5 gameplay aspects that have been improved in Minecraft 1.21

Inarguably the most exciting parts of any major Minecraft update are the totally new features added to the game. These can often overshadow other improvements to pre-existing systems. This is a shame, as there are just as many amazing improvements, additions, and changes made to older systems in major updates as there are totally new features, and 1.21 Tricky Trials is a great example of this.

Detailed below are five examples of amazing improvements and additions to older Minecraft content, along with what makes the changes so significant.

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5 older gameplay elements that have improved in Minecraft 1.21 Tricky Trials update

1) Swamps

A bogged skeleton variant found in a swamp (Image via Mojang)

Swamps seem to be one of Mojang's favorite biomes. They were recently expanded on quite a bit in the Wild Update, which added frogs and mangrove swamps, a whole new biome variant, to the game. And Mojang has continued to expand on them with 1.21 Tricky Trials by introducing the bogged.

Minecraft's new bogged is a skeleton variant that has slightly less health and fires more slowly than regular skeletons. They make up for these deficiencies, however, by shooting exclusively poison-tipped arrows. This allows the bogged to deal considerable damage very quickly, as they hurt players both with arrows and with damage over time.

Poison also damages players through armor, meaning that the bogged can be a real threat even to those equipped with great armor. This means that milk or honey bottles are a useful item for exploring swamps to stave off the poison that might be inflicted.

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2) Combat

An enchanted mace weapon (Image via Mojang)

Combat changes to the game are always controversial. In fact, the last major combat update Mojang pushed out was one of Minecraft's worst updates. However, the improvements to combat featured in 1.21 Tricky Trials, specifically the new mace weapon, are great examples of a good combat update.

The mace weapon is made using breeze rods and heavy cores, exclusively found within trial chambers. Breeze rods are the unique drop of Minecraft breeze mobs, while heavy cores are found while looting ominous vaults.

The mace has two major pieces of utility that make it stand out from other weapons. The first is that landing a smash attack will cause an area-of-effect knockback blast. This can push back entire hordes of hostile mobs, allowing players to safely escape otherwise deadly situations.

The more impressive piece of utility that the mace brings is the ability to totally nullify fall damage. And what's more, it can actualily convert the distance fallen into bonus damage dealt — all this without an upper cap. This means that a high enough fall can result in players one-shotting any Minecraft mob with health.

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3) Enchantments

The density enchantment see in the enchanting interface (Image via Mojang)

Enchantments are the best way that players can augment their gear to be better. Armor can be made more protective, weapons deadlier, and tools more efficient. This means it's always exciting to see new enchantments added to the game, as they can completely change how the game is played.

There are three new Minecraft weapon enchantments coming with 1.21 Tricky Trials. These are the density, breach, and wind burst. Density makes the mace more lethal when falling, breach allows it to punch through armor, and wind burst gives players the ability to pogo back into the air after landing an attack.

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4) Status effects

The symbols for the six new status effects (Image via Mojang)

One of the largest areas expanded on by Minecraft 1.21 Tricky Trials updates is status effects. There are a total of six new being added, along with a total rework for how the bad omen effect works.

Bad omen is now no longer automatically applied when a player kills a raid captain. Instead, the status effect is applied when a player consumes an ominous bottle. These are dropped by raid captains, but they can also be found in vaults found within Minecraft trial chambers.

Bad omen branches into two new status effects, depending on where the player goes. If they enter a village with bad omen, it will automatically convert into raid omen, which will then start a raid. It can also become trial omen, which causes trial spawners to convert to their ominous versions.

The other four status effects are seen in Minecraft potions that players can brew. These are infested, oozing, weaving, and wind charged. Infested is the most unique of the four, as it causes mobs to have a 10% chance to spawn one or two silverfish when taking damage.

The rest of these new effects cause mobs to do things on death. Wind charged mobs will explode into a burst of air, similar to a wind charge item. Mobs with weaving will explode into cobwebs when they die, the first time these items have been farmable. And oozing will cause them to spawn two medium slimes on death, allowing for incredibly efficient and easy Minecraft slime farms.

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5) Villager trading

A trial chamber map obtained from a cartographer (Image via Mojang)

Another major area of the game that has seen improvements in 1.21 Tricky Trials is Minecraft villager trading. The list of available trades from the cartographer villager type has been expanded. There's a new journeyman-level trade available from cartographers for an explorer map right to a trial chamber, making these imposing structures much easier to find than they otherwise would be.

This makes setting up a villager trading hall early on even more important than it already is, as most of the best Minecraft 1.21 Tricky Trials seeds feature many trial chambers near spawn.