Minecraft's Mayhem Mounts Drop Introduces a Beautifully Chaotic Fresh Weapon to Your World

The winter game drop for Minecraft has touched down — and it features the initial fresh armament added to the title since the heavy club made its debut. The javelin is finally here and it has the potential to change how you play Minecraft, especially if you love chaos.

A Weapon Forged for Mounted Mayhem

The Mayhem Mounts drop also introduces a host of fresh elements and enhancements related to animal mounts in the game. That focus made the spear the natural choice for this update, as the development team had long felt it was time for a fresh combat tool.

"From the outset, we understood that we desired a fresh armament that would add some more range, and we wanted it to be fighting from atop a creature," explained a lead developer. "We experimented with a few different ideas, but the spear was the one that both handled superbly when we ran our trials and also looked good for the use case."

If you're asking yourself whether mounted combat means you can joust against your friends on horseback, the response is a definite affirmative. In fact, there's even an combat move perfectly suited for it.

"[Jousting on horses is a major applications for the spear, and it's so much fun," the lead continues. "The spear has a dual attack system: You have the quick stab, where you simply impale your enemy. But you also have a powerful lance where you couch your lance and deal increased harm [with] the more pace you have. So [it’s] tailor-made for mounted duels."

Aerial Mayhem & Deep-Sea Exploration

The chaotic fun doesn't have to stop there, though. If you're deep enough into the game that you've been to The End, the developers have an delightfully absurd idea. "If you are quite advanced, [spears are] excellent for strapping on the wings and taking to the skies and creating genuine chaos," she teases.

In other words: Aerial lance combat is now real, and it should be made an competitive event without delay.

Another key feature in this latest drop is the underwater mount. This underwater creature, which is modeled after the seashells players have gathered for years, can be tamed and ridden for submarine exploration. Not only will it transport you through the water more swiftly than swimming, it'll also preserve your oxygen levels, so there's no necessity to come up for air for a breath.

The remaining new features are mostly things that want to kill you, as is the tradition of Minecraft. Naturally, there's also a rotting sea creature appearing in the water, often with a zombie villager on its back. If you manage to defeat the Drowned, though, you can claim the zombie Nautilus — or the regular one, for that matter — with a puffer fish.

"We've pondered this challenge periodically, and again, like with the spear and [adding] more mounts, it felt like the right time to also bring in something for the ocean depths," the lead explains. "For the Nautilus specifically, we had a few different ideas for aquatic rides that we wanted to test, but the Nautilus concept art looked impressive, and we have the link to the Nautilus shell that was already in the game."

She also adds that there are actually two distinct kinds of zombie Nautilus: standard and coral-infested undead mount. "[The variants] add variety to what you encounter underwater."

Desert Dangers and Long-Awaited Tweaks

Additional features include the sun-proof skeletons, biome-specific undead archers that can endure the sun, which means there's no refuge from them if you end up in that region. Sometimes you'll see them on desiccated dromedaries, another new mob. These passive, zombified camels have an notable look that sees their skeletal frame exposed. The same goes for zombie horses, who have a comparable rib-popping design and can sometimes be spawned in the darkness with a lance-wielding zombie on their back.

The remaining updates on the drop's list are refinements, including some much-anticipated tweaks to riding horses. Now, you can traverse rivers and lakes while riding a horse. Furthermore, high-tier barding is now available at the workbench, so you can give your horse the ultimate protection it deserves.

A Spicy Send-Off for the Year

Overall, the year-end release of the year is a solid offering. The spear on its own — and the pandemonium it invites — would have constituted a major improvement. Throw in the Nautilus, and new threats trying to kill you, and Minecraft's definitely getting a bit spicier.

The Mayhem Mounts content drop is live for all major editions of Minecraft.