Freezing water

Freezing water is water in cold biomes that hurts players in Matcha Flavoured. A player in water in a frozen biome is slowed, blinded by  Darkness, and takes freezing damage until they get out or wear a chestplate enchanted with Frost Protection.

This page also covers the pack's other water hazard, water in Hell.

Mechanics

Every tick, the pack checks every player who is not in Creative mode. Players in Spectator mode are excluded (in 1.12.2 they were given the effects below, though the damage could not hurt them). If the player is touching water, is standing in one of the biomes below, and their chestplate is not enchanted with Frost Protection, the player is given:

•  Slowness V for 5 seconds;
•  Darkness for 5 seconds;
• 1 point (1 ( × 0.5)) of freezing damage.

The effects are reapplied every tick while the player stays in the water, so they last 5 seconds after the player gets out. The damage is applied every tick as well, but the normal damage cooldown after a hit limits how often it actually lands.

Freezing biomes are those in the pack's #minecraft:is_frozen biome tag: frozen ocean, deep frozen ocean, frozen river, jagged peaks, frozen peaks, grove, snowy slopes, snowy taiga, snowy beach, snowy plains and ice spikes.

Since 1.12.8-beta any contact with the water counts, so wading and swimming at the surface hurt as well; before, only a player whose head was underwater was affected. Riding a boat is safe, because the game does not count a boat's passengers as being in water.

Protection

Any level of Frost Protection on the chestplate makes the player immune. Frost Protection also reduces other freezing damage, such as from powder snow, by 80% at every level: level I already gives 24 protection points, more than the cap of 20.

Water in Hell

The pack lets water exist in Hell: the dimension no longer evaporates water, so water can be placed with a bucket and flows. Water is only allowed above the roof. When a player empties a water bucket in Hell and the water is placed between Y=0 and Y=127, the hidden advancement matcha:mechanics/place_water_in_nether removes every water block within 20 blocks of the player on the same tick, with a fire-extinguishing sound. The clearing is repeated for smaller cubes reaching 10, 5 and 2 blocks, because a fill that reaches outside the world fails entirely, which would otherwise leave the water near the bottom of the world. Water placed above Y=127, on the bedrock roof, stays, so it can be used for farming there. Since 1.12.8-beta the height is that of the placed water; before, it was the player's own height.

The pack raises the max_block_modifications game rule to 200,000 so that the 41×41×41 clearing area is allowed.

History

0.5-alpha	Freezing water mechanic optimized. Frost Protection added; the release notes say level III grants immunity.
1.03	Freezing water effects nerfed: no more Blindness, and the Darkness and Slowness durations were shortened.
1.10	Freezing water nerfed: half a heart of damage instead of a full heart per tick. Water can no longer be placed inside Hell.
1.12.3	Players in Spectator mode are no longer affected.
1.12.8-beta October 23, 2026	Freezing water affects players touching the water at all, not only with their head underwater. Water in Hell is cleared based on the height of the placed water instead of the player's, the clearing plays a sound, and an extra 5-block clearing was added.

Trivia

• The 1.10 release notes explain the Hell rule: "Water can no longer be placed *inside* of Hell (Guys please I just want flowers in the nether stop being naughty)".
• The release notes say Frost Protection III grants immunity, but the code only checks that the chestplate has the enchantment at any level.

See also

• Frost Protection
• Weather