Microsoft’s Mojang rolled out Minecraft Trails & Tales version 1.20 this week with a bunch of changes, some merely for the sake of aesthetics and others that alter the gameplay experience.
Let’s take a look at the major updates, shall we?
Two New Mobs
There’s no dangerous new hostile mob like the Warden which was introduced in The Wild Update. You do get the friendly Sniffer and Camel mobs.
For the Camel mob, you’ll have to find Desert Villages. Two players can saddle up and ride one Camel simultaneously. You can attract a Camel or breed this mob in Minecraft by feeding it Cactus.
Speaking of Cactus which is used to make green dye, the newly introduced Torchflowers and Pitcher Plants may be crafted to make Orange and Cyan colored dyes, respectively.
While the Pitcher Plant is merely there for decoration, you will need Torchflowers to breed two Sniffers.
These mobs don’t do much apart from sniffing the air and randomly digging for seeds, which produces a Torchflower Seed or a Pitcher Pod item. A Sniffer Egg can be found by brushing Suspicious Sand in Warm Ocean Ruins.
Breeding Camels and Sniffers count for “The Parrots and the Bats” and are required for “Two by Two” from now on.
If you take a Creeper with you to The Nether, you can get it to explode next to a Piglin and possibly drop a Piglin Mob Head.
You can place this trophy on a Note Block to play one of the Piglin’s ambient sounds, and get it to flap its ears with Redstone, or while you’re wearing it and walking around.
Cherry & Bamboo Wood Sets
Although we’re excited about the addition of Cherry trees—visiting a Cherry Grove is now required for the “Adventuring Time” advancement—which can be found in the Meadows biome, the Bamboo wood set gets our top vote.
You can make normal blocks, stripped wood blocks or decorative Bamboo Mosaic blocks from Bamboo for your cute Minecraft house ideas or when you want to erect a basic barn.
You can also use Bamboo to create stairs, slabs and all the other stuff you can craft from wood in Minecraft.
Most importantly, rafts are now a thing in this survival sandbox game. Instead of a regular boat, you can use Bamboo to build a raft or a raft with a chest.
Netherite Equipment More Difficult To Craft
If you think mining for Ancient Debris for Netherite armor and equipment is one of the most patience-eroding challenges in Minecraft, the Trails & Tales update is not going to make you happy at all.
Mojang now wants you to hang on to your Diamond gear for as long as possible. The idea is to make earning Netherite equipment feel like a more rewarding achievement in your in-game progress.
But we smell a major update like The Nether cooking.
After all, you don’t even need Netherite to beat the Ender Dragon or acquire an Elytra from the End Cities. Enchanted armor, weapons and tools are more than adequate.
So from now on, after smelting your Ancient Debris in a Blast Furnace or Furnace and turning the resultant Netherite Scraps into ingots on the Crafting Table, you will be faced with a wholly redesigned Smithing Table.
You can no longer just upgrade from Diamond to Netherite armor, tools or weapons with Netherite ingots and enough XP. You also need to acquire a Netherite Upgrade Smithing Template.
Smithing Templates in Minecraft
Smithing Templates are items that are consumed each time you upgrade any equipment on the new Smithing Table.
They’re divided into Armor Trim and Netherite Upgrade Smithing Templates. These can be found in chests at various locations.
The current roster of Minecraft Smithing Templates:
- Desert Pyramid: Dune Armor Trim
- Shipwreck: Coast Armor Trim
- Jungle Temple: Wild Armor Trim
- Trail Ruins: Wayfinder, Raiser, Shaper, and Host Armor Trims (not spawned in chests, found by brushing Suspicious Gravel)
- Pillager Outpost: Sentry Armor Trim
- Ocean Monument: Tide Armor Trim (dropped by Elder Guardians instead of spawning in chests)
- Ancient City: Ward and Silence Armor Trims
- Woodland Mansion: Vex Armor Trim
- Nether Fortress: Rib Armor Trim
- Bastion Remnant: Snout Armor Trim
- End City: Spire Armor Trim
- Stronghold: Eye Armor Trim
- Treasure Room Bastion Remnant: Netherite Upgrade Smithing Template
Armor Trims serve no purpose apart from allowing you to customize the look of your gear. The last one on the list is necessary for upgrading to Netherite equipment.
You can make a copy of a Smithing Template on the Crafting Table by combining the original with 7 Diamonds and a block of material from which it is made.
Archaeology & Trail Ruins
The Archaeology update in Minecraft Trails and Tales adds a buried structure called Trail Ruins for you to dig up. You’ll stumble upon them in Taiga, Snowy Taiga, all Old Growth forest and Jungle biomes.
The new craftable Brush item which is required to extract objects like Pottery Sherds and Wayfinder, Raiser, Shaper, and Host Armor Trims from Suspicious Sand or Suspicious Gravel.
Conclusion
Other introductions worth mentioning include Hanging Signs, Chiseled Bookshelf blocks, Calibrated Sculk Sensor blocks, new music and so on.
If you want to read through every change that arrives with Minecraft 1.20 Java and Bedrock, check out the official Mojang page listing all of them.
Or just play Minecraft Trails & Tales to find out for yourself?
