Minecraft: Java Edition Snapshot 21w13a adds goats from 'Caves and Cliffs Update' and more

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

What you need to know

Minecraft: Java Edition tests future updates and features through update "slices" known as snapshots.
Minecraft: Java Edition Snapshot 21w13a is available for PC Minecraft players right now.
The latest snapshot adds goats and tweaks from the upcoming 'Caves and Cliffs Update.'
There's also a new accessibility option for the loading screen and plenty of bug fixes on board too.

Minecraft is all about swapping features in the latest batch of betas and snapshots today. Minecraft: Bedrock Edition got axolotl and deepslate, which had already been tested in a previous Minecraft: Java Edition snapshot. On the other hand, Minecraft: Java Edition Snapshot 21w13a has just arrived on scene with the new goat mob, which appeared in a past Minecraft: Bedrock Edition beta.

The latest Minecraft: Java Edition snapshot is now available to Minecraft: Java Edition snapshot players, and features a new mob and more tweaks from the upcoming Caves and Cliffs Update. Players can also find a ton of tweaks and changes to existing features and previously-tested additions, a new accessibility option, and the usual batch of bug fixes and general improvements. The highlight for this snapshot is certainly the goats, a new neutral mob that resides in Minecraft's mountains and boasts of some impressive jumping power.

You can play the new Minecraft: Java Edition snapshot right now. If you're looking for something Minecraft-themed for yourself or a loved one, be sure to check our list of best merch, toys, and gifts for Minecraft. On the other hand, if you're just looking to shake up the way you play Minecraft, check out our ultimate guide on how to mod Minecraft: Java Edition.

The full changelog for Minecraft: Java Edition Snapshot 21w13a includes:

New features

Added the goat! Added an accessibility option

Goat

Goats spawn in Mountains
Goats can scale the sides of mountains with their incredible jumps!
Goats can be tempted and bred using Wheat
Goats are another source of milk!

Accessibility

Added an alternative solid black background color for the Mojang Studios loading screen, toggleable with the "Monochrome Logo" accessibility option

Changes

Tweaks to Caves
Tweaks to Ore Distribution
Tweaks to Powdered Snow
Dripstone clusters can now be found rarely in normal caves
Deepslate blobs can now be found between heights 0 and 16
Axolotls and glow squids now spawn in underground water sources
Axolotls will now always chase after and attack squids, glow squids, tropical fish, cod, salmon, pufferfish, drowned, guardians, and elder guardians
Axolotls now have a two-minute cooldown after hunting non-hostile targets such as fish, squids, etc.
They will prioritize targeting hostile mobs first before hunting.
Bees now see Flowering Azalea (and Flowering Azalea Leaves) as flowers
Additions to Wandering Trader and Mason trades
Additions to chest loot tables

Caves

Mineshaft tweak: increased the max length of pillars and chains.
Carver tweaks: made carvers less likely to be too flat to walk through.
Noise cave tweaks:
- Increased likelihood of megacaves (large cheese caves)
- Reduced likelihood of toothpick pillars (tall 1-block thin pillars)
- Other tweaks to make the cheese caves more varied and interesting

Ore distribution

Slightly more iron
Larger diamond blobs sometimes form

Powdered snow

Powder snow's durability / hardness was slightly increased
Freeze time has decreased to 7 seconds and hurt frequency has decreased to 2 seconds
Entities on fire now melt Powder Snow when colliding
Increase vertical movement speed within Powder Snow
Strays, Polar Bears, and Snow Golems are now immune to freezing
Mobs now shake when they are fully frozen
Skeletons converting to strays now only require the 7 seconds it takes for an entity to be fully frozen to begin converting, instead of the 30 seconds it took before
Leather horse armor now protects horses from freeze damage
Mobs that enjoy the heat (Blazes, Magma Cubes, and Striders) take increased freeze damage

Trade & loot tables

Added the following trades to Mason:
- Will sell 4 Dripstone blocks for 1 emerald
Added the following trades to Wandering Trader:
- Will sell 2 Pointed Dripstones for 1 emerald
- Will sell 2 Rooted Dirt for 1 emerald
- Will sell 2 Moss Blocks for 1 emerald
Moss blocks can be found in Shipwreck chests
Glow Berries can be found in Mineshaft chest minecarts

Technical changes

Added metric cube of light!
Unused parts of code are no longer removed

Light block

Op-only (/give) air-like waterloggable block
Emits light at a level determined by block state
Visible and targetable only when the item is held (similar to barrier)
Right-click cycles light level

