Minecraft has evolved a great deal since its release over 10 years ago, and while combat has always been an integral part of the game, it too has come an awful long way. After a few fairly major overhauls in updates and constant player innovation with tactics, the PVP champions of years past could easily find themselves in way over their heads in today's game.
There's not much that isn't possible with the right mods in Minecraftnowadays, and however players want to personalize their combat experience, be it PVP or PVE, is right at their fingertips. Here are some of the best combat mods available right now, making anything from minor tweaks to major overhauls of the entire system.
7 Minecraft Dungeons Weapons
This mod does exactly what it says on the tin, bringing the weapons from Minecraft Dungeons into the main game. With such a huge variety of weapons available, it's a shame not to try them out in the sandbox environment, and it will forever change and improve the combat experience for new or veteran players.
The variety and detail of weapons available dwarfs that of most other mods out there, and bringing them from the sister game means that they fit into the world almost seamlessly, which significantly improves the experience. Around 60 weapons are available, but there are also related mods to add the armor and artifacts from Minecraft Dungeons to complete the set and completely change combat in any player's world.
6 Epic Fight
Epic Fight adds additonal game mechanics and different combat styles to Minecraft gameplay. With a dash of soulslike combat and unique animations, this mod will spice up any player's gameplay and combat experience significantly, and make fights with players, mobs, and bosses alike feel as epic as anyone could want.
This can work perfectly in conjunction with other adventure mods, but even solo it will make the game feel like a much fuller RPG experience, with a lot more to offer. Perhaps the biggest change is the extensive customization and upgrades to weapons and armor, which will take some time to master but can make any character much more powerful than they could normally become.
5 Better Combat Mod Rebirth
This mod refines the current combat system and is the most comprehensive quality-of-life upgrade available in the game right now. Better Combat Rebirth adds dual-wielding attacks to the mix, along with a ton of new weapon animations and upgrades across the board to how combat looks and feels in Minecraft.
There are a ton of customization options, so players can tweak the combat system as much as they could wish, everything from which items can attack when held to animation duration. For players who want the combat exactly to their specifications, there is no better tool out there to realize a dream.
4 Rough Mobs Revamped
For players keen for a challenge but don't want to alter the fabric of vanilla Minecraft, Rough Mobs offers a much more testing experience with PVE combat. The vanilla mobs are now much more geared and much more deadly, so going out at night is not for the faint-hearted, even as players progress into the late game.
To make the experience more accessible, mob spawns will scale with the character level, but don't expect the early game to be easy as a result. Mobs will have better equipment further from spawn, so combat veterans can take on harder challenges, and spawning bosses are tied to mob kills, so going out on a rampage can end in disaster.
3 Better PVP
One of the few, and definitely the best PVP mod out there, Better PVP contains a ton of tweaks to improve the quality of life for PVP buffs and make the experience a lot smoother and more enjoyable for any player. While it doesn't make any major changes to actual combat mechanics, the improvements it does make will certainly make combat easier and more cohesive.
Just some of the improvements it makes are an improved minimap, and removing toggles from sneak and sprint to make both easier and reduce a player's actions per minute required to pull off mechanics. All the added features can be tweaked and customized in the menu, so whichever mechanics players are after or use most can be personalized to suit their needs.
2 Better Combat Mod
Better Combat Mod uses combat animation that is seen in Minecraft Dungeons, which is a much more combat-focused experience and does a great deal to improve it in the main game. This mod is a complete overhaul, but anyone who has played Minecraft Dungeons will be able to pick up the new mechanics extremely quickly.
Better Combat adds a great deal of depth and complexity to the combat that is lacking in vanilla, introducing combos, two-handed weapons, and much more to make combat feel more natural and realistic. It also adds some QoL changes and a ton of customization as in a great deal of other mods, so veteran players can tweak the mechanics to their liking.
1 Classic Combat
Most Minecraft players will know that combat underwent some very heavy changes in the 1.9 update, removing spam clicking and changing a lot of other aspects. Most players also preferred the old system by some margin, and the Classic Combat mod makes their dreams come true, completely reverting combat to its old state in the new updated version of the game.
Shields and dual wielding are still in this mod, but all the removed features that players missed are readded, namely spam clicking to attack rather than having to wait, which keeps the combat feel of versions past. This is a small mod, but especially for older players it can make a huge difference to the enjoyability of the game, and works just as well on servers and in conjunction with other mods.