The mace arrived with the Tricky Trials update and immediately became the strongest weapon in Minecraft — not because it swings hard on flat ground, but because it converts height into damage with no ceiling. A netherite axe caps out around 10 damage. A mace dropped from a tall enough platform will one-shot almost anything in the game, including the Warden. This guide covers how to get one, the exact maths behind the damage, which enchantments actually matter, and how to use it without killing yourself in the process.
The short answer
Minecraft mace recipe
The recipe is the simplest of any late-game weapon and the hardest to gather materials for:
- 1 heavy core — placed in the top-centre slot of the crafting grid.
- 1 breeze rod — placed directly beneath it in the middle-centre slot.
That is the whole recipe. There is no stick, no ingot, and no smithing template involved. The shape is vertical, so the two items must be stacked in the same column of a 3x3 crafting table. It does not work in the 2x2 inventory grid.
How to get a heavy core
Heavy cores drop only from ominous vaults inside trial chambers. These are the pale, glowing vaults that appear after a Bad Omen effect is active, and they need an ominous trial key to open. The drop rate is low — expect several ominous vaults per heavy core — so plan a full clearing run rather than a quick visit.
- Locate a trial chamber in the deepslate layer of the Overworld, usually between Y=-40 and Y=0. Our structure finder and trial chamber finder narrow the search for your seed.
- Clear the normal trial spawners first and collect trial keys from the ordinary vaults.
- Drink an ominous bottle (dropped by raid captains, or bought from wandering trader stock in some versions) to gain Bad Omen.
- Enter the chamber with Bad Omen active. The trial spawners become ominous, mobs get stronger, and ominous vaults appear.
- Defeat the ominous trials to earn ominous trial keys, then open the ominous vaults and hope for a heavy core.
How to get a breeze rod
Breeze rods drop from breezes, the floating wind mobs that spawn from breeze trial spawners inside trial chambers. Each breeze drops one or two rods, and the drop is guaranteed, so rods are the easy half of the recipe. Breezes deflect arrows and fire wind charges that launch you, so fight them in a tight corridor rather than an open arena and bring a shield.
Spare breeze rods are still valuable: crafting one rod gives four wind charges, which are excellent for mace combos and for vertical movement in general.
Mace damage formula explained
The mace deals 7 damage (3.5 hearts) with a normal ground swing, which is weaker than a diamond axe. The weapon only shines when you attack while falling. The fall bonus stacks on top of base damage using a tiered formula:
- Blocks 1 to 3 of fall distance: +4 damage per block.
- Blocks 4 to 8 of fall distance: +2 damage per block.
- Every block beyond 8: +1 damage per block.
So a 3-block drop adds 12 damage for a total of 19. An 8-block drop adds 12 + 10 = 22, totalling 29. A 30-block drop adds 12 + 10 + 22 = 44, for 51 damage — enough to delete a fully armoured player or most bosses' health bars in a single hit. There is no cap, which is why sky-drop mace kills are a meme in PvP servers.
The shockwave
A successful fall attack from more than 1.5 blocks also creates a ground shockwave that knocks back every mob within roughly 3.5 blocks of the impact point. It deals no damage to those mobs, but it buys space in a crowd and is genuinely useful when clearing a mob farm grinder floor or a raid wave.
Best mace enchantments
The mace has three exclusive enchantments plus the usual utility set. It is not compatible with Sharpness, Smite or Bane of Arthropods.
Density (max level V)
Adds 0.5 extra damage per level per block fallen. At Density V that is +2.5 damage for every block of fall distance, which stacks on top of the base fall bonus. This is the strongest general damage enchantment on the weapon and the default choice for survival play.
Breach (max level IV)
Reduces the effectiveness of the target's armour by 15 percent per level, up to 60 percent at Breach IV. Density and Breach are mutually exclusive. Breach wins in PvP against diamond and netherite armour; Density wins against unarmoured or lightly armoured mobs, which covers almost all survival content.
Wind Burst (max level III)
Launches you upward after a successful fall attack, letting you chain a second and third mace hit without touching the ground. Wind Burst III is the most fun and the most skill-dependent option, and it only drops from ominous vaults rather than the enchanting table. It combines with either Density or Breach.
Support enchantments
- Unbreaking III — the mace burns durability quickly; this is non-negotiable.
- Mending — the mace cannot be repaired with any crafting material, so Mending is the only sustainable repair route.
- Fire Aspect II — applies burning on hit and stacks fine with the fall bonus.
- Wind Burst III — treat as a movement enchantment as much as a damage one.
Run your level costs through the enchanting calculator before combining books on the anvil — mace anvil costs climb fast, and a bad merge order can push a book past the too expensive limit. Our enchanting table language guide explains why the table's glyph text tells you nothing about what you are about to roll.
How to use the mace in survival
- Carry a stack of wind charges. Throwing one at your feet launches you 3 to 5 blocks up, which is enough height for a strong mace hit on demand.
- Pair Wind Burst with wind charges and you can stay airborne across several targets without ever touching the ground.
- Use a slow-falling potion when attacking from a high platform so you can line the hit up instead of guessing.
- Keep a Feather Falling IV pair of boots on — they do not reduce your mace damage, but they save you when a hit misses.
- Build a small drop tower near your base or your mob farm killing floor for repeatable high-damage hits.
- Against the Warden or the Ender Dragon, set up a platform 20 or more blocks up and drop onto the target rather than trading melee hits.
Mace vs sword vs axe
- Netherite sword: 8 damage, fastest attack speed, best sustained DPS on flat ground and best for crowds with Sweeping Edge.
- Netherite axe: 10 damage, slow swing, disables shields — the best single ground hit in the game.
- Mace: 7 damage on flat ground, unlimited scaling with fall distance, cancels your fall damage and knocks back crowds.
The honest summary is that the mace is a burst weapon, not a replacement sword. If you cannot get above your target, bring something else. Our best sword enchantments guide covers the alternative loadout in detail.
Durability and repair
The mace has 500 durability, sitting between iron and diamond tools. Every fall attack costs more durability than a normal swing, and because no ingot or crafting material repairs it, the only options are Mending with an XP source or combining two maces on an anvil — which requires a second heavy core. Treat Mending as mandatory and keep your XP topped up with the routes in our fastest XP methods guide.
Java and Bedrock differences
The crafting recipe, damage formula, enchantment list and durability are identical on both editions. The practical differences are combat-system related: Java has attack cooldown, so a mace swing must be fully charged to deal full damage, while Bedrock's click-based combat does not gate damage the same way. Bedrock players therefore land consistent mace hits slightly more easily, and Java players should wait for the cooldown bar to fill before the drop connects.
Quick reference
- Recipe: heavy core above breeze rod, vertical, 3x3 crafting table.
- Heavy core source: ominous vaults in trial chambers.
- Breeze rod source: breezes from breeze trial spawners.
- Base damage: 7 (3.5 hearts).
- Fall bonus: +4 per block for blocks 1 to 3, +2 for blocks 4 to 8, +1 per block after.
- Durability: 500. No material repair. Mending required.
- Exclusive enchantments: Density V, Breach IV, Wind Burst III.
- Cannot take Sharpness, Smite or Bane of Arthropods.
The mace does not make you stronger. Height does. The mace just refuses to put a limit on it.
