Minecrafthas had a massive treasure trove of updates across the last 15 years, all for free, even if you bought the game in Beta. These updates all carried additions and changes to the game that were usually pretty controversial, but typically beloved over time.
10 Best Minecraft House Ideas
The top ten ways to improve building in Minecraft may not be obvious, but this list can help you out.
These range from smaller updates like Buzzy Bees that end up being great overall due to focusing on smaller aspects of the game, or massive ones like the Nether Update that overhaul an entire third of the Minecraft experience, and this list shows off the best of the best.
All of these entries are based solely on the update as it was in Java Edition, as the history of updates to Legacy Console and Bedrock is far more complex and hard to define. In addition, these will be judged based on how good their additions were, and less so how high-quality the overall game was at the time.
10Release 1.4.2
Witches, Withers, Beacons, and More
Starting off with the update that added one of the only two bosses in the game to this day is certainly a way to set a precedent for banger updates. The Pretty Scary update gave us quite a lot of stuff to play with, namely the Wither and the corresponding Beacons for killing it.
This update didn’t make massive changes, as everything it added is pretty much optional (I’ve played a few hundred hours in some worlds without ever bothering to grab a Beacon), but it certainly makes an impact, and getting to insta-mine stone and clear out thousands of blocks quickly is awesome.
Pistons, Shears, and More
This update might seem pretty small, and it is, having only added a total of two major things, but those two things are major. The Shears allow you to collect leaves, get wool easily, and overall just improved the Minecraft experience, but Pistons are incredible.
These awesome pusher blocks are the backbone of Redstone, and it’s pretty much impossible to find a complex contraption that isn’t using them all over the place. They opened the floodgates to players manipulating their environment with Redstone devices, and that’s awesome.
8Release 1.9
The Combat Update, Featuring Shulkers
An incredibly controversial update, 1.9 completely revamped combat and the Ender Dragon, added the offhand, added End Cities and Elytras, Shields, and a ton of other features. This revamped combat tends to make the game feel a lot more sluggish and unintuitive, but everything else is great.
10 Best Minecraft Custom Maps Of All Time
The greatest adventure maps from the best-selling game of all time.
This is the first version that is markedly “Modern” Minecraft, whether you like that or not. It feels like this was the first time in a long time that the game had truly been fundamentally changed, especially with the Dragon fight being way better and more dynamic now.
7Release 1.5
Quartz, Comparators, Hoppers, and More
It should be pretty easy to see why the update that added half of the best Redstone components is on this list. 1.5 gave us Hoppers that let you collect items automatically, Comparators that let you detect signals from containers, and a lovely decorative block in Quartz.
On top of these game changers, we got blocks of Redstone, Droppers, Daylight Sensors, Trapped Chests, and the ever so hilarious TNT Minecarts. All of these are hard to imagine Minecraft without, nowadays, and we got all of them at once in this singular update, which made it quite the banger.
Endermen, Stone Bricks, Food Types, and Hunger
The last update before we got a real finale to Minecraft, 1.8 fundamentally reworked everything Minecraft is about, namely by adding the Experience and Hunger systems, Sprinting, Endermen, Stone Bricks, Creative Mode, and reworking combat by adding blocking and changing Bows.
This is the update that marks the end of “Classic” Minecraft, for most people, given it made a ton of massive strides toward making the game far more similar to how it is nowadays. You may not like the Hunger system, but it’s hard to deny that the additions this update had were great overall.
5Release 1.11
Observers, Shulker Boxes, and Pillagers (Kind Of)
1.11 was a pretty major update, despite not being one of the more remembered ones. It gave us the awesome Shulker Boxes that make the Minecraft endgame so much more tolerable, and Observers, which are one of the best Redstone additions ever, detecting block updates.
The other additions weren’t super big, namely Woodland Mansions and Totems of Undying, both of which are cool but not extremely game-changing. We also got several Illagers within these mansions, which sets the groundwork for the Pillagers we’ll see on this list again soon.
4Release 1.8
New Stone, Slime Blocks, Banners, Armor Stands and More
Another update that ultimately isn’t an extreme game-changer but ended up having overall really positive additions, 1.8 gave us three new types of stone, Slime Blocks, Banners, Mutton and Rabbits, Doors and Fences for different wood types, and the entirety of Ocean Monuments.
This is the last update before the controversial Combat Update, which means it’s the one a ton of people still play on, including the entirety of Hypixel, the biggest Minecraft server. I’d especially like to note the addition of Armor Stands, which enable almost all of the really cool technical showcases you’ll see in this game.
3Release 1.0
Enchanting, Hardcore, and The End
1.0 is the big one, the first “full” release of Minecraft, having fully implemented The End, the Ender Dragon, Hardcore Mode, the Enchanting System, Potions, Breeding, 9 new Music Discs, and an absolute boat load of content to the Nether with the addition of Fortresses.
10 Best Enchantments In Minecraft
From Infinity to Sharpness and Protection, these are some of the best Enchantments in all of Minecraft.
This update was truly when Minecraft felt like an actual game and less like a tool to make cool stuff, and while some people hate the idea of a “final boss”,the Ender Dragon is still the only decent bossin the game. This update truly revolutionized and made Minecraft into what it is today.
2Release 1.14
Reworked Villagers, Bamboo, and a Ton of Crafting Stations
The Village and Pillage update was the start of some really awesome, massive updates that revamped one specific aspect of the game. This one focused head-on on villagers, completely reworking trading, adding raids, and a ton of different blocks for different kinds of crafting and smelting.
It also added Crossbows, Scaffolding, Bamboo, Campfires, Composters, Foxes, Wandering Traders, Suspicious Stews, and reworked Cats. There’s a bevy of other features I can’t even list because I’d go over the word limit, but in summary, this update was feature-packed and lovely.
1Release 1.16
The New Nether, Netherite, Piglins, Bartering, and More
One of the biggest updates to Minecraft ever, and easilythe most beloved of the recent updates(despite the fact it’s over four years old now), the Nether update completely overhauled one third of the entire game, adding biomes, new mobs, and for the first time ever, a tier of equipment better than Diamond.
I’d also like to make special mention of the Target Block, which is great for Redstoners and something you’ll see used a lot for anything other than being a target. It’s an incredibly solid update and it singlehandedly revitalized interest in Minecraft during quarantine, and every addition it made is incredible.
