Minecraft teases upcoming weapon mace's strength in new artwork

Minecraft's Tricky Trials update is just a few weeks away at this point, and the game's new features are being regularly highlighted for the player base. To that end, the title's official X account has released multiple pieces of artwork surrounding the new mace weapon and its power to gain strength while players are falling, allowing them to even one-hit KO the Warden.

Thanks to its immensely powerful smash attack, the mace allows players to accumulate damage output for the move as they gain fall distance. If players can land the attack, they can deal massive amounts of damage at once while landing safely. This damage can accumulate to the point where one can destroy other mobs and players in as little as one hit.

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Minecraft's mace could be overpowered, but it requires practice to use

Minecraft maces have a devastating smash attack, but they require practice to use effectively (Image via Mojang)

Any Minecraft weapon capable of taking down a formidable mob like the Warden in one hit is certainly overpowered. However, there are multiple factors to take into account when it comes to using the mace effectively in the 1.21 update. The margin for error for a fatal smash attack, depending on the target, is quite narrow.

Using the Warden in Minecraft Java Edition as an example, players would have to fall for a total of 164.34 blocks (without crits) for a mace smash attack strong enough to deal the 500 damage required to one-hit kill the mob. An approximately 164-block fall takes time, and the target can easily move away during that period, leaving players in a situation where they could take fall damage.

Landing a successful smash attack does reset the fall damage that a player accumulates. However, landing one isn't as easy as it might seem. Since players can't move well horizontally as they fall, having the right positioning and timing to land a successful smash attack with the mace can take some trial and error. The error can often mean taking a sizable amount of fall damage.

The exception to this rule is if players are using elytra, as it's also possible to accumulate damage for a mace smash attack while flying downward with an elytra equipped.

If players can time their dive with their elytra well enough, they can land a smash attack, then level out and land or swoop back up into the sky. However, this still requires practice and testing to pull off.

Using the mace's smash attack takes some time to get used to (Image via Mojang)

Overall, yes, the mace in Minecraft 1.21 can be a deadly weapon when its smash attack is used efficiently. Be that as it may, doing so regularly requires an understanding of how much damage players have accumulated while falling and precise timing and aiming to pull off a smash attack in the first place.

Mojang may tweak the mace over the course of the post-Tricky Trials update development cycle, but the devastation of the smash attack is certainly by design. The developer has already made some nerfs to how damage calculates for the smash attack, but it remains incredibly strong regardless.