Minecraft’s latest live test hands players a surprising, chaotic toolkit: a new tiered weapon ideal for mounted combat, a tamable underwater steed that pauses your breath, and — perhaps most eyebrow-raising — undead mounts you can actually tame after unseating their hostile riders. The first public snapshot for the upcoming Mounts of Mayhem game drop is live for Java Edition (Snapshot 25w41a), and it bundles the spear, nautilus family, nautilus armor, and natural-spawning zombie mounts into a single, play‑forward preview that’s already reshaping how players think about travel, combat, and ocean-building.
Minecraft’s 2025 roadmap is structured as multiple “game drops” across the year, and Mounts of Mayhem is the fourth of those drops announced at Minecraft Live in September 2025. The drop is framed around rideable mobs and mounted combat, arriving in the holiday window, after the Copper Age features landed earlier in the fall. Mojang positioned the Mounts of Mayhem reveal as a mix of combat-focused systems (a new weapon class) and expansion of traversal and exploration — especially under the waves. Early reporting and coverage from major outlets broadly matched the live reveal and the subsequent snapshot notes.
Mojang has begun staged testing: Java Edition players can opt into the official snapshot series now to try the first features, and Bedrock Edition testers will get access via preview/beta channels soon. The snapshot that kicked off testing is identified as 25w41a in Mojang’s release notes. That snapshot explicitly lists the spear, the nautilus (and zombie nautilus), nautilus armor, and zombie horses among the new features, along with a new stopwatch command and updated video settings.
Key implementation details from the snapshot:
Snapshot testing is intentionally experimental. Mojang’s snapshot release notes and the “Test the first features” article both urge players to submit bugs and feedback through official channels. Expect several design adjustments between snapshot and final promotion, especially where community feedback points to balance or durability issues.
For players and server operators, the immediate priority is clear: test carefully, back up worlds, and give focused feedback on durability, damage, and the behavior of undead mounts. For modders and server admins, the advice is tactical — treat the snapshot as a development window and avoid promoting its changes to live environments until Mojang finalizes the design through preview and full releases.
This first testing wave is exactly what a live, global game needs: community experimentation and concrete telemetry to shape the final Mounts of Mayhem experience. The next few weeks of snapshot and preview feedback will determine whether the spear becomes a beloved new toy or a balancing headache — and whether tamable zombie mounts survive the polishing bench.
Source: Windows Central Spears, zombies, and mounts, oh my in the latest Minecraft test
Background / Overview
Minecraft’s 2025 roadmap is structured as multiple “game drops” across the year, and Mounts of Mayhem is the fourth of those drops announced at Minecraft Live in September 2025. The drop is framed around rideable mobs and mounted combat, arriving in the holiday window, after the Copper Age features landed earlier in the fall. Mojang positioned the Mounts of Mayhem reveal as a mix of combat-focused systems (a new weapon class) and expansion of traversal and exploration — especially under the waves. Early reporting and coverage from major outlets broadly matched the live reveal and the subsequent snapshot notes. Mojang has begun staged testing: Java Edition players can opt into the official snapshot series now to try the first features, and Bedrock Edition testers will get access via preview/beta channels soon. The snapshot that kicked off testing is identified as 25w41a in Mojang’s release notes. That snapshot explicitly lists the spear, the nautilus (and zombie nautilus), nautilus armor, and zombie horses among the new features, along with a new stopwatch command and updated video settings.
What’s in the snapshot: a concise feature list
- Spear — a tiered melee weapon (copper → netherite) with jab and charge attacks, whose damage scales with movement speed and includes an exclusive spear-only enchantment called Lunge.
- Nautilus — a tamable, rideable underwater mob that provides the Breath of the Nautilus effect to mounted players (pauses oxygen depletion), and can be outfitted with nautilus armor in multiple material tiers.
- Zombie Nautilus — an undead variant that spawns with a Drowned rider; neutral if unmounted but hostile when ridden.
- Zombie Horse — previously only obtainable by commands, now spawning naturally at night with mounted zombies; snapshot testing allows players to tame them after neutralizing their riders.
- Video and utility updates — revised video settings presets and a new stopwatch command to track real-world time inside the game.
The Spear: a whole new approach to melee and mounted combat
Mechanics and design
The spear is a tiered melee weapon, meaning you craft it with different ingots (copper, iron, gold, diamond, netherite) and each tier affects durability and damage. Its core design stresses reach and momentum:- Jab attack — keeps enemies at bay while on foot; the jab is the spear’s default melee tool for spacing and poke play.
- Charge attack — hold and then release while moving to perform a high-speed, impact-driven strike that increases damage with the player’s movement speed and can dismount enemies. The charge is the spear’s signature move for mounted jousting-like encounters.
Lunge — the spear’s exclusive enchantment
Mojang added a spear‑exclusive enchantment named Lunge. The enchantment modifies the jab attack to propel the player horizontally in their viewing direction, effectively serving as both a combat dash and a short mobility burst. The official snapshot notes make three design points about Lunge:- It only affects the jab attack.
