Fourth Drop 2026
by MCBE News
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+ Fourth Drop 2026
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+ https://cdn.mcbe.news/assets/objects/iL_tvi/Fourth_Drop_2026_-_Ice_Caves_Spikes.webp
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+ [ "2026_drop_4", "drop_4_of_2026" ]
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+ 2026-10-07T23:06:57.825Z
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+ [
{
"title": "Release Date",
"layout": "row",
"content": "Q4 2026"
},
{
"title": "Java Edition",
"layout": "row",
"content": "[[26.4|java|title=\"26.4\"]]"
},
{
"title": "Bedrock Edition",
"layout": "row",
"content": "[[26.70|title=\"26.70\"]]"
},
{
"title": "Navigation",
"content": "",
"navigation": {
"next": null,
"previous": {
"href": "/w/wilderness_bound",
"label": "Wilderness Bound"
},
"nextMinor": null,
"previousMinor": null
}
}
]Content
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1+ The **fourth drop of 2026** is an upcoming game drop planned for **[[26.4|java|title="Java Edition 26.4"]]** and **[[26.70|title="Bedrock Edition 26.70"]]** in the **fourth quarter of 2026**. Revealed at **Minecraft LIVE – September 2026**, it takes exploration into **Ice Caves**, where glowing crystals and hanging icicles surround winding **Crevasses** beneath a fragile cover of **Brittle Ice**. **Frostbites**, **Ice Balls**, and the **Freezing** effect bring new threats and tools to combat. **Packed Ice Bricks** turn the frozen landscape into a new building palette.
2+
3+ Early features arrived through the **Drop 4 of 2026** experiment in **[[26.60|title="Bedrock Edition 26.60"]]**. As of **[[26.70.20|preview|title="Bedrock Preview 26.70.20"]]**, those features are part of normal Preview gameplay and no longer require that toggle. The latest test builds are **[Java 26.4 Snapshot 5](https://mcbe.news/changelogs/java_edition_26.4_snapshot_5)** and **[[26.70.21|preview|title="Bedrock Preview 26.70.21"]]**, both released on **October 20, 2026**. The drop remains in development, so its features may change before release.
4+
5+ ## {mc-seven} Additions
6+ ---
7+
8+ ### {mc-seven} Blocks
9+
10+ {{animate width=32px height=32px align=left interval=35
11+ {{Image:Brittle Ice - Normal}}
12+ {{Image:Brittle Ice - Cracked_Low}}
13+ {{Image:Brittle Ice - Cracked_Medium}}
14+ {{Image:Brittle Ice - Cracked_High}}
15+ }} **Brittle Ice**
16+ * A fragile ice block that naturally covers Crevasses in Ice Caves.
17+ * Does not melt.
18+ * Forms when water touches the side of Blue Ice, replacing the adjacent water block.
19+ * Cracks under players and most mobs, eventually giving way. Jumping can also break it in Bedrock Edition.
20+ ** Crack stages are retained after an entity steps off; damaged ice is not restored automatically.
21+ ** In Java Edition, fresh ice takes about **3.6 seconds** of continuous standing to break, advancing at **1.2-second** intervals. Fully cracked ice breaks as soon as another entity steps onto it.
22+ * Does not leave a water source when broken.
23+ * Frostbites can cross it without causing cracks.
24+ * Requires **Silk Touch** to collect.
25+
26+ {{File:Ice Crystals|title="Ice Crystal"}}
27+
28+ * A crystal block that grows on the floor of Ice Caves.
29+ * Emits a light level of **4**.
30+ * Can be attached to a suitable solid block face, including walls and ceilings.
31+ * Its soft light does not melt nearby ice, snow, or icicles.
32+ * Can be collected with any tool; a pickaxe is fastest.
33+ * Wandering Traders sell Ice Crystals in **Java Edition**, making them renewable there.
34+
35+ {{File:Icicle}}
36+
37+ * An icy spike that hangs from Ice Cave ceilings as a stalactite.
38+ ** Can also be placed upright as a stalagmite.
39+ * Can melt at block light levels of **5 or higher**, near a Magma Block below it, or in the Nether.
