Minecraft Update Adds Armadillos and More

Minecraft's latest update adds armadillos and wolf armor to Java Edition.

By Ricky Frech

After it was announced last year, Minecraft developer Mojang has slowly been adding features to the open-world survival game to get players ready for Update 1.21. The full update is likely coming in the summer, but Mojang continues to add features for players to test out as it preps for the eventual release. As we build toward the big update, Minecraft has also been adding in several other features, culminating today with the release of Update 1.20.5 in Java Edition. The Armored Paws Update in Minecraft officially adds armadillos mobs to the game along with new wolf armor and wolf variants.

Armadillos are a new passive mob in Minecraft. Players have been able to add them to their games in testing for a bit now, but this makes them available for everybody. That also means you'll be able to pick up the Scutes they drop, which you can use to craft wolf armor and protect your favorite critter. Alongside the mob updates, the new update adds several UI updates to give Minecraft "a fresher look." Mojang has also gone through and updated some of the spawning conditions, most notably for wolves and passive mobs in the Grove biome.

Below, you'll find the full patch notes for Update 1.20.5. Minecraft is available now on PlayStation, Switch, mobile, Xbox, and PC. That said, this update is only available on Java Edition for now, which is only available on PC.

Minecraft Update 1.20.5 Patch Notes

minecraft-wolf.jpg
(Photo: Mojang)

NEW FEATURES

  • Added Armadillo and Armadillo Scutes
  • Added Wolf Armor
  • Added Wolf variants

ARMADILLO

  • The Armadillo is a new passive mob
  • Armadillos drop Armadillo Scutes periodically, and when brushed
  • Armadillos spawn in Savannas and Badlands
  • The Armadillo's favorite food is the Spider Eye
    • Armadillos are tempted by Spider Eyes
    • Feeding two adult Armadillos Spider Eyes makes them breed
    • Feeding a baby Armadillo a Spider Eye makes it grow up quicker
  • The Armadillo rolls up when it detects a threat such as:
    • A player sprinting, riding a mount, or riding a vehicle
    • Undead mobs
    • A mob or a player it has recently been attacked by
  • The Armadillo does not roll up when:
    • Fleeing, in water, in the air, or when on a Lead
  • When an Armadillo is rolled up:
    • It does not walk, cannot eat, and will not be tempted by food
    • Its shell will protect it, reducing damage taken, even allowing it to fully resist weak attacks
    • It will continue to scan for threats, occasionally peeking to check the surroundings
      • If no threats are detected for 4 seconds, it will unroll
  • Spiders and Cave Spiders will run away from Armadillos that are not in a rolled up state

ARMADILLO SCUTES

  • Armadillo Scutes are dropped by Armadillos periodically or when an Armadillo is brushed
  • Armadillo Scutes can be used to craft Wolf Armor
  • Dispensers can be used to brush Armadillo Scutes off Armadillos

WOLF ARMOR

  • Wolf Armor can be crafted with Armadillo Scutes and can be dyed in a similar fashion to Leather Armor
  • The Wolf Armor will protect the Wolf from most damage sources until the armor loses all durability and breaks
  • Wolf Armor shows signs of breakage as durability goes down
  • Using Armadillo Scutes on the Wolf Armor while it is equipped on the Wolf will repair it
  • Using Shears on a Wolf that is wearing armor will drop the armor
  • Wolf Armor can only be equipped on a tame adult Wolf
  • Only the Wolf's owner can equip, repair, and shear Wolf Armor
  • Dispensers cannot equip nor remove Wolf Armor

WOLF VARIANTS

New Wolf variants have been added. The variant is determined by the biome they spawn in. Wolves spawn in packs, with a default pack size of 4.

  • Pale Wolf – The Wolf we're all familiar with. This variant spawns in the Taiga biome
  • Woods Wolf – A variant that spawns in the Forest biome. This will be the dominant Wolf variant that you will be able to find in the Overworld, since the Forest biome is very common
  • Ashen Wolf – A variant that spawns in the Snowy Taiga biome
  • Black Wolf – A variant that spawns in the Old Growth Pine Taiga biome, in smaller packs of 2-4
  • Chestnut Wolf – A variant that spawns in the Old Growth Spruce Taiga biome, in smaller packs of 2-4
  • Rusty Wolf – A variant that spawns in a new location for Wolves – the Sparse Jungle biome, in smaller packs of 2-4
  • Spotted Wolf – A variant that spawns in a new location for Wolves – the Savanna Plateau biome, in larger packs of 4-8
  • Striped Wolf – A variant that spawns in a new location for Wolves – the Wooded Badlands biome, in larger packs of 4-8
  • Snowy Wolf – A variant that spawns in the Grove biome. This lone Wolf is a rare type, as it always walks alone

When summoned in other ways (e.g. using the Spawn Egg or using the summon command), the variant selection follows the natural spawning biome rules with the following extensions:

  • Rusty Wolf: will be selected in all Jungle-like biomes, including Jungle and Bamboo Jungle Biomes
  • Spotted Wolf: will be selected in all Savanna-like biomes, including Savanna and Windswept Savanna Biomes
  • Striped Wolf: will be selected in all Badlands-like biomes, including Badlands and Eroded Badlands Biomes

