Did you know lightning can be controlled using a trident? That creepers can become charged by the weather? Read now.
Though it isn’t talked about often, weather in Minecraft is actually quite interesting, and there are so many little secrets and features associated with it that even many veterans of the game don’t know about. Though many of the features are small and may seem insignificant, they may prove to be incredibly useful in game modes like SkyBlock and OneBlock where your resources are limited and you have to rely on all sorts of small quirks within Minecraft to progress your adventure.
Curious to know more? Well, be sure to stick around, because in this article we're going to go over all those interesting things about the weather that you may not know about.
Let’s begin.
Fishing in the rain
Did you know that you’re more likely to catch fish when it’s raining? That’s right! If you cast a fishing line out on a body of water that’s being rained on, the amount of time before the bobber goes down (indicating that a fish has been caught) is reduced by about 20% compared to normal. Why not setup a fishing pond on one of the minecraft creative servers?
Therefore, if you’re looking to fish quickly and efficiently, consider waiting until it starts raining. Also, if you want to pull up fish and treasure even more quickly, add the Lure enchantment to your fishing rod! You'll cut an extra 5 seconds off your waiting time for every enchantment level, so fishing will take no time at all.
Axolotls and rain
Axolotls were newly added to the Minecraft 1.17 update, and they're fantastic companions that fight enemies on your behalf. Sadly, axolotls can't survive on land for too long, however, when it rains, this changes! Rain allows axolotls to walk freely on land and stay hydrated, which is really useful if you plan on walking an axolotl from place to place. If there’s no rain though, you can use a bucket to pick up an axolotl too, though bear in mind that it won’t be able to protect you while in item form!
Rain fills up cauldrons
You read that right! If you place a cauldron down, it’ll slowly fill up with water if exposed to enough rain. Though this process is quite slow, it can be incredibly useful in a OneBlock or SkyBlock world where you typically start out with just one water source block. By filling up a cauldron with rainwater, you’ll have another water source block at your disposal which you’ll be able to combine with the first one in a well to make an infinite water source. Pretty neat, right?
In case you aren’t aware of the exact process of making a well, here’s a quick explanation. If you get two water source blocks, you can dig out a 2×2 hole that’s one block deep and add water to opposite corners to make an infinite water well. From here, if you use a bucket to collect water from the hole, the spot you take the water from will fill right back up.
Rain vs snow
When rain occurs in snowy biomes, it falls as snow instead, coating the land in layers of snow over time. This snow can be collected as snowballs using a shovel, which are throwable items that knock entities back if hit.
In certain other biomes like mountains, taiga, and their variants, snowfall can also occur, but only above a certain altitude. This means that you can occasionally see rain and snow falling within a few blocks of another in the same biome!
Snowfall can also fill up cauldrons much like rain as mentioned above. However, instead of filling up with water, cauldrons will fill up with powder snow which is a brand new item introduced in the 1.17 update.
Lightning can be controlled using a trident
Tridents are throwable weapons that can be obtained as rare drops from drowned, and they’re some of the most exciting items in the game. If you can manage to get your hands on one and enchant it with Channelling, you’ll be able to summon lightning with it! How cool is that?
Bear in mind that lightning summoning can only be done during a thunderstorm, and the lightning bolt hits wherever the trident is thrown. This means you can throw the trident at wooden structures to set fire to them, or you can even throw it at mobs to deal damage. Some mobs actually transform when struck by lightning, which we’ll talk about next.
Lightning and mobs
Most mobs that are struck by lightning will take simply 5 points of damage, but there are a few special ones that'll transform when hit. Count yourself lucky if you happen to see a mob get hit by lightning because the chances are super low (unless you use a trident with the Channelling enchantment, of course).
The mobs that are affected in special ways by lightning are listed below:
- Pigs transform into zombified piglins when struck
- Villagers transform into witches when struck
- Creepers become charged creepers when struck
- Red mooshrooms change into their brown variants when struck
- Turtles die when struck and drop a bowl rather than their normal drops
In addition to the mobs listed above, it’s worth noting that there’s a small chance for a skeleton horse to appear following a lightning strike, too!
Lightning and charged creepers
Finally, let’s talk a little bit more about the charged creepers mentioned above that spawn when normal creepers are struck by lightning. These charged creepers are twice as powerful compared to normal, making them incredibly dangerous to be around. However, there is one cool thing about them that not many people know about…
If a zombie, skeleton, wither skeleton, or creeper is killed by an exploding charged creeper, the corresponding mob head will drop. How awesome is that? These heads are super rare, and though they’re mainly used for decorative purposes, they can also be worn to reduce the detection range for certain mobs.
Some final words
There you have it, a list of facts and features relating to weather in Minecraft that you may very well have not known about. Hopefully you’ve learned something new today, and hey, maybe some of what you’ve learned will come in handy in a survival or SkyBlock world down the line.
Thanks for reading!