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Minecraft recently released its brand new update 1.21.6, known as the Chase the Skies. Many players have been saying this could be one of the biggest updates of the year, and rightfully so. A new set of mobs has been added, with exceptionally new visuals, and so many more features to explore.
With this new update, you can now try out new seeds as well to create a new world with all the new features. Not only going to lie, this has been surprising to say the least. From flying through the clouds on a rideable Happy Ghast to testing out the new Locator Bar in multiplayer, we have so much to discuss.
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So, let’s jump directly into each of these features.
If you have played the game enough, you may have come across the deadly, hostile Ghast mob found in the Nether. However, Minecraft has now added a new twist to this mob and introduced a new variant known as the Happy Ghast.
As the name says, this is indeed a “happy” mob. In simpler terms, it has a smiley face and looks happy all the time, hence the given name. It is also important to note here that you may not find it naturally in the Overworld.
To obtain this, you need a newly introduced block in this update, i.e., the Dried Ghast Block. It's the first step towards creating the new mob. It can be collected via three options.
Once you have obtained even a single Dried Ghast Block, let’s move towards the next step. Start with waterlogging the block (basically, place it so water seeps into it). Then, wait about 20 real-time minutes, after which a baby mob called a Ghastling will emerge.
This cute little baby mob will float fairly close to its spawn point in the air with a smiley face. It is a completely passive mob and follows the player or any other mob within a 16-block radius. Now, the Ghastling will remain in this tiny state for only 20 minutes from its formation. After which, it turns into a much bigger mob, which is our Happy Ghast.
Note: If you cannot wait for another 20 minutes to create the Happy Ghast, you can choose to speed up the process after the Ghastling is born. Simply throw 10 or more snowballs at them, and they will immediately transform into the Happy Ghast. Cool, right?
Happy Ghasts are so much more than just a happy-faced mob. Let’s see everything it can do and how you can tame and ride it.
To take control of a Happy Ghast, you’ll first need to equip it with a Harness(a new item in the game). To craft this, you will need a few things: 3 Leather, 2 Glass, and 1 Wool (any color). Once equipped:
Apart from this, you can also tempt the mob using snowballs. Or you can simply hold a Harness around it, and it will follow you around.
Another cool feature of Happy Ghast is that you can transport mobs from one place to another by using a leash. Yes, you heard it right!. Simply attach your mob to the bottom of the Ghast with four leashes.
Furthermore, you can also attach a boat using this leash, where you can fit in two more of your friends, making this a total of six players that can ride on the Happy Ghast.
Speaking of Leash, there have been a lot more changes to this in the new 1.21.6 update. The mechanics to craft this item have now been upgraded.
Earlier, the Leash could be crafted using a Slime Ball and 4 Strings. Now, you only need five strings to craft the Leash, which is much easier to acquire, since Slime Ball can be tricky to collect at times. Here are a few more changes brought in to Leashes.
You can now leash two mobs together. Simply use Sneak + Right-click on a mob while you’re holding leashed mobs, and they’ll be connected to the mob you clicked.
This creates a mob-to-mob connection rather than just player-to-mob, making it much more organized rather than the mobs bundled together when leashed. Furthermore, re-leashing is blocked if the new connection would cause the leash to snap due to excessive distance.
Another interesting fact here is that you can now use Shears to snap the leashes manually. Even Dispensers loaded with Shears can cut leashes from mobs directly in front of them, great for redstone mob farms or stables. A new leash snapping sound has been added as well for better awareness.
There have been some technical improvements as well, such as Leash thickness has been doubled to match Bedrock Edition’s visuals. To add more to this, the snapping distance is now:
Furthermore, distances are now measured from the center of the mob’s hitbox, rather than their feet, making leashes behave more predictably on taller mobs.
One of the most practical additions in the Chase the Skies update is the brand-new Locator Bar, a user interface feature designed to help players keep track of each other in multiplayer worlds.
The Locator Bar is a UI element that shows the direction and relative position of other players in your world. It appears in the same space as the experience bar, but only when other players are nearby, and only if they’re visible.
Here is how this works:
You can also choose to hide from this locator bar in multiple ways. Let’s check them out here.
