Minecraft 1.21.11 Pre-Release 1 Hits Java Server Hosts

Mojang released the testing build for the Mounts of Mayhem drop on 19 November 2025. Serving as the primary testing cycle for the upcoming release, minecraft 1.21.11 pre release 1 signals a shift toward stabilising gameplay through targeted bug fixes. Unlike regular snapshots that stick to Tuesday releases, these test builds arrive without a fixed schedule.

Whether preparing an environment on the public Minecraft Server List or checking client performance, understanding these changes keeps world data and assets running without disruption.

Custom Weapon Mechanics and Item Components

Combat adjustments in this build centre on the spear and a restructuring of technical item components.

The Attack Range Component

Data pack authors get a dedicated format for defining weapon reach. The fields min_reach, max_reach, and hitbox_margin have been removed from minecraft:piercing_weapon and minecraft:kinetic_weapon. Instead, Mojang introduced minecraft:attack_range to handle melee reach across any item type.

This component supersedes the default entity interaction range for players. For hostile and passive mobs, regular melee attack distance usually calculations run off the target hitbox gap; this component lets creators configure extra minimum and maximum padding. Mobs wielding items with minecraft:kinetic_weapon inherit the exact distance calculations used for players. The component configuration uses the following parameters:

• min_range: A float between 0.0 and 64.0 defining the closest valid strike distance (defaults to 0.0).
• max_range: A float between 0.0 and 64.0 setting the furthest allowed attack range (defaults to 3.0).
• hitbox_margin: A float between 0.0 and 1.0 that extends bounding box boundary checks (defaults to 0.3).
• mob_factor: A multiplier between 0.0 and 2.0 modifying the range values when a mob uses the weapon (defaults to 1.0).

Spear Combat and Mob Behaviours

Spears now continuously damage targets if the attacker keeps sprinting or charging forward after landing an initial strike, a mechanic available to both players and mobs. Zombified Piglins can execute spear charges, and Piglins now treat golden spears as a favoured weapon via the #piglin_preferred_weapons tag. Skeletons, stray variants, and Drowned can no longer equip spears from the ground. In the creative menu, spears now sit directly following swords.

Graphical Options and Resource Pack Revisions

Client settings and texture handling received visual rendering revisions in this pre-release snapshot.

Texture Filtering Controls

A new Texture Filtering option appears inside Video Settings to dictate how the engine samples textures seen at steep angles or across long distances. Players can select between None, RGSS (Rotated Grid Super Sampling), and Anisotropic modes.

RGSS applies shader filtering to improve surface clarity across any system with modest hardware costs. Anisotropic filtering relies on dedicated GPU support to provide the sharpest texture presentation, offering selectable quality steps at 2x, 4x, and 8x. Mojang notes that Anisotropic mode substantially raises video memory usage when active alongside high mipmap counts, and provides no visual change if local hardware lacks support.

Visual Assets and Mcmeta Additions

Leather horse armour textures are restructured into separate layers: a tintable base asset and an overlay graphic under entity/equipment/horse_body/leather_overlay.png and item/leather_horse_armor_overlay. In metadata files, the texture block within *.mcmeta files now reads an alpha_cutoff_bias float. This value adjusts alpha bias on lower mip levels for cutout textures to keep distant blocks like kelp visible rather than fading into complete transparency. Mojang recommends slight adjustments around 0.1 rather than extremes near 1.0 or -1.0.

What Server Owners Must Update and Configure

Admins running custom servers or planning for early builds will need to account for structural changes across world packs and commands.

• Data Pack Formats: World data versions update to version 94.0. Custom weapons or datapack mechanics referencing reach inside piercing or kinetic weapon tags will fail to load until moved to minecraft:attack_range.
• Resource Packs: Resource packs advance to version 75.0. Packs overriding horse armour visuals or cutout textures must implