Minecraft 14w25a Features - Ocean Mob, Sponges, Water Dungeons

After a long fortnight without a snapshot, Jeb and Dinnerbone have joined forces to give us Minecraft 14w25a this week. It's certainly been worth the wait because this update (part of 1.8) includes a new sea serpent mob that lives in the also new underwater dungeons.

In amongst the chaos of the EULA changes, the Mojang devs have been beavering away in the background to give us a new version for the PC. It's been a long time since we last saw a new BOSS mob so it's good to get a fresh creation from the team this week.

Thankfully MCPE 0.9.0 was released to the Android Beta testers last week so Jeb had more time to focus on the PC version of Minecraft. Whilst Dinnerbone does a great job by himself, Jeb was the original apprentice to Notch and he always brings new ideas to the game.

Ocean Mob (Guardian Mob)

In his original tweets, Jeb teased us with an icon for the new mob and also the water dungeons that he roams in. The mob's icon is a single eye on a green/blue background, much like an octopus or squid.

The Guardian mob is aggressive and has a ranged attack. Not surprisingly Jeb warned us to bring a full diamond armour before taking on this new sea serpent. It's also preferable to come equipped with potion of water breathing and respiration enchantment.

Water Dungeons

Water dungeons are naturally generated structures that appear in ocean biomes, both for newly generated worlds but also for existing worlds too. These dungeons house the new water mob and are primarily constructed from Prismarine (the new water bloc) and Sea Lanterns to light the area.

Treasure is usually located inside the water dungeons, making the challenge of killing the new mob a rewarding process.

How to find a water dungeon

If you're having trouble finding a water dungeon then try this seed:

-6141597149942842866
X -150 / Y 60 / Z 120

Prismarine

The new block called Prismarine only spawns underwater and is characterised by its shimmering appearance. Together with the Sea Lantern, the Prismarine block typically decorates the water dungeons where the new water mob resides.

Sponges

Sponges were originally added back in 2010 when Notch was still working on Minecraft. Until now they've only been a placeholder block and never appeared in the game. Starting in 14w25a, sponges are an important block for controlling water movement thanks to the sponges absorption properties.

They will consume water source blocks in 6 block radius, until they become saturated at which point they turn a darker colour and no longer soak up more water.

Bunnies

Cute and pointless, these bunnies will hop all over the place providing much excitement. They're tamable with carrots much like you tame wolves with bones. When killed a bunny will drop rabbit legs which can be used in potions, possibly the jump boost potion*.

*this feature was unconfirmed.