You can even turn off this feature entirely by using a command /gamerule locatorBar false. This hides the feature for all players worldwide, maintaining the experience bar behavior unchanged.
The Locator Bar is a powerful addition to the game for those who prefer playing it with friends or enjoy PvP battles.
This new update isn’t just about the new mob or new locator bar, but it also brings one of the most requested features to Minecraft: craftable Saddles and a smarter way to remove them from mobs.
You guessed it right, Saddles are no longer locked behind loot chests or trading. For the first time, players can craft their Saddles using basic resources. This should have been a part of the game since the beginning, but better late than never.
You will simply need 3 Leather and 1 Iron Ingot. The moment you acquire one piece of leather in your inventory, the recipe for the saddle will be unlocked automatically.
Not only this, you can now use Shears or scissors to remove Saddles, Horse Armor, Harnesses, and Carpets (like those placed on llamas). Make sure that the mob has no rider on it, and you’re not sneaking while using the shears, or this won’t work.
Furthermore, while removing these items using Shear, it emits two vibration signals for sculk sensors: a vibration frequency of 6 (for shearing) and an unequipped signal of frequency 4. These signals can be picked up by the sensors for redstone or sculk-based contraptions, great for automation or mob gear tracking.
Apart from all the major changes made to the 1.21.6 update, let’s also look at some subtle yet noticeable changes you might see in the game.
The first thing you will notice is that the Ghast found in the Nether looks a bit different since there are some subtle changes to their texture. Speaking of Ghast, if you kill one using its own fireball, deflected back by a player, you will get a brand new collectable music disc called "Tears".
Also, when played in a Jukebox, the "Tears" disc emits a comparator signal strength of 10, making it potentially useful in redstone music systems. Amos Roddy has also contributed five new background tracks, adding variety and depth to Minecraft’s serene soundscape, such as Below and Above, Broken Clocks, Fireflies, Lilypad, and O’s Piano.
For the first time, Minecraft introduces a dedicated sound volume category called "UI", which controls the volume of sounds made by interface elements, such as:
This gives players more granular control over their game’s audio environment, especially useful for creators or streamers who prefer subtle or silent interfaces.
There have been some changes made to how the Fog looks like. When it rains, your surroundings gradually become noticeably foggier, adding depth and a sense of damp distance.
I am going to be honest here, you may instantly not see the dense Fog, which is a bit disappointing, but it’s a small tweak.
In the Bedrock edition, you will see a new graphics mode added with this update. The Vibrant Visuals mode makes everything brighter and much more detailed. The water bodies look much clearer, and the desert areas have much more color added to them.
This particular mode has not yet been added to the Java edition, but the developers are working on it as per the official statement.
At first glance, you may not notice anything different about the sky, but the cloud patterns have changed immensely. They are much bigger and denser with smaller gaps in between.
Also, the clouds now stretch and exist all the way to the horizon, and in the settings, you can even reduce them as you want. You might also see a hidden creeper face in the sky that is pretty rare and very cool to look at.
While we were checking out the 1.21.6 update in Minecraft, Mojang dropped another 1.21.7 update. It may seem like a small patch at first glance, but it packs in a surprising number of new additions and fixes, including a new painting, a quirky music disc, and a series of technical improvements.
The first thing you will see is a 3×3 painting titled "Good Boy", created by artist Sarah Boeving. It features a dog-themed image, perfect for animal lovers and cozy home builds in survival or creative mode.
There is nothing special you would need to do to unlock this; you can find it by randomly scrolling through the existing painting pool.
Similar to the earlier update, the game has another new addition in the Music Disc category. It’s not craftable or found in structures like other discs. Instead, the only way to get it is by defeating a Chicken Jockey (a Baby Zombie riding a Chicken).
There are some minor bug fixes too with this update. Let’s check out some of them below.
These are a few of the many, much-needed fixes in the Minecraft update. You can check out the press release on their official site to learn more.
And that is all from the new game updates. Although many players expected a lot more with this new update, since this is a summer update. However, there is still so much to explore in both these updates that including a new mob, new music, subtle cloud changes, and much more.
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