7 best shaders for Minecraft Java 1.19.1 update

Minecraft is an indie game at its core. Its pixelated and blocky graphics are an obvious love letter to retro gaming, a direction that many indie titles lean towards when establishing their aesthetic and design language. And while Mojang's sandbox game may no longer be a darling indie title, it still retains its now classic and iconic look.

However, after the many dozens of hours that players can put into a single survival world, the vanilla look might become stale and boring; this is where shaders come in. These are engines created by the community that overhaul features like lighting, water, and shadows to enhance the game’s look.

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7 quality shaders that will enhance Minecraft 1.19.1's overall look

1) Makeup Ultra Fast Shaders

The plains village using the MakeUp Ultra Fast shader (Image via Minecraft)

The first thing that players might notice when switching over to Makeup Ultra Fast is just how warm the lighting and coloration is. It is much warmer than the vanilla game, and adds a cozy feel to the game that makes houses and villages feel incredibly welcoming.

One thing that really helps set Makeup Ultra Fast apart from the rest of the shader competition is just how large and somewhat aggressive the natural glow around light sources is. When compared to both the vanilla game and other shaders, the glow around torches and lava pools, for example, is much brighter, along with the warmer lighting that the shader provides.

The water is also incredibly clear, with beautiful surface reflections and waves, making the ocean incredibly mesmerizing.

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2) Lagless Shaders

The plains village using Lagless shaders (Image via Minecraft)

Lagless Shaders is, as one might expect, a shader that aims to enhance the game’s visuals while minimizing the impact on performance, striving to be a true lagless shader.

It features simple but noticeable increase in the vibrancy of the game’s coloration. It also enhances the 3D look of some textures by increasing their contrast. The shader aims to enhance the default look of the game, rather than overhaul its entire appearance, and succeeds incredibly well at it.

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3) Naelego’s Cel Shaders

The plains village using Naelego's Cel Shader (Image via Minecraft)

Cel shading is a very well-known aesthetic type. The look is probably best known for the iconic appearance that the Borderlands franchise has become famous for.

Naelego’s Cel Shader aims to add this same style to Minecraft. For those who may not know what cel shading is, it refers to objects having thick black bars at the edge, helping objects stand out from each other and the background.

This shader features incredibly bold and vibrant colors, separated by the crisp black outlines associated with cartoons and comic books. The biggest issue with this shader is that it has not been particularly well optimized, meaning that it will chug along with an incredible difficulty on lesser systems. It does make this shader a good choice for those with more powerful systems, though.

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4) KUDA Shaders

The plains village using the KUDA shaders (Image via Minecraft)

KUDA Shaders is arguably one of the most popular products in the Minecraft community. The changes it makes are much more subtle and less aggressive than others. It increases the vibrancy of the game’s colors, while adding additional depth in the game’s shadows.

It also features basic water reflections. Nothing overly impressive by average shader standards, but it instead puts more focus on the game’s sky. As a result, KUDA’s sky is its main selling point, and is incredibly detailed, something that no other shaders can really compete with. There are amazing clouds, and a total overhaul of the game’s both literal and figurative atmosphere.

One potential downside for the shader, however, is that it has a sort of washed-out, white-light effect over the game, which makes things a bit harder to see, especially at a distance.

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5) Werrus

The plains village using the Werrus Default shader (Image via Minecraft)

Werrus is a shader that hyper focuses on two distinct areas to improve: the game’s water and shadows. The shadows contained within the shader are incredible, and even feature the godrays that many people usually associate with ray tracing. This means that the shadows are even better, complemented by an incredible lighting system.

The water, with vibrant beautiful colors and mesmerizing waves, is also near the best that shaders have to offer. It is only really bested by other software that specialize in nothing but water.

The best place to see these shadows at work is at night, which helps enhance the fear that Minecraft nights should strike into the hearts of players, something that has been lost on most veteran players.

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6) Project Luma

The plains village using the Project Luma shader (Image via Minecraft)

Project Luma is an interesting shader, as it is a direct official successor to KUDA, remade from the ground up by the Luma team.

Project Luma strives to toe the line between graphical overhaul and performance. The shader does manage to succeed at successfully balancing these two opposing ideals.

There are more vibrant colors, beautiful distance fog, lens flairs, and directional real-time shadows, making it a fantastic choice for players on moderately powerful rigs who want to experience a new Minecraft look.

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7) Too Many Effects

The plains village using the Too Many Effects shader (Image via Minecraft)

Too Many Effects is a shader than many people might not be able to use. Its goal is to add every possible effect to the game, as well as crank their look and feel up to 11.

This shader features lens flair so intense that the flair has its own flair. Due to the idea behind the shader, only players with incredibly powerful CPUs and GPUs might be able to use it without a debilitating impact on performance.

The water in the shader has incredibly well-done reflections, as well as a nice soft blue coloration. It also features directional real-time lighting, godrays, shadows that are so intense that players might see figures in it, as well as trees and grass that shake with blowing winds.