Nether Update

This article is about an upcoming major update that is themed around revamping the Nether. For the update that added the Nether to the game, see Halloween Update.

For a guide about all content in this update for Java Edition, see Java Edition guides/Nether Update. For the Bedrock Edition guide, see Bedrock Edition guides/Nether Update.

Official logo for the Nether Update.

The Nether Update is an upcoming major update themed around revamping the Nether. It adds multiple new features to this dimension, such as new biomes and mobs. The update was announced at MINECON Live 2019 and is set to release sometime after the month of May 2020, presumably in June or early July . It will be released as Bedrock Edition 1.16.0 and Java Edition 1.16.

Notable features

Main articles: Java Edition 1.16 and Bedrock Edition 1.16.0

Additions

An example of the biomes in the Nether as of the update, with a crimson forest to the far left, nether wastes up close, warped forest on the back, and basalt deltas to the far right.

New blocks

• Soul Fire
  • Generates naturally in the soul sand valley biome in the Nether. It has a blue texture.
  • Deals damage at a rate of 2 per second as opposed to the 1 per second of regular fire.
  • Soul fire generates naturally only on soul soil, a block found exclusively in the soul sand valley. Although it can be made manually by igniting soul soil with any other fire, for example with flint and steel.
  • Soul fire can burn only on the top of soul soil and soul sand.
• Soul Torch
  • Has a luminance level of 10, whereas a normal torch has 14.
• Soul Lantern
  • Has a luminance level of 10, whereas a normal lantern has 15.
• Soul Campfire
  • A new soul variant of the campfire.
  • Has a light luminance of 10, whereas a normal campfire has 15.
• Crimson and Warped Fungi
  • Generate in crimson and warped forests, respectively.
  • Acts as a sapling for huge warped and crimson fungi (nether trees).
• Crimson and Warped Stems
  • Blocks that comprise the trunks of huge fungi.
  • Has a top texture similar to regular log blocks.
  • Does not burn.
  • Have respective stripped variants.
• Crimson and Warped Hyphae
  • Wood variants of crimson and warped stems, as in all sides having the bark texture.
  • Does not burn.
  • Have respective stripped variants.
• Crimson and Warped Planks
  • Does not burn.
  • Can be used to craft respective slabs, stairs, fences, fence gates, pressure plates, buttons, signs, doors and trapdoors.
  • Unlike other types of wood, it cannot be used to craft boats.
• Warped Wart Block
  • A variation of the nether wart block.
  • Can be found in warped forests (ordinary nether wart blocks can be found in crimson forests).
• Shroomlight
  • Generates naturally on huge crimson fungi and huge warped fungi or by growing fungi on nylium with bone meal.
  • Emits light level 15.
• Weeping Vines
  • Generates in the crimson forest on the roof.
  • Can be climbed.
  • Can be bone-mealed.
• Twisting Vines
  • A climbable plant that spawns in the warped forest, sprouting from the ground.
  • This new vine can also be bone-mealed, growing a random amount of blocks.
• Crimson and Warped Nylium
  • Resemble grass blocks.
  • Can be spread to netherrack by using bone meal on netherrack next to nylium.
• Crimson and Warped Roots
  • Non-solid plant block similar to grass.
  • Requires shears to obtain.
• Nether Sprouts
  • Foliage that generates in warped forests.
• Soul Soil
  • Generates in soul sand valley biomes.
• Basalt
  • Makes up basalt pillars.
  • Generates in soul sand valleys and basalt deltas.
  • Has a polished version.
• Blackstone (and its variants)
  • A block that generates naturally in the basalt deltas and in small patches around the lava lakes, it has a number of variations that can be used for decoration purposes, it also has a gilded variant that has a chance to drop gold nuggets when mined, similar to gravel having a small chance to drop flint.
  • Has a regular, polished, chiseled polished, polished brick, and polished cracked brick versions.
    • The regular, polished and polished bricks all have stair, slab, and wall variants.
    • Polished variant can be made into pressure plates and buttons.
  • Can be used to craft stone tier weapons and tools, as well as furnaces, and as a replacement for cobblestone in nearly all recipes.
• Nether Gold Ore
  • Drops 1 to 5 gold nuggets mined with any pickaxe.
  • Is affected by Fortune and drops up to 24 gold nuggets.
  • Can be smelted to get 1 gold ingot.
  • Drops XP orbs.
• Crying Obsidian
  • Generates naturally as part of ruined portal structures.
  • Can be found as loot in bastion chests.
  • Can also be obtained by bartering with piglins.
  • Same blast resistance as obsidian and cannot be pushed by pistons.
  • Used to make Respawn Anchors.
  • Programmer art texture is old texture from original design from 2011.
• Ancient Debris
  • Can be found throughout the Nether at any altitude, though it is much more common at lower levels.
  • Can also be found rarely in bastion chests.
  • Can be refined into a netherite scrap by smelting in a furnace or blast furnace.
  • Always generates covered by lava or blocks on all sides.
  • High blast resistance, but is movable with pistons.
  • Does not burn in Lava or Fire as a dropped item.
• Block of Netherite
  • Can be used as a beacon base.
  • Same blast resistance as obsidian, but is movable with pistons.
  • Does not burn in Lava or Fire as a dropped item.
• Target
  • Creates a redstone signal when hit by a projectile.
  • Does not need a comparator.
  • Creates a signal when flown into with Elytra.
  • Redirects redstone toward itself.
• Respawn Anchor
  • Used to respawn in the Nether.
  • Can be charged up to 4 times, by using glowstone.
    • Comparator can detect charge amount.
  • Can be charged using a dispenser.
  • When you respawn, one charge is used. When all charges are used up, the player respawns at the world spawn.
  • The top texture resembles the portal block (nether).
  • Crafted with crying obsidian and glowstone.
  • Using it in the End or Overworld causes it to explode.
  • The explosion is similar to trying to sleep in a bed in the nether or end, giving the same death message "<player> was killed by [Intentional Game Design]", it's explosion has a radius similar to that of an End crystal, as well as setting fire to surrounding blocks.
• Lodestone
  • Block when right-clicked using a compass, sets the compass needle pointing toward the receptive lodestone, the compass also receives an enchanted effect.
  • Can be crafted with 8 chiseled stone brick and one netherite ingot.
  • Can be found in bastion chests.
• Chain
  • New block found in bastions, hanging magma cube spawners and lanterns, as well as on ruined portals.
  • Can be crafted with 2 iron nuggets and one iron ingot in a crafting table.
  • Texture and color resembles the chain on top of lanterns.
  • Acts similarly to end rods, but being only vertical, like iron bars.
  • Can hang lanterns.
• Nether Brick Block Variants
  • Chiseled nether brick block
    • Has a skull symbol on it.
    • Made by putting two slabs over each other in crafting, or in a stonecutter.
  • Cracked nether brick block
    • Made by smelting a nether brick block.
• Quartz Bricks
  • New type of quartz crafted by putting 4 quartz in a crafting grid, or in a stonecutter.

