At the event Minecraft Live 2020 the developers announced the update “Caves and Rocks“. The new version of Minecraft 1.17 can be downloaded at the end of the article. Read our review of the update.
The full version will be released in summer 2021. The first innovations can already be tested!

Lush caves
The biome has not yet been added to the game, but already added blocks from the future biome… For a complete list of blocks, check out your Creative Inventory:
- Sporeflower
- Moss Block and Mossy Cover
- Using bone meal will grow vegetation on the Moss Block
- Mossy carpet looks like regular wool carpets
- Mossy carpet can be crafted
- If you need to break moss blocks, use the Hoe
- Azalea and Blooming Azalea
- Just a beautiful flower
- Can be used in ovens as fuel
- Cave vines
- Glowing berries
- Azalea foliage (regular and flowering)
- Root ground
- Hanging roots
- Young hardwood
- Large hardleaf
For some blocks there is detailed information below..

Lianas and berries
Added Cave Vines and Glowing Berries… We will write about them in more detail. Glow Berries grow on Cave Vines, or Cave Vines. Feature list:
- Cave vines grow from top to bottom
- Lianas can be used to grow Glowing Berries
- Berries can be harvested without breaking the creeper block
- You can get berries using bone meal
- Lianas with glowing berries glows
- You can climb the vines
- Plant berries on the bottom edge of any solid block to grow vines
- With the help of berries, foxes can be propagated and lured
- Berries can be eaten

Hardwood
Added Young and Big Hardleaf… This is the most unusual plant in the history of Minecraft:
- Big Hardleaf can be stepped on
- Keeps the player for only 1.5 seconds (30 ticks)
- If you apply bone meal on Young Hardwood, Big
- Each additional use of bone meal will increase Large Hardleaf

Stalactite caves
New biome, in which the droppers form “stone icicles”. Damage when dropped. “Icicles” have their own names:
- Stalactites – “icicles” at the top
- Stalagmites – “icicles” from below
- Stalagnates – “icicles” from top to bottom
They have there are features:
- Instant damage
- May fall on the player
- Dripping water can be collected in the boiler

New generation of mountains
Updated the generation of mountains. Added mountain biome variations up to 256 blocks high:
- High peaks
- Snowy peaks
- Snowy slopes
- Mountain grove
- Mountain meadows
Also contributed many other changes into the mountains:
- Increased the height of the world from 256 to 320 blocks
- Added iron, coal and emerald ores to the mountains
- Updated textures for all ore blocks
- Goats spawn on the Snow Slopes, and rabbits spawn in the Mountain Grove

Glowing Octopus
New mob – voting winner Minecraft Live 2020. Glows and spawns in the depths of the sea and underground caves. Drops pouches of glowing ink.

Glowing ink
Allow create a backlit frame… To get it, combine the regular frame and new ink in the workbench.
- Used to craft a glowing frame
- Used to illuminate plates
- The effect from the plate is removed with ordinary ink
- The text on the plate can now be painted with dyes

Acoustic sensor
New blocks allow you to build wireless circuits… In the Deep Dark Biome you can find:
- Sculk Block
- Sculk Chute
- Sculk Growth – A thin growth, like a layer of snow.
- Acoustic sensor – a sensor that responds to vibration and generates a signal. The wool can drown out the sound, then the sensor will not respond.

New mob: Warden
Looks like a minotaur. Reacts to sounds and senses your fear… The faster you run, the faster it catches up. To survive, you need to sneak.
- Focuses on sound
- Strong damage: from 30 units per hit
- Has 84 or more health units
- Lives near a new structure

Amethyst Geodes
This structure generated underground, usually below Y = 70. Amethysts and Calcites can be found here. It has three layers:
- Smooth basalt outer layer
- Calcite middle layer
- Inner hollow layer of blooming amethyst, amethyst blocks and buds
Block Description:
- Smooth basalt is a decorative block. Also mined by roasting common Basalt.
- Calcite is a decorative block.
- Blooming Amethyst is a block on which to grow amethysts.
- Amethyst Block is a decorative block, crafted from 4 Amethyst shards.
All types of Violet Blocks have pleasant sounds when interacting.

