With the new version 1.18 update, Minecraft is going all out with a ton of new features for its community. We have new biomes, mobs, and a whole new terrain generation lined up. This update is also going to be the one that brings Minecraft Java and Bedrock Edition closer with identical world generation with the same seeds. There’s a lot to unpack here, and the excitement keeps rising as the 1.18’s release date gets closer. But worry not, our team is ready to cover every important detail you might want to know about the new Minecraft 1.18 Caves and Cliffs part 2 update. We have already covered the best Minecraft 1.18 seeds for you to get ready for the new world generation. Though, that’s not all. With the update just around the corner, let’s take a look at everything you can expect from the new Minecraft 1.18 Caves and Cliffs part 2 update. That includes the release date, new biomes, supported platforms, download links, and much more.

The new Minecraft 1.18 update brings 8 new biomes, a new ore generation system, and realistic caves and cliffs, as the name suggests. And these are just the major features that we learned about from Minecraft version 1.17. There are several things to talk about in this article, so let’s first understand the specifics of the update itself before we jump into the new features.

  • What is Minecraft 1.18 Caves & Cliffs Part 2 UpdateMinecraft 1.18 Update Release DateMinecraft 1.18: Supported PlatformsMinecraft 1.18 Update: Download LinksNew Biomes in Minecraft 1.18 Caves & Cliffs Part 2 Update

  • Lush CavesDripstone CavesMeadowGroveFrozen PeaksJagged PeaksStony PeaksSnowy SlopesUnused BiomesWorld Generation Changes in Minecraft 1.18 Update

  • Terrain and BiomesWorld Limit IncreasedSeed GenerationOther Major Changes in Minecraft 1.18 Caves & Cliffs Part 2 Update

  • Java and Bedrock CompatibilityExpanded Ore DistributionNew Music in Minecraft 1.18Other Minor But Important Changes & Additions

  • Lush CavesDripstone CavesMeadowGroveFrozen PeaksJagged PeaksStony PeaksSnowy SlopesUnused Biomes

  • Terrain and BiomesWorld Limit IncreasedSeed Generation

  • Java and Bedrock CompatibilityExpanded Ore DistributionNew Music in Minecraft 1.18Other Minor But Important Changes & Additions

What is Minecraft 1.18 Caves & Cliffs Part 2 Update

In June 2021, Minecraft released the version 1.17 update called Caves and Cliffs Part 1. It added minor but significant changes in the game, including new blocks, items, mobs, and plants. Expanding on that, the Minecraft 1.18 update majorly focuses on the new overworld and underground terrain generation in the game.

Minecraft 1.18 Update Release Date

As per the latest official announcement, Minecraft 1.18 is going to be released on November 30, 2021. Consulting the release time of the previous edition, you can expect the update to go live between 10:00 am EST (7:00 am PST/ 8:30 pm IST) to 1:00 pm EST (10:00 am PST/ 11:30 pm IST).

With the new 1.18 update, Minecraft is leaving behind a majority of older generations of the consoles, including Xbox 360, PS3, and others. As for PC users, you can expect the Java edition to work on macOS High Sierra or Windows 8 and previous versions too, but not at its peak quality. The platforms that are fully compatible with the Minecraft 1.18 update are:

  • Xbox Series XXbox Series SPlaystation 5Playstation 4Xbox OneNintendo Switch iOSiPadOSAndroidWindows 10 & 11.

For Minecraft Java Edition:

Depending upon your platform, you can get Minecraft 1.18 update from the respective store on each platform. For the PC version, based on the experimental snapshots, we estimate the Minecraft 1.18 update size to be around 800 MBs or higher if you are updating from the 1.17 version. It might be smaller for the mobile version of the game due to the limited space of those devices.

New Biomes in Minecraft 1.18 Caves & Cliffs Part 2 Update

Now comes the part you have been waiting for. Minecraft 1.18 has tons of exciting new features for you to try. However, a majority of them revolve around the new Minecraft biomes that are getting added to the game. Fortunately, the snapshots allowed us to test them all for you. Let’s see what each of these biomes has to offer.

Home to glow berries and spore blossom, this is probably the most beautiful biome of the Minecraft 1.18 update. These caves generate in different sizes but can be easily identified with the greenery in them. The ceilings are covered with spore blossoms, glow berries, and moss blocks. Meanwhile, the floor is made up of moss blocks, flowering azalea, and a lot of grass. You can also find ores like coal and copper in this biome. Other than moss blocks, you can also find stone blocks taking up a lot of space in this biome.

In contrast to the lush caves, the Dripstone caves are the less colorful cave biome in this update. These caves are made up of stone, granite, and dripstone blocks. There are no plants in this biome, but you can find pointed dripstones (which replicate stalactites from real-world caves) in different sizes. Also, there are several underwater dripstone caves that you can stumble upon in the 1.18 update. In terms of ores, copper is most abundant in this biome.

Meadow is a mountain-based biome that spawns between mountains and hills. At first glance, it looks like a combination of plains and flower forest biomes. You can also find flowers, grass, rabbits, and sheep in this biome. If there are any trees in here, they usually spawn with beehives on them.

Even though Grove is a snowy biome, it spawns on similar locations as a meadow. Located on the foothills of hills, these biomes are covered with snow. As for the blocks, they are made up of dirt and stone blocks that are covered with snow and packed ice. You can find spruce trees, foxes rabbits, and wolves in this biome.

Frozen Peaks

This biome gives us snowy mountains but with leveled smoother slopes. You can find snow and packed ice covering stone blocks in this biome. This biome focuses more on packed ice than snow. There are often goats wandering in the area, so you can choose to tame them or gather food and resources from them. Moreover, you can even find Pillager outposts in this new Minecraft 1.18 biome.

