The latest Minecraft: Java Edition snapshot adds goats and more

The GOAT of Minecraft snapshots.

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