Minecraft Bedrock Beta Update Adds Adorable Axolotl Species, Full Patch Notes Revealed

Minecraft players participating in the game’s Bedrock beta can download an update that adds a new type of block and species, as well as addresses bugs like underwater visibility and character modeling. The full patch notes are outlined below.

The headlining feature is the new Axolotl species. Although they were previously included in the game in limited fashion, this walking salamander will now spawn in water naturally, making them easier to locate and breed. Though they are cute, Axolotls are also deadly, attacking fish, guardians, squid, and other wildlife.

The update also adds the Deepslate block to the game. There are various types of Deepslate available to mine, like ores and slabs, and can be found in the Overworld.

Elsewhere, the update fixes several bugs. This includes improving underwater visibility across the board (but especially in water-filled caverns), ironing out character model issues where the trident was positioned incorrectly, ensuring Lightning Rods activate Observers, and enabling classic “jungle” vines in Lush caves.

Minecraft Bedrock, previously known as Minecraft Pocket Edition, refers to the entire Minecraft suite from developers Mojang Studios, SkyBox Labs, Xbox Game Studios, and others. Anyone who owns Minecraft can jump into the Bedrock beta by opting in or out from the Xbox Insider Hub app. From there, players can enable the Caves and Cliffs beta features, which is where this new Minecraft update resides.

Minecraft Bedrock Update 1.16.230.52 Patch Notes

Axolotl:

• Spawning – Axolotls will spawn underground, in water.
• Tempting & Breeding – Holding a bucket of tropical fish will cause nearby axolotls to follow the player on both land and water. Axolotls cannot be tamed but they can be bred by feeding them buckets of tropical fish.
• Attacking – Axolotls will attack fish, squid, drowned, and guardians.
• Colours – Axolotls come in a variety of colours, all with an equal chance of spawning except for blue. Blue axolotls have a small chance of spawning as a mutation when breeding 2 axolotls.
• Drying Out – Axolotls can survive on dry land for a few minutes. After that they will start to dry out and take continuous damage until rehydrated.
• Playing Dead – When taking damage, there is a chance that the axolotl will play dead. While playing dead, the axolotl will regenerate health and mobs will be unable to target the axolotl.
• Combat Regeneration – When a player kills a mob that the axolotl was attacking, they are rewarded with the regeneration effect, and their mining fatigue is removed if they have it.
• Bucketing – Axolotls can be picked up with buckets, like fish.

Deepslate:

• The following Deepslate blocks have been added:
  • Deepslate.
  • Cobbled Deepslate.
  • Cobbled Deepslate Slab.
  • Cobbled Deepslate Stairs.
  • Cobbled Deepslate Wall.
  • Polished Deepslate.
  • Polished Deepslate Slab.
  • Polished Deepslate Stairs.
  • Polished Deepslate Wall.
  • Deepslate Tiles.
  • Deepslate Tile Slab.
  • Deepslate Tile Stairs.
  • Deepslate Tile Wall.
  • Deepslate Bricks.
  • Deepslate Brick Slab.
  • Deepslate Brick Stairs.
  • Deepslate Brick Wall.
  • Deepslate Lapis Ore.
  • Deepslate Iron Ore.
  • Deepslate Gold Ore.
  • Deepslate Redstone Ore.
  • Deepslate Diamond Ore.
  • Deepslate Coal Ore.
  • Deepslate Emerald Ore.
  • Deepslate Copper Ore.
  • Cracked Deepslate Tiles.
  • Cracked Deepslate Bricks.
  • Chiseled Deepslate.

Generation:

• Deepslate is generated in blobs below y = 16.
• Ore is generated as normal, when ore is generated where Deepslate has been generated, Deepslate ore is generated instead.

Known Issues:

• Axolotls don’t spawn naturally in the world.
• Leads attached to axolotls float too high above their heads.

Bug Fixes and Tweaks

General

• Improved underwater visibility in all sorts of water, water-filled caverns in particular.
• Oxidized Copper Block variants can now be waxed.
• Tweaked which blocks can be placed on pointed dripstone, to match Java .Edition (MCPE-116098, MCPE-116056, MCPE-116050).
• Pointed dripstone now correctly breaks when pushed by piston (MCPE-116095).
• Dripstone and pointed dripstone now have correct sounds when walking/jumping on them (MCPE-119694).
• Glow lichen is now under the nature category of the Creative inventory (MCPE-122600).
• Lightning Rods now correctly activate Observers when struck by lightning.
• Big dripleaf can now be waterlogged.
• Big dripleaf now untilts correctly after getting hit by a projectile (MCPE-121666).
• Small dripleaf can now also be placed on dirt, farmland, grass, moss block, and podzol as long as its stem is underwater.
• Moss block now blocks water (MCPE-121796).
• Ladder, vines, twisting vines, weeping vines, sweet berry bush, nether sprouts, and fire can now be placed on Moss blocks (MCPE-121828).
• Spore Blossom correctly drop itself when broken with Shears (MCPE-122054).
• Mobs can now pathfind across moss blocks (MCPE-121967).
• Lush caves can now contain classic “jungle” vines.
• Fixed a bug where the screen reader did not read the focused button on some screens.
• Fixed a bug where English screen reader pronounced “A button” as “a button,” now saying “Button A” instead.
• Trident in Players’ and Mobs’ hands are now correctly positioned in all perspective modes (MCPE-116681).
• Trident raising animation modified for first person to more closely match the previous version.
• Water Buckets can now be used to pick up fish (MCPE-94520).

Mobs

• Rabbits can now raid carrot crops (MCPE-113321).
• Animals can no longer be fed infinitely until they are bred (MCPE-19309).

Other known issues in this Beta:

• Placing Glow lichen on all sides of a single block can cause a crash (MCPE-122599).