1.18

Minecraft 1.18, Caves & Cliffs Part 2, completed the update by rewriting world generation, extending world height, and adding lush and dripstone caves. It was released on November 30, 2021 as one of the game's numbered feature updates.

At its heart, 1.18 is the terrain half: a taller world and reimagined caves. The standout addition is a taller world from Y -64 to 320 with dramatic mountains and giant caves. Expanded the build limit to a range of Y -64 to Y 320 and overhauled biome placement.

This page breaks 1.18 down into 13 headline features, 4 notable gameplay or technical changes and 2 documented fixes, and a plain-language summary of why the update matters. Java Edition is the original PC version of Minecraft, available on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

The most talked-about part of the Caves & Cliffs Part 2 update is a taller world from Y -64 to 320 with dramatic mountains and giant caves.

In full, 1.18 adds world height extended from Y=0-256 to Y=-64 to Y=320, massive cave generation overhaul, cheese caves, spaghetti caves, and noodle caves, aquifers generating underground water and lava lakes, noise-based cave generation, new mountain generation with peaks and meadows, Lush Caves biome underground, and Dripstone Caves biome underground, with several further additions listed on the right. Together these are what make Caves & Cliffs Part 2 worth updating to, and each appears in the Major Features list on this page.

Beyond new content, 1.18 reworks how parts of the game behave. The notable changes include bedrock layer replaced with Deepslate gradient, biome blending significantly improved, world upgrade system for old worlds, and mob spawning changes (needs complete darkness). Adjustments of this kind reshape day-to-day play for existing worlds as much as new ones.

On the bug-fixing side, 1.18 resolves fixed many world generation edge cases and improved performance for new terrain generation. Several of these are performance-focused, so the update can feel smoother even where nothing visible changed.

To play Minecraft 1.18 on Java Edition, open the official Minecraft Launcher, select the Java Edition tab, and use the version dropdown beside the Play button to choose 1.18. As a full release it appears in the standard release list by default.

Before updating an existing world to 1.18, it is good practice to copy the save folder first. Worlds from 1.17 upgrade in place, but newly generated chunks will use 1.18's world generation while older chunks keep their original terrain.