Sniffer vs Camel in Minecraft: Which one is the better mob in Trails & Tales update?

Minecraft 1.20, also known as the Trails & Tales update, introduced two new mobs to the game. Players were introduced to the desert-native camel, while the Mob Vote 2022 winner, the sniffer, also made its way into the sandbox title. Both creatures have their uses and upsides for players who seek them out.

However, which mob is better in Minecraft 1.20? It may come down to who is asked or what a player needs to do. The defined uses and benefits of both mobs have been on display since the Trails & Tales update went live.

Since these two mobs are still new to Minecraft, it doesn't hurt to examine which is more beneficial for players at the moment.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and reflect the opinions of the writer

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Examining the two new mobs in Minecraft's Trails & Tales update

The sniffer

Winner of Minecraft's 2022 Mob Vote contest, the sniffer is the first ancient mob introduced to the game. These passive creatures are hatched from eggs and love nothing more than sniffing the ground to find prehistoric torchflower seeds and pitcher pods that players can pick up and plant accordingly.

Sniffer eggs are found by brushing suspicious sand blocks within warm-temperature ocean ruins as part of the near archeology feature in Minecraft 1.20. Once fans have a sniffer egg, they can place it on the ground, where it will hatch in approximately 20 minutes (or in 10 minutes when placed on a moss block).

After hatching, a baby snifflet is born. It will require approximately two in-game days to mature into an adult. Once it's fully grown, a sniffer will roam the environment, eventually sniffing around an area if it is near dirt, grass, mud, podzol, moss, or muddy mangrove blocks.

Eventually, the sniffer will find what it's sniffing for and begin digging. As of Minecraft 1.20's release, sniffers can dig up either torchflower seeds or pitcher plant pods. However, these large creatures may eventually receive more uses as they develop in the future.

Players can also breed adult sniffers by feeding them torchflower seeds, where they'll enter Love Mode and breed to create a new sniffer egg.

Torchflower seeds can also heal injured sniffers for two health points when consumed. When killed, sniffers will drop 1-3 experience points, and baby snifflets will drop no experience.

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The camel

Generating within desert villages in Minecraft 1.20, camels are peaceful mobs that are primarily used for the purpose of transportation. When saddled, up to two players can ride on the back of a camel. They don't have the speed of a horse, but they do have the ability to dash for increased bursts of speed.

The camel's height prevents its riders from being damaged by many different hostile mobs that attack at melee range, like zombies, vindicators, sword-wielding piglins, hoglins, silverfish, and endermites. These mobs will make no attempt to attack the camel to dislodge the riders from its back.

Camels have the intriguing capability to step onto surfaces that are 1.5 blocks high. For example, Minecraft players could use a camel to scale a fence without needing to jump or use a carpet block. This makes camels a particularly unique mount among the others in the game.

Camels can be both bred and healed by being fed cactus blocks. Unlike the sniffer, camels will give birth to live offspring. Like most animal mobs, camels will be placed on a five-minute cooldown after breeding.

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Conclusion

At this current moment in Minecraft 1.20, it's hard not to consider the camel the more useful of the two mobs. Sure, the sniffer has its uses thanks to its ability to find ancient plant life, but torchflowers and pitcher plants are decorative at the moment and have few uses.

Meanwhile, the camel is easier to find, can be ridden by multiple players, and is easier to breed since it gives birth to living offspring instead of relying on eggs. Furthermore, the camel's ability to protect players from a collection of hostile mobs also gives it an edge over the sniffer.

Sure, the sniffer may eventually become more useful and surpass the camel in Minecraft at a later date. Be that as it may, as of the 1.20 update's release, the camel clearly has more to offer players in the early days of the Trails & Tales update as a whole.