7 best shaders for Minecraft 1.21

Shaders are one of the best ways to improve or modify in-game graphics and make Minecraft look better. These community creations change how the game renders certain things, such as lighting. This leads to both better performance and enhanced visuals, which is why it is so common for players to use shaders. Shaders are especially amazing for the new 1.21 Tricky Trials update, which features dangerous and impressive trial chamber structures.

Detailed below are seven amazing shaders already updated for Minecraft 1.21, along with what makes these shaders so great to use.

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7 amazing Minecraft 1.21 shaders

1) Complimentary Shaders Unbound

Complimentary Unbound being used in a trial chamber (Image via Mojang)

Download Link: https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/shaders/complementary-unbound

Complimentary Shaders is one of the most famous shaders in the game. Although it started as an edit of BSL, this shader has gradually taken on a life of its own. Unbound is a more aesthetically appealing version of Complimentary Shaders.

The term Unbound refers to how the shader has unbound itself from the game's art style. This represents how more beautiful and realistic versions have replaced the game's original blocky clouds and oceans. Complimentary also features a ton of different customization options, allowing players to truly tailor a personalized experience.

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2) Spooklementary

Spooklementary makes trial chambers feel oppressively dark (Image via Mojang)

Download Link: https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/shaders/spooklementary

Spooklementary is an intense horror-themed shader that puts even veteran players on edge. While using this shader, fog is much more intense, areas get oppressively dark, and there are even eyes that appear and disappear. The colors are also fittingly washed out.

Spooklementary would be a perfect fit for a Minecraft Hardcore playthrough, as the darker visuals are a great thematic fit for the increased difficulty.

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3) BSL Shaders

A trial chamber rendered with BSL Shaders (Image via Mojang)

Download Link: https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/shaders/bsl-shaders

BSL Shaders is one of the game's most well-known shaders, and for good reason. This shader makes the graphics, and the game as a whole much more vibrant, although not as bright as Minecraft's Full Bright texture pack. The shader also creates real-time shadows.

BSL Shaders makes water in the game look particularly amazing, which makes it one of the best shaders available for Tricky Trials.

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4) Energy Shaders

Energy Shaders is a great Vanilla+ shader option (Image via Mojang)

Download Link: https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/shaders/energy-shaders-java

One of the more unique and niche entries on this list, Energy Shaders is the Java Edition version of a Minecraft Bedrock shader. Most community content goes from Java to Bedrock rather than the other way around. This is an incredibly vanilla-friendly shader that reworks the game's atmosphere slightly, improving it while leaving the aesthetics mostly unchanged.

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5) Insanity Shader

Download Link: https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/shaders/insanity-shader

Insanity is another horror-themed shader for the popular sandbox title. Similar to Spooklementary, Insanity pushes the game's fog to another level, washing colors out in the process. This already makes the game feel much more ominous. However, this shader takes it a step further by making other dark areas and caves much dimmer. This ends up making Minecraft's hostile mobs much deadlier, adding to the horror of the shader.

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6) Pastel Shaders

The default color profile of Pastel Shaders (Image via Mojang)

Download Link: https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/shaders/pastel-shaders

Pastel Shaders is very different from most other shaders. Rather than trying to make the game look as realistic or scary as possible, Pastel Shaders instead adds different aesthetics based on different color presets. This gives players several subtle, different options to pick from, all within a single shader. Along with its visuals, the option to personalize makes this shader a great option for players who enjoy sprucing up their in-game graphics periodically.

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7) Complimentary Shaders Reimagined

The Reimagined version of Complimentary Shaders (Image via Mojang)

Download Link: https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/shaders/complementary-reimagined

Complimentary Shaders Reimagined is another amazing Minecraft 1.21 shader. Visually, it's very similar to the previously mentioned Complimentary Shaders Unbound. But while Unbound features incredibly realistic water and focuses on realism as a whole, Reimagined focuses on enhancing the game's gorgeous vanilla art style.

It reimagines the game's original art style brilliantly, making colors warmer and causing worlds to feel much more welcoming. The oceans, while not hyper-realistic, are also much nicer to look at.