Unveiling: Mounts of Mayhem

Riders of the Overworld – get ready for the Mounts of Mayhem drop! At Minecraft LIVE we not only revealed this game drop has a name (Mounts of Mayhem, in case I didn’t make that clear enough) – but we also showed you a first look at some of the features coming as part of this drop. If you missed Minecraft LIVE, or are one of the few people left on earth that prefers reading to watching, then fear not! Let’s look go through everything you need to know about these new features. I’m also going to be leaving a secret message in this article – and I’ll declare the first person to figure it out the champion!*

*I won’t be checking entries. This is a trust-based system. Champions have honor, after all!

The spear

Ever found yourself exploring the Overworld and wishing you had another weapon you could use to defeat your foes? Enter: the spear! Revealed at Minecraft LIVE, the spear is a tiered weapon that will give you an edge in both melee and mounted combat. Master the charge attack – which (with some careful positioning) you can use to knock foes from their mounts. Use its jab attack when afoot to keep foes at a distance as you deal damage, or hop atop your favorite steed to test how the spear’s damage scales with your velocity! That’s right – the faster you’re travelling when wielding the spear, the more damage it’ll do. Thank goodness I’ve spent years breeding only the fastest horses in my main save.

And of course, the spear’s uses aren’t limited to mounts, either. There are plenty of ways you can satisfy your need for speed in Minecraft. Wield it wearing elytra. Wield it in a minecart. In fact, I’ll leave it up to you to discover all the ways you can use the spear for maximum power, because it’ll be coming for testing soon enough. Keep your eyes on Minecraft.net to find out when!

Zombie horses

Did you hear that? It sounded like thundering hooves. Did I leave the gate of my horse ranch open again? No! That’s the sound of zombie horses charging into Survival mode in Minecraft!  

Just like zombies, zombie horses don’t like the sun!

I know as well as you do that zombie horses aren’t entirely new to Minecraft – they’ve been hanging out in Creative mode since 2013, and ever since, people have been wondering why they never made the jump to Survival mode. Now we know the answer – they’ve been biding their time for the Mounts of Mayhem drop! Zombie horses will spawn in savannah and plains biomes, and they come in a lovely undead green color.

Now, zombie horses are technically passive, but the riders they spawn with are most definitely hostile! That’s two threats for the price of one! Wait, hang on. That’s not good for me, I’m not great at combat…

Get ready to test out zombie horses when they come to beta, preview, and snapshot in the near future. Personally, I’ll be testing out how to corral them into a nice, sun-protected area of my ranch without losing too many hearts to their undead riders. Wish me luck!

Nautilus

Riders, did you think we were finished with the mounts coming with this game drop? Then you were wrong! Introducing – the nautilus! This underwater mob isn’t just cute to look at, it’s an incredibly handy partner for exploring the oceans. Once you’ve tamed a nautilus with its favorite food (pufferfish!) you can equip a saddle and zip through the oceans like the majestic, nautilus-riding mermaid you always knew you were. The nautilus can be equipped with armor too (which comes in five fashionable colors: copper, iron, gold, diamond, and Netherite!) So keep those eyes peeled in your hunt for chests, as that’s where you’ll find it!

Of course, being underwater comes with its own set of challenges in Minecraft – and that’s where the nautilius is extra helpful. When you’re riding a nautilus, you’ll stop consuming air bubbles thanks to the Breath of the Nautilus effect! While this effect can’t replenish your air supply, it will stop it from going down – and of course you can ride the nautilus to the surface for a refill! Just be aware that the nautilus is an aquatic mob, and can’t survive on land. Don’t find that out the hard way like I did…

Can’t wait to test out the nautilus? You won’t have long to wait! But we’re not quite done yet, because we have one more mob to look at – and this one’s also zombified.

Zombie Nautilus

Introducing: the zombie nautilus!

Keeping yourself underwater for a longer period of time sounds great until you realise that you’ll be facing another challenge – the zombie nautilus! This neutral mob is also very quick underwater, and I hear it’s the favorite mount of my least-favorite foe: drowned!

So there we have it! Now you know all about the features we showed at Minecraft LIVE – but it won’t end there! There are more features to come that’ll really put the mayhem in Mounts of Mayhem. Oh, and did you figure out my secret message? Of course you did! You’re a champion, after all!

 

New features coming to testing soon for Bedrock: Edition preview and beta, and Java Edition snapshot.