40+ ** The base segment attached to a full surface does not melt.
41+ ** Hanging icicles can fall and damage entities, with damage depending on the fall height.
42+ * Landing on an upward-pointing icicle increases fall damage.
43+ * A thrown Trident can break an icicle.
44+ * Hanging icicles grow beneath Packed Ice outside the Nether, provided their tips are not waterlogged and the new segment would not melt.
45+ ** They grow downward only; upward-pointing stalagmites must be placed manually.
46+ * Wandering Traders can sell **2 Icicles for 1 Emerald**.
47+
48+ {{File:Packed Ice Bricks}}
49+
50+ * A decorative brick set crafted from Packed Ice arranged in a **2 × 2** square.
51+ * Unlike regular Packed Ice, it is not slippery.
52+ * Includes four additional forms:
53+ ** {{File:Packed Ice Brick Stairs}}
54+ ** {{File:Packed Ice Brick Slab}}
55+ ** {{File:Packed Ice Brick Wall}}
56+ ** {{File:Chiseled Packed Ice}}
57+ * Slabs, stairs, walls, and Chiseled Packed Ice can also be made with a **Stonecutter**.
58+ * Does not melt. A **Pickaxe** mines it fastest; in **Java Edition**, these blocks also drop when broken by hand and do not require Silk Touch.
59+ * Chiseled Packed Ice has an arrow pattern.
60+ * In **Java Edition**, Packed Ice Bricks and Chiseled Packed Ice belong to the **Fast Sliding** Sulfur Cube archetype.
61+
62+ ### {mc-seven} Items
63+
64+ {{File:Frostbite Spawn Egg}}
65+
66+ * Used to spawn a Frostbite.
67+
68+ {{File:Ice Ball}}
69+
70+ * A throwable projectile that damages entities on impact.
71+ * Damage scales with projectile speed. Like Snowballs, Ice Balls slow sharply as they travel.
72+ ** In **Bedrock Edition**, base damage is **2**, decreasing as the projectile loses speed.
73+ * Can be used to brew potions of Freezing.
74+ * Can drop from defeated Frostbites.
75+ * Deals consistent knockback.
76+
77+ {{animate width=32px height=32px align=left interval=35
78+ {{Image:Potion of Freezing}}
79+ {{Image:Splash Potion of Freezing}}
80+ {{Image:Lingering Potion of Freezing}}
81+ }} **Potion of Freezing**
82+
83+ * Brewed using an Ice Ball; available in regular, splash, and lingering forms.
84+ * Applies the **Freezing** effect.
85+
86+ {{File:Arrow of Freezing}}
87+
88+ * A Tipped Arrow that applies Freezing to its target.
89+
90+ ### {mc-seven} Mobs
91+
92+ {{Image:Frostbite|width=48px height=48px align=left}}{{Image:Baby Frostbite|width=32px height=32px align=left}} **Frostbite**
93+
94+ * A hostile Zombie variant with **24 health points (12 hearts)**, found in snowy biomes and Ice Caves.
95+ * Has adult and baby forms; babies move faster and do not grow into adults.
96+ * Zombies convert into Frostbites after **30 seconds** in Powder Snow.
97+ * Natural underground spawning is restricted to **Ice Caves**, rather than ordinary caves beneath cold surface biomes.
98+ * Immune to Freezing.
99+ ** Walks over Powder Snow without sinking and over Brittle Ice without cracking it.
100+ * Burns in sunlight.
101+ * Uses either melee or ranged attacks.
102+ ** Melee hits apply **Freezing for 3 seconds**, including while holding a weapon.
103+ ** Some spawn holding Ice Balls and throw them at their targets.
104+ * In **Bedrock Edition**, can pick up and use Spears, but does not perform their charge attack.
105+ * Can drop Rotten Flesh and Ice Balls when defeated, including when it was not holding an Ice Ball.
106+ * Converts back into a Zombie after **30 seconds** underwater.
107+
108+ ### {mc-seven} Effects
109+
110+ {{File:EffectSprite Freezing|width=32px height=32px align=left title="Freezing"}}
111+
112+ * A status effect that reproduces Powder Snow freezing, slowing movement and dealing damage over time.