ADVANCEMENTS

  • Added the following advancements:
    • Isn't It Scute? – Get Armadillo Scutes from an Armadillo using a Brush
    • Shear Brilliance – Remove Wolf Armor from a Wolf using Shears
    • Good as New – Repair a damaged Wolf Armor using Armadillo Scutes
    • The Whole Pack – Tame one of each Wolf variant

CHANGES

  • The UI has been updated with a fresher look
  • Decreased the default size of the spawn chunks and made the value configurable
  • Updated the health and damage dealt by Tamed Wolves
  • Adjusted spawning conditions for Wolves, allowing them to spawn on Coarse Dirt and Podzol blocks
  • Adjusted the texture of the Wolf Collar layer to be more consistent with the new Wolf Armor
  • Adjusted passive mobs spawning in Grove biome to only include Rabbits, Foxes and Wolves
  • Minor tweaks to existing Blocks, Items and Entities
  • Added option to use Japanese variants of CJK characters
  • Added support for Viossa language
  • When entities leave or enter The End, the area they arrive in will now stay loaded for 15 seconds, matching the behavior of Nether Portals
  • Improvements to the Game's Performance
  • Improved handling of errors during saving and loading

UI UPDATES

The UI has been updated to sport a fresher look and to be more consistent when it comes to the layout of different UI elements, all while retaining the essence and feel of the old screens.

  • The menu background dirt texture has been replaced by a darkened background
    • The dirt background can be restored by using the built-in Programmer Art Resource Pack
    • Outside the game, the main menu panorama is displayed behind all screens
    • In the game, the world will be visible behind all screens
    • Paired with the darkened background is a blur
      • The strength of the blur can be configured in Video Settings and Accessibility Settings
      • In-game screens such as containers and books are not affected by these changes
  • Screen elements such as titles and buttons are positioned more consistently across different screens
  • The World Backups screen and the Players screen in the Realms menu have been updated
  • Lists now have clearer borders at the top and bottom
  • Button tooltips will no longer appear when hovering outside the containing element
  • After defeating the Ender Dragon and entering the End Portal, the End Poem and credits are now displayed with a background based on the animated End Portal effect
  • The animated Nether Portal texture is displayed when changing dimension to or from The Nether
  • The animated End Portal effect is displayed when changing dimension to or from The End

SPAWN CHUNK CHANGES

  • The size of the spawn chunks changed from a radius of 10 (19x19 entity-ticking chunks) to a radius of 2 (3x3 entity-ticking chunks)
    • This was done to reduce loading times, as well as memory and CPU usage
    • We opted to not fully remove spawn chunks to allow players who currently utilize this functionality to continue to do so
  • Added a new gamerule spawnChunkRadius to set the size of the spawn chunks
    • Possible values are 0 to 32, where 0 completely disables the spawn chunks and 10 is equivalent to the functionality before this change
    • Default value is 2, equivalent to 3x3 entity ticking chunks
    • Note that setting this to a high value might require allocating more memory for the game in the Launcher

TAMED WOLVES HEALTH AND DAMAGE

  • Tamed Wolves now have 40 health points (20 hearts) instead of 20 health points (10 hearts)
  • They no longer take half of the damage from most environmental sources like they used to do
    • In most cases, this change will make no difference given the health boost, but they can now withstand more damage from players and arrows
  • Feeding a Wolf now heals twice as many health points

MINOR TWEAKS TO BLOCKS, ITEMS AND ENTITIES

  • Renamed scutes that drop from Turtles to Turtle Scutes
  • Added unique sounds for Cobwebs
  • Enchantments on Items are now always listed in the same order in tooltips, regardless of how they were added to those items
  • Adjusted flying behaviour for Bees and Parrot to keep them from overshooting their position when flying up and down
  • Llamas and Shulkers are no longer able to destroy Armor Stands
  • Status effect particle colors are no longer blended into one particle color
    • All active visible status effect particles are now rendered separately
  • Ctrl+Picking a renamed block (such as a Chest) in Creative Mode will now give a renamed item
  • Ctrl+Picking a block no longer lists "(+NBT)" in the item tooltip

ACCESSIBILITY

  • The default focus is now always set when entering or exiting any menu while navigating using tab or arrow keys
  • Added a new accessibility option to control the strength of the background blur when a menu is open

JAPANESE FONT VARIANTS

  • A new option has been added to select Japanese variants for some CJK characters
  • Replacement glyphs come from the Japanese version of the Unifont font
  • The new option is included in a new "Font Settings" menu, accessible from the "Language" menu
  • The default value of this option is based on the system locale language setting
  • The "Force Unicode" button has been moved to "Font Settings"

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS

  • Improved Hopper performance
  • Hoppers will no longer try to pick up item entities if there is a full block placed above it
    • Beehives and Bee Nests are exempt from this
    • This does not affect Minecarts with Hoppers
  • Reduced time needed to generate Explorer Maps to Buried Treasures

SAVING AND LOADING IMPROVEMENTS

  • In Singleplayer, when errors occur during loading or saving of chunks, a warning will be shown in a toast
  • Trying to join a Singleplayer world with less than 64 MB free disk space will show a warning screen
    • Additionally, a warning toast will be shown periodically while in game
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