Mojang has officially dropped Chaos Cubed, bringing fresh biomes, decorative blocks, and mysterious new mobs to Minecraft version 26.2! Available to play now via the CurseForge app, this update delivers a major overhaul to deep underground cave systems and introduces unique mob mechanics that change up survival gameplay. In this guide, we’ll dive deep into everything new in this drop and highlight hand-picked mods to help you experience the chaos to its fullest. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s jump straight in!
Sulfur Caves
Sulfur Caves is a new cave biome added to the game. It's the first to be added since 1.19 and the introduction of the Deep Dark!
This brand-new type of cave has a unique color palette, making it easily recognizable. Unlike the typical gray, it is composed of Sulfur and Cinnabar blocks, respectively yellow and red.
They generate at the same depth as Lush and Dripstone caves, although smaller. There are very frequent Sulfur Pools, bodies of water of a toxic-green color, where Potent Sulfur can generate and eject fumes that will give the player nausea when standing on them.
Another prominent feature of the Sulfur Caves is Sulfur Spikes, which grow on the ground and ceiling; unlike Dripstone, they do not deal any extra damage.
Locating a Sulfur Cave can be difficult; thankfully, there is a chance that a Sulfur Spring will form at the surface to signal the presence of a cave underground. The caves also generate most commonly near Deserts and Swamps.
Sulfur Springs
Sulfur Springs are a surface feature generated in Sulfur Cave biomes. It consists of a pool of water surrounded by blocks of sulfur, cinnabar, and other rocks.
Inside the water is present Potent Sulfur, which erupts periodically, creating a geyser.
Sulfur Springs come in 10 variations based on size, the bigger the rarer, and their roots extend deep below the ground.
Potent Sulfur & Geysers
Potent Sulfur is a new block added in 26.2 and, as mentioned above, generates in Sulfur Caves, in pools, and above the surface in Sulfur Springs.
It has a pale yellow color, is smoother than regular Sulfur, and can be broken with any type of pickaxe but not with bare hands.
When placed underwater, Potent Sulfur emits a toxic gas that causes the player to feel nauseated for a couple of seconds. It adds a nice decorative touch and can be used in niche-building tricks, but it also has another feature that makes it very useful.
When placed underwater and on top of a magma block, the Potent Sulfur will also shoot a geyser periodically towards the air. Placing lava beneath instead will make the geyser permanent.
Geysers can push players and entities upward, keeping them elevated for the entire duration. They have different strengths depending on how many blocks of water are above the Potent Sulfur, with a maximum of 4 giving the geyser a height of 20 blocks.
This means geysers can be controlled via Redstone contraptions by toggling a Dispenser that holds a Lava Bucket, enabling the creation of easy, cheap elevators, sorting systems, and more machines.
Potent Sulfur can also be crafted by combining 9 Sulfur Blocks in a Crafting Table.
Sulfur Cubes
The new mob added in the update is called Sulfur Cube. It has the same properties as other cube mobs, like the Slime and Magma Cube, jumping around and spawning smaller versions of itself when slain. However, it can also be picked up in a bucket, giving the Bucket of Sulfur Cube.
Sulfur Cubes spawn naturally in Sulfur Caves and are passive towards the player.
They do not drop any special items on death, although big cubes have a chance to drop a low amount of experience points.
Sulfur Cubes in their small form will grow up after 20 minutes, but being fed Slime Balls will shorten that time, and feeding them a Golden Dandelion will stop it entirely.
This monster has the unique ability of being able to absorb blocks.
When interacted with, a valid block in hand will make the cube absorb it and gain its properties. You can find a list of absorbable blocks and their respective archetypes here.
Blocks can also be given to Sulfur Cubes using commands by setting the block in their body equipment slot.
Depending on which block was absorbed, the cube can have different archetypes and properties, such as Bouncy (typical of wood), which increases its speed and bounciness, or Fast Sliding (created with blue or packed ice), which has very low friction and high speed.
While the entity is passive, it may cause involuntary harm to the player if it is in one of its dangerous variants, being Hot (Magma Block) or Explosive (TNT).
While hosting a block, the Sulfur Cube cannot be killed or damaged unless by fire, suffocation, cramming, or the Wither effect. Instead, all damage from the attack will turn into extra Knockback, which the cube can use to be launched away in the opposite direction, getting affected by gravity and physics, essentially turning into a ball.
To retrieve a block from the Sulfur Cube, use Shears or kill it.
Cubes that have absorbed a block can be leashed, allowing for transportation (although you can just use a bucket) or fun pranks, for example, flying over your friend's house with an explosive Sulfur Cube. Just make sure to have some Diamonds ready to repair the damage.
New Items & Blocks
A quick overview of the new items that we haven't mentioned so far, and how to obtain them.
Blocks
- Cinnabar
Red-colored rock, found in Sulfur Caves or in surface Sulfur Springs.
Has the full set of stairs, slabs, walls, and 3 variants: Polished Cinnabar, Cinnabar Bricks, and Chiseled Cinnabar. - Sulfur
We mentioned the basic Sulfur block and Potent Sulfur. However, Chaos Cubed also introduces variants, such as Polished Sulfur, Sulfur Bricks, and Chiseled Sulfur. - Sulfur Spike
As we saw earlier in the article, it generates hanging from a Sulfur block. Does not have any special properties, but can be used to craft a Sulfur block in a 2x2 crafting pattern. Can also be sold by a Wandering Trader, 2 for 1 Emerald.
