Everything new coming in the Minecraft Copper Age update

Minecraft’s latest update is dropping today, and that means there’s a whole bunch of new content coming to the game in the third of four major drops planned for 2025. It’s known as The Copper Age update because, well, most of the new additions are copper-based items. Copper has been in Minecraft since 2021’s 1.17 Caves and Cliffs Part 1 update, but it’s had fairly limited uses. This is the update that finally changes that, adding a host of new copper items.

We’ll break down everything in the update so you know exactly what to look for when you drop into your world.

Copper Golems

You may remember the Copper Golem from a previous mob vote. It didn’t win, but now it’s back, and with a different set of abilities than were proposed in the mob vote.

Now, you can make a Copper Golem by placing a carved pumpkin on top of a copper block, which will spawn both a copper chest and a golem. These handy creatures act as automatic item sorters, as they will take items from copper chests and place them into regular chests within range that contain the same item.

You have to be careful though, as like all copper blocks they oxidize over time, and if you let them oxidize fully, they will cease to function, becoming statues instead. However, you can restore them with an axe or use a honeycomb to wax them, preventing the oxidation.

Copper tools and armor

You can now also use this extremely common ore to fashion into early-game tools and armor when you’re exploring caves. Given how much copper you’ll be digging up when exploring the top layers of caves, it’s a good way to get a bit of protection early on before finding iron.

The armor is stronger than leather, but weaker than iron, with a middling amount of durability, while the tools slot between stone and iron in terms of strength, making it a worthwhile upgrade if you don’t find much iron straight away. Even horses can get in on the action, with copper horse armor now found in loot chests at the same rate as iron horse armor.

Unlike every other set of copper items in the game, tools and armor don’t oxidize over time.

Decorative copper blocks

The final major addition for copper is a bunch of decorative blocks that bring it up to parity with iron. You can now craft copper bars, chains, chests, lanterns, and torches, all of which oxidize over time if not waxed. To craft many of these, you’ll need the new copper nugget item, which is broken down from an ingot just like iron and gold nuggets. The copper lanterns and torches also add a new light color to the game, as they burn with a green flame instead of the standard orange or the soul torches’ blue.

Shelf

Shelves are a brand-new block that can serve as both decoration and a functional tool. By crafting a shelf with stripped logs, you can then place up to three stacks of an item on the shelf, with it connecting to adjacent shelves. Then, if you interact with the shelf, it will swap whatever’s currently in your hotbar with the items on the shelf, letting you quickly and easily switch your hotbar on the fly.

End sky flashes

While it’s not exactly the big End update fans have been clamouring for, a small change has been made to the End dimension, which is that now the sky will occasionally give a bright purple flash that temporarily bathes the entire dimension in a purple glow. This works in all editions, but is prettiest with Vibrant Visuals enables in Bedrock Edition.

That’s all coming in today’s update, but there’s no time to rest, as Mojang have already revealed everything coming in the winter Minecraft update too.