This week, Minecraft added a brand new melee weapon for testing via Snapshot and Preview, and it's not taken long for players to discover that it's ridiculously strong.
Meet the Mace – a weapon that can not only negate all fall damage if you hit an enemy with it while landing, but also defeat any foe in the game in a single hit. That includes the Ender Dragon, as well as the notoriously robust Wardens, which are so tough that the devs actually introduced them to encourage players to use stealth mechanics to get around them rather than fight them directly.
Sounds pretty good, right? Well, it is, but for the full effect, you can't go around swinging this thing wildly and hoping for everything to crumble around you. As was outlined by developer Mojang, the Mace does more damage to your enemies depending on how far you fall before you hit them. Essentially, for the most powerful strike, you need to launch yourself from as high up as possible before landing directly on top of your foe with a triumphant 'bonk.'
- Avowed has achieved something even Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 couldn't – it's made me fall in love with the most boring weapon in RPGs
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate villain Minecraft Steve is the star of the "best Smash clip of all time," as genius player makes a literal Trojan Horse to destroy an unsuspecting opponent
For those who don't get the impact of this...YOU CAN LITERALLY ONE SHOT THE ENDERDRAGON WITH A MACE 😭 https://t.co/v0z6BHK4NZ pic.twitter.com/TvrJve5y8iMarch 14, 2024
Correction: Under certain circumstances you can get a lower kill on a warden, with a certain velocity, strength, or a specific crit, the lowest I've gotten without strength so far is 99 pic.twitter.com/m5zRjcu8sRMarch 14, 2024
Players have already been conducting their own research to figure out exactly how far you have to fall in order to kill the game's most powerful enemies. As you'd expect, the Wardens – which have the highest amount of health in the game – require quite a drop to be killed, with one player reporting one-shots after falling between 99 and 114 blocks. In a survival mode setting, this admittedly might be a little difficult to pull off naturally, but the same can't be said for the game's final boss, the Ender Dragon.
Ender Dragons have significantly less health than Wardens, and while fighting them, they have a habit of occasionally launching the player high up into the air. This is incredibly convenient for Mace users, as it literally sets up the perfect circumstances for you to take it out instantly. And, thanks to the fall damage negation, you'll be totally immune to dying from the fall, too.
As mentioned at the top, the Mace has been added as an "experimental feature" during this testing period, so there's a chance it might end up getting nerfed later down the line. However, it seems Mojang is well aware of how strong it is, as the developer has pointed out that you can "use a Mace in combination with Wind Charges to launch up and deliver devastating smash attacks." For now though, no foe is safe from its wrath.
Be sure to take a look at our full Minecraft guide to find some tips to create your perfect blocky world.
