Minecraft 26.4 Snapshot 3: Everything New (Full Breakdown)

Minecraft 26.4 Snapshot 3 is out for Java Edition. It adds ice caves, a new cave biome under frozen biomes filled with icicles and ice crystals. It also brings the frostbite, a zombie variant that can throw ice balls, along with a new Freezing effect, potion and tipped arrow.

This is a snapshot, which means it is a test version. Anything in it can change or be removed before the full release, so treat it as a preview of the Fourth Drop 2026.

Everything new at a glance

Name	Type	What it does
Ice caves	Biome	Cave biome under frozen biomes with packed ice, calcite, icicles and ice crystals
Ice crystal	Block	Gives off a small amount of light and can go on any side of a block
Icicle	Block	Hangs from ceilings or stands on the floor, hurts when it falls
Frostbite	Mob	Zombie variant that freezes you in melee or throws ice balls
Frostbite spawn egg	Item	Spawns a frostbite
Ice ball	Item	Throwable projectile that hits harder the faster it flies
Potion of Freezing	Item	Awkward potion plus an ice ball
Arrow of Freezing	Item	Tipped arrow that applies Freezing
Freezing	Effect	Damage over time plus slower movement

Ice caves: the new cave biome

Ice caves generate underneath frozen biomes. Inside you'll find calcite, packed ice, icicles, ice crystals and sometimes patches of snow. Unlike other cave biomes, they have no glow lichen.

Ores still generate here, but inside blobs of stone and deepslate. The usual cave monsters spawn too, plus strays and frostbites.

For the bigger picture, see our Minecraft Fourth Drop 2026 guide.

Icicles and ice crystals

Icicle

Icicles are spike blocks that hang from ice cave ceilings as stalactites. You can also place them on the ground as stalagmites.

• Falling icicles damage any entity they land on.
• Landing on a stalagmite multiplies your fall damage.
• Bright light nearby, or the Nether, makes icicles melt and break.

So be careful when you light up an ice cave. A strong enough light close by can break the icicles around you.

The wiki's Fourth Drop page adds that stalactites with packed ice above them grow longer, except in the Nether. It has also been confirmed that player-placed icicles won't be affected by light, but that isn't in the game yet.

Ice crystal

Ice crystals generate on the ground in ice caves and give off a small amount of light (light level 4, per the Fourth Drop page). You can place them on all sides of a block.

The frostbite: a new zombie variant

The frostbite is a zombie variant found in snowy biomes. Zombies and husks also turn into frostbites when they freeze. The Fourth Drop page says that happens after 30 seconds in powder snow.

Before you fight one, know this:

1. Two attack styles. Most hit you in melee and give you Freezing. Some spawn holding ice balls and throw them.
2. They burn in sunlight.
3. They don't sink in powder snow.
4. They are immune to Freezing.
5. Water turns them back into zombies. The Fourth Drop page puts this at 30 seconds underwater.

Frostbites drop rotten flesh and ice balls when killed, even if they weren't holding one.

Ice balls, Freezing and the new potion

An ice ball is a throwable projectile. The faster it moves, the more damage it does. Frostbites have a chance to drop them.

Freezing slows an entity and deals damage over time. Wear at least one piece of leather armor to stop the damage, though the slowness still applies.

To brew a Potion of Freezing, add an ice ball to an awkward potion. The new Arrow of Freezing is a tipped arrow with the same effect.

Smaller changes worth knowing

Gameplay

• You can now place snow on packed ice.
• Snowballs now apply knockback to players.

Friends list and UI

• The Friends list was redesigned with search and sorting (online first, or alphabetical).
• Clicking a player's icon opens their Player Options. The "Remove Friend" button moved there.
• The Social Interactions screen is now Other Players, and its keybind was renamed to match.
• The "Visibility" option moved from Online Options into the Friends list.

Technical

• Data pack format is now 123.0 and resource pack version is 100.0.
• minecraft:large_speleothem was renamed to minecraft:large_dripstone, and minecraft:speleothem_cluster gained new placement options.
• New ice cave ore placements place a patch of stone or deepslate before the ore, and can replace ice and calcite.

Bug fixes worth knowing

The snapshot fixes 18 issues. These are the ones most players will notice:

• MC-307830: Framerate stuck at 20 fps with the Vulkan rendering backend on some systems.
• MC-303468: Pets could teleport to the wrong coordinates through a nether portal.
• MC-311932: Caps Lock couldn't trigger sprinting or sneaking set to "Hold".
• MC-312198: Almost no small mushrooms generated on mushroom islands.
• MC-312213: Custom Superflat presets with air crashed the game.

How to try 26.4 Snapshot 3

The snapshot shows up as 26.4-snapshot-3 in the launcher, and a server download is available too. It needs Java SE 25 or newer.

Back up any world you care about first, and test in a fresh world instead of your main survival save.

Missed the earlier builds? Catch up with 26.4 Snapshot 1 and 26.4 Snapshot 2.

When does 26.4 release?

The wiki lists the Fourth Drop 2026 for the fourth quarter of 2026, as Java Edition 26.4 and Bedrock Edition 26.70. It was announced at Minecraft LIVE in September 2026. On Bedrock, experimental versions of these features will arrive before the final release, as part of Bedrock Edition 26.60.

No exact date is listed yet. To see the latest version and snapshot as soon as they drop, check our Minecraft update tracker.

Take a break from testing

Want to talk about frostbites and ice caves with other players? Join the JukeZone Discord.

When you want a break from snapshot worlds, JukeZone is free on Java and Bedrock at play.jukezone.net. Spawn has a nightclub built inside a giant jukebox, with DJ JUKE taking song requests.

The club inside the giant jukebox at spawn, filmed on JukeZone.