Minecraft 26.4, known as Fourth Drop 2026, got its third test snapshot on October 6, 2026, introducing ice caves, a new biome that generates beneath cold areas of the world. It's the first update in the series of winter features announced during the September Holiday Drop testing, and you can now try it in Java Edition snapshots as well as in the Bedrock Edition beta and preview versions.

Ice caves beneath snowy biomes

The new biome is generated mostly from packed ice and calcite, making a harsh, wintry counterpart to the familiar lush caves. Its signature features are glowing ice crystals and icicles, which can grow up to 5 blocks long and deal damage to the player when they fall. Snow also generates in places on the cave floor, making the new terrain even harder to move through.

For builders and explorers, it's another niche to use when designing bases or farms. Snow can now be placed on packed ice, opening up new building possibilities for wintry builds, and packed ice itself has gained unique sounds when you walk on it and mine it.

Frostbite: a new zombie variant

The most important mob addition is the Frostbite, a hostile zombie variant adapted to cold caves. The mob switches between melee and ranged combat depending on its distance from the target and whether it's currently holding an Ice Ball. Its melee attack applies the new Freezing effect to the player, while thrown ice balls let it attack from a distance, making it a tougher opponent than the classic zombie.

  • Ice Caves: a new cave biome beneath cold areas, built from packed ice and calcite
  • Ice crystals and icicles: glowing structures decorating the caves, with icicles up to 5 blocks long
  • Frostbite: a zombie variant that fights in melee or with an Ice Ball
  • Freezing: a new effect that works similarly to being stuck in powder snow, increasing the damage you take
  • Wandering Trader: can now sell ice crystals and icicles
  • Snowball: now deals knockback to other players

The Freezing effect and technical changes

Freezing works much like being trapped in powder snow: a player or mob gradually freezes and takes extra damage in the meantime. It's a new defensive mechanic for ice caves, forcing a different fighting style than in standard Overworld biomes. With this snapshot, Mojang also bumped the data pack format version to 123.0 and the resource pack version to 100.0, which mod and map developers will need to account for when updating their projects.

The snapshot also fixes 18 reported bugs, including ones involving wolf and cat collar dyeing sounds, pets teleporting through Nether portals, frame rate problems with the Vulkan backend, and mismatched text colors in the UI. The friends list has also been refreshed with search and sorting, and the player reporting system got a redesigned confirmation window for saving or discarding a report draft.

How to try the new features

You install Java Edition snapshots through the Mojang launcher by enabling the snapshots option in the installations tab. You'll find the full list of available versions, including the latest snapshots, on the Java Edition download page. Bedrock Edition players can check out the new content in the preview and beta versions, and an overview of all past updates is available in the Minecraft versions section.

Keep in mind that features tested in snapshots may still change before the final 26.4 release, planned for the fourth quarter of 2026. The three snapshots so far suggest that Mojang is focusing this drop on expanding the winter theme from the Holiday Drop, which for Polish players building on survival servers means a new, more dangerous area to explore before the holidays.

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