New Minecraft update adds an extremely useful new mob that's already beloved

After dropping a cryptic teaser roughly 24 hours ago, a new Minecraft update has just arrived that makes one of the sandbox game's most abundant materials much more special. Even more importantly than that, though, this game drop also adds a friendly (and remarkably helpful) new mob that has become something of a meme among the community after narrowly losing a community mob vote. Yes, the copper golem has arrived in Minecraft.

If you missed yesterday's teaser, all the evidence was pointing towards some kind of copper-themed update or rework. Now, those theories have been proven correct. Stealth-dropped into Minecraft Bedrock beta and preview (it'll hit Java at a later date), this new update gives you loads more reasons to mine and hoard copper. It's a commonly found material, but there haven't been that many situations where you'd want to use it over other resources. However, that's all just changed thanks to a lineup of brand new items that are all constructed using copper.

Sitting between the even more abundant stone and the hardier iron, copper is now a new equipment tier for tools, weapons, and armor. Mojang has done this not only to give you a reason to use up those stacks of copper sitting around in your stash, but to also give early-game players a more accessible way to move on from rudimentary, basic gear. For example, the developer says that a copper pickaxe will have much higher durability versus a stone pickaxe, however it won't be able to extract any additional materials like an iron pickaxe. This is a useful, measured way of introducing a new gear tier without upsetting the status quo in one of the mainstays on our best building games list.

New gear is great, but the jewel in this update's crown is the copper golem. This little guy was a finalist in 2021's community mob vote, but sadly lost out to the allay. The copper golem became a beloved mascot for Mojang devs and a bit of a meme among players, but now it's made it to the big time.

Aside from being a cute companion, the copper golem is actually an extremely helpful mob. Once you spawn one in, it'll provide you with a copper chest (more copper chests can be crafted as well by upgrading a regular chest with copper ingots). Any items you put in a copper chest will be collected by the golem, who will then go about placing them into the most appropriate storage chests in your base and sorting items into stacks in the process. Essentially, he is an automated inventory management and organization tool.

"The new functionality comes a lot from talking with the community and talking with creators," says senior gameplay engineer Matthew Clohessy. "Inventory management has become a bigger and bigger thing in Minecraft as more items have been added, so being able to have something that goes around and moves things in your base and helps organize things is a big bonus."

The copper golem and all the new copper items are available right now in the Minecraft Bedrock beta and preview versions.

For more, be sure to check out our guides to the best Minecraft mods and the best Minecraft house ideas.

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