Pointed Dripstone

Pointed dripstone is a block that makes up stalactites and stalagmites.

Stalactites (which point downward) can be used as falling projectiles, to renewably drip water and lava into cauldrons and to convert mud into clay.

Stalagmites (which point upward) deal extra damage to players and mobs that land on them.

Obtaining[]

Natural generation[]

Pointed dripstone can be found in dripstone caves in cluster formations.

Breaking[]

Pointed dripstone can be mined with any tool,^[1] but pickaxes are the quickest. Pointed dripstone breaks instantly when hit by a thrown trident.

Block	Pointed Dripstone
Hardness	1.5
Tool
Breaking time[A]
Default	2.25
Wooden	1.15
Stone	0.6
Iron	0.4
Diamond	0.3
Netherite	0.25
Golden	0.2

Trading[]

Wandering traders can sell 2 pointed dripstone for 1 emerald.

Post-generation[]

Stalactites grow extremely slowly, speeding up if there is a water source or a waterlogged block above the dripstone, growing even faster if the block between the water and the dripstone is a dripstone block. In addition, if there is a solid block less than eleven blocks below this stalactite, a stalagmite grows on that block toward the stalactite. This growth does not occur if the stalactite's tip is waterlogged, and a stalagmite below does not grow if its tip is waterlogged. They do not grow to more than seven blocks long.

Every time the block receives a random tick there is a small chance of 1.138% (⁶⁴⁄₅₆₂₅) for a stalactite or stalagmite to grow one block, meaning that every single growth step takes an average time of 5 in-game days (100 minutes).

Usage[]

Pointed dripstone comes in two different forms, stalactites and stalagmites. Placing a pointed dripstone between a stalagmite and stalactite without sneaking connects them. It can be waterlogged. Mobs can jump up pointed dripstone as long as its height does not exceed four blocks. Horses and other similar mobs can travel up the same pointed dripstone as if they were stairs.

Stalactites[]

Stalactites are created when pointed dripstone is placed on the bottom of a block.

Stalactites less than 11 blocks tall passively drip water particles (or lava particles in the Nether) in the absence of a liquid source, but these particles do not fill cauldrons. A waterlogged pointed dripstone at the tip of a stalactite does not produce drip particles. Waterlogging other parts of the stalactite does not affect the dripping.

If the block supporting a stalactite or any block of the stalactite is broken, all of the unsupported pointed dripstone below the broken block drops, causing damage to any player and mobs standing beneath it, similar to a falling anvil. The amount of damage is 6 for each block of falling distance after 2 blocks (e.g., a stalactite that falls 4 blocks deals 18 × 9 damage). The damage is capped at 40 × 20, no matter how far the stalactite falls. Wearing a helmet reduces the damage by ¹⁄₄, but this costs twice as much durability on the helmet as on other armor pieces. When a player dies by a stalactite falling on them, the death message "<player> was skewered by a falling stalactite" appears. However, if a player is merely touched by a falling stalactite entity, no damage is dealt unless the stalactite hits the ground in the same block where the player is located. Stalactites with multiple pointed dripstone can cause multiple damage; however, damage immunity prevents most of the damage from additional blocks.

Cauldrons[]

When the uppermost block of a stalactite less than 11 blocks tall gets randomly ticked, it checks for a water source or waterlogged block two blocks above it and a cauldron within 10 blocks under the tip with no non-air blocks in between. If both conditions are satisfied, there is a ⁴⁵⁄₂₅₆ (~17.6%) chance for it to drip water and fill the cauldron by one level. If there is a lava source above the stalactite, there is a ¹⁵⁄₂₅₆ (~5.9%) chance for it to completely fill an empty cauldron with lava instead, making lava a renewable resource. Refilling a cauldron with water or lava averages nearly one Minecraft day (19+ minutes) although the actual time for any individual refill varies.

Flowing water and lava will not cause the stalactite to fill the cauldron. The liquid must be a source (or a waterlogged block).

