Everything coming in Minecraft Caves and Cliffs Update Part 2 (1.18)

With all the new content being added to the newest update, we can see why Mojang decided to split the Caves & Cliffs update into two parts. This update comes with a complete overhaul to world generation, as well as some added mechanics that completely change the atmosphere of the world as you explore.

Although there are many more detailed changes to the game, we have outlined and generalized the most significant changes below.

Additions

Here is everything that is being added to the game that was not there before.

Items

• Music Disc "Otherside"

World generation

• Caves
  • Generation has been completely overhauled.
  • Stretch down to Y -59.
  • Stone transitions to Deepslate Y 8 and below.
  • Dripstone Caves and Lush Caves generate underground.
  • Aquifers, bodies of water with different heights, have been added. Aquifers below Y 0 can sometimes generate lava.
  • "Cheese", "Spaghetti", and "Noodle" noise caves have been added.
    • Cheese Caves are large, open areas with large stone towers stretching from top to bottom.
    • Spaghetti caves are long and thin, similar to original caves.
    • Noodle caves are thin and squiggly.
• Mountains
  • Come in 6 sub-biomes:
    • Meadow
      • Grassy elevated biome that looks like a flowery and colder Plains biome.
      • Generates in plateaus and the lowest layers of some mountains.
      • Spawns Bees, Rabbits, Donkeys, and Sheep. Can spawn Villages and Pillager Outposts.
    • Grove
      • Generates in the slopes of snowy mountains next to Forest biomes.
      • Similar to a Snowy Taiga with Snow Blocks and Powder Snow instead of Grass Blocks.
      • Spawns Rabbits, Wolves, Foxes, Sheep, Pigs, Chickens, and Cows. Can spawn Pillager Outposts.
    • Snowy Slopes
      • Generates in the slopes of mountains next to Snowy Tundra.
      • Covered in Snow, Snow Block, and Powder Snow.
      • Spawns Rabbits and Goats. Can spawn Igloos and Pillgar Outposts.
    • Jagged Peaks
      • Generates at the peaks of some mountains.
      • Covered in Snow, Snow Blocks, and Stone.
      • Spawns Goats. Can spawn Pillager Outposts.
    • Frozen Peaks
      • Generates at the peaks of some mountains.
      • Covered in Snow, Snow Blocks, Ice, and Packed Ice.
      • Spawns Goats. Can spawn Pillager Outposts.
    • Stony Peaks
      • Generates at the peaks of some mountains.
      • Covered in Stone, Gravel, and Calcite.
      • Does not spawn animals. Can spawn Pillager Outposts.
• Ore
  • Worlds now rarely generate long ore formations.
  • Copper Ore veins mixed with Granite and Blocks of Raw Copper generate above Y 0.
  • Iron Ore veins mixed with Tuff and Blocks of Raw Iron generate above Y 0.

Advancements

• Caves & Cliffs: Fall from the top to the bottom of the Overworld.
• Feels like home: Ride a Strider on lava for 50 blocks in the Overworld.
• Sound of Music: Play music with a Jukebox in a Meadow Biome.
• Star Trader: Trade with a villager at the build height limit.
• New advancement triggers fall_from_height and ride_entity_in_lava.

General

• New settings visible in the Debug Screen.
• Minecraft Dungeons font available via command.
• New Languages: Lombard and Toki Pona.
• New Loot Table options.
• New background music that changes based on the Biome you're in.
• New NBT tags.
• New particle settings.
• New block tags for customization of blocks.
• New subtitles for various sounds.
• New snooper (Telemetry) to see information about computer specifications.
• New customizable graphics settings.

Changes

Here are all the mechanics already in the game that are receiving modifications.

Blocks

• Big Dripleaf: Restricted the blocks where Big Dripleafs can be placed.
• Vines and Kelp: Stop growing if Shears are used on the tip.
  • Cave Vine textures have been changed.
• Copper Ore: Drops two to five Raw Copper instead of two to three.
• Enchanting Table: Emits Light Level 7. Lapis icon has been changed.
• Redstone Comparator: Baseplate texture has been changed.

Items

• Campfire and Soul Campfire: Item textures have been changed.
• Doors: Item textures have been changed, except for Crimson and Warped Doors.
• Item Frames and Glow Item Frames: Item textures have been changed.
• Signs: Item textures have been changed.