Bug fixes

End portal appears transparent from below
Killing guardian with lava does not give cooked fish
Polar bears drop raw fish instead of cooked fish when killed with fire or lava
There are a number of unused texture files
Kicked from the game when reaching y levels over 30,000,000
Air can be used in custom recipes, causing a crash
Servers able to bypass EULA blacklist
Some NBT tags are not kept when fish or axolotl mobs are caught in water buckets
Observer doesn't detect when a grass block changes to dirt if a tree grows on top
Leash knot sound effect plays when loading singleplayer world
'Cover Me With Diamonds' advancement improperly capitalized
Stonecutter saw spins both ways simultaneously
Some experience points do not go towards Mending repair, even if the Mending gear is not fully repaired
Suspicious stew inedible with full hunger
Turtles laying eggs on red sand produce normal sand particles
Zombies that die while on fire do not drop baked potatoes
Back of ladder is incorrectly mirrored
Vines appear incorrectly mirrored when viewed from behind
Texture planes of crop models appear incorrectly mirrored from behind
Chain model planes are incorrectly mirrored on the rear
Chain section on lanterns is incorrectly mirrored from behind
Sea pickle green top sections do not render correctly from behind
Water bottle doesn't extinguish candles
Lightning rod bottom texture is mapped incorrectly
Can't "Pick Block" cauldrons with liquid or powdered snow inside
Aiming a spyglass with a loaded crossbow in offhand creates weird third person effect
Waterlogged candles can be lit
Candle extinguishing particle appears offset from the candle
Cauldrons filled with water, lava or powder snow cannot be used as a workstation for villagers
Powder snow does not cause underlying grass, mycelium or podzol to appear snowy
Mobs wearing leather boots spin around when walking on powder snow
Mobs that get damaged by powder snow can spawn inside powder snow
Landing on powder snow while wearing leather boots inflicts fall damage on Java, but not on Bedrock
The particles produced when extinguishing a campfire are misplaced
Powder snow inside textures are not correctly mirrored
Mobs don't path find across powder snow blocks when not wandering
Using /setblock to place a structure block defaults to save mode, unlike placing one by hand
Skeletons in powder snow spin when aiming at the player
Endermen holding water, lava or powder snow cauldrons don't drop cauldrons
Placing turtle egg / sea pickle onto turtle egg/sea pickle while sneaking doesn't place it next to it, although placing candle onto candle does
Experience orb stacks that were used in the mending process lose their experience amount, even if the stack is still larger than one
Copper slabs and stairs are not included in the #minecraft:slabs and #minecraft:stairs tags
Axolotls change color when released from bucket / axolotl entity data isn't stored in the bucket item
Axolotls aren't required for the "Two By Two" advancement
Axolotls don't attack elder guardians
Semi-transparent pixels on axolotl textures
Axolotls don't give regeneration or remove mining fatigue
Explorer maps & filled maps turn blank after entering the nether or end
Can't cut stacks in half in furnace output
Tab exploit packet abuse can crash servers
Glow item frames are rendered dark when a light source is nearby
Back face of glow lichen is not correctly mirrored from behind
Some world border faces are rendered mirrored, resulting in incorrect corners
Shulker hitbox does not immediately rotate after the shulker visually rotates
Rooted dirt is far from other dirt variants in the Creative inventory
Rooted dirt is in decorations tab
Certain faces of azalea are not culled by other blocks
Azalea and flowering azalea z-fight when placed next to blocks
Water behaves as if moss blocks were air
Grass, ferns, flowers, bushes, saplings and bamboo cannot be placed on top of rooted dirt
Can't pick block big dripleaf stem
Signs, banners, paintings & item frames cannot be placed on moss
Farmland / dirt path don't convert to dirt when moss is placed above
Cannot turn Rooted Dirt into a Dirt Path
Using bone meal on a small dripleaf shows breaking particles
Big Dripleaf can be rotated incorrectly by breaking and replacing it
Skeletons don't have a shaking animation while converting to strays
Azalea bushes connect to walls and fences
Mining rooted dirt is slightly faster than mining other dirt blocks
The azalea's side textures are partially cut off
Cake cannot be placed on top of a moss block
Converted moss blocks do not update redstone
Rooted dirt cannot be picked up by endermen
Redstone doesn't connect vertically on moss blocks
Rooted Dirt has no assigned tool
End gateway exit portals can be set to high coordinates, kicking the player
Rooted dirt is not randomly rotated
Tripwire texture is not mirrored correctly from behind
Tripwire which is part of a tripwire hook is not mirrored correctly from behind
Big dripleaf texture mirrored incorrectly from underneath
Small dripleaf texture mirrored incorrectly from underneath
Azalea top texture is mirrored incorrectly
Waterlogged pointed stalagmites don't drop when their support block is broken
Powered big dripleaf play tilting sounds when blocks are changed nearby
Selecting nothing and pressing Ctrl+C clears clipboard
Rain passes through moss blocks
Maximum building height is 319, but warning message says 320
Players are able to locate other players with the lightning/thunder sound
Cobbled Deepslate Slab uses the stone sounds instead of the deepslate sounds
Small Dripleaf can't be placed on Rooted Dirt while waterlogged
Shift Clicking items into inventory prevents the relevant advancement from triggering
Can type text into anvil text field without putting an item in it, preventing you from closing the UI with E
The eyes of some entities can be seen through powder snow/lava
Mineshaft support legs can generate in lava
Inconsistency: cobbled deepslate does not take longer to mine than deepslate
There is no sound when defrosting from fire / lava (vanilla parity)
Spyglass overlay broken while in water with fast graphics
There is no sound or subtitle for applying / removing / scraping wax or oxidation
Opening a UI darkens the background less than it used to
Minecraft crashes when spectating an entity submerged in water
Amethyst Blocks can no longer be gained by mining them
Shulker heads do not flash red when taking damage / when killed
Parity issue: Clouds are at y=192
Hanging Roots takes about a second to be mined
Big Dripleaf takes about a second to be mined
Experience orbs are no longer affected by the fog from powder snow/lava
Wither / creeper armor is no longer affected by the fog from powder snow / lava
Lightning is not affected by the fog from powder snow / lava
String is not affected by light levels
With graphics set to Fabulous!, blocks such as honey, slime and stained glass appear lit up in third person mode
Shader texture coordinate wrapping mode causes screen effects like glowing to wrap where they shouldn't
Beacon beam is not affected by the fog from powder snow / lava
Water fog still very subtle making water appear too clear in the distance