New Items

• Netherite Scrap
  • Used to craft netherite ingots.
    • When 4 are combined with 4 gold ingots in a crafting table, it creates one netherite ingot.
  • Does not burn in Lava or Fire as a dropped item.
• Netherite Ingot
  • Can be used to upgrade diamond tools and armor inside a smithing table.
  • Can be used as fuel for a beacon.
  • Does not burn in Lava or Fire as a dropped item.
• Netherite Armor
  • Helmet, chestplate, leggings, and boots.
  • Made by combining a diamond armor piece with a netherite ingot in a smithing table.
  • 30% more durability than diamond armor.
  • Gives +1 armor toughness compared to diamond armor, as well as added knockback resistance.
  • Does not burn in Lava or Fire as a dropped item.
• Netherite Tools:
  • Axes, pickaxes, swords, shovels and hoes.
  • Made by combining a diamond tool with a netherite ingot in a smithing table.
  • 30% more durability than diamond tools.
  • Gives +1 damage compared to diamond tools.
  • Netherite hoes can also be obtained rarely by bartering with piglins.
  • Does not burn in Lava or Fire as a dropped item.
• Warped Fungus on a Stick
  • Carrot on a Stick variant for striders.
  • Made with a fishing rod and warped fungus.
  • Has 100 durability.
• Pigstep Music Disc
  • Only music disc not composed by C418,but instead, Lena Raine.
  • Can be found only as loot in bastion chests.
  • Has a red and gold texture, resembling gold and netherrack.
• Lodestone compass
  • Compass that points to a set lodestone.
• Snout banner pattern
  • Obtainable only in bastion loot chests.
  • Gives banners a pig snout pattern.
• Spawn eggs.
  • New piglin, strider, zoglin, and hoglin spawn eggs.

