1.21: The Crystal Update

On the 11th of March 2025, Minecraft released its highly anticipated 1.21 update, known as the Crystal Update. This update was announced at Minecraft Live 2024, after much delays following the Trails and Tails Update of mid-2023.
== Lead up to 1.21 ==
At Minecraft Live 2023, for the first time, Mojang admitted that they were stumped, and had no ideas for what 1.21 could be. They even suggested that 1.20 may perhaps be "The Final Update". Of course, the Minecraft community was unable to accept this, and immediately posted a ton of suggestions online. This was believed to have been ignored by Mojang, but then they announced that Minecraft Live 2024 would still be held, and a week before the livestream, they posted a poll of the top update ideas. During Minecraft Live 2024, Mojang announced that they would develop the Crystal Update, as the Minecraft community wanted lore behind the amethyst geodes.
== Additions ==
=== Blocks ===
- Block of Citrine: Found in geodes within the new Citrine geodes in the Nether. Citrine blocks emit a bright light and can be crafted into decorative blocks and tools. They look like amethyst blocks but bright yellow. Can be crafted with 4 Citrine shards.
- Block of Topaz: Found within the new Topaz geodes in the End. Topaz blocks emit a redstone signal when walked on, similar to a pressure plate but as a full size block. They are a darker yellow than citrine. Can be crafted with 4 Topaz shards.
- End Soil: A soil found in the End dimension, most commonly arranged below End cities as if like a crop farm. Can be used for planted topaz seeds.
- Citrine Cluster: Found in Citrine geodes. Drops 4 Citrine shards when mined with a pickaxe.
- Citrine Bud: Found in Citrine geodes.
- Budding Citrine: Found in Citrine geodes.
- Topaz Cluster: Found in Topaz geodes. Drops 4 Topaz shards when mined with a pickaxe.
- Topaz Bud: Found in Topaz geodes.
- Budding Topaz: Found in Topaz geodes.
- Crystal Bricks: Found on the Crystal Fortress.
=== Items ===
- Amethyst Seeds: These have a 25% chance of being dropped by a Crystal Golem. When planted in soil, they take up to 5 Minecraft days to turn into amethyst shards.
- Citrine Seeds: These have a 10% chance of being dropped by a Crystal Golem. When planted in soul soil, they take up to 7 Minecraft days to turn into citrine shards.
- Topaz Seeds: These have a 2% chance of being dropped by a Crystal Golem. When planted in end soil, they take up to 10 Minecraft days to turn into topaz shards.
- Citrine Shard: Found in Citrine geodes.
- Topaz Shard: Found in Topaz geodes.
- Handy Spyglass: Crafted with 2 iron ingots and one citrine shard. Can be used to change the FOV to 1/10 of the FOV set in options.
- Binoculars: Crafted with 4 gold ingots and two topaz shards. Can be used to change the FOV to 1/20 of the FOV set in options.
- Crystal Powder: This item can be used on enchanting tables to increase the durability of tools and weapons by 20%.
- Crystal Arrow: This is crafted with two sticks, and an amethyst, citrine, or topaz shard. It does the same amount of damage as a normal arrow, but can be fired and reloaded 50% faster. It has an unusual property in the End, as when it is fired, it immediately homes in on any End creatures, including Endermen, Endermites, Shulkers, and the Ender Dragon. It does 2 extra points of damage to these creatures.
- Crystal Silk: This is sheared from Crystal Spiders. It can be used in looms to create increasingly decorative banners.
=== Tools and Weapons ===
Although there were no new tools or weapons in this update, it is now possible in 1.21 to add tool and weapon trims. Additionally, citrine and topaz can also be used for tool, weapon, and armour trims.
=== Armour ===
No new armour pieces were added in this update, but it did become possible to use citrine and topaz for armour trims.
=== Mobs ===
- Crystal Golem: These mobs have a 1% chance every 10 minutes of spawning in an amethyst or citrine geode. They have a 5% chance every 10 minutes of spawning in a topaz geode. They are most commonly found in the Crystal Subdimension, where they are often found abundantly. They are immune to explosions. They drop crystal seeds and can be used to farm crystals. They have the hitpoints of an iron golem. They are neutral, and do 6 points of damage when provoked. Crystal Golems are immune to Crystal Arrows.
- Crystal Spider: These mobs spawn in the new Crystal Caves and can be sheared for crystal silk. They are hostile, but are also blind and rely on the sound of the player's footsteps to attack. This can be prevented with the new Soft Strider enchantment. They can only be sheared if unaware of the player's presence. Once they are sheared, they notice the player.