- It requires careful horizontal aim to maximize distance.
- It inflicts significant durability cost to the spear on each use.
Why the spear matters
- Mounted PvE and PvP now have a distinct, dedicated playstyle — speed and momentum matter in damage calculation.
- Spear charging enables creative combat tricks: knock riders off mounts, break shield standoffs, and design arena jousts.
- The presence of mob-held spears (zombies that charge) raises the stakes in open-world nights and near villages.
Nautilus: the underwater ride that pauses your breath
What it does
The nautilus is a neutral, tamable aquatic mount that revolutionizes underwater mobility:- Breath of the Nautilus effect pauses a mounted player’s oxygen depletion, making long-duration underwater builds and exploration more practical.
- Nautiluses can be tamed and bred with Pufferfish or a Bucket of Pufferfish, and they require a saddle to be ridden.
- Nautilus armor is available in copper, gold, iron, diamond, and netherite — armor can be equipped on nautiluses (and zombie nautiluses) to improve survivability and performance.
The Zombie Nautilus
The undead variant spawns with Drowned riders that wield tridents, and while neutral when unmounted, it becomes aggressive when ridden — effectively making certain deep-sea zones riskier. The snapshot notes emphasize the zombie nautilus cannot be bred, and it spawns in more dangerous encounters.Practical impact for players and builders
- Ocean construction and mining get a meaningful quality-of-life boost — the Breath effect is very significant for long underwater tasks.
- Nautilus armor and saddle systems introduce a new slot for mount customization that server economies and builders will monetize.
- The Dash ability allows a skilled rider to dodge hazards and align charged spear strikes, enabling combined nautilus + spear tactics in ocean PvP or Drowned engagements.
The undead mounts — tamable, fast, and fraught with caveats
Zombie horses have existed in Minecraft’s codebase for years but weren’t part of normal survival spawning until now. Snapshot testing introduces zombie horses that spawn naturally at night in plains and savannah biomes, often ridden by spear-wielding zombies. Mojang’s snapshot and follow-up test article clearly state you can remove the rider and tame the mount — a surprising flexibility that flips an old Creative-only curiosity into a potential trophy steed for survival players.Key implementation details from the snapshot:
- Spawn behavior: Zombie horses spawn in darkness and are considered within the hostile mob cap. They burn in sunlight like other undead mobs unless protected.
- Taming: After killing the hostile rider, players can tame the zombie horse like a regular horse — the snapshot notes explicitly state tamed zombie horses become persistent.
- Healing / diet: Snapshot patch notes indicate red mushrooms can be used to heal and tempt zombie horses — a throwback to the unusual mechanics that can come with undead mounts.
Risks and balancing issues
- Sunlight vulnerability forces players to keep undead mounts under cover; that creates interesting base design tradeoffs and an instant target for griefing players who intentionally expose them.
- Server rules and moderation will need to consider taming undead mobs as part of rulesets — on PvP servers, a fast zombie horse can be a griefing vector if not gated.
- Uncertainty: Mojang explicitly labels these snapshot features as subject to change; whether zombie mounts remain tamable in the final build is not guaranteed. Flagging such snapshot-only behaviors as tentative is important for players planning long-term builds.
Cross-platform differences and testing cadence
Mojang’s snapshot is for Minecraft: Java Edition; Bedrock players are slated to get the same features through preview/beta channels soon. This staged rollout reflects the project’s long-standing approach: iterate in Java snapshots, gather feedback, then port the tested systems into Bedrock previews for their own QA cycle. Cross-platform parity may shift during that time, especially for enchantment behavior and mob AI differences.Snapshot testing is intentionally experimental. Mojang’s snapshot release notes and the “Test the first features” article both urge players to submit bugs and feedback through official channels. Expect several design adjustments between snapshot and final promotion, especially where community feedback points to balance or durability issues.
Practical steps to test the snapshot (Java Edition)
- Open the Minecraft Launcher.
- Open the Installations tab and enable snapshots (toggle "Snapshots").
- Create a new installation or choose the snapshot-labeled installation entry (25w41a).
- Back up your worlds before launching the snapshot — snapshots can change world data irreversibly.
- Join or create a single-player world to test features, or run them on a test server; do not use your primary survival worlds for snapshot testing.
Community reaction and points to watch
Player feedback surfaced immediately after the snapshot dropped. The major early threads and feedback channels focus on:- Lunge durability costs — testers report the enchantment damages spear durability heavily, and many want Mending compatibility or durability adjustments. Expect tuning here.
- Spear damage scaling — some testers find charge damage underpowered relative to the risk and cost; others enjoy the momentum-centric combat loop. Balance iteration will determine the final feel.
- Zombie mounts being tamable — a surprise that testers are enthusiastic about, but also cautious: items like sunlight burning, despawn rules, and mob caps can make ownership of undead mounts fiddly. Mojang’s snapshot singled out taming as a testable mechanic but noted features may change.
