New Minecraft snapshot lets you test its game-changing spear and nautilus mount

You can test Minecraft Mounts of Mayhem's most exciting additions right now, thanks to the launch of the first snapshot for the new update. We might be in the Copper Age, but I'm most eager to get my hands on the spear weapon and the nautilus. The underwater mount is about to completely change how you explore underwater, and of course it comes with a hostile equivalent to keep you on edge. The undead are getting stronger elsewhere, too, as zombie horses finally arrive in survival.

The new Minecraft snapshot 25w41a will be our first hands-on time with Mounts of Mayhem, and that means it's an update you won't want to miss. The spear is going to change the flow of combat forever with its precision long-range attacks, while the nautilus can allow you to freely explore underwater without worrying about air. Whatever you come to the sandbox game for, this will feel like one of the most transformative Minecraft updates in quite some time.

The nautilus is a neutral mob that can be found underwater in all ocean biomes. Its natural prey is pufferfish, which it will seek out and attack in the wild, and you can use these to tame one for yourself. Once claimed, you can plop a saddle on it, making use of its dash to explore. The best part is that, while riding it, you won't need to breathe - the 'Breath of the Nautilus' effect doesn't reset your air level, but you can explore as much as you like as long as you don't climb off of it. There are also copper, golden, iron, diamond, and netherite armor types to find for them.

The spear, meanwhile, comes in wood, stone, copper, iron, gold, diamond, and netherite variants, and each material attacks at different speeds. They're trickier to use, with a standard jab attack that knocks back and a charge that deals more damage the faster you're moving, even dismounting opponents if you're really putting the pedal to the metal.

Your spear strikes won't hit if you're too close to a target, and the charge can only be held for a limited time before you start to tire, so it'll take some practice to really get used to it. Additionally, there's a new 'lunge' enchantment for the weapon that causes your jabs to launch you forward, but at the cost of significant damage to your spear's durability.

Zombies, husks, piglins, and zombified piglins are all capable of wielding spears against you. They don't have as much range as you, but hit harder and can knock you off your mount at a lower speed using the charge. Zombie horses, previously a creative-only mob, now spawn naturally in survival. They, along with the new zombie nautilus, aren't naturally hostile towards players, but their riders are - knock them off and you could even claim one as your own.

Alongside these changes, the new snapshot includes improvements to graphics settings and introduces a stopwatch command that can keep track of real time if you're creating custom content. We're not expecting the full Minecraft Mounts of Mayhem release date to arrive until December, so this will be the only way to test out the new features for quite a while.

Minecraft snapshot 25w41a is live now in the Java version. Read the full patch notes courtesy of Mojang before getting started. If you play on the Bedrock version, you'll need to wait instead for a Minecraft preview to roll out there.

Looking to complete your collection? Track down all of the current Minecraft mobs with our handy helper, and spice things up a bit with the best Minecraft mods in 2025.

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