Minecraft Snapshot 20w48a: Dripstone

It seems very likely in Minecraft 1.17 Caves & Cliffs that one wrong step could spell disaster for players who aren't cautious in new caves.

Dripstones are one of the many new cave generation additions to Minecraft coming in the summer of 2021, blocks that will resemble stalagmites, and stalactites, pillars of stone that are created by minerals dripping from cave ceilings or (stalagmites grow from the ground, and stalactites grow from the ceiling).

Minecraft's new dripstone blocks

Dripstone can be mined with at least a wooden pickaxe and doesn't require a silk touch. Dripstone can only be placed vertically, either facing downwards or up. If dripstones are placed so that way both vertical directions meet in the middle, they will connect as seen above. Players can use this for a Jurassic era-themed wall or depth texture for cave builds.

The other huge utility of this block is that any entity with ten hearts will die if they fall six blocks or more onto the dripstone. After testing, it was found that even players in full unenchanted netherite die instantly.

However, with full protection IV enchantments, Minecraft's most defensive set up, only three hearts were taken, and with feather falling IV, only two hearts.

Dripstone can also cause damage if it falls on an entity, the amount of damage varies up to 10 blocks, where at that height or higher, the falling dripstone will kill the entity. If a player is in full netherite, this will only deal three hearts of damage at ten blocks, and if the armor has protection IV, only half a heart.

For the most effective mob farms, players will now only have to have a five or six block fall for the mob farm to drop experience and/or items, respectively. For mob farms that utilize this method of elimination, they'll need hopper minecarts to collect the items and another hopper to move drops from the minecart into a chest.

For more information on the most recent snapshot, 20w48a, click here.