Technical considerations and server impact
Performance and graphical presets
Snapshot 25w41a also included a revamp of the video settings screen with new graphical presets and mipmap changes for certain block textures. Players on lower-end hardware should test performance in the snapshot before promoting the changes to a production server. The video preset changes aim to make high-FPS behavior more consistent, but edge cases are possible on older GPUs.Modding and datapack compatibility
- Mods and datapacks that reference horse behaviors, mob registries, or combat mechanics may break or need updates. Server operators should treat the snapshot as a development window and not apply snapshot updates to live servers.
- Mod authors are already producing compatibility layers and fan-made backports to make Mounts of Mayhem features available on older versions; those are community projects and not official. Use them cautiously.
Server rules and anti-griefing
Fast, mounted undead or high-mobility spears can exacerbate griefing on PvP or survival servers. Server owners should prepare to:- Revisit spawn and mob-cap rules.
- Consider plugin or datapack controls to restrict where zombie mounts may roam.
- Monitor for exploit paths involving mounted breath-pausing or the Lunge dash.
What’s still uncertain — flagging unverifiable or provisional claims
- Whether taming zombie mounts will remain exactly as implemented in snapshot 25w41a is not certain. Mojang explicitly states snapshots are for testing and that features may change based on feedback. Treat taming behavior as provisional until Mojang confirms final mechanics in pre-release/patch notes.
- Exact release timing beyond “holiday 2025” is not pinned to a specific date in Mojang’s initial announcement. Coverage aggregated around the announcement places the full Mounts of Mayhem drop in the 2025 holiday window, but a firm ship date has not been published in the snapshot notes. Players should watch official channels for the promotion schedule.
- Final balance on Lunge (durability cost, Mending compatibility, maximum distance) is in flux and will likely change during snapshot and Bedrock preview playtests; current community reaction signals a likely adjustment.
Tactical tips for testers (hands‑on)
- Always backup your worlds before opening in a snapshot. Snapshots can alter world data permanently.
- To tame a zombie horse: neutralize or kill the rider without killing the horse, then tame it as you would a regular horse. Keep it under cover to prevent sunlight burning. (This is a snapshot-tested method and may be tuned.)
- To tame a nautilus: use Pufferfish or a Bucket of Pufferfish; equip with a saddle and, optionally, nautilus armor. Use the Dash to align charged spear attacks while mounted.
- When testing Lunge, track spear durability closely — community feedback indicates the enchantment consumes durability rapidly. Consider carrying repair resources or using lower-tier spears for experimentation.
Final analysis — strengths, opportunities, and risks
Notable strengths
- Meaningful mechanical expansion. The spear adds a new weapon archetype that rewards momentum and positioning, which is a rare, meaningful change to Minecraft’s combat sandbox.
- Substantial ocean QoL. The nautilus and Breath of the Nautilus effect materially lower the friction for underwater creativity — a domain Mojang has prioritized in recent drops.
- Fun, emergent gameplay. Taming zombie mounts (even as a test feature) unlocks creative roleplay and survival narratives that the community tends to embrace, expanding the game’s emergent story potential.
Potential risks and challenges
- Balancing headaches. Lunge durability, spear damage scaling, and mob-mounted spear behavior create several balancing dimensions that need careful iteration to avoid one-shot speed metas or underpowered risk/reward. Community feedback already highlights durability as a pain point.
- Server and moderation impact. High‑speed mounted combat and tamable undead mounts can be leveraged for griefing unless servers adapt rules and plugins, increasing admin overhead.
- Cross-platform parity. Bedrock and Java edits can diverge during iteration; players on different platforms may experience different versions of the mount and spear systems until parity is finalized.
Conclusion
Snapshot 25w41a delivers a bold, playable glimpse of what Mounts of Mayhem might be: a combat-forward, mount-rich drop that extends Minecraft’s traversal and ocean toolkits while introducing fresh balance challenges. The spear and its Lunge enchantment nudge the combat loop toward momentum and skill, while the nautilus addresses long-standing underwater friction with a rideable breathing pause and dedicated armor slots. The surprise that zombie mounts are tamable in this snapshot injects a new survival fantasy into the game — but Mojang’s own testing notes remind players these systems are provisional and subject to change.For players and server operators, the immediate priority is clear: test carefully, back up worlds, and give focused feedback on durability, damage, and the behavior of undead mounts. For modders and server admins, the advice is tactical — treat the snapshot as a development window and avoid promoting its changes to live environments until Mojang finalizes the design through preview and full releases.
This first testing wave is exactly what a live, global game needs: community experimentation and concrete telemetry to shape the final Mounts of Mayhem experience. The next few weeks of snapshot and preview feedback will determine whether the spear becomes a beloved new toy or a balancing headache — and whether tamable zombie mounts survive the polishing bench.
Source: Windows Central Spears, zombies, and mounts, oh my in the latest Minecraft test