Converting mud into clay[]

If mud‌ is placed above a block with a stalactite underneath, it eventually turns into clay. This conversion does not happen in the Nether.^[2]

Stalagmites[]

Stalagmites are created when pointed dripstone is placed on the ground.

Falling onto stalagmites multiplies the fall distance by two to calculate the total amount of fall damage, using the formula ceil(fall_distance × 2 − 2). Note that the distance traveled during the last game tick of falling time is not included in this calculation, making it slightly off at higher distances; see Damage § Fall damage for more information.

If a player dies from falling onto a stalagmite, the death message "<player> was impaled on a stalagmite" appears.

All mobs that are immune to fall damage do not take damage from falling into stalagmites, the same applies to the player if the game rule fallDamage is set to false.^[3][4]

Columns[]

Dripstone columns can be found naturally in dripstone caves, they are formed when stalactites and stalagmites join together in mid-air.

To create them manually, simply keep stacking pointed dripstones on either the stalactite or the stalagmite or both until they join together, the last pointed dripstone placed being the most slender part of the whole column. Based on the direction of the last block placed, the shape of the column's slender part can vary.

Crafting ingredient[]

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Dripstone Block	Pointed Dripstone

Sounds[]

Generic[]

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.pointed_dripstone.break	subtitles.block.generic.break	1.0	0.8	16
	Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.pointed_dripstone.place	subtitles.block.generic.place	1.0	0.8	16
	Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.pointed_dripstone.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit	0.25	0.5	16
	None[sound 1]	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.pointed_dripstone.fall	None[sound 1]	0.5	0.75	16
	Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.pointed_dripstone.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	Once the block has broken	break.pointed_dripstone	1.0	1.0
	Blocks	When the block is placed	place.pointed_dripstone	1.0	1.0
	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.pointed_dripstone	1.0	1.0
	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.pointed_dripstone	0.4	1.0
	Players	Walking on the block	step.pointed_dripstone	0.17	1.0
	Players	Jumping from the block	jump.pointed_dripstone	0.12	1.0
	Players	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.pointed_dripstone	0.14	1.0

Unique[]

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Lava drips	Blocks	When a lava drip from a pointed dripstone lands on a block	block.pointed_dripstone.drip_lava	subtitles.block.pointed_dripstone.drip_lava	0.3-1.0	1.0	16
	Lava drips into Cauldron	Blocks	When a lava drip from a pointed dripstone lands on and fills a cauldron	block.pointed_dripstone.drip_lava_into_cauldron	subtitles.block.pointed_dripstone.drip_lava_into_cauldron	2.0	0.9-1.0	16
	Water drips	Blocks	When a water drip from a pointed dripstone lands on a block	block.pointed_dripstone.drip_water	subtitles.block.pointed_dripstone.drip_water	0.3-1.0	1.0	16
	Water drips into Cauldron	Blocks	When a water drip from a pointed dripstone lands on and fills a cauldron	block.pointed_dripstone.drip_water_into_cauldron	subtitles.block.pointed_dripstone.drip_water_into_cauldron	2.0	0.9-1.0	16
	None[sound 1]	Blocks	When a pointed dripstone lands from falling	block.pointed_dripstone.land	None[sound 1]	2.0	0.9-1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	When a lava drip from a pointed dripstone lands on a block	drip.lava.pointed_dripstone	0.3-1.0	1.0
	Blocks	When a lava drip from a pointed dripstone lands on and fills a cauldron	cauldron_drip.lava.pointed_dripstone	2.0	0.9-1.1
	Blocks	When a water drip from a pointed dripstone lands on a block	drip.water.pointed_dripstone	0.3-1.0	1.0
	Blocks	When a water drip from a pointed dripstone lands on and fills a cauldron	cauldron_drip.water.pointed_dripstone	2.0	0.9-1.0

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Translation key
Pointed Dripstone	pointed_dripstone	Block & Item	block.minecraft.pointed_dripstone

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID[i 1]	Translation key
Pointed Dripstone	pointed_dripstone	563	Block & Giveable Item[i 2]	Identical[i 3]	tile.pointed_dripstone.name

Block states[]

Java Edition:

Name	Default value	Allowed values	Description
thickness	tip	tip_merge
		tip
		frustum
		middle
		base
vertical_direction	up	up down	The direction of the pointed dripstone.
waterlogged	false	true false	Whether or not there's water in the same place as this pointed dripstone.

