If you were playing Minecraft back in 2020, you probably remember the absolute chaos of the Live event where Mojang announced 1.17. It was ambitious. Huge. Honestly, it was maybe a little too big for its own good. People always ask when was the Caves and Cliffs update released, but there isn't just one date. That’s because Mojang eventually had to admit they couldn’t ship the whole thing at once without breaking the game—or their developers.
The update was so massive it actually got split into two distinct parts, and then some of its features leaked into a third and even a fourth update. It changed the very DNA of how Minecraft worlds generate. We’re talking about the height limit moving, the deep dark, and those terrifying Warden guys. It wasn't just a patch; it was a total reconstruction of the digital earth we’ve been digging through since 2009.
The Part One Arrival: June 8, 2021
The first half of the saga dropped on June 8, 2021. This was technically Minecraft version 1.17.
Most players were a bit confused. We got the blocks and the mobs, but the actual "caves" and "cliffs" weren't really there yet. You could find Axolotls in the water and Goats screaming on the hills, but the world height hadn't changed. You were still hitting bedrock at Y=0. It felt like getting the furniture for a house before the walls were even built.
Mojang released Amethyst geodes, Copper, and Deepslate in this batch. It gave builders a ton of new toys, but the exploration side of the game felt like it was in a weird limbo. You had the Copper ore, but since the large ore veins weren't fully implemented in the old world generation, it felt a bit sparse.
The Real Change: Part Two on November 30, 2021
If you're looking for the moment Minecraft actually felt different, you're looking for November 30, 2021. This was version 1.18. This is the "real" answer to when was the Caves and Cliffs update finished—at least the terrain part.
This update was a technical nightmare for the devs. They had to figure out how to take everyone’s existing save files and literally "blend" them with new terrain. Imagine you have a base at Y=5. Suddenly, the game tells you there’s another 64 blocks of cave underneath your floor. 1.18 introduced:
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- Increased World Height and Depth: The ceiling went up to 320 and the floor dropped to -64.
- New Mountain Biomes: Jagged Peaks, Frozen Peaks, and Stony Peaks finally made mountains look like actual mountains instead of weird dirt mounds.
- Noise Caves: This sounds technical, but it basically meant caves became massive cathedrals (Cheese caves) or long, winding tunnels (Spaghetti caves).
It was glorious. It was also buggy as hell for the first week. But it changed the game forever. You couldn't just "strip mine" at Y=11 for diamonds anymore. Everything you knew about mining efficiency was tossed out the window.
Why the Split Happened
Agnes Larsson and the team at Mojang were pretty transparent about this. They realized that trying to shove the new world generation, the new mobs, and the Deep Dark into one summer release was going to lead to massive crunch.
The pandemic didn't help. Remote work slowed down the technical testing of the "blending" feature. They chose to give us the blocks early (1.17) and spend the extra six months making sure 1.18 didn't delete everyone's 5-year-old survival worlds. It was a smart move, even if the community was a bit impatient at the time.
The "Missing" Pieces and 1.19
Even after 1.18, something was missing. The Warden. The Ancient Cities. The Deep Dark.
Technically, these were announced as part of Caves and Cliffs back in 2020. But they kept getting pushed back. They didn't make the cut for 1.17. They didn't make the cut for 1.18. We finally saw them on June 7, 2022, in the Wild Update (1.19).
So, if you’re counting the Deep Dark as part of that original vision—which it was—the update cycle didn't actually wrap up until mid-2022. It took nearly two years from announcement to full delivery of every promised feature.
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How It Changed Your Mining Strategy
Let's get practical. Before 1.17 and 1.18, mining was boring. You went to Y=11, you held forward, and you clicked.
Now? It's a different beast. Because the world goes down to -64, the "Diamond Level" has shifted entirely. If you’re still mining at Y=11, you’re mostly finding Coal and Iron. For the good stuff, you have to go deep. Diamonds are most common near the bottom, around Y=-58.
But there’s a catch.
Air exposure. The game now checks if an ore block is touching air. If it is, there’s a lower chance of it spawning. This means those massive, beautiful "Cheese Caves" look cool, but they aren't actually the best place to find diamonds. You’re better off "branch mining" in the Deepslate layers where the ore is hidden behind blocks.
Iron and Coal Distribution
Iron is now much more common high up in the mountains. It's a weird flip. You go high for Iron and Emeralds, and you go deep for Redstone and Diamonds. Copper is everywhere in the middle layers, especially in those "Dripstone Caves" biomes.
Common Misconceptions About 1.17 and 1.18
A lot of people think the "Caves and Cliffs" update was when they added Archeology. Nope.
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Archeology was announced at the same time, but it got pushed way back into the "Trails & Tales" update (1.20) in 2023. It’s easy to get them mixed up because the 2020 Minecraft Live presentation was like a fever dream of features that took three years to actually show up in the game.
Another big one: Bundle items. We’re still waiting for the official, non-experimental version of those to be fully integrated across all platforms in a way that feels natural. They were supposed to be a 1.17 feature.
Is the New Generation Better?
Honestly, it depends on who you ask.
If you like "Technical Minecraft," the 1.18 update was a headache. Farms that relied on specific world heights or mob spawning mechanics had to be rebuilt. The larger world means more lag on lower-end hardware or older consoles like the Switch.
But for explorers? It saved the game. Minecraft was getting predictable. You knew what was over the next hill. With the 1.18 terrain changes, you can find massive sinkholes that drop 100 blocks into an underground lake. You can find mountain peaks that actually pierce the clouds. It brought back the sense of scale that the game had lost over a decade of incremental updates.
What to Do Now If You're Returning
If you haven't played since before the Caves and Cliffs update, the game is going to feel massive and maybe a little intimidating. Here’s how to handle it:
- Don't Fear the Dark: Go down into the Deepslate layers (anything below Y=0) early. You'll need Iron armor because the mobs are harder to spot against the dark blocks, but the rewards are better.
- Look for Lush Caves: These are arguably the best thing added in 1.17/1.18. Look for Azalea trees on the surface—they have purple flowers. Dig straight down under them. You’ll find a cave filled with moss, glow berries, and axolotls. It's the safest place to set up an underground base because the light from the berries prevents most mob spawns.
- Check Your Y-Level: Always keep your coordinates on. Knowing your depth is more important than ever. If you're looking for Coal, stay above Y=0. If you're looking for Diamonds, hit the bottom.
- Watch Out for the Deep Dark: If you see blue-black "Sculk" blocks and hear a heartbeat sound, stop moving. Just stop. If you trigger a Sculk Shrieker four times, the Warden comes out. You cannot win that fight in the early game. Just sneak (shift-key) away.
The timeline of when was the Caves and Cliffs update is a bit of a maze, but the result was the most significant transformation in Minecraft's history. It moved from a game about blocks to a game about scale. Whether you're diving into a flooded cavern or building a castle on a jagged peak, you're playing in a world that is fundamentally deeper—literally—than it was a few years ago.
Stop sticking to the surface. The best parts of the modern game are hidden in the negative Y-levels where the Deepslate turns everything dark and the diamonds hide in the crust of the world.