Mobs

• Axolotl
  • Only spawn in water above Clay Blocks in Lush Caves.
  • Has its own Mob Cap.
• Fish
  • Several types of fish, including Squids and Dolphins, only spawn in water from Y 50 to Y 64.
  • Tropical Fish spawn in Lush Caves at any height.
• Drowned: Can spawn in Aquifers inside Dripstone Caves.
• Pillager: No longer attack Baby Villagers.
• Glow Squid: Only spawn in water below Y 30.
• Goat: Only spawn in only spawn in Snowy Slopes, Jagged Peaks, and Frozen Peaks biomes.
• Horses, Mules, and Donkeys: Follow players holding Golden Carrots, Golden Apples, and Enchanted Golden Apples.
• Llamas: Follow players holding Hay Bales.
• Wither: Wither's skull texture has been tweaked.
• Zombie Villager: Armorer Zombie Villager and Weaponsmith Zombie Villager textures have been tweaked.
• General
  • Hostile mobs only spawn in areas with Light Level 0 (Block Light only).
  • AI has been optimized for several mobs.
  • Feedable Mobs named Dinnerbone will loo

World Generation

• Amethyst Geodes: Only generate up to Y 30.
• Badlands: Can generate in mountain peaks.
• Beaches: Wider than they used to be.
• Biomes
  • Several biomes have been renamed.
  • Several biome names have been removed from the game and the code has been merged with the main biome code. As a result:
    • As a result of this change:
      • All Deserts can generate Villages and Desert Pyramids.
      • All Taigas can generate Villages and Pillager Outposts.
      • All Swamps can generate Swamp Huts.
      • All Snowy Taigas can generate Igloos.
• Buried Treasure: Can contain Water Breathing potions.
• Desert Pyramid
  • No longer generate on water.
  • Generate on surfaces instead of a fixed Y level, but are usually partially buried.
• Dripstone Caves: Generate underground and inside hills or mountains.
• Dungeons: Increased the number of dungeons.
• Fossils: Deepest fossils generate with Deepslate Diamond Ore instead of Coal Ore.
• Jungle Pyramids: No longer generate on water.
• Lakes: Water Lakes removed in favor of Aquifers.
• Lush Caves
  • Generate naturally underground and inside hills or mountains.
  • Azalea trees generate above Lush Caves.
• Mineshafts: Generate higher up in Badlands biomes.
• Oceans
  • Frozen oceans only generate in Snowy Taigas or Snowy Plains
  • Removed Deep Warm Ocean biomes.
• Ore: All Ores received a complete overhaul. They now generate at different levels, attempt to generate multiple times, and have a spread value similar to Lapis Lazuli Ore.
• Pillager Outposts
  • Generate in new mountain biomes.
• Springs
  • Lava springs generate in Calcite, Dirt, Snow, Powder Snow, and Packed Ice.
  • Water springs don't generate higher than Y 192.
• Stony Shore: Generate alongside any biome and generate with strips of gravel.
• Villages: More spread out and can generate in Meadows.

Gameplay

• Advancements
  • "Light as a Rabbit" is under the "Sweet Dreams" advancement.
  • Number of biomes required to complete "Adventuring Time" is 50.
• Weather: Sleeping only resets the weather cycle during Rain or Thunderstorm weather.
• Chunk Format: General changes made to Chunk format properties to make code easier to change.
• Clouds: Raised to Y 192.
• Effects: Changes made to effects for better performance and to change how they look on the Inventory Menu.
• Height Limit: Increased to Y 384. Downward limit is Y -64.
• Options
  • Sneak, Sprint, and Auto-jump options are in the Controls tab.
  • Render distances causes chunks to load in a Cylinder shape.
  • Default brightness set to 50.
• Player Spawning: Players no longer spawn in oceans or other inconvenient locations.
• Scoreboards: Removed length limits for Scoreboards, Score Holders, and Team Names.
• Servers: Optimization added to server file code and mechanics.
• Splashes: New splashes added to the main screen.
• Sprinting: Touching walls at low angles does not reduce to walking speed.
• Ticks: Code optimization has improved save times.
• World Creation
  • Removed Caves and Floating Islands options.
  • Modifications made to Amplified and Large Biomes world types.

That's everything there is to know about the upcoming changes for Minecraft 1.18: The Caves & Cliffs update!

Be sure to check out our Minecraft Homepage to see all the latest news, guides, and content for Minecraft version 1.18!