Mojang has begun testing the Ice Caves, a new underground biome, in the latest Minecraft Java Snapshot and Bedrock Preview builds. The biome belongs to the fourth Game Drop of 2026 and was first shown during September's Minecraft Live.
What is in the Ice Caves
The Ice Caves generate beneath colder surface regions and are built mainly from Packed Ice and Calcite, with patches of Snow across the ground. Neither Dirt nor Granite occurs naturally there, but ore deposits are plentiful, embedded in pockets of Stone and Deepslate. Ice Crystals, which spawn on Packed Ice, are the biome's only natural light source and break like Torches if the block they are attached to is removed. Icicles line the ceilings and can fall when exposed to too much light, damaging whatever is beneath them.
Ordinary cave mobs spawn in the biome, most commonly Strays, alongside a new frozen Zombie variant called the Frostbite. Frostbites fight in melee by default but can spawn carrying Ice Balls, a projectile that deals up to four damage, scaling down with its speed and breaking on impact. A Frostbite's close-range attacks apply the new Freezing effect, which causes shaking, reduces jump height and eventually deals damage. Leather Armor lessens Freezing but does not prevent or remove it.
Ice Balls also drop from defeated Frostbites and can be brewed with Awkward Potions into a Potion of Freezing, which supports lingering and splash variants. Poured into a Cauldron, the potion produces Arrows of Freezing. Mobs hit with the effect take extra damage from it, five times as much if they are vulnerable to it.
How to try it
The biome is available now in the Java Snapshot and Bedrock Preview builds, which are selected through the Minecraft launcher, and the 'Drop 4 of 2026' experimental toggle must be enabled for the new content to appear. Mojang's full patch notes list further fixes and improvements, among them faster and more reliable world downloads for Minecraft Realms. PCGamesN advised backing up an existing world, or starting a new one, before loading a test build to avoid any risk of corruption.
Mojang is collecting reports on the build through its bug-reporting site. "As always, we're keen to get your feedback on these new features," community manager Jay Wells wrote.
