Minecraft: Java Edition 20w48a snapshot adds Dripstone block for 'Caves and Cliffs Update'

Minecraft Caves and Cliffs Update Image (Image credit: Mojang Studios)

What you need to know

Minecraft is working on its next major update, the 'Caves and Cliffs Update' coming next year.
Minecraft: Java Edition, the legacy PC version of Minecraft, has slowly been testing new features in snapshots.
The latest snapshot adds a brand-new Caves and Cliffs Update feature in the form of the dripstone block.
The 20w48a snapshot is available right now, with the new dripstone block available in Creative Mode.

The next major release for Minecraft was revealed at Minecraft Live as the positively humungous Caves and Cliffs Update, which is slated to release sometime in Summer 2021. The long road to Caves and Cliffs has already begun, with a trickle of features being tested in betas and snapshots. The latest is Snapshot 20w48a, which adds the fancy new dripstone block to Minecraft: Java Edition. This allows for the creation of stalagmites and stalactites in Minecraft's caves.

Dripstones won't be available naturally in the world, but you can still find them in Creative Mode and take a look at what they can do. Dripstone blocks will slowly, well, drip, forming stalagmites if they're placed on the floor or stalactites if they're placed on the ceiling. They can drip water or lava, hurt quite a bit if you happen to run into them (or are smacked in the head with one), and you can even use them as a rather terrible faucet to fill cauldrons with. The snapshot is available right now for testing with Minecraft: Java Edition.

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The full changelog for Snapshot 20w48a includes:

New features

Added dripstone blocks and pointed dripstone

Pointed dripstone

Forms a stalactite if placed on the ceiling or a stalagmite if placed on the floor
Can be combined to form longer stalactites & stalagmites
Stalagmites break if not attached to something below
Landing or jumping on a stalagmite hurts! They are sharp
Stalactites fall down if not attached to something above
Being hit by falling stalactite hurts! They are sharp
Stalactites drip water (or lava if there is lava above the ceiling)
A stalactite with a water source above the ceiling will gradually fill a cauldron below with water
A stalactite with a lava source above the ceiling will fill a cauldron below with lava after a while
Thrown tridents break pointed dripstone

Changes

Right-clicking a bundle in the inventory now empties one item from the bundle
Using a bundle now throws out its entire content into the world
Advanced tooltips now show how full a bundle is
Candles can now only be placed if there is a solid surface below
Wearing any piece of leather armour now prevents freezing entirely
Changed textures for amethysts, candles, clocks and compasses

Technical changes

Added a

freezeDamage

game rule that allows players to toggle whether powder snow causes freeze damage or not

Fixed bugs

Lava and water are completely transparent at certain height levels
Swimming and doing certain actions make the player look very odd / does not have animations for swimming + doing certain actions
World border does not render below y=0 / above y=255
Spyglass animation is wrong when swimming
Spyglass wobbles when walking while in use
Weird Hand animation when attacking and using spyglass at the same time
Items inside of a bundle disappear if you empty the bundle in the inventory when in Creative mode while the inventory is full
The elder guardian particle moves when an elder guardian moves
Inconsistency: Crafting copper blocks into slabs only yields 4 slabs instead of 6
Using a spyglass while gliding with an elytra points the spyglass down in third person view
Full leather armour does not prevent freezing damage
Powdered snow doesn't give you frozen effect in creative mode
Snow Ambient Effect sometimes don't show correctly on the edge of a Powder Snow Block
Compass with nothing to point to will spin very rapidly when in bundle.
Creating a map from an empty map no longer plays a sound
Cannot manipulate horse.saddle using /item command
Chest closing sounds desynced with closing animations
Item modifiers that change the item type don't work on entities
The Fabulous graphics warning is shown at the wrong time
The 'Include entities' option in the structure block UI is the opposite of the actual behavior
TNT flashes are translucent once again
Item modifiers that change the count to 0 don't completely remove the item
/item modify doesn't visually update the model of an item in an item frame

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