Top 5 confirmed features of the Minecraft 1.17 update

The upcoming Minecraft Caves and Cliffs 1.17 update is the most anticipated update the company has ever created.

Minecraft: Caves and Cliffs should come out sometime in mid-2021. The developers have worked hard to add more life and interest to the cave systems in the game. They have added different biomes, such as the lush caverns filled with plant life and new creatures, flooded caves with rivers and channels, and the deep dark caverns — found at the deepest depths of the world, occupied by one of the most dangerous creatures the game has ever seen.

With so many amazing new blocks, mobs, and biomes being added to the game, it's hard to pinpoint the best ones. However, there are aspects that the Minecraft community favors.

Five confirmed features of Minecraft 1.17 update the community is excited for

#5 - Candles

Although the adding of candles into Minecraft is a seemingly minuscule addition compared to the other tremendous things coming with this update, it is something the community has been asking for years.

As a new form of ambient light that can group like sea pickles (up to four in one block), this new block is a great and eagerly anticipated addition to the Minecraft block menu. The fact that players can place them on cakes to create a birthday cake is just the cherry on top of this fantastic item included in the new update.

To craft a candle in update 1.17, players have to place a piece of string on top of a honeycomb piece in a crafting table or their survival crafting menu.

Subsequently, combining this uncolored candle with any color dye proceeds to turn the candle into a colored one of the player's choice. When grouped from 1-4 in a block, candidates emit light levels increasing by 3 with each candle added.

#4 - Archaeology

Archaeology was an aspect that barely anyone expected to be implemented into Minecraft. Still, with the 1.17 update, the Minecraft team is adding a new brush tool to allow players who love exploring their worlds in other ways to uncover the mysteries of the game.

Using the brush tool on blocks of sand, gravel, and dirt will allow the gamer to slowly uncover, pixel-by-pixel, some marvelous relics of Minecraft's past.

From the basics, like bones and arrows, to new ceramic shards addable to the new ceramic pot block that fits perfectly into any Minecraft home, to even the rarest blocks of diamond and emerald, archaeology is a time-consuming yet completely worth-it aspect being added to Minecraft.

Right now, the brush tool is uncraftable and can only be found at archaeological dig sites.

#3 - Copper variations

1.17 is the first update since 2012 to implement a real-world metal into Minecraft. Copper has been a highly demanded ore in the Minecraft community for years, and the developers are finally providing it.

Copper — despite being great for survival uses, like making the new 'spyglass' item and a few others — will be a wondrous block for players who love using various building materials. With its burnt orange appearance, it's a great block to use in industrial-looking builds.

This new variety of block is unique in another way. It oxidizes. Over time, in a player's Minecraft world, the block will slowly change and develop a greenish hue; this oxidation is similar to how copper oxidizes in real life.

Copper exposed to a player's world elements, like rain, water, and snow, will slowly turn green. This gives a fantastic weathered effect to the block and provides builders with a great way to give their work an aspect of time.

The creative team did think about the fact that some people might not want weathered copper. Hence, they also implemented a waxed version of the block, which maintains color no matter what.

#2 - Amethyst geodes

Amethyst Geodes are a new and interesting generated structure being introduced in the latest update. These rare constructions can be found pretty much anywhere at or below sea level.

They form in three layers: an outer layer of a new block called Tuff, a middle layer of Calcite, and then a hollow shell of the purple crystal, Amethyst.

There are two forms of amethyst: amethyst blocks and budding amethyst blocks. The latter has different properties that allow amethyst crystals to blossom.

Budding amethyst is not a collectible block, unlike the rest of the blocks in the geode. Even with silk touch, this block will break if players attempt to collect it. If they are trying to collect amethyst, they should make sure not to harvest the shard cluster until it is fully grown. Otherwise, it will not drop anything.

Harvesting amethyst allows players to create two new, handy tools: the spyglass and the lightning rod.

#1 - New mobs

The most anticipated aspect of this new update is the various mobs being introduced. From extremely cute to incredibly dangerous, this new update will have so much to explore.

The Minecraft community has been asking for some cuter mobs recently, and the developers are delivering with this update. Three new mobs will be added to the game with adorable textures that any player would love.

The axolotl is a new aquatic mob that comes in five different color variants: pink, brown, white, yellow, and the rarest blue shade with a 1 in 1200 chance of spawning.

They also happen to be quite aggressive towards other aquatic mobs, like fish and squid. Although they are not tameable, axolotls will fight alongside the player if given tropical fish as a bribe.

The best part: these amphibians can be caught in a bucket just like fish! They are extremely cute and a staple in any home aquarium that players may build. But, maybe, they should have their own part of the tank.

Another aquatic mob coming with update 1.17 is the Glow Squid.

As the winner of the 2020 mob vote against the Moobloom and Iceologer, the Glow Squid will be added as the community's chosen creature.

They are expected to spawn primarily in deep oceans and the waters of the flooded caverns.

When killed, there is the possibility for it to drop 0-2 Glowing Ink Sacs, which can be converted into cyan dye.

Considering this update is both a caves and cliffs update, we are also getting another adorable mob found roaming the tops of the newly terraformed cliffs: goats!

There hasn't been much information released about these goats now. But rest assured, many players will find a way to adapt them into their households alongside their many cats, dogs, and parrots.

These mobs are neutral (like polar bears and dolphins), meaning they will only attack a player if they act aggressively towards them.

These animals can jump up to five blocks high and know to avoid powder snow as not to fall through. They are also programmed to drop 0-2 goat horns each (depending on how many the individual model shows) if they ram into a block and will drop 1-2 mutton if killed.

The main mob being introduced to the community is another boss mob — The Warden.

The Warden is a blind creature that lurks in the deep dark caverns that reside at the world's deepest depths.

These monsters use their surroundings to find a player's whereabouts. New blocks known as Sculk Sensors, in addition to their heightened hearing, allow the mob to find the player through any noises he/she may make.

This beast can kill a player wearing full netherite armor in as few as just two hits, dealing 30 hit points (or 15 hearts) of damage.

The best-known way to distract this mob is through the use of projectiles: throwing snowballs or shooting arrows is a great way to distract and mislead this creature giving the player time to flee the scene.

Edited by Ravi Iyer