available for download via the official launcher. You can create a new world or enter one from a previous snapshot to experience the new features.