minecraft

1.21.6, the first release of Chase the Skies, is a game drop to Java Edition, released on June 17, 2025. The update was originally announced at Minecraft Live 2025 on March 22, 2025.[2][3][4][5]

Additions

Advancements

Heart Transplanter
Stay Hydrated!

Blocks

Dried Ghast block
Ingredients Crafting recipe
Ghast Tear +
Soul Sand

Items

Harness
Ingredients Crafting recipe
Leather +
Glass +
Matching Wool

Music Disc

Locator Bar

The Locator Bar is a new UI element that displays the direction of other players in the world in multiplayer.

Mobs

Ghastling
Happy Ghast

Music and Sound

Music & Sound settings

Vibrant Visuals

Vibrant Visuals, first released on BE Minecraft Beta & Preview - 1.21.90.20 (April 2025), is taking its first steps to Java Edition.

Clouds
Fog

Changes

Items

Elytra
Lead
Ingredients Crafting recipe
String
Saddles
Ingredients Crafting recipe
Leather +
Iron Ingot

Shears
Splash potions

Loot table

The following loot tables have had Saddles removed from them and replaced with 1-5 Leather:

Mobs

Music and Sound

Ambient Desert Block Sounds Changes

Projectiles

Realms

Technical Changes

Data Pack versions 72 through 80

Advancements

Added minecraft:player_sheared_equipment trigger

Attributes

Added camera_distance
Changed flying_speed
Added waypoint_transmit_range and waypoint_receive_range

Commands

Added /datapack create
Added /dialog
Modified /playsound
Added /version
Added /waypoint
{
  "near_distance": 128,
  "far_distance": 332,
  "sprites": [
    "minecraft:default_0",
    "minecraft:default_1",
    "minecraft:default_2",
    "minecraft:default_3"
  ]
}

Data components

attribute_modifiers Item Component
equippable Item Component
painting/variant Item Component

Entity data

area_effect_cloud
tnt
vex

Dialogs

Dialog Description Format
Common dialog fields
Dialog types
minecraft:confirmation
minecraft:dialog_list
minecraft:multi_action
minecraft:notice
minecraft:server_links
Dialog body types
minecraft:item
minecraft:plain_message
Input control types
minecraft:boolean
minecraft:number_range
minecraft:single_option
minecraft:text
Actions

Dialogs have at least one action, presented to the user as a button. After every action, the dialog will always evaluate contents of the after_action field (see above).

Static dialog action types
{
    "label": "some label",
    "action": {
        "type": "show_dialog",
        "dialog": "some:id"
    }
}
minecraft:dynamic/run_command Action Type
minecraft:dynamic/custom Action Type
Built-in dialogs

The built-in datapack contains some custom dialogs to provide customization of specific screens used by the client.

minecraft:custom_options
minecraft:server_links
Pause screen configuration
Quick Actions key bind

Game Rules

Added LocatorBar

Tags

Text Components

Click Events
Added minecraft:custom
Added minecraft:show_dialog
Waypoint Broadcasting

The Locator Bar works through a server-controlled Waypoint system. Waypoints are received by Players, and connections between Waypoints and Players are managed by the multiplayer server.

Resource Pack versions 56 through 63

Block Models

Equipment Assets

Font

Item Models

minecraft:player_head special model type
minecraft:head special model type

Shaders & Post-process Effects

Developer's Note: Although it is possible in Resource Packs, overriding Core Shaders is considered as unsupported and not an intended Resource Pack feature. These shaders exist as part of the internal implementation of the game, and as such, may change at any time as the game's internals evolve. We understand that overriding Core Shaders is used for very cool Resource Pack features, many of which lack supported alternatives. We would like to provide better, supported alternatives in the future.
Post-process Effect Definitions
Post-process Effect Shaders
post/bits.fsh
post/blit.fsh
post/blur.vsh and post/box_blur.fsh
post/color_convolve.fsh
post/invert.fsh
post/rotscale.vsh
post/spiderclip.fsh
Shader Fog Changes
Uniform blocks
CloudInfo Uniform Block
DynamicTransforms Uniform Block
Fog Uniform Block
Globals Uniform Block
Lighting Uniform Block
LightmapInfo Uniform Block
Projection Uniform Block

Sounds

Sound Events

UI Sprites

Waypoint Styles

These define custom icons to be displayed on the Locator Bar and are within the waypoint_style/ asset directory.

Fixes

98 issues fixed
From released versions before 1.21.6

Gallery

Videos


References

  1. VIBRANT VISUALS & CHASE THE SKIES
  2. a b "Minecraft Live 2025: The Recap" by Sophie Austin. Minecraft.net, October 15, 2023
  3. a b "The Spring to Life game drop comes today, the summer drop updates comes in June!"@JustJosIt on X, March 25, 2025 (archived)
  4. a b "Snapshot 25w15a" by Java Team. Minecraft.net, April 8, 2025
    "Snapshot 25w16a" by Java Team. Minecraft.net, April 15, 2025
    "Snapshot 25w17a" by Java Team. Minecraft.net, April 22, 2025
    "Snapshot 25w18a" by Java Team. Minecraft.net, April 29, 2025
    "Snapshot 25w19a" by Java Team. Minecraft.net, May 6, 2025
    "Snapshot 25w20a" by Java Team. Minecraft.net, May 13, 2025
    "Snapshot 25w21a" by Java Team. Minecraft.net, May 20, 2025
    "1.21.6-pre1" by Java Team. Minecraft.net, May 28, 2025
    "1.21.6-pre2" by Java Team. Minecraft.net, June 2, 2025
    "1.21.6-pre3" by Java Team. Minecraft.net, June 4, 2025
    "1.21.6-pre4" by Java Team. Minecraft.net, June 10, 2025
    "1.21.6-rc1" by Java Team. Minecraft.net, June 12, 2025
    "Minecraft Java Edition 1.21.6" by Java Team. Minecraft.net, June 17, 2025
  5. a b "Our next game drop has a name: Get ready to Chase the Skies" by Sophie Austin. Minecraft.net, June 1, 2025