New mobs

• Piglins
  • Spawn in crimson forests, nether wastes, and bastions.
  • Spawn with a gold sword or crossbow in hand, and sometimes with gold armor.
  • They have 16 × 8 health.
  • Neutral (hoard)
    • attack the player unless they are wearing at least one piece of gold armor.
    • attack a player who hits a piglin, or opens or breaks a chest, trapped chest, ender chest, barrel, or a shulker box nearby, or breaks a block of gold, gold ore, gilded blackstone, or nether gold ore near them. They attack even if the player is wearing gold armor.
    • Babies are passive.
  • Sometimes attack hoglins.
  • attack wither skeletons.
    • often dance when they kill a hoglin or wither skeleton.
  • Babies play with baby hoglins.
  • avoid soul fire, soul campfires, soul torches and soul lanterns.
  • avoid zombified piglins, and zoglins.
  • Can barter.
    • When thrown gold ingots, they pick them up, hold them in their hand, and after a few second throw you an item (look at Bartering page to see loot table).
• Striders
  • Spawn in all nether biomes on the lava lakes.
  • They have 20 × 10 health.
  • Drop 2-5 string on death.
  • Passive
  • Can be ridden with a saddle.
  • Can be lead and bred with warped fungus.
  • When out of lava, they get cold, turn a grey-purple color, and get a bigger frown.
  • Are damaged by water.
• Zoglins
  • Do not naturally spawn, when hoglins are in the overworld or end, they transform into zoglins after 15 seconds.
  • They have 40 × 20 health.
  • Aggressive
    • Attack any mob, other than other zoglins and creepers, that they can see, similar to a vindicator named "Johnny".
• Hoglins
  • Spawn in crimson forests, or rarely in bastions in hoglin stables.
  • They have 40 × 20 health.
  • Drops raw porkchops.
  • Aggressive
  • Avoid warped fungus, nether portals and respawn anchors.
  • Are attacked by piglins.
  • Can be bred with crimson fungi.
• Zombified Piglin (used to be Zombie Pigmen).
  • Spawn in Nether wastes, and crimson forests as well as coming from piglins being in the overworld or end like zoglins.
  • Always spawn with a gold sword.
  • They have 20 × 10 health.
  • Neutral (hoard)
  • When transformed from a piglin, drop anything they are holding, (except if it is a gold sword), and then get a gold sword.

New generated structures:

• Bastion remnants
  • Generates in all nether biomes except basalt deltas.
  • Is the only way to obtain the new music disc Pigstep.
• Basalt Pillars
• Huge fungus
• Ruined Portals
  • Can be found in both the Overworld and the Nether.
• Nether fossils

New biomes:

• Soul Sand Valley
  • A vast grotto composed of uncovered nether fossils, soul sand, soul soil, large pillars made of basalt, blue fog, and soul fire. (taken from Java edition 1.16 page)
  • Spawns Ghasts, Skeletons and Striders.
  • Can spawn Nether fortresses, and bastions.
  • Plays the ambient Song "So Below" by Lena Raine.
• Crimson Forest
  • A dense forest with huge crimson fungi. Nether wart blocks and fungi are found in patches on the ground and weeping vines are found under the trees and nether wart “stalactites”. Fog effects are similar to the Nether wastes biome. (taken from Java edition 1.16 page)
  • Spawns Piglins, Zombified piglins, striders, and hoglins.
  • Can spawn bastions.
  • Plays the ambient song "Chrysopoeia" by Lena Raine.
• Warped Forest
  • A blue color variation of the crimson forest, but with somewhat different vegetation and blue particles and purple fog effects. (taken from Java edition 1.16 page)
  • Spawns Endermen, and striders.
  • Can spawn bastions.
• Basalt Deltas
  • A volcanic biome in the Nether. Filled with pillars of basalt and large areas of blackstone. The air is filled with a light gray ash-like particles. (taken from Java edition 1.16 page)
  • Spawns Magma cubes, and striders.
  • Can spawn Nether fortresses.
  • Plays the ambient song "So Below" by Lena Raine.
• Nether wastes (Old nether "hell" _{{pre 1.16}})
  • A wasteland of bare netherack and ores.
  • Spawns Piglins, Zombified piglins, and striders.
  • Plays the ambient song "Rubedo" by Lena Raine.

New enchantments:

• Soul Speed
  • Allows the player to walk quickly on soul sand, but does damage to the boots.
  • Goes up to level 3.
  • Can be applied only to boots.
  • Can be obtained only from bastions and bartering with piglins.
• Hoes can now have a use for enchantments.