- Crystal Monarch: This is a hostile boss found in the Crystal Subdimension, specifically at 0,0 in the Crystal Fortress. This mob has 500 hit points, and has a melee, ranged, and spawning attack. The melee attack is performed whenever the player gets within a block of the Crystal Monarch, at which point they take 5 points of damage. The ranged attack is performed every 10 seconds, sending Crystal Arrows spiralling in every direction. The spawning attack is performed every 30 seconds, and spawns two new Crystal Golems, who are hostile. The Crystal Monarch is immune to Crystal Arrows.
=== Structures ===
- Crystal Caves: These caves generate in the Overworld. They are similar to an amethyst geode, but are longer and in the shape of a cave. Crystal spiders have a 75% chance of spawning in these caves every minute. They have a 25% chance of generating every 1000 blocks.
- Citrine Geode: These are found in the Nether with the same rarity and generation shape as an amethyst geode.
- Topaz Geode: These are found in the End with the same rarity and generation shape as an amethyst geode.
- Crystal Fortress: This structure can be found at 0,0 in the Crystal Subdimension, and is made of Crystal Bricks. The fortress is 300x300 blocks, and stretches up and down for thousands of blocks. It is surrounded by Crystal Golems, who become hostile should the player come within 10 blocks of the fortress. Inside, there is a maze of rooms that seem to stretch up and down for thousands of blocks. There are many puzzles and traps present within the fortress. Should the player reach X 0, Y 0, Z 0, they will be greeted by a new boss, known as the Crystal Monarch (shown above). They are surrounded by Crystal Golems. Upon defeating the Crystal Monarch, a portal back to the Overworld is formed in the wall.
=== Enchantments ===
- Soft Strider: Can be used on boots to create no sound when the player walks.
=== Biomes ===
- Amethyst Biome: Found in the Crystal Subdimension. Contains amethyst blocks, amethyst clusters, amethyst buds, and budding amethyst. Crystal golems spawn here.
- Citrine Biome: Found in the Crystal Subdimension. Contains citrine blocks, citrine clusters, citrine buds, and budding citrine. Crystal golems spawn here.
- Topaz Biome: Found in the Crystal Subdimension. Contains topaz blocks, topaz clusters, topaz buds, and budding topaz. Crystal golems spawn here.
=== Dimensions ===
Crystal Subdimension: This dimension is accessible by throwing Crystal Powder into the portal to the Overworld after slaying the Ender Dragon. Once thrown, the portal will turn a shade of purple-blue and eerie music will play. If the player waits for more than one minute without entering the portal, the portal will begin sucking in nearby blocks and entities, excluding the player. After two minutes, the portal will collapse in on itself, leaving the player stranded in the End. The Crystal Subdimension contains three biomes, listed above. Crystal golems spawn everywhere in this biome but become more frequent closer to 0,0. Upon entering the portal, the player will spawn at ± X/Z 900-1100, Y 10. The Crystal Subdimension is walled off by Amethyst, Citrine, or Topaz (depending on the biome) at ±X/Z 1900-2100, and continues with that block infinitely. The roof is at Y 15-25, and the floor at Y5-10, and going both up and down continues infinitely. At 0,0, the Crystal Fortress can be found (shown above). This dimension is often considered to be a subdimension of the End. Like the Nether and End, beds blow up here.
== Changes ==
=== Items ===
- Spyglass: Now called Basic Spyglass. Also only zooms in to 1/5 of FOV in Settings, instead of 1/10.
=== Biomes ===
The Mesa biome now generates with more gold ore and has a higher chance of generating with abandoned mineshafts.
=== Dimensions ===
- The Nether has been updated to include the Citrine geodes.
- The End has been updated to include the topaz geodes and can also be used to create the Crystal Portal.
== Lore ==
This update created a big change in the Minecraft community, as all previous speedrun records became invalid. This was caused because beating the game was now considered to be caused by defeating the Crystal Monarch, instead of the Ender Dragon. Moments after the update, many theories went around speculating the lore of this update, with the most popular being that there was once a war between the Crystal People and the End People, which is why the Crystal Arrows target End creatures. Eventually, the Crystal People sealed themselves up inside a secret subdimension, but left parts of themselves in every dimension (the geodes).
== Strategies ==
Strategies to defeat the Crystal Monarch were uploaded during the month following the release of 1.21. The most popular one was to use the room above to fire down on it below, as the Crystal Monarch is the only boss unable to fly. However, players do still need to dodge the ranged attack. One unusual strategy had a player allow the Crystal portal to drag in some endermen before going in, then leading the endermen to the Crystal Fortress to be targeted by the Crystal Arrows. Crystal Brick can be broken as easily as ice, which some players use to their advantage. Other players try using beds, which causes most of the fortress to rumble down and allows the Crystal Monarch to be fought in the open.
Category:1.21
Category:Updates