Top 5 things to expect from Minecraft 1.17 Caves and Cliffs Update

Caves & Cliffs is the name of two major upcoming updates for Java and Bedrock editions of Minecraft. The first update will be released mid-2021, and it will add items such as geodes, copper and a plethora of new blocks and mobs. The second update will be released at the end of 2021, and will include things such as expanded caves, an increased height and depth limit, new mountain generation and new biomes.

This is exciting news for the Minecraft community, so let’s look into the 5 most interesting features from these upcoming updates!

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Top 5 things to expect in Minecraft 1.17

5) Bundle

The crafting recipe for the bundle (via Minecraft)

The bundle is a storage item in Minecraft that can be used to manage the player’s inventory. It displays a blue bar, similar to a durability bar, that shows how full the bundle is. Items are added by holding the bundle within the inventory and clicking an item, or vice versa when wanting to take something out. When the bundle is right clicked, items will drop instantly to the player’s inventory. They are crafted from rabbit hide and string.

This will prove to be very useful, because at times while playing Minecraft, the player's inventory can easily become too full and too chaotic. So, adding an extra organizational item will only prove to be useful.

4) The Warden

An image of the Warden besides an Iron Golem (via Minecraft Wiki)

Warden is a new aggressive mob being added in Minecraft, which spawns in the new deep dark biome. It is a fully blind mob and will follow players, mobs and other entities that make vibrations. When it is attacked, it can find a path towards the player. Any projectile that lands near the Warden, will make it inspect the location where the projectile landed, and it can be used to cause a distraction. It will not detect players who are sneaking, although it can detect players who are invisible. When aggravated long enough, the warden follows the player regardless of any distractions.

The Warden is incredibly strong, doing 15 hearts of damage, which brings players wearing full netherite armor from full health to 3 and a half hearts. It is a mob that was designed to be extremely difficult to flee from and even has a way to counter the strategy of building up 3 blocks to avoid attacks. It is also about 3.5 blocks tall, making it one of the tallest mobs in the game. It will easily be one of the hardest mobs in Minecraft.

3) New Mobs!

An image depicting all the new mobs (via YouTube)

Mojang is adding some exciting (and adorable) new mobs to Minecraft in these two updates!

The first notable mob is the Axolotl! They can be found in bodies of water within lush cave biomes and will be the first amphibian added to the game. They can be caught in a bucket like fish and will play dead when damaged, which lets them regenerate health! They will be seen preying on fish, glow squid and squid. They attack drowned and guardians if tempted with a tropical fish by the player. Lastly, axolotls will come in a four common varieties: lucy (pink), wild (brown), gold and cyan, with the possibility of a rare blue variety.

The second mob is a glow squid! Glow squids were added due to winning a vote between the glow squid, the moobloom and the iceologer. The squids will glow in the same way that magma cube cores, vexes, blazes and the eyes of spiders, drowned and endermen do. It will spawn in the deep oceans and underwater caves. They will drop glow ink sacs, which can be used to make glow item frames.

Lastly, goats are finally being added to the game! Goats will spawn in mountain biomes and can jump about 5 blocks high to avoid obstacles. It will attack nearby mobs and players by charging and knocking them back, but they will not attack other goats, and they will take reduced fall damage. They can be bred with wheat and will drop one goat horn when ramming into a block, although the horns do not regrow. It will also drop nothing upon death.

Adding new mobs to Minecraft is always exciting, so make sure you go out and look for these new ones and find out for yourself what they can do!

2) Deep Caves

An image of one of the new cave types (via Windows Central)

The new depth limit in Minecraft has been increased to Y=-59 from a previous Y=0.

The most notable thing to mention is that there are two new types of noise caves: Cheese and spaghetti. Cheese caves have large stone towers that stretch from the bottom of the cave to the top and are large enough to fly in with an elytra, as well as being overly abundant with aquifers and ores. Spaghetti caves, on the other hand, are long and thin caves that have small aquifers and are more similar to the original caves.

Another advantage to caves is that diamonds can now spawn below Y=0. This is a great feat for Minecraft, and it is something not many people thought would happen. New blocks have been added to caves, such as deepslate, calcite, block of amethyst, budding amethyst, pointed dripstones (found in dripstone caves specifically) and much more. Adding to the new blocks, there is also a new underground cave biome called Lush Caves, which are filled with the new mosh block, moss carpet, azalea, dripleaf, glow lichen and more.

1) New Mountain Generation

An example of how large mountains are (via Minecraft Wiki)

Adding new mountains to Minecraft is a big feat. The new mountains can reach up to the old world height limit (256), which is what caused the increased height limit. There will be a height dependent generation factor as well, meaning some will be the tallest they can be, while some may be smaller. While the mountains might look impressive and exciting, they are very rare and do not generate easily in the world.

Even though it may be hard to find, there are many advantages to locating one. Mojang has added some new small spruce trees on the mountain slopes, and dependent on the mountain height, they have added ice and packed eyes above the peaks. These mountains also include mobs such as goats and rabbits, as well as a few blocks like snow blocks, snow layers and powdered snow. On top of that, iron ore, emerald ore and coal ore can be found in these mountains in abundance; it is perfect for a Minecraft player looking to upgrade their gear.

And lastly, there have been five new sub biomes for mountains specifically: Lofty Peaks, Snow Capped Peaks, Snowy Slopes, Mountain Grove and Mountain Meadow.

Just when we thought Minecraft couldn't get any better, Mojang provided us with this update. There are many more features coming to Minecraft 1.17 that are not listed here, so keep an eye out for other items being added!

Check out this video showing some highlights of Minecraft 1.17:

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