Jagged Peak is a biome that truly defines the cliffs part of this 1.18 update. It provides us with realistic-looking mountains that are made out of stone and covered in the snow when you reach the peak. Unlike snowcapped mountains, the world generation of this biome isn’t smooth but rather irregular. Usually, powdered snow doesn’t spawn in this biome.

Similar to snowy peaks, this biome features stone at top of the mountain instead of snow. The mountains in this biome can be either flat and smooth or can have irregular ups and downs. Even though there is no snow here, you can still find goats in this biome. You can even find ores like coal on the surface level (see screenshot) of this biome.

The last new biome in Minecraft 1.18 is also the most popular cliff biome. It gives us beautiful but steep mountain peaks with a lot of snow. There is even some powered snow layered on top of each other that can trap you within it. As for the mobs, you can easily find goats and rabbits in this biome.

As you will notice in our next section, the world generation of Minecraft has changed entirely in the 1.18 update. One such change ensures that the terrain height and biomes no longer affect each other. That means minor biomes that are generated due to terrain height will now become obsolete. These unused biomes include:

  • Badlands PlateauBamboo Jungle Hills, Birch Hills, and Dark Forest HillsDesert Hills and LakesGiant Spruce and Giant Tree Taiga HillsGravelly MountainsModified Jungle Edge and Modified JungleModified Badlands Plateau and Wooded Badlands PlateauMountain EdgeMushroom Field ShoreShattered Savanna PlateauSnowy Mountains and Snowy Taiga MountainsTaiga Hills and MountainsVarious Hill variants, including Jungle, Snowy Taiga, Tall Birch, Swamp, and Wooded Hills

World Generation Changes in Minecraft 1.18 Update

To implement tall peeks and a new underground system, Minecraft developers decided to change the world generation completely. Even though all these changes are for the best, some of them can be a little heavy for your system. Fortunately, installing Optifine in Minecraft can help you increase your FPS and improve performance. With that out of the way, let’s understand the new world generation changes in the Minecraft 1.18 update.

The first major change is how terrains generate in Minecraft 1.18. Terrains are the physical features or how a landmass is generated in the game. It involves mountains, hills, and plateaus generated in the area. In the earlier versions, the game focused more on the biomes, and each biome had its limited variety of terrain. That’s no longer the case.

Now, the terrain generation is given a priority. So, instead of having separate terrains, each Minecraft biome will automatically adjust itself to whatever terrain it is on. It’s the reason why you can now see plains and forest biomes spawning as mountains throughout your overworld in Minecraft. The screenshot above is a prime example of the new terrain-based world generation.

For both Minecraft Java and Bedrock editions, the total built height has been expanded to 384 blocks. It means the lowest point and the highest point in a Minecraft world can now have 384 blocks between them. This extension allows deeper caves and higher mountains to easily form in the game.

Seed Generation

The seeds in Minecraft 1.18 use a new random world number generator. It means that the worlds you get each time will be more random than earlier. It also means that none of the best Minecraft seeds from earlier versions will look the same on this version. Thankfully, you also won’t have to look for Java and Bedrock Edition seeds separately after this update.

The biomes are the biggest feature that most players are excited about in the new update. But that’s not all. Let’s go over each of the major new features that Minecraft 1.18 has to offer.

If you are someone like me who isn’t a fan of having two separate Minecraft editions, this update is perfect for you. One major way the 1.18 update brings Java and Bedrock Minecraft closer is with world generation. Most Minecraft 1.18 seeds generate worlds that look very similar in both editions of the game. The worlds still won’t be exactly the same, but they wouldn’t feel like two separate seeds either. An example of this improved compatibility between the Java and Bedrock editions can be seen below:

Is it time to play Spot the Difference? Nope! These Java and Bedrocks seeds are so similar that even the sharpest eyes would have trouble winning this game!↣ https://t.co/CPC2Hy82Fe ↢ pic.twitter.com/PbvTvnsY88— Minecraft (@Minecraft) October 16, 2021

Expanded Ore Distribution

Due to changes in world limits and the introduction of the new cave biomes, the ore distribution of Minecraft has changed a lot. The most significant change is that the ore veins or the groups of several ore blocks now generate longer chains.

New Music in Minecraft 1.18

As for the music we can manually use in the game, there’s only one new addition. The update adds a new music disc that has blue and green colors in its rings and is called “Otherside”. But fortunately, that’s not all. Minecraft is offering us plenty of new in-game music that you will notice right from the home menu. And as the case is with each new biome, Minecraft is giving us new music for each of the new in-game biomes.

  • The new spawn algorithm ensures that the player doesn’t spawn in the ocean, lava, or similar awkward locations.The Java version has a new “/jfr” command that records in-game events like chunk generation, server traffic, and load time among others.There are new in-game achievements too, including “caves & cliffs”, “feels like home”, “star trader”, and “sound of music”.You can find Pillager outposts in almost any of the mountain biomes. Most that we noticed were in Frozen Peaks.The Java edition’s debug screen (“F3 key”) now also shows terrain, biome builder, and multinoise information that includes features about the biome placement.The settings also received a few new options like chunk builder, lightening toggle, audio outpost, and simulation distance.The video settings received an option to turn on/ off the autosave indicator for single-player mode. Like every other update, there are dozens of minor texture and spawn changes for a few blocks, mobs, and structures. You can even find hundreds of bug fixes in the logs of this update.

Learn All About Minecraft 1.18 Caves & Cliffs Update

With the update just around the corner, there’s no more waiting for the Minecraft community. The Minecraft 1.18 Caves & Cliffs Part 2 update is one of the largest game updates since the Adventure update from 2011. The future of Minecraft worlds (or seeds) has changed completely, and this is just the surface of what this game is capable of. You can push your game version to its limit by installing Forge in Minecraft to use the best Minecraft mods.