With Minecraft’s Caves and Cliffs update, players have gained access to deeper and more diverse cave biomes. This is all possible because of the update's increased world depth and height. Included in this additional content to Minecraft are the new Dripstone Caves and their dangerous pointed dripstones.
The majority of this update focuses on adding more complexity to the overworld's cave systems in Minecraft and these Dripstone Caves are an important part of that. Unfortunately, these caves can also be a bit of a challenge to locate. For those players looking to track down one of these Dripstone Caves, this guide is here to help.
Where to Find Dripstone Caves
An overworld cave biome, Dripstone Caves are filled with clusters and pillars of pointed dripstone as well as dripstone blocks. While these biomes aren’t listed as rare in Minecraft they, still might take some time to find. Dripstone Caves generate underground, which automatically means that players will have to spend a good deal of time exploring caves (as they did before the Caves and Cliffs updates) in order to find them.
Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy surface indicator that a player is above a Dripstone Cave. Instead, the true indicators happen when players begin to explore any of Minecraft's many cave systems. Players will know when they have found this new cave biome by the sheer amount of dripstone blocks present. Though dripstone blocks and pointed dripstone can spawn in other cave types, players will know they are in a Dripstone Cave when dozens of these begin to appear. It is important to note that those pointed dripstones on the cave ceiling can fall and hurt players, so caution is needed when exploring in this biome.
What to Find in Dripstone Caves
Once a Dripstone Cave has been found, there are several interesting things players can gather there. The most common block to find here is obviously the dripstone block, which can be broken and used to anchor pointed dripstone. Players can place these blocks underneath a water source, and watch the pointed dripstone grow over time. These come in especially handy for those players looking to add more of a cave aesthetic to their base.
Aside from these blocks, this biome also generates a bit more copper ore than other biomes, making a trip to this biome important for anyone looking for that new ore. It is also home to a bunch of interesting mobs, including the Minecraft fan-voted glowing squid. Aside from the traditional hostile mobs, players also have a chance to run into the rare Spider Jockey and Chicken Jockey mobs in Dripstone Caves.
Minecraft is available now for Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.