After four long years, Mojang is finally making copper useful in Minecraft in its big September update

A Nether portal decorated with copper blocks and copper lanterns in Minecraft

(Image credit: Mojang)

Starting on September 30, Minecraft's least useful ore is getting some long-awaited new crafting recipes. The Copper Age game drop, which was announced back in August, finally got a full reveal and release date during Minecraft Live on Saturday.

This update will introduce a slew of new copper items to the game including weapons, tools, armor, horse armor, chests, lanterns, torches, chains, and bars. There will also be a new copper golem mob that autonomously organizes items you leave in copper chests into nearby regular chests. Like other copper items, the golems can oxidize and change color over time.

Copper is much easier to find early on in a new Minecraft world than iron, so this update will make it easier to gear up right after spawning into a new game. While it's pretty time consuming mining and smelting copper for building, its abundance at surface level in the overworld makes it perfect for crafting starting gear. The copper gear will be more durable than leather, but slightly less durable than iron.

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The Copper Age update will arrive on September 30, followed by the Mounts of Mayhem game drop coming during the holiday season later this year. Mounts of Mayhem introduces the new spear weapon, which is crafted with two sticks and an ingot (arranged diagonally on the crafting table). There's a whole new attack set for the spear, but its most intriguing use is in mounted combat, such as jousting on horseback.

Finally, along with the spear, Mounts of Mayhem will also include zombie horse riders (who also have spears), zombie horses, mounted drowned, and a new rideable underwater mob called the nautilus. Described as "the happy ghast of the sea," the nautilus is a type of mollusk that looks a bit like a squid with a shell. They're tamed using pufferfish and allow you to travel faster underwater without diminishing your air supply. Like a horse, you can even equip your nautilus with armor. The new mounted drowned ride zombie nautilus.

Stevie Bonifield is a freelance tech journalist specializing in mobile tech, gaming gear, and accessories. Outside of writing, Stevie loves indie games, TTRPGs, and building way too many custom keyboards.

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