The next Minecraft update adds ice caves, a cave biome under cold biomes, along with the Frostbite, a zombie variant that freezes you, ice balls, a Freezing effect, icicles and ice crystals. Mojang hasn't given it a name or a release date yet, only "the final game drop of 2026", but you can play it now in Bedrock Edition's Preview and Beta 26.60.29, out September 30, with the "Drop 4 of 2026" experiment; Java Edition doesn't have it yet.
Everything below comes from that test build, as of October 6, 2026, and can still change before release.
What the drop adds
| Feature |
What it is |
| Ice Cave |
A cave biome of packed ice and calcite under cold biomes |
| Ice crystal |
A crystal that gives off light, like an amethyst cluster |
| Icicle |
A spike that hangs from the ceiling and can fall on you |
| Frostbite |
A zombie variant that freezes you up close and throws ice balls |
| Ice ball |
The Frostbite's projectile and drop, used for brewing |
| Freezing |
An effect that freezes you, as powder snow does |
| Potion of Freezing |
Brewed with an ice ball; also splash and lingering |
| Arrow of Freezing |
Arrows dipped in a cauldron of Potion of Freezing |
How to play the ice caves now
In Bedrock Edition, since September 30:
- Install Minecraft Preview on Xbox, PlayStation, Windows or iOS, or join the Minecraft beta on Android through Google Play.
- Create a new world and turn on the Drop 4 of 2026 experiment in its settings.
- Go underground below a cold biome (see the next section).
Mojang warns that test versions can corrupt worlds: back yours up, or play a copy. If you have an active Realms subscription, you can also create a free testing Realm and try the drop with friends.
In Java Edition, there is nothing to play yet: neither 26.4 Snapshot 1 (September 22) nor Snapshot 2 (September 29) contains the drop, and no third snapshot was out on October 6. When one arrives, enable snapshots in the Installations tab of the Minecraft Launcher and keep test worlds apart from your main ones. Every new snapshot and preview shows up in our Minecraft changelogs.
Where ice caves generate, and how to find one
Ice caves form under biomes with a low temperature. Mojang's notes describe:
- walls mostly of packed ice and calcite, large packed-ice icicles on the floor and the ceiling, and patches of snow;
- ores embedded in pockets of stone and deepslate, with no dirt, granite or glow lichen;
- ice crystals as the only light;
- strays and Frostbites spawning on top of the usual cave mobs.
So start by finding a cold biome. Since 1.18, a seed makes the same biomes in Java and Bedrock, so you can open your world's seed in our seed map: its Nearest biomes list gives the closest Ice Spikes and Snowy Plains to spawn, and a tap on the map shows the biome and coordinates of any place, Snowy Taiga, Snowy Slopes and Frozen Peaks included. Dig down there. The map draws Java 26.3, which has no ice caves yet: it shows you where to dig, not the caves themselves.
The Frostbite, the zombie that freezes you
The frozen zombie shown at Minecraft Live on September 26 had no name; Mojang called it the Frostbite on September 30. In the preview, it:
- spawns in cold and icy biomes, and in ice caves;
- fights in melee, where its hits apply Freezing, and throws ice balls when it has some and you are out of reach;
- is immune to freezing, isn't slowed by Freezing or powder snow, and stands on top of powder snow;
- comes from zombies and husks that stand in powder snow, and turns back into a zombie after long enough underwater;
- drops rotten flesh and ice balls.
To face one, wear a piece of leather armour, a Leather Cap, Leather Tunic, Leather Pants or Leather Boots: as in powder snow, it keeps you from freezing, although the effect is still applied. Leather Boots also keep you from sinking into powder snow, which the Frostbite walks on. And keep your Arrows of Freezing for other mobs: freezing does nothing to it.
Freezing, ice balls and the Potion of Freezing
Freezing makes players shake, lowers their jump height and eventually deals damage: for as long as it lasts, you slowly freeze as if you stood in powder snow. Mobs take extra damage from freezing while under the effect, and mobs vulnerable to freezing take five times as much. In today's game files (Java 26.3), those are the blaze, the magma cube and the strider; the stray, the polar bear, the snow golem and the wither are immune to freezing, and so is the Frostbite.
Ice balls deal 4 damage, less the slower they fly, knock the target back and break on impact. Frostbites drop them, and they make the new potion:
- Craft a Brewing Stand from a blaze rod and three cobblestone, and fuel it with blaze powder.
- Brew water bottles with nether wart into Awkward Potions.
- Add an ice ball to get Potions of Freezing. Mojang's notes only say they are brewed with ice balls; PCGamesN and the Minecraft Wiki name the Awkward Potion as the base.
Mojang lists splash and lingering Potions of Freezing too. For Arrows of Freezing, Bedrock's preview has you dip arrows into a cauldron filled with the potion. Java crafts tipped arrows from eight arrows around a lingering potion; whether Arrows of Freezing work the same way will show in the Java snapshot. Mojang hasn't given any duration for the effect or the potions.
Icicles and ice crystals
Icicles hang all over ice cave ceilings, under packed ice, and work like pointed dripstone and sulfur spikes:
- they grow downward up to 5 blocks long, but only away from light and outside the Nether;
- when the light around them gets high enough, they may drop and hurt whatever they hit, and anything that lands on them takes extra damage;
- a nearby light source or the Nether breaks them, all but the base block.
Think twice before lighting an ice cave with torches, then: light is what brings icicles down. Ice crystals work like amethyst clusters: they give off light, can be placed facing any direction and break when the block holding them is removed. They generate on top of packed ice, and Mojang notes they are smaller than intended for now.
Packed ice, the caves' main block, only drops when mined with Silk Touch, which you can plan in our enchanting calculator. Otherwise, nine ice make one Packed Ice, and nine packed ice one Blue Ice.
Release date: none yet, and what past drops suggest
Mojang hasn't announced a date or a name. Its testing page calls the drop "the final game drop of 2026", and that page's summary on minecraft.net calls it the "Holiday Drop". The Minecraft Wiki lists it as Java 26.4 and Bedrock 26.70.
The last two winter drops reached players about nine weeks after their first test build:
| Drop |
First test build |
Release |
| The Garden Awakens |
October 2, 2024 (snapshot 24w40a) |
December 3, 2024 |
| Mounts of Mayhem |
October 9, 2025 (snapshot 25w41a) |
December 9, 2025 |
| Ice caves drop |
September 30, 2026 (Preview 26.60.29) |
not announced |
The three 2026 drops came out on Tuesdays, 12 to 13 weeks apart: March 24, June 16 and September 15. Both patterns point to the first half of December 2026. That is our estimate, not a date from Mojang; we will update this page as soon as Mojang gives one.
What else Java 26.4 changes so far
The 26.4 snapshots don't have the drop yet, but they already change the game:
- Snapshot 1 (September 22): Vulkan becomes the default graphics API (see our Vulkan guide); red and brown mushrooms can be placed on any block with a solid top, whatever the light; and worlds from before Caves & Cliffs now get sulfur caves below their old chunks when upgraded.
- Snapshot 2 (September 29): with Improved Transparency on, the sky and clouds behind terrain fade into the render-distance fog; in the Overworld, the lower half of the sky hides the sun, moon and stars; and the F3 debug screen is redesigned.
The Sift isn't in this drop: the new dimension reaches Java and Bedrock in 2027, and Minecraft Dungeons II has it now (see our Minecraft Live recap). For the drop before this one, see our Minecraft 26.3 guide; for the ores in the caves' stone pockets, our ore levels guide.
