Minecraft 1.21 Tricky Trials is the best update for multiplayer servers, and here's why

Minecraft's next major update, 1.21 Tricky Trials, is bringing with it a lot of content that's seemingly tailor-made to be better for servers. The best examples of these multiplayer-oriented features are the upcoming trial chambers, as well as the trial spawners and vault blocks found within them. Players will also get to experience ominous events.

If you prefer to play Minecraft as a multiplayer title, it is likely that you will love the upcoming update. Here's why.

Note: This article reflects the writer's opinions.

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Minecraft's Tricky Trials update is amazing for multiplayer

Trial chambers are better with friends

These trial chambers are large and imposing structures, worth exploring in a group (Image via Mojang)

Minecraft's upcoming trial chambers are great for multiplayer as they scale with player count. This means that having a party won't result in this dangerous new structure becoming totally overwhelmed and reduced to a joke.

The trial spawners found within react differently depending on how many players they see. The type of mob the spawner contains will also be a factor. But, a majority of the mobs will have a base value of six, with two more mobs added per player before the trial spawner enters cooldown. This means that a group of four on a Minecraft Realm or private server will need to take on a total of 10 mobs: six from the base and two more per extra player.

However, the number of mobs spawned at once also increases. With a single player, only two mobs can spawn at once. There's no more spawning until one of these two is felled in battle. This simultaneous mob cap increases by one per extra player, so our previously mentioned group of four players will need to face four mobs at once.

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Vault blocks can be looted by everyone

Even tridents can be obtained via trial chambers (Image via Mojang)

The vault blocks found within the trial chambers are excellent for multiplayer. These are a new type of lootable block that, unlike chests, contain individualized player loot. However, they cannot simply be opened, like the chests found within Minecraft's many other structures. Instead, they must be unlocked with vault keys.

These keys can be obtained by defeating the trial spawners. There's a 50% chance for a key to drop from a spawner. Any number of players can use a key on any single vault, getting some unique loot in return. This loot can include enchanted books of fortune and mending, some of Minecraft's best enchantments, as well as tridents, emeralds, and ominous bottles.

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Ominous trials

Ominous vaults can be distinguished by their coloration (Image via Mojang)

Using ominous bottles before entering a trial chamber will start up an ominous event. This is a more difficult version of a trial chamber that can grant better rewards. During ominous events, the trial spawners activated by players are much more likely to produce armored mobs. Trial keys are replaced with ominous keys, which are used to open ominous vaults.

The ominous vaults are more rare than their regular counterparts and have amazing drops, including enchanted books for all three of the new Minecraft mace enchantments and the heavy core needed to actually make this new weapon. The breeze rods needed to make a mace should be available in abundance by the time a player gets a heavy core, as they only have an 8.3% chance of dropping.