Minecraft mace weapon nerfs: All you need to know

Mojang Studios recently made major changes to the new mace weapon coming soon in Minecraft 1.21 Tricky Trials update. The hammer-like weapon was announced and released in Java and Bedrock snapshot and preview versions, respectively. After testing it, many players debated that it was too overpowered for the game.

Hence, in the latest Bedrock Preview version 1.21.0.24, the developers adjusted the damage power of the mace accordingly.

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Mojang Studios nerfed Mace for Minecraft 1.21 Tricky Trials update

Mace damage and durability changes

With the Minecraft Bedrock Preview version 1.21.0.24, Mojang Studios first reduced the mace's base damage from seven health points (three and a half hearts) to five health points (two and a half hearts). This reduction in base damage makes the mace even less powerful than a base diamond sword.

Furthermore, they tweaked the mace's smash attack mechanic such that it has a fall-off as the number of falling blocks increases:

• During the first three blocks a player falls from, the damage per block will be four health points (two hearts).
• In the next five blocks, the damage per block will be two health points (one heart).
• Any block after these eight blocks will only increase damage by one health point (half a heart).

However, the developers have not only nerfed the mace in Minecraft. In the latest preview, they have also doubled the weapon's durability from 250 to 500. This durability can then be increased using unbreaking enchantments.

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Mace-exclusive enchantment changes

Mace enchantments were also nerfed (Image via Mojang Studios)

Along with bringing changes to the base mace, Mojang Studios has also nerfed its exclusive enchantments.

From now on, the density enchantment will only add 0.5 health points (quarter of a heart) worth of damage per fallen block, compared to one health point (half a heart) it was previously. This massively decreases the density enchantment's power in the Tricky Trials update.

The last change made by the developers was that they made density and breach enchantment incompatible with each other. Since combining these enchantments made the mace extremely lethal, Mojang Studios had to make them mutually exclusive. These new enchantments are also exclusive to existing ones like smite and bane of arthropods.

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How to craft a mace in Minecraft?

Crafting recipe of the mace (Image via Mojang Studios)

For those who are unaware, mace is a new weapon that will be added with Minecraft 1.21 Tricky Trials update in 2024. It is connected to the new trial chamber structure and new breeze mob, which are also arriving with the next installment. The mace is already in the latest snapshot and preview versions of Minecraft.

It can either be obtained from the creative mode inventory or can be crafted using a breeze rod and a heavy core.

Breeze rod is an item dropped by the new breeze mob that exclusively spawns in trial chambers from a specific trial spawner. On the other hand, a heavy core is a rare item that has an 8.3% chance of popping out of an ominous trial vault.