Blue ice is a solid block similar to packed ice and ice, but much more slippery.
Obtaining
Blue ice can be obtained using any tool enchanted with Silk Touch, although a pickaxe is the fastest. Breaking the block without Silk Touch drops nothing.
| Block | Blue Ice | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 2.8 | |
| Tool | ||
| Breaking time[A] | ||
| Default | 4.2 | |
| Wooden | 2.1 | |
| Stone | 1.05 | |
| Iron | 0.7 | |
| Diamond | 0.55 | |
| Netherite | 0.5 | |
| Golden | 0.35 | |
- ↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.
Natural generation
Blue ice naturally generates on the bottom of icebergs and as large arching structures in frozen ocean biomes. It also generates as piles and in some snowy tundra village houses, and in ancient cities. Rarely, an iceberg will generate entirely made of blue ice.
Chest loot
| Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Java Edition | ||||
| Blue Ice | Village | Snowy house chest | 1 | 9.9% |
| Bedrock Edition | ||||
| Blue Ice | Village | Snowy house chest | 1 | 9.9% |
Crafting
| Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
|---|---|
| Packed Ice |
It takes 81 regular ice made into packed ice to create a single blue ice block.
Trading
Wandering traders have 1⁄6 chance to sell blue ice for 6 emeralds.
Usage
Blue ice is slippery, causing most entities to slide, including items. It is even more slippery (0.989) than ice or packed ice (0.98). This allows for increased speed of items in water currents by placing the blue ice under the water current. Mobs do not travel faster in water currents on blue ice.
In Java Edition, boats can travel even faster on blue ice than on either normal ice or packed ice, being able to reach a top speed of 72.73 m/s (as opposed to 40 m/s on ice and packed ice). Ice tracks built from blue ice, packed ice, or a combination are useful for long-range travel in all three dimensions.
Blue ice is a completely solid block and allows the placement of any objects on top.
Unlike normal ice, blue ice does not melt when placed near light sources.
Blue ice can be used to create basalt. When lava flows into a space which is above soul soil and next to blue ice, basalt is formed. Effectively a "basalt generator" when repeatedly produced.
Blue ice is not a storage block, as it cannot be crafted back into packed ice.
Sounds
| Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Block broken | Blocks | Once the block has broken | block | subtitles | 1.0 | 0.8 | 16 | |
| Block placed | Blocks | When the block is placed | block | subtitles | 1.0 | 0.8 | 16 | |
| Block breaking | Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | block | subtitles | 0.25 | 0.5 | 16 | |
| None[sound 1] | Entity-Dependent | Falling on the block with fall damage | block | None[sound 1] | 0.5 | 0.75 | 16 | |
| Footsteps | Entity-Dependent | Walking on the block | block | subtitles | 0.15 | 1.0 | 16 |
| Sound | Source | Description | Resource location | Volume | Pitch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blocks | Once the block has broken | random | 1.0 | 0.8-1.0 | |
| Blocks | When the block is placed | dig | 1.0 | 0.8-1.0 | |
| Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | hit | 0.4 | 0.6 | |
| Players | Falling on the block with fall damage | fall | 0.4 | 1.0 | |
| Players | Walking on the block | step | 0.3 | 1.0 | |
| Players | Jumping from the block | jump | 0.12 | 1.0 | |
| Players | Falling on the block without fall damage | land | 0.22 | 1.0 |
Data values
ID
| Name | Identifier | Form | Block tags | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Ice | blue_ice | Block & Item | ice mineable/pickaxe geode_invalid_blocks | block.minecraft.blue_ice |
| Name | Identifier | Numeric ID | Form | Item ID[i 1] | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Ice | blue_ice | 266 | Block & Giveable Item[i 2] | Identical[i 3] | tile.blue_ice.name |
History
| Java Edition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.13 | 18w15a |  Added blue ice.
| |||
| Blue ice generates on the bottom of icebergs in frozen ocean biomes. | |||||
| 18w16a | Blue ice slipperiness has been changed from 0.999 to 0.989 | ||||
| pre2 | Blue ice is now renewable, as its crafting ingredient, packed ice, can now be crafted from normal ice. | ||||
| 1.14 | 18w49a | Blue ice now generates in the updated snowy tundra villages. | |||
| 19w05a | Added wandering traders, which sell blue ice. | ||||
| 1.16 | 20w13a | When blue ice is placed next to lava on soul soil it now generates basalt. | |||
| 1.19 | 22w13a | Blue ice now generates in ancient cities. | |||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.4.0 | beta 1.2.14.2 |  Added blue ice.
| |||
| Blue ice can give off a light level of 4. | |||||
| 1.5.0 | beta 1.5.0.1 | Blue ice is now more slippery. | |||
| 1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | Blue ice can now be bought from wandering traders. | |||
| 1.11.0 | beta 1.11.0.1 | Blue ice can now be found in snowy tundra village house chests. | |||
| 1.16.0 | beta 1.16.0.57 | When blue ice is placed next to lava on soul soil it now generates basalt. | |||
| 1.17.10 | beta 1.17.10.22 |  Blue ice no longer emits light. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU69 | 1.76 | Patch 38 | Added blue ice. | ||
| Education Edition | |||||
| 1.4.0 | Added blue ice.
| ||||
| Blue ice can give off a light level of 4. | |||||
| 1.17.31 | Blue ice no longer emits light. | ||||
Issues
Issues relating to "Blue Ice" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Gallery
-
Naturally generated blue ice in an iceberg. -
Naturally generated blue ice in an arch. -
Naturally generated blue ice as seen in a snowy iceberg.
Bedrock Edition
-
Blue ice used to emit a light level of 4 prior to the 1.17.10 update.
