Icicle

This article describes content that is currently in development.

This content has appeared in development versions for Fourth Drop 2026, but the full update adding it has not been released yet.

Icicle

Rarity tier	Common
Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	0.5
Hardness	0.5
Luminous	No
Transparent	Partial
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No
Note block instrument	Chime

An icicle is a block found in ice caves. They naturally generate and grow on the ceiling as stalactites, but can also be manually placed on the ground as stalagmites. When exposed to enough nearby light, icicles can melt and break.

The stalactites (which point downward) hang from the bottom face of blocks and grow over time under certain conditions. When their supporting block is removed, they fall and deal damage to entities that they hit.

The stalagmites (which point upward) sit on the top face of blocks and multiply the fall damage to players and mobs that land on them.

Obtaining

Breaking

Icicles can be mined with any tool, but pickaxes are the quickest. Icicles break instantly when hit by a thrown trident; however, they cannot be broken with any other projectile. Icicle stalagmites also break when melting.

Block	Icicle
Hardness	0.5
Tool
Breaking time (sec)[A]
Default	10.75 (JE) 0.75 (BE)
Wooden	10.4 (JE) 0.4 (BE)
Stone	10.2 (JE) 0.2 (BE)
Copper	10.15 (JE) 0.15 (BE)
Iron	10.15 (JE) 0.15 (BE)
Diamond	10.1 (JE) 0.1 (BE)
Netherite	10.1 (JE) 0.1 (BE)
Golden	10.1 (JE) 0.1 (BE)
Options
Efficiency	000
Haste	001 1JEBE

Legend

• incorrect tool, drops nothing
• correct tool, drops nothing or something other than the block itself
• correct tool, drops the block itself
• italicized can be instant mined

Natural generation

Icicles generate naturally hanging from the ceilings of ice caves.

Post-generation

An icicle can grow only if it is hanging directly under a packed ice block. It grows downward, forming a stalactite with a maximum length of 5 blocks, though it can be lengthened by placing more manually. Unlike pointed dripstone and sulfur spikes, icicles cannot grow stalagmites. Icicles cannot grow if their tip is waterlogged. Icicles cannot grow into a location where it would melt.

Icicles grow slowly, with an average time of 5 in-game days (100 minutes) for every single growth step. More precisely, every time the tip of an icicle receives a random tick, there is a small chance of 1.138% (⁶⁴⁄₅₆₂₅) for it to grow one block.

Trading

A wandering trader may sell 2 icicles for 1 emerald as part of their ordinary trades, with 5 trades in stock.

Usage

Icicles come in two different forms, stalactites and stalagmites.

Melting

Upon receiving a random tick, an icicle melts if one of the following conditions is met. The base of an icicle (i.e. the segment attached to a full surface) never melts.

• The block light level at its location is 5 or higher.
• The block 1 or 2 spaces below is a magma block.
• The icicle is placed in the Nether, regardless of the light level.

Upon melting, a stalactite and all icicle segments attached below fall down as falling blocks, while a stalagmite and all icicle segments attached above break and drop themselves as items.

Stalactites

Stalactites are created when icicles are placed beneath a block with a full bottom surface.

If the block supporting a stalactite or any block of the stalactite is broken or melts, all of the unsupported icicle segments drop, causing damage to any player and mobs standing beneath it, similar to a falling anvil or pointed dripstone. When a player dies by a stalactite falling on them, the death message "<player> was skewered by a falling stalactite" appears.

Stalagmites

Stalagmites are created when icicles are placed on a block with a full top surface. They do not generate naturally.

Falling onto the topmost block of a stalagmite multiplies the fall distance by two to calculate the total amount of fall damage, using the formula ceil(fall_distance × 2 − 2). A player or mob gets 1HP damage each time they jump on top of a single stalagmite (with a normal jump height of 1 ¹⁄₄ blocks). 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 fall_damage‌^{[JE only]} or falldamage‌^{[BE only]} is set to false.^[1][2]

It is possible to climb up portions of stalagmites entirely composed of differently sized parts because of the different collision box sizes of the icicles that it composes of.

Sounds

Generic

Java Edition:

icicle sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.icicle.break	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.icicle.place	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.icicle.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	0.25	0.5	16
	​Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.icicle.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	0.5	0.75	16
	​Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.icicle.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.15	1.0	16

Unique

Java Edition:

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Block tags	Translation key
Icicle	icicle	Block & Item	speleothems	block.minecraft.icicle

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID[i 1]	Translation key
Icicle	icicle	1502	Block & Giveable Item[i 2]	Identical[i 3] (Numeric: -1247)	tile.icicle.name

Block states

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

History

Announcement

Java Edition

Upcoming Java Edition
26.4			snap3				Added icicles.

Bedrock Edition

Upcoming Bedrock Edition
26.60 Experiment Drop 4 of 2026			Preview 26.60.29				Added icicles.

Issues

Issues relating to "Icicle" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

• The icicle base block model resembles a prototype pointed dripstone model created by Xilefian.
• The texture of the icicle's base is the same as packed ice.

Gallery

Screenshots

• 
  An icicle hanging from the ceiling in the ice caves
• 
  An icicle and a connected icicle forming a column in the ice caves
• 
  A display of some of the different sizes and shapes of icicles

Mojang screenshots

• 
  Icicles in a cave

References