Items
- "Bounce" Music Disc
Can only be found in Chest Minecarts generating in Mineshafts that extend into a Sulfur Cave. However, leading a non-opened Chest Minecart into a Sulfur Cave biome will also work. - Bucket of Sulfur Cube
Obtained when picking up a Sulfur Cube with a bucket.
Mods To Make Chaos Cubed Even Better
We've explored everything that the new Minecraft game drop, Chaos Cubed, had to offer. Minecraft is an amazing game, and the developers keep updating it with new content. Now, let's dive into some high-quality community-made creations to make the drop even more enjoyable.
Thank you to all creators on CurseForge for providing the community with unique and fun content each update!
1. Sulfur Caves Plus
This mod adds even more content to the update by expanding on new concepts such as geysers, mobs, and effects.
Sulfur Caves Plus introduces a new mob, the Sulfur Spider, which can camouflage in its natural habitat, the Sulfur Caves, thanks to its yellow color and a spike on its tail.
These creatures are particularly dangerous due to giving one bite the Corrosion effect, damaging armor durability over time. This effect can also be imbued into a potion with a Brewing Stand.
The mod also adds ore variants that spawn in Sulfur Caves, which now appear with the rock texture! It's a really nice detail that adds decoration and ambiance.
Another clever idea Sulfur Caves Plus proposes is Lava Geysers. When a Potent Sulfur block has lava on top rather than water, the geyser will be volcanic, shooting ash particles and blasting anyone nearby with fire.
These special geysers are naturally generated in the Basalt Deltas of the Nether, adding new content to a rather empty biome.
Sulfur Caves Plus is definitely a top pick among Chaos Cubed mods, offering small changes to improve gameplay and all-new content to expand on Minecraft's foundation.
2. Rideable Sulphur Cubes
Rideable Sulphur Cubes adds the fun mechanic of, as suggested by the name, riding Sulfur Cubes.
The first step is to tame a Sulfur Cube. To do that, you can feed Slime Balls to an adult cube. Once it trusts you, make it absorb a block to give it special properties, such as bounciness.
After that, riding it is as easy as interacting with it with a right-click! The most fun blocks to try it with are wood and ice, as they're the fastest type.
With the right setup, this mod can be useful for creating custom transportation methods only available to you, or crazy mini-games to race your friends.
3. Sulfur Depths
The previously seen mods were content-addition projects for 26.2. Sulfur Depths, however, expresses its own take on the update for earlier versions of the game, such as 1.21.1 and 1.20.1.
Instead of the Sulfur Caves, in the world generate Boiling Caves.
This biome is very similar to the Sulfur Caves we know, with denser fog and unique block textures.
In here, Sulfur Slimes spawn in various sizes and also possess the ability to absorb blocks.
The mod, however, goes above and beyond the original content, adding Mercury, a highly dense and toxic liquid, and its related items, such as the Mercury Mirror, letting the player briefly view all entities nearby, the Sulfur Bomb, a bottle of concentrated smoke that will blind anyone in it, and more.
Sulfur Depths also separates Potent Sulfur and geysers. Potent Sulfur is only capable of giving the player nausea and other effects while active, while the new Geyser block periodically erupts into strong vertical currents of vapor.
4. BetterSulfurCubes
Sulfur Cubes in Minecraft can only absorb certain blocks. BetterSulfurCubes aims to solve that by expanding the list and allowing the mob to consume almost any block in the game, including functional ones!
When a Sulfur Cube absorbs a functional block, it will still work as normal from inside the cube. Now everything can be a Sulfur Cube!
The mod, however, does not stop there. It adds several new features, one of which is cosmetic options. Cubes can be dyed using in-game dye items and washed away with water, or their outer shells can be removed with Phantom Membranes.
And now for the coolest cube of all: the Potent Sulfur Cube.
When feeding a Potent Sulfur block to a Sulfur Cube, it will grow in size over and over for a maximum of a 9x9x9 gigantic cube. It has now become a stationary base that you can enter and build into!
You can create what you want inside, your super secret base, potion brewing laboratory or hiding the last Mending Villager in the server.
And when you're done, pick it up in a bucket and...voilà! You have a portable base that contains all you've built or stored in it. Simply place it down to get everything back.
5. Sulfur Cube Indicator
Sulfur Cube Indicator is a great quality of life mod that adds a HUD to easily view the archetype of a Sulfur Cube.
When a cube has absorbed a block, looking at it will show a nice identification HUD with the block inside the cube, its name, and archetype, with a nice fade in and out animation.
The mod offers many customization options, even from in-game, if combined with Mod Menu. It's also client-side only, so you can join any server with it!
6. Sulfur Buckets
Sulfur Buckets is a Resource Pack made for the Chaos Cubed update to revamp the look of Sulfur Cubes picked up in buckets.
Instead of all having the default look, they are now displayed on a pedestal with their block clearly visible.
It's a really nice way to display and identify Sulfur Cubes easily, while maintaining their cute look.
Authors on CurseForge will continue creating and giving the community content expansion mods, themed modpacks to explore every mechanic, and more addons to make the Minecraft scene feel even more special.
Whether you're diving headfirst into uncharted cave depths or building your base with the newest blocks, the Chaos Cubed update brings a fantastic breath of fresh air to the world of Minecraft. Ready to customize your adventure even further? Download the CurseForge app today to easily install the recommended mods above, manage your profile instances, and keep your game seamlessly updated. Happy exploring, Crafters - may your pickaxes hold up against the chaos!
Did this article inspire you to make suggestions for the game? You can give feedback to Mojang here, or join us in the CurseForge Discord server and give mod creators more ideas to shape the future.