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Metadata Bits	Default value	Allowed values	Values for Metadata Bits	Description
dripstone_thickness	Not Supported	tip	merge	Unsupported
			tip	Unsupported
			frustum	Unsupported
			middle	Unsupported
			base	Unsupported
hanging	Not Supported	true	false true	Unsupported	Whether or not the pointed dripstone is pointing down.

History[]

October 2020					Pointed Dripstone concepts are created by xilefian.
October 3, 2020					Pointed dripstone is shown at Minecraft Live 2020 within the dripstone caves biome.
					Item texture was different.
Java Edition
1.17		20w48a			Added pointed dripstone.
		20w49a			Pointed dripstone can now be generated in dripstone caves, which is accessible using only the buffet or custom world type.
					Changed death message from being killed by a stalactite from "<player> was squashed by a falling block" to "<player> was skewered by a stalactite".
					Stalactites taller than 1 block can now fill cauldrons.[5]
		21w03a			Pointed dripstone can now be used to craft dripstone blocks.
					Sounds drip_lava, drip_lava_into_cauldron, drip_water, and drip_water_into_cauldron now have subtitles.[6]
		21w13a			Wandering traders now sell pointed dripstones, making them renewable.
					Dripstone clusters containing pointed dripstone can now generate in regular caves as well.
		21w16a			Placing a source block of water above a dripstone block with a stalactite hanging from it allows it to grow longer and to form stalagmites on the ground below.
1.18		Experimental Snapshot 1			Dripstone caves, where pointed dripstone can be found, can now generate naturally.
					Pointed dripstone can no longer be found outside the dripstone caves biome.
1.19		22w14a			Pointed dripstone can now be used to drain the moisture from mud, converting it to clay.
Bedrock Edition
Caves & Cliffs (experimental)		beta 1.16.210.56			Added pointed dripstone.
		beta 1.16.220.50			Item texture and rotation of pointed dripstone now matches Java Edition.
					Pointed dripstone can now be waterlogged.
					Tweaked visual shape of pointed dripstone to match Java Edition.
					Pointed dripstone now breaks if being hit by a trident.
					Pointed dripstone can now be used to craft dripstone blocks.
					Changed death message from being killed by a stalactite from "<player> was squashed by a falling block" to "<player> was skewered by a stalactite".
					Now uses the correct sounds for pointed dripstone.
					Now generate in Dripstone Caves, though they can generate only through add-ons.
1.17.0		beta 1.16.230.54			Wandering traders now sell 2 pointed dripstones for an emerald.
					Pointed dripstone now generate rarely in caves in small patch from layer 0 to 59.
					Water and lava now drip more often from pointed dripstone.
		beta 1.17.0.50			Stalagmites no longer deal damage when doFallDamage is set to false
					Pointed dripstone can now grow into longer stalactites and/or stalagmites.
		beta 1.17.0.52			Now correctly gets destroyed after the block it was placed on is broken by block updates.
					Pointed dripstones are no longer available only through Experimental Gameplay.
1.19.0		beta 1.19.0.24			Pointed dripstone can now be used to drain the moisture from mud, converting it to clay.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Pointed Dripstone" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Gallery[]

Screenshots[]

• 

  Naturally generated pointed dripstone in a canyon.

• 

  Up and down pointed dripstones connecting.

Concept art[]

• 

  Render of prototype pointed dripstone.

References[]