New advancements‌^{[Java Edition only]}

Main article: Advancement

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Namespaced ID
	Those Were the Days ‌[upcoming: JE 1.16]	Enter a Bastion Remnant	Nether	—	nether/find_bastion
	Hidden in the Depths ‌[upcoming: JE 1.16]	Obtain Ancient Debris	Nether	Have ancient debris in your inventory.	nether/obtain_ancient_debris
	Who Is Cutting Onions? ‌[upcoming: JE 1.16]	Obtain Crying Obsidian	Nether	Have crying obsidian in your inventory.	nether/obtain_crying_obsidian
	Oh Shiny ‌[upcoming: JE 1.16]	Distract Piglins with gold	Nether	Give a piglin one of these 22 gold-related items while it is aggressive towards the player. Other gold-related items, if any, are ignored for this advancement and by the piglin.	nether/distract_piglin
	This Boat Has Legs ‌[upcoming: JE 1.16]	Ride a Strider with a Warped Fungus on a Stick	Nether	—	nether/ride_strider
	War Pigs ‌[upcoming: JE 1.16]	Loot a chest in a Bastion Remnant	Those Were the Days	Open a chest in a bastion remnant.	nether/loot_bastion
	Not Quite "Nine" Lives ‌[upcoming: JE 1.16]	Charge a Respawn Anchor to the maximum	Who Is Cutting Onions?	—	nether/charge_respawn_anchor

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Namespaced ID
	Country Lode, Take Me Home ‌[upcoming: JE 1.16]	Use a Compass on a Lodestone	Hidden in the Depths	Have a lodestone compass in your inventory.	nether/use_lodestone

Main article: Advancement

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Namespaced ID
	Cover Me in Debris ‌[upcoming: JE 1.16]	Get a full suit of Netherite armor	Hidden in the Depths	—	nether/netherite_armor
	Hot Tourist Destinations ‌[upcoming: JE 1.16]	Explore all Nether biomes	This Boat Has Legs	Visit all of these 5 biomes. The advancement is only for Nether biomes. Other biomes, if any, may also be visited, but are ignored for this advancement.	nether/explore_nether
	Bullseye ‌[upcoming: JE 1.16]	Hit the bullseye of a Target block from at least 30 meters away	Take Aim	Shoot the center of a target with a projectile from at least 30 blocks away.	adventure/bullseye

Changed Advancements ‌^{[Java Edition only]}

Main article: Advancement

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Namespaced ID
	Serious Dedication [until JE 1.16]	Completely use up a diamond hoe, and then reevaluate your life choices	A Seedy Place	Exhaust the durability of a diamond hoe, breaking it.	husbandry/break_diamond_hoe

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Namespaced ID
	Serious Dedication ‌[upcoming: JE 1.16]	Use a Netherite ingot to upgrade a hoe, and then reevaluate your life choices	A Seedy Place	Have a netherite hoe in your inventory.	husbandry/break_diamond_hoe

Changed "Serious Dedication" requirement, from needing to completely use up a diamond hoe, to craft a netherite hoe.

Main article: Advancement

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Namespaced ID
	We Need to Go Deeper	Build, light and enter a Nether Portal	Ice Bucket Challenge	Enter the Nether dimension.	story/enter_the_nether
	Nether	Bring summer clothes	—	Enter the Nether dimension.	nether/root

Changed "We Need to Go Deeper" to "Nether", the requirements are the same.

Miscellaneous Changes

• Skeletons and Ghasts now spawn in soul sand valleys.
• Bone blocks now generate in soul sand valleys as fossils.
• Lava now flows items and mobs like water.
• TNT can now be ignited by any projectile on fire.
• Zero tick farms no longer work.
• Fishing mechanics changed, treasure can be obtained only in open bodies of water, removing the ability for AFK fish farms to produce treasure.
• Farmer villagers now pick up seeds and compost extra seeds, and can make and use bone meal on their crops.
• Walls have been changed to no longer have gaps or pillars when stacked on each other, as well as having the ability to have many more blocks on them.
• Mobs other than wither skeletons can no longer spawn on wither roses.
• New commands: /attribute and /locatebiome.
• Text font and color can be specified in commands such as /title, /say, etc.
• Game rules can now be specified before creating world.
• New setting: Entity Distance, this specifies at what distance entities are no longer visible.
• Patches of gravel and blackstone spawn near lava lakes in all biomes, and soul sand in soul sand valleys.
• New Statistic: distance by strider.
• Many bugs having to do with villages fixed.
• Mob cap counter added to debug screen.
• Compasses and clocks now have static textures in the crafting table.
• Redstone now places as a cross again.
• In Java Edition you can press F3+F4 to switch gamemodes.
• Nether Bricks now have cracked and chiseled variants.
• Block of Quartz now has a brick variant.

Videos

Videos made by slicedlime:

Note: The footage from the videos below are taken from the Java Edition.

Trivia

• Similarly to the announcement of Update Aquatic, this update was announced during the development of the previous release, and before the features of that version were included in a full release.
• Version numbers are the same for both Java and Bedrock editions, starting with this update.