Minecraft Java Edition just released Snapshot 25w41a, kicking off a new update series focused on the upcoming Mounts of Mayhem game drop. This snapshot brings several major additions to the game, including a brand new weapon type, underwater mounts, and naturally spawning zombie horses. There are also improvements to the video settings menu and various technical changes. Here’s everything new in this snapshot.
Table of Contents
New Spear Weapon
The spear is a new weapon type in Minecraft. You can craft spears using wood, stone, copper, iron, gold, diamond, or netherite materials. Each material has different stats that affect how fast you can use the weapon. Spears work differently from swords and axes. They have a minimum reach requirement, which means if you’re too close to an enemy, you won’t deal any damage. However, they have a longer maximum reach than other weapons, letting you hit enemies from farther away.
The spear has two different attacks. The jab attack happens when you quick-press the attack button. It’s a fast attack that deals lower damage but knocks enemies back. You can hit multiple enemies at once with it, and it has a cooldown between uses. Wooden spears have the fastest cooldown, while netherite spears are the slowest.
The charge attack requires you to hold down the secondary action button. The damage depends on what material your spear is made from, which direction you’re looking, and how fast both you and your target are moving. The charge attack goes through three stages while you’re holding the button – engaged, tired, and disengaged. Each stage affects whether you can deal damage, knockback enemies, or knock them off their mounts.
Lunge Enchantment
Spears have their own exclusive enchantment called Lunge. This enchantment only works with the jab attack and propels you forward horizontally when you attack. To get the maximum lunge distance, you need to aim perfectly level. The tradeoff is that Lunge does significant durability damage to your spear, so you’ll wear it out faster.
Nautilus – New Underwater Mount
The nautilus is a new neutral aquatic mob that spawns in all ocean biomes. These creatures are normally peaceful but will attack if you provoke them. They use a dash attack to fight, and they’ll occasionally attack pufferfish that get too close.
You can tame nautiluses using pufferfish or a bucket of pufferfish. Once tamed, you can put a saddle on them and ride them underwater. When you’re riding a nautilus, you get the Breath of the Nautilus effect, which pauses your oxygen consumption underwater. This doesn’t refill your oxygen bar, but it stops it from draining.
Nautiluses have a dash ability similar to camels. You activate it by pressing the jump button while riding. Tamed nautiluses with saddles can only roam 16 blocks away from their home spot, while ones without saddles can go up to 32 blocks away.
Nautilus Armor
You can equip armor on both regular nautiluses and zombie nautiluses. The armor comes in five versions – copper, gold, iron, diamond, and netherite. This armor system is separate from the saddle. Nautilus armor can be found in loot chests, including buried treasure, ocean ruins, and shipwrecks, in copper, iron, gold, and diamond versions.
Zombie Nautilus
The zombie nautilus is the undead version of the regular nautilus. These spawn with a drowned rider who’s usually holding a trident. Zombie nautiluses are only hostile if their rider is hostile – the creature itself isn’t aggressive. They behave similarly to regular nautiluses but can’t be bred. You can still tame and ride them, though, making them another option for underwater travel.
Zombie Horses Now Spawn Naturally
Zombie horses now spawn naturally in the world. They appear in plains and savanna biomes during darkness and burn in sunlight like other undead mobs. They spawn with a zombie rider holding an iron spear. You can tame zombie horses by repeatedly mounting them until they accept you, the same method used for regular horses. Once tamed, you can mount them and control them. They can be healed and tempted using red mushrooms.
Zombie horses have 25 health points. Their movement speed and jump strength vary between individual zombie horses. If you equip them with horse armor, it protects them from sunlight damage.
Tamed zombie horses won’t despawn, but untamed ones will despawn like other hostile mobs. When killed, they drop 2-3 rotten flesh, with an extra 0-1 rotten flesh for each level of Looting enchantment on your weapon.
This snapshot is available now for Java Edition players who want to test out these features before they arrive in the main game.
