Dripstone caves vs Lush caves: How different are the two biomes in Minecraft's 1.18 update?

Generating in Minecraft worlds that have been updated to Minecraft 1.18's Caves and Cliffs Part 2 update, dripstone and lush cave biomes can now be found in many underground locations throughout a seed.

Although they're both new cave biomes, dripstone and lush caves have quite a few differences. Even a cursory glance can speak to that, as visually they're quite different.

However, the biomes' contrasts are quite detailed when it comes to surrounding block types, decorative touches, features, and markers of their location. Since Minecraft 1.18 is live and relatively new for most players, it's worth taking a look at the two new biomes.

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Minecraft: Differences between lush and dripstone caves

A lush cave lit with torches, strikingly visibly different from a dripstone cave due to its large amount of flora (Image via Mojang)

As their names and looks imply, lush and dripstone cave biomes retain several key differences. Though they can bear similarities, such as their location within underground caves and possessing reserves of water, that's where the key similarities end.

Below, players can find the differences between the two new cave biomes:

Dripstone Caves

• Features dripstone blocks and pointed dripstone hanging from the ceiling as well as jutting from the floor.
• Small water wells spawn within the cave.
• Includes a significant number of clusters of copper ore typically not seen as commonly during ordinary resource mining.
• Can spawn most common hostile mobs while also sporting non-hostile mobs such as glow squids and bats.

Lush Caves

• Instead of dripstone, lush caves in Minecraft feature a huge amount of plant life, including Azalea leaves, moss, hanging roots, vines, grass, glow berries, spore blossoms, and dripleaf.
• Lush Caves are marked by Azalea trees, which typically are rooted above the cave biome itself. Players can often find Azalea trees blooming with purple flowers in heavily-forested biomes and their root systems lead down into lush caves.
• Lush caves can generate at any height, but can be found underground often like dripstone caves.
• Moss and various ores cover the floors and ceilings. The ores aren't specified, and can come in many varieties.
• Lush caves feature shallow bodies of water in the form of springs which can often grow dripleaf nearby as well as being a source of clay blocks.
• Players are incapable of spawning in a lush cave during world generation in Minecraft, though this may change in the future.
• Lush caves can spawn most hostile mobs, but also spawns non-hostile mobs such as axolotls, bats, and glow squids. Tropical fish can also be caught in the shallow waters of the biome.