New Grimstone in Minecraft Java Edition 21w07a Snapshot: Everything players need to know

Minecraft's newest Snapshot — 21w07a — brings an entirely new type of stone in addition to changing the game's height limit completely.

After years of requests from the Minecraft community, the developers are finally taking steps to open up game heights even more, making the world a lot taller in addition to a lot deeper. Mojang decided to give Minecraft worlds a lot more space to accommodate the new cave biomes and mountains being added into the game with update 1.17, Caves and Cliffs.

Here is an overview of everything Minecraft players need to know about the new Grimstone block added in the latest Snapshot and how it will generate in new worlds.

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What is Grimstone in Minecraft?

Grimstone works as a replacement for cobblestone in any recipe (Image via Minecraft WIki)

Grimstone is the newest block added in Minecraft. It acts as a variant of stone and is found at and below the old level that bedrock used to generate (levels 0-5). It acts as a naturally spawned transition block between regular mines and the deeper, more dangerous parts of the mines.

Grimstone acts as another version of stone or Blackstone and can be mined with any variant of pickaxe, but it does take approximately twice as long to mine compared to basic stone. It can be used as a decorative block, as it has many different forms and works as a replacement for cobblestone in any recipe.

Grimstone in Minecraft makes up most of the blocks generated below y=0, as it works as a replacement for stone in the Overworld to show the transition to the deeper caves.

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What are the different types of Grimstone?

There are currently sixteen different variants (Image via Minecraft Wiki)

Grimstone currently has quite a few variants for players to mess around with, already having all of its variants embedded in the Snapshot.

There are currently sixteen different variants that all follow the usual stone variants: regular, polished, bricks, chiseled, and the new tile form. There are full blocks, slabs, stairs, and walls for every variant, besides chiseled, which only has a block formation.

These new blocks will be great for builders who like to add variation and contrast to their builds and add a lot of depth to any cave-like builds.

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What has also been affected by the inclusion of Grimstone in Minecraft?

Emerald, coal, and copper won't have Grimstone forms (Image via Nintendo Life)

Minecraft's new Grimstone block has allowed developers to finally change the textures for the different ores found in the Overworld.

Not only are the textures changed overall, but there are now Grimstone variants for almost all of the different ores found in Minecraft, including Redstone, Diamond, Iron, Gold, and Lapis.

Due to the new ore generation the developers have implemented, emerald, coal, and copper will not be found below y-level zero, explaining why those blocks do not have Grimstone forms.

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What can players expect from the addition of Grimstone in Minecraft?

Grimstone gives players more block variation for building (Image via Minecraft Wiki)

Grimstone was added so Minecraft players could have more block variation for building. This is in addition to creating an unmissable transition block between the higher caves and the lower caves, including the new Deep Dark biome that has yet to be implemented.