It's time again for a Minecraft update. This time, though, there's quite a lot of content for an incremental version. The 1.21.9 update, officially called "The Copper Age," has arrived, and with it, lots of new features, changes, and a ton of copper-related content. This update includes a brand new mob, a full set of copper gear (finally), many new decorative blocks, quality of life improvements, and several changes under the hood. So grab your new copper shovel and let's dig in to this update.

The Copper Golem

The star of this update is the Copper Golem. This new mob can be crafted by the player and is a great tool for any builder. To bring your new friend to life, you'll need to place a carved pumpkin or jack-o-lantern on top of a copper block. Once summoned, the copper golem will wander your base and can be tasked with sorting items into chests, helping you keep your storage system neat and tidy. The copper golem is a game-changer for anyone who loves to build large-scale storage rooms. The range from the golem itself is 32 blocks horizontally and 8 blocks vertically. It will look for items stored in the newly added copper chest to sort into standard wooden chests with the same item already stored inside.

But that's not all! Over time, your copper golem will oxidize, just like any other copper-based block, eventually turning into a decorative statue. You can let this happen to add some flair to your builds, or you can wax your golem with honeycomb to keep it in its unoxidized state. When a copper golem fully oxidizes, it will freeze into one of four unique poses. You can change its pose by interacting with it. And for you redstone engineers out there, each pose sends a different redstone signal, allowing you to create some clever contraptions. You can break a golem statue with a pickaxe, and you can re-animate it by scraping it with an axe several times.

Copper Gear

Now for the feature I've personally been waiting for, copper gear! This one is my favorite feature, as it never sat well with me that every ingot in the game could be used for tools except copper. This new tier of equipment fits in between stone and iron, offering better durability and efficiency than stone, but not quite reaching the level of iron. Copper tools have the same mining level as stone tools. They're the perfect stepping stone for players in the early to mid-game, providing a much needed boost before they can secure a steady supply of iron. The full set of tools includes a copper pickaxe, axe, hoe, shovel, as well as a copper sword. The armor set includes a helmet, chestplate, leggings, and boots. And for your trusty steed, some armor. Gone are the days where I fill up entire rows of chests with copper ingots because I can't find a use for them early-game.

New Blocks and Decorative Items

This update includes a variety of new copper-themed blocks and decorative items. Here are some of the highlights:

  • Copper Chest: A new chest variant meant either to look good or for a golem sorting system.
  • Copper Blocks and Variants: A new set of copper blocks, including stairs, slabs, and more, all of which will oxidize over time.
  • Copper Decorations: The update also includes miscellaneous decorative items like the shelf, which is perfect for displaying your favorite items. You can also craft a copper torch, a green variant of the regular torch, as well as copper bars and copper chains, which are identical to iron chains but, you know, copper. And another new light source, copper lanterns.

Other Notable Changes and Additions

Beyond the copper-themed content, the 1.21.9 update also brings a number of changes and improvements:

  • Chat Drafts: You can now save drafts of your chat messages that persist when you close and re-open chat.
  • Performance Improvements: Microsoft has made a number of under-the-hood changes to improve the game's performance, especially when it comes to rendering entities.
  • No More Spawn Chunks: The "spawn chunks" that were normally always force-loaded are no more. At the same time, /setworldspawn can now be used in any dimension.
  • Many, Many More. There are so many additions, changes, bug fixes, optimizations, and more in this update that this article would be pages long if I described them all.

For more information on this update, with all mechanics and changes explained in detail, check out this article on the Minecraft Wiki.

Get Ready to Explore the Copper Age!

The Minecraft 1.21.9 "Copper Age" update is a fantastic addition to the game, bringing a wealth of new content for players of all types. Whether you're a builder, an explorer, or a redstone engineer, there's something in this update for you. So fire up your furnace to smelt all of those chests full of raw copper that I know you have, (Don't lie, we all have a raw copper dump chest or two, you can admit it.) and get ready to explore everything the Copper Age has to offer!

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