Minecraft Adds Spears — First New Tiered Weapon in 15 Years, Jousting and Zombie-Horse Battles Incoming

Minecraft will add a new tiered weapon called the spear in the Mounts of Mayhem update, marking the first new craftable, tiered weapon in the game since its early days. The feature was shown during the recent Minecraft Live presentation, and the update also brings new mounts and mounted enemies.

1. Spears: what they are
2. Crafting and tiers
3. Combat and jousting mechanics
4. Mounts and enemies
5. Release timing and context

Spears: what they are

The spear is a new tiered melee weapon that Mojang announced for the Mounts of Mayhem update. *It is the first craftable, tier-based weapon added to Minecraft since the game’s early tool set*, and it changes the default close-combat options that have relied mostly on swords and axes.

Crafting and tiers

Spears follow the familiar tier system used by Minecraft tools. Consequently, you can craft wooden, stone, iron, copper, gold, and other material versions. The higher the material rarity, the better the durability and attack power.

The crafting recipe is simple and consistent across tiers: place two sticks in a diagonal line, with the desired spearhead material at the top. For example, two sticks plus one copper ingot crafts a copper spear. This makes spears a direct parallel to swords and other tiered tools.

Combat and jousting mechanics

Spears have two attack types. First, there is a slower, long-reaching jab attack. Second, there is a charge attack: hold the spear, then sprint into your target — the faster you charge, the higher the damage.

Charging while mounted increases the effect. In particular, using a horse, a boat, or even Elytra momentum with a lowered spear boosts damage and can be used for jousting-style play.

However, holding the lowered, ready-to-charge position is limited by a stamina-like mechanic. You must lower the spear before charging, and you cannot hold that lowered position indefinitely because of the spear’s weight. Notably, higher-tier spears are heavier, so a gold or rarer spear will be harder to keep ready than a wooden one. That trade-off affects both timing and risk in melee encounters.

Mounts and enemies

Mounts of Mayhem adds several mounts and also mounts ridden by enemies. For example, a new zombie horse can spawn with a spear-wielding zombie rider. In addition, some underwater mounts appear, including the Nautilus for player use.

There are also hostile mounted variants. The update shows a zombie version of the Nautilus, which can be ridden by a Drowned that throws tridents. Thus, players must expect both mounted allies and mounted threats.

To support underwater exploration, the update highlights ways to extend underwater breathing, with the pufferfish mentioned as a local gameplay element that helps with breathing mechanics.

Release timing and context

The Mounts of Mayhem update is scheduled to arrive later this year, following the Copper Age update released on September 30. Since Minecraft’s 2011 release, new content has added things like cherry blossoms, axolotls, and Ancient Cities, but the core tiered weapon set had not expanded until now.

For historical context, the most recent new tiered tool before the spear was the hoe, which was added in an alpha build in February 2010. Other weapons have appeared — for example, the trident exists as a throwable weapon — but those were not craftable, tiered weapons in the same way as swords or pickaxes.