It has been several months since the last Minecraft content update, and like clockwork out comes another one. This time it's all about sulfur. From caves to cubes, let's take a look at what's new.

Blocks

We've got a few new blocks and several variants this time.

The first is the Sulfur block. They are yellowish blocks found in the new sulfur caves. They are hard like crystal. There are several variants - standard Sulfur, Polished Sulfur, Sulfur Bricks, Chiseled Sulfur, and Potent Sulfur. The sulfur, polished sulfur, and bricks each have stair, slab, and wall variants as well. There is also the Sulfur Spike, which generates similarly to pointed dripstone, but does not increase fall damage or drip.

The potent sulfur is unique when placed under water. On the surface above the water, it will create a cloud of sulfur gas. Players and mobs will get nausea when entering the water near this gas. When underwater and placed above a magma block, potent sulfur will create a geyser. When the geyser erupts, it will spray water and steam into the sky, as well as launch any mobs or players standing on it upwards. The water spout grows larger the more water blocks are above the geyser, up to 4 water blocks. If you replace the magma block with lava, it will erupt continuously.

All images credited to Mojang

The Sulfur Cube

There is only one mob added in this update. However, I can hardly count it as a single mob, and you'll soon find out why.

The sulfur cube is a passive mob resembling the normal slime mob, which spawns in sulfur caves. Its behavior resembles slime cubes initially. It hops around, squishing and wiggling. When you kill one, it will split into multiple smaller cubes, just like the rest of the slimes/cubes in the game. The tiny ones can grow up to be full cubes, and this process can be sped up with slimeballs. This is where the similarities end.

The sulfur cube is attracted to the dropped item form of most full blocks. When it reaches such a block, or when a player uses a block on them, the cube will eat the block. This block will then be visible within the cube. Once it has absorbed a block, it can no longer move on its own, and cannot be damaged through most means. When striking a cube in this state, it is knocked back, the distance depending on the damage taken. You can change what block is inside the cube by feeding it another block, or you can remove the block with shears. It is still technically a mob though, so you can still attach it to a lead.

Here's the fun part: each normal block you feed to the sulfur cube changes its behavior. There are all sorts of different properties you can apply to the cube. For example, feeding it ice will make it slippery with a higher max speed, and it will sink under water. Feeding it wool will give it slow speed, and increase how much it bounces. Feeding it TNT will make it ignite like a TNT block, and bounces like a normal sulfur cube. Feeding it a magma block will make it damage entities on contact and ignite a TNT sulfur cube. There are several more combinations each with varying properties that I won't list here. You can check out the full list on the Minecraft Wiki. The combinations of behaviors that you can achieve are likely very useful in various forms of automation as well. I can't wait to see what people more creative than me use sulfur cubes for.

Items

Three new items are available this patch. A new music disc, a bucket of sulfur cube, and a sulfur cube spawn egg. The bucket and egg are self-explanatory - you just pick up a sulfur cube like you would a slime in a bucket, and the spawn egg is a normal spawn egg. The music disc is the most notable item addition. It is called "Bounce" and it can be found in minecarts with chests found in sulfur cave mineshafts. It is composed by fingerspit, and is a delightful theme for exploring the sulfur caves.

Sulfur Caves

Now how do you find all of these wonderful sulfur-based things? Well, you journey into the sulfur caves. The new underground biome added in this update is the hub for all of the new content.

The sulfur caves generate underground mostly, with rare cases of them generating on the surface. They contain everything we've talked about so far, including all of the blocks, sulfur cubes, sulfur spikes, and sulfur pools. Sulfur pools are pools of water with the occasional geyser, surrounded by sulfur blocks and spikes. The water has a murky green hue.

In addition to all of the new content, sulfur caves also contain cave spiders, which is the first time these spiders have been able to spawn naturally in the wild.

Outside of the caves, there is also the rare sulfur spring. This is a sulfur pool that generates randomly on the surface. It looks like a normal sulfur pool found underground, but it is surrounded by Tuff. Normally, the sulfur spring is a sign that there are sulfur caves underground nearby.

Get Spelunking!

For a full list of changes, including the nitty-gritty details of each cube type, how geysers calculate height, and more, check out the wiki page on the new update. Now that you know all about sulfur and its environment, it's time to venture out and find some. Gather some cubes, play around with the different cube types, and harvest some sulfur resources. All of that would be better with friends too! The quickest and easiest way to get a server up and running with the new update is an Akliz server. You can set one up with our cheapest plan here.