Ice Caves Hit Minecraft Preview 26.60.29, Bringing the Frostbite Zombie

Ice caves have arrived in Minecraft Bedrock Preview 26.60.29, giving players the first hands-on look at the fourth game drop of 2026 following its reveal at Minecraft LIVE. Along with the new biome comes a frozen hostile mob, a new mob effect, and a batch of icy blocks.

Ice Caves

Ice Cave is a new cave biome that generates underneath colder Overworld biomes, built mainly from packed ice and calcite instead of stone and dirt. Dirt and granite don't generate here at all, and there's no glow lichen either. In addition to standard cave mobs, strays and the new Frostbite can spawn inside. Ores still generate embedded in stone and deepslate pockets, so mining remains viable despite the unusual terrain.

Icicles and Ice Crystals

Icicles hang from the ceiling and function similarly to pointed dripstone and sulfur spikes, growing up to 5 blocks long when pointing downward. They only grow in areas without nearby light sources and outside the Nether, and they break if exposed to light. If the light level is high enough, icicles have a chance to fall, dealing damage and extra damage to anything they land on.

Ice Crystals are the only natural light source in ice caves, generating on top of packed ice blocks much like amethyst clusters. They emit light and can be placed in any direction, though they currently generate smaller than intended according to the known issues list.

The Freezing Effect

A new status effect causes players to shake, lose jump height, and eventually take damage as they gradually freeze, similar to standing in powder snow. Leather armor delays the onset but doesn't block the effect or remove it once applied. Mobs vulnerable to freezing take five times the normal damage while affected. Ice balls can be brewed into Lingering, Splash, or regular Potions of Freezing, and dipping arrows into a cauldron filled with Potion of Freezing produces Arrows of Freezing.

Frostbite

The Frostbite is a new zombie variant that spawns in cold and icy biomes. It switches between melee and ranged combat depending on distance, applying the Freezing effect on melee hits and throwing ice balls at range. It has distinct animations for both attack types, in both adult and baby forms. Frostbites are immune to freezing themselves and unaffected by powder snow, and they transform back into regular zombies if left underwater too long. Regular zombies and husks now transform into Frostbites when standing in powder snow. Defeating one drops rotten flesh and ice balls.

Ice Ball

The projectile thrown by Frostbites deals up to 4 damage, scaling down based on velocity, and breaks on impact with a particle effect and sound.

All of this is currently behind the experimental toggle for Drop 4 of 2026. Mojang is collecting feedback on the new features at aka.ms/mc-gamedrop_winter26.