Amethysts
Grows on either side of a blooming amethyst. Have 4 stages of growth:
- Amethyst bud – first three stages.
- The amethyst cluster is the fourth and final stage.
From the Violet Cluster drops 4 shards of amethyst… You need an iron pickaxe or better for mining.
Enchant your Luck Pickaxe and get more shards.


Axolotl
New underwater mobwhich will spawn in water underground. Temporarily does not spawn naturally. Has a lot of cool features:
- Loves tropical fish buckets
- Cannot be tamed, but can be propagated by feeding fish
- Will follow the player if he has a bucket of fish in his hands
- Can walk on land, but only for a few minutes, otherwise dies
- Attacks fish, octopuses, drowned men and guards
- Comes in different colors, all spawn with the same chances
- Exception: blue, rarely spawns when breeding
- Knows how to pretend to be dead
- Restores health when pretending
- If a player kills a mob that was attacked by the Axolotl, Fatigue is removed from it and the effect of Regeneration is applied
- Axolotl can be caught in a bucket

Raw ore
Now breaking an ore block drops raw ore… It can be smelted into ingots. List of new ores:
- Raw copper
- Raw iron
- Raw gold
Old ores will not disappear, they can also be smelted.
The extraction of these ores is now affected by the Luck enchant.

Raw Ore Blocks
It is a compact way to store raw ore… Crafted from 9 units of raw ore.

Bags
The developers have solved the problem of lack of space in the inventory and added bags.
- Here you can fold up to 1 stack of blocks
- The tooltip shows all the items inside
- The bag can be tied and passed to a friend
- Items can be removed at any time

New resource: Copper
New ore will be generated underground.
- Used to craft Telescope and Lightning Rod
- Copper blocks can be crafted
- Copper blocks become patina over time (turn green)

Lightning rod
During a thunderstorm attracts lightning strikes and creates a redstone signal. Crafted from copper.

Spyglass
Allows you to look at separated objects… For crafting you need:
- 2 copper ingots
- 1 Amethyst Shard

New mob: Goat
To the mountain biome added Goat.
- Jump high, overcoming obstacles
- Butt and throw away
- Can multiply
- Drop the Horn if they crash into a tree

Loose snow
Snow in which you can drown… Temporarily available only in the Creative inventory.
- No fall damage
- Suck in the player and let them pass through themselves
- Leather boots keep you from falling through
- Goats are smart and avoid this snow.
- The texture is different from regular snow
- Frost appears on the screen if the player is inside

Tinted glass
This is glass that does not allow light to pass through… Mobs cannot see the player through it. For crafting you need:
- 1 glass block
- 4 shards of amethyst
Can be obtained without a Silk Touch pickaxe, unlike regular glass.

Deep slate
New block that has 28 variants and spawns below level Y = 16 blocks… It is an alternative to stone.
- Deep slate
- Crushed slate
- Crushed shale slab
- Crushed Shale Ladder
- Crushed slate wall
- Polished slate
- Polished slate slab
- Polished slate staircase
- Polished slate wall
- Deep Slate Tile
- Slate slab
- Slate staircase
- Tiled slate wall
- Deep Slate Brick
- Brick slate slab
- Brick Slate Staircase
- Slate wall
- Deep Shale Lapis Lazuli Ore
- Abyssal Shale Iron Ore
- Abyssal Shale Gold Ore
- Deep Shale Redstone Ore
- Abyssal Shale Diamond Ore
- Deep Shale Coal Ore
- Abyssal Shale Emerald Ore
- Abyssal Shale Copper Ore
- Cracked Abyssal Slate Tile
- Cracked Deep Slate Bricks
- Chiseled Deep Slate

Tuff
For now this is a decorative block… Generated below Y = 16, can only be obtained with a pickaxe.

Archeology
Use a brush for the extraction of ceramic fragments… The shards can be placed on pots and burned. The fragments can depict:
- Dragon of the Edge
- Skeleton
- Alex
- Wood
- Supporter

This is a test version. Make backup copies of the worlds.