7 best Minecraft updates you need to know about (as of 1.19 update)

Minecraft has one of the longest and most public development cycles in all of gaming’s multi-decade history.

Having seen consistent updates since its official release more than a decade ago, there is no shortage of important and influential updates in the history of Minecraft.

But which of these updates are the best? Which were the most influential to the current state of the game? Players can find a list of the seven best and most important updates in the history of Minecraft.

Note: This list is based on the views of its writer.

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The 7 best game updates as of the release of Minecraft 1.19

7) 1.15: The Buzzy Bees Update

The Buzzy Bees update art (Image via Mojang)

As the update's name implies, the main addition of 1.15 were the game's bees and their related items and blocks.

The most important of these additions, by far, is the honey block. This block has helped to revolutionize the capabilities of redstone engineers, especially when combined with the slime block already in Minecraft.

The other important feature of the update was the massive amount of bug fixes it contains. With more than 300 known bugs fixed by this update, this update was one of the best for helping smooth out a lot of the game's rough edges.

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6) 1.9: The Combat Update

The Combat Update art (Image via Mojang)

The 1.9 Combat Update is the most controversial of Minecraft’s many additions, though the recent issues with 1.19 The Wild Update have nearly changed that. Mojang seems to have a lot of problems with updates featuring a nine.

The Combat Update completely changed the combat mechanics featured in Java Edition, and the backlash was so immediate and overwhelming that Bedrock Edition was not given these changes.

Additionally, many of the game’s hardcore PvP players still play on servers running pre-1.9 hardware. Other changes are found in this update, though that has become quite beloved.

This was the update that would add the game’s end cities, featuring quite a bit of incredible loot, as well as the game’s now iconic and fantastic elytra, allowing players to sail through the skies at will with the use of firework rockets.

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5) 1.5: The Redstone Update

A finished redstone build, possible because of update 1.5 (Image via Minecraft)

The importance of the Redstone Update to the game's current state cannot be overstated. This update added many redstone components vital for the game's existing automated farms, such as activator rails, blocks of redstone, droppers, comparators, weighted pressure plates, and the hopper.

Additionally, this update added quartz to the Nether and all the different quartz blocks. Without this update, the game would not have anywhere near the automation it does.

Nor would it have gotten all the media attention that it has over the years because of the wild things players have managed to do with redstone in the game, with the best known of these feats being a player recreating Pokemon Red in Minecraft.

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4) 1.11: The Exploration Update

An example of a woodland mansion, the biggest added feature of 1.11 (Image via Minecraft)

Minecraft 1.11, also known as the Exploration Update, added many of the game’s interesting and exciting structures and enemies. This update added shulker boxes, finally giving players a reason to hunt down shulkers in the End Cities added in update 1.9.

The main draw of the update, and the structure that gave the update its name, is the woodland mansion. These rare structures have to be sought out by players, hence the Exploration Update as a name. They also feature the new illagers, with specific types being the vindicators and evokers.

Other additions from this update are totems of undying, llamas, and exploration maps that help players find these woodland mansions. This update also added one of the most important blocks for modern redstone systems: the observer.

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3) 1.17: Caves and Cliffs Parts One and Two

Large mountains, one of the terrain generation overhauls in Caves and Cliffs (Image via Minecraft)

Caves and Cliffs has to be one of the most hyped updates in the game's history. Before it was split into three parts: Part One, Part Two, and The Wild Update, it promised to revamp almost the entirety of the overworld.

While technically two separate updates, Caves and Cliffs Parts One and Two are so thematically similar that they can be considered one massive overhaul.

Part One added deepslate, moss, geodes, copper, and the fan-favorite axolotl. It also added spyglasses, which give both amethyst and copper a use, and lightning rods to help protect flammable builds from being set on fire by lightning.

Part Two is a much more interesting addition, at least visually. It completely overhauled the overworld’s generation. Cave generation was changed, and three new cave biomes were added: dripstone caves, lush caves, and flooded caves. Mountains became taller, and new cave biomes were added.

The only controversial aspect of these updates was that the deep dark, ancient cities, and the Warden were delayed for both parts, pushed back for two years into 2022.

Additionally, Caves and Cliffs revamped ore generation, making coal much rarer to find deep in the world where most players mine, making coal harder to get in large numbers.

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2) 1.16: The Nether Update

An example of a crimson forest, one of the new Nether biomes (Image via Minecraft)

1.16 might be the fan-favorite update. It completely overhauled the Nether, making it a dimension players might want to spend time in rather than one that players have to go to once to beat the game. Four new Nether biomes were added, crimson forests, warped forests, basalt deltas, and soul sand valleys.

Additionally, this update added one of the most interesting structures found in the game: the bastion remnants and their non-undead piglin inhabitants, which players can trade with using gold.

This update also added the Netherite material, finally dethroning diamond as the best material in the game after more than a decade when considering the beta versions of the game.

Soul fire was also added in this update, giving players a new type of fire with a cool blue glow instead of the typical orange-red glow fire typically has.

Players have finally been given a way to set their spawn in the Nether since attempting to use a bed results in a massive explosion. Players can craft and charge a respawn anchor with glowstone, which acts like a bed for setting players' spawn point.

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1) 1.14: Village and Pillage

The official art for the Village and Pillage update (Image via Minecraft)

While not the-fan favorite that 1.16 was, The Village and Pillage update is probably the most major update to some of the game’s iconic mechanics and systems.

This update overhauled the design language of villages and villagers. There are villages and villagers for each biome they can spawn, helping the villages feel unique and more real.

Additionally, Village and Pillage added raids, making totems of undying farmable. Foxes were added to taigas, one of the game’s cutest passive mobs by far. However, all of these are minor when compared to the major change of the update: villager trading.

This update revamped villager trading, making it much more powerful and important to players, and making it one of the best ways to get some of the game’s best items. This update single-handedly made villager trading halls one of the most important things for players to make.