Where will axolotls spawn in Minecraft's 1.18 update?

One of the most popular implementations in Minecraft's 1.17 update, axolotls, are underwater mobs that are friendly to players and dangerous to other aquatic life.

At the moment, axolotls in Minecraft have a wide assortment of places they can spawn due to their requirements. They can be found in water below a sea level of y=63, even in total darkness.

Axolotls also require a stone block type at least five blocks below their spawn location, specifically those with the tag "base_stone_overworld." This includes stone, deepslate, andesite, diorite, granite, and tuff blocks.

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Minecraft: Changes to axolotl spawns in 1.18

The Healing Power of Friendship, an achievement in Minecraft Bedrock Edition, featuring axolotls (Image via Mojang)

When Minecraft's second part of its Caves & Cliffs update goes live with version 1.18, the spawning mechanics of axolotls will change significantly. As lush cave biomes become generatable in worlds without special conditions, axolotls will move to these biomes.

Once 1.18 is live, these mobs will only be able to spawn in lush cave water when there is a clay block less than five blocks below it.

This significantly limits axolotl spawning compared to Minecraft 1.17, where the aquatic creatures could appear in many different cave systems. With lush caves being fully implemented, they'll have to be the one location Survival Mode players search out to find axolotls in vanilla Minecraft without using commands or Creative mode.

This overhaul of the spawning location for axolotls in Minecraft may have to do with the 1.18 update's significant revamping of how caves exist and are generated in-game.

Caves can now be significantly deeper than before, reaching well down into depths of Y=-59. Stone blocks now transition to deepslate, which comprises caves and tunnels underground entirely between Y=0 and bedrock layers.

Aquifers will also be implemented, featuring bodies of water well below the surface of a Minecraft world. Previously, players were only likely to find lava after going deep enough into a cave system. However, aquifers should appear and work well thematically with dripstone and lush caves, which feature water.

Since bodies of water are more prevalent, dripstone and lush caves can also be found underground. For Minecraft players searching for axolotls, digging underground very well may present them with the mobs they're after.

Axolotls will undoubtedly be tougher to find with fewer spawning locations, but they're still out there for determined players.