113+ * Wearing any piece of Leather Armor prevents the freezing consequences, but does not stop the status effect from being applied or remove it.
114+ * Frostbites, Zombies, Husks, Drowned, Withers, and Ender Dragons are immune.
115+ * Polar Bears, Snow Golems, and Strays are immune to the status effect in **Bedrock Edition**. In **Java Edition**, they can receive the effect without suffering its freezing consequences. Skeletons are also unaffected by freezing.
116+ * Blazes, Magma Cubes, and Striders take **five times** the freezing damage.
117+
118+ ### {mc-seven} World Generation
119+
120+ #### {mc-seven} Biomes
121+
122+ {{File:Biome Sprite - Ice Caves|width=16px height=16px align=left title="Ice Caves"}}
123+
124+ * An underground biome beneath frozen, cold, and semi-cold surface biomes.
125+ * Can rarely appear at the surface.
126+ * Contains Calcite, Packed Ice, Icicles, Ice Crystals, and occasional snow patches.
127+ ** Giant Packed Ice formations rise from the floor and hang from the ceiling.
128+ ** Crevasses cut through the cave floor beneath a cover of Brittle Ice.
129+ * Does not generate Glow Lichen, Dirt, or Granite.
130+ * Stone and Deepslate deposits provide places for ores and other stone types to generate.
131+ * In **Java Edition**, Mineshafts, Strongholds, and Ruined Portals can generate here.
132+ * Using Spawn Eggs in Ice Caves produces the **cold variants of Cows, Pigs, Chickens, and Frogs** in **Bedrock Edition**.
133+ * Hosts familiar cave monsters alongside Strays and Frostbites.
134+
135+ #### {mc-seven} Features
136+
137+ {{File:Crevasse|width=32px height=32px align=left title="Crevasse"}}
138+
139+ * A winding crack in the floor of **Ice Caves**, covered by Brittle Ice with water below.
140+ * The fragile cover can give way beneath players and most mobs, exposing the drop and sometimes a cave underneath.
141+ * In **Bedrock Edition**, Crevasses generate at a more consistent density across caves with different ceiling heights.
142+
143+ ### {mc-seven} Sounds
144+
145+ {{File:Ice}} **and its variants**
146+ * Ice, Packed Ice, Blue Ice, and Frosted Ice gain distinct sounds.
147+ * Regular Ice can produce ambient sounds when it has **air directly above**, **water directly below**, and at least **8 Ice blocks extending in each cardinal direction**.
148+
149+ ### {mc-seven} Advancements
150+
151+ **What Goes Around Comes Around**
152+
153+ * A new **Java Edition** Adventure advancement earned by defeating a Frostbite with an Ice Ball.
154+
155+ ## {mc-seven} Changes
156+ ---
157+
158+ ### {mc-seven} Blocks
159+
160+ {{File:Blue Ice}}
161+ * Water touching Blue Ice forms Brittle Ice.
162+
163+ {{File:Jukebox_V2|title="Jukebox"}}
164+ * Updated the Jukebox texture.
165+ * Place a **single Chest, Trapped Chest, or Copper Chest variant** directly above a Jukebox to turn its Music Discs into a playlist. Ender Chests and double chests are not supported.
166+ * Discs play in chest slot order. Empty slots and other items are skipped, and the playlist loops after its final disc.
167+ * When no disc is playing, the Jukebox takes the first available Music Disc from the chest and starts playback.
168+ * At the end of a track, the current disc returns to the chest and the next available disc begins playing.
169+ * If no Music Discs remain in the chest, the disc already in the Jukebox plays again.
170+ * Ejecting a disc while it is playing immediately starts the next available disc.
171+ * The next disc in the queue displays **Playing Next** in its tooltip.
172+
173+ ### {mc-seven} Mobs
174+
175+ {{Files:Drowned,Husk,Zombie}}
176+ * Drowned, Husks, and Zombies are now immune to freezing.
177+ * Powder Snow can convert Zombies into Frostbites.
178+ * Drowned and Husks convert into Zombies after **30 seconds** in Powder Snow, allowing them to progress to Frostbites.
179+
180+ ## {mc-seven} Videos
181+ ---
182+
183+ {{Video:First Look: The Ice Caves|width=50% align=left}}
184+
185+ ## {mc-seven} Gallery
186+ ---
187+
188+ ### {mc-seven} Mojang Images
189+ {{imageGrid|column=5|gap=16px|
190+ {{Image:Fourth Drop 2026 - Ice Caves Spikes|caption=Packed%20Ice%20pillars%20and%20hanging%20icicles%20fill%20a%20frozen%20underground%20cavern.}}
191+ {{Image:Ice Caves - Screenshot 3|caption=Strays%20and%20Frostbites%20inhabit%20a%20wide%20expanse%20of%20Ice%20Caves.}}
192+ {{Image:Frozen Zombie|caption=A%20Frostbite%20confronts%20a%20player%20in%20the%20frozen%20underground.}}
193+ {{Image:Ice Cave Gen|caption=Lava%20spills%20into%20an%20Ice%20Cave%2C%20contrasting%20with%20the%20frozen%20terrain.}}
194+ {{Image:Icicle Cluster|caption=A%20cluster%20of%20hanging%20icicles%20demonstrates%20the%20biome%E2%80%99s%20sharp%20formations.}}
195+ {{Image:Frostbite in Ice Cave|caption=A%20Frostbite%20explores%20an%20Ice%20Cave.}}
196+ {{Image:Cluster of Ice Crystals|caption=Ice%20Crystals%20form%20a%20cluster%20in%20the%20frozen%20biome.}}
197+ {{Image:Kai's Freezing Potion|caption=Kai%20holds%20a%20Potion%20of%20Freezing%20while%20surrounded%20by%20the%20effect%E2%80%99s%20icy%20overlay.}}
198+ {{Image:Big & Small Frostbites|caption=An%20adult%20Frostbite%20and%20its%20smaller%20baby%20variant%20stand%20together%20in%20an%20Ice%20Cave.}}
199+ {{Image:Glow of the Ice Caves|caption=Ice%20Crystals%20and%20a%20Stray%E2%80%99s%20glowing%20eyes%20stand%20out%20against%20the%20dark%20cavern.}}
200+ {{Image:Ice Passage|caption=A%20narrow%20passage%20cuts%20through%20the%20frozen%20terrain%20of%20an%20Ice%20Cave.}}
201+ {{Image:Fourth Drop 2026 - Makena's Icy Igloo|caption=Makena%20relaxes%20in%20an%20icicle-lined%20igloo%2C%20with%20a%20chest%20above%20a%20Jukebox%20supplying%20the%20music.}}
202+ {{Image:Fourth Drop 2026 - Ari Breaks the Ice|caption=Ari%20steps%20onto%20cracking%20Brittle%20Ice%20in%20a%20cavern%20lined%20with%20Packed%20Ice%20and%20icicles.}}
203+ {{Image:Fourth Drop 2026 - Icy Crevice|caption=A%20Crevasse%20cuts%20through%20the%20Brittle%20Ice%20floor%20beneath%20hanging%20icicles.}}
204+ {{Image:26.4 Snapshot 5|caption=Zuri%20throws%20Ice%20Balls%20at%20a%20Frostbite%20from%20a%20house%20built%20with%20Packed%20Ice%20Bricks.}}
205+ {{Image:Icy Structure|caption=I%20bet%20there's%20a%20cool%20party%20going%20on%20in%20that%20castle.%20Maybe%20my%20invite%20was%20lost%20in%20the%20mail%3F}}
206+ {{Image:Snowman Battle|caption=Watch%20out%20for%20flying%20ice%20balls!}}
207+ {{Image:Ambient Ice Sounds|caption=*Insert%20ice%20sounds%20here*}}
208+ }}
209+
210+ ### {mc-seven} Official Artwork
211+ {{Image:Frozen Steve in some Ice Caves|width=164px height=164px align=left caption="Steve is encased in ice beneath a selection of the drop’s frozen blocks and items."}}
