Minecraft’s Ice Caves Game Drop: The Frostbite, Freezing Potions and Everything Coming in the Final Update of 2026

Minecraft ice caves are coming in the final game drop of 2026, and you can already test them. Mojang revealed the frosty drop at Minecraft Live in September, and it's now in Java snapshots (26.4) and Bedrock betas and previews. It adds a new cave biome, a frozen zombie called the Frostbite, a Freezing effect with potions and arrows, brittle ice and crevasses, jukebox playlists and packed ice bricks.

Minecraft ice caves game drop at a glance

When is the Minecraft ice caves update coming out?

Mojang hasn't given a release date yet. It calls this "the final game drop of 2026", which points to a release before the end of the year, and features are still being added to the test builds every week. We'll update this article as soon as Mojang confirms the date.

What are ice caves in Minecraft?

Ice Caves are a new cave biome, like dripstone or lush caves, that generates under the colder biomes in the Overworld. According to Mojang's snapshot notes, they're made mostly of Packed Ice and Calcite, with icicles hanging from the ceiling, large packed-ice icicles on the floor and ceiling, patches of snow, and ores in pockets of stone and deepslate. Glow lichen doesn't generate there. Alongside the usual cave mobs, Strays and Frostbites spawn in ice caves.

Ice Crystals

A new crystal block, similar to amethyst clusters, that emits light and can be placed in any direction. It breaks if the block supporting it is removed.

Icicles

Icicles work like dripstone. They grow up to 5 blocks long pointing downwards, only in areas without nearby light and outside the Nether. They damage entities when they fall and deal extra damage to anything that lands on them, and they break when exposed to nearby light or placed in the Nether.

What is the Frostbite in Minecraft?

The Frostbite is a new zombie variant built for the cold. Here's what Mojang's notes say it does:

• It switches between melee and ranged attacks depending on distance and whether it has Ice Balls.
• Its melee hits apply Freezing, and its ranged attack throws Ice Balls.
• It spawns in cold and icy biomes, can stand on powder snow, and is immune to freezing.
• Regular zombies and husks turn into Frostbites inside powder snow. A Frostbite turns back into a zombie if it stays underwater long enough.
• It drops Rotten Flesh and Ice Balls, and it can walk on brittle ice without breaking it.

How does Freezing work?

The new Freezing effect makes players shake and eventually take damage, as if standing in powder snow. Leather armor protects you from the damage but doesn't stop or remove the effect. Mobs that are vulnerable to freezing take five times the damage.

You can use it yourself, too. Ice Balls, dropped by Frostbites, brew into Potions, Splash Potions and Lingering Potions of Freezing, and a Lingering Potion of Freezing surrounded by eight arrows crafts Arrows of Freezing. Thrown Ice Balls deal up to 4 damage with knockback. There's even a new advancement, "What Goes Around Comes Around", for killing a Frostbite with its own Ice Ball.

What else is in the ice caves game drop?

Brittle Ice and crevasses

Brittle Ice starts cracking once a player or mob steps on it, and eventually breaks. In the wild it only appears in ice caves, covering crevasses that drop into the caves below. You can collect it with Silk Touch or make it by letting water flow onto Blue Ice.

Jukebox playlists

Put a chest (or trapped chest, or any copper chest) directly above a jukebox and fill it with music discs. The jukebox plays them in slot order and loops back to the start, and ejecting the current disc skips to the next one.

Packed Ice Bricks

Craft Packed Ice Bricks from 2x2 Packed Ice, with slab, stair, wall and chiseled variants, all also available in the stonecutter. Ice blocks surrounded by other ice, with air above and water below, now play ambient sounds too.

How can you try the ice caves now?

• Java Edition: open the Minecraft Launcher, go to Installations and enable snapshots, then pick the latest 26.4 snapshot.
• Bedrock Edition: enable the Preview (Xbox, Windows, iOS) or beta (Android).
• Realms: active Realms subscribers can create a free testing Realm.

Mojang warns that test versions can corrupt worlds, so back up your saves or use a separate folder.

Watch Mojang's ice features video

What else did Minecraft Live announce?

At Minecraft Live in September, Mojang also confirmed that the Sift, the first new dimension in over 14 years, is coming to Minecraft Java and Bedrock next year after debuting in Minecraft Dungeons II. Minecraft also comes to Nintendo Switch 2 on October 27.

More Minecraft on iGame Magazine

• How to breed axolotls in Minecraft – blue axolotl odds and tips
• How to enter an Ominous Vault – trial chamber guide
• How to get the Density enchantment

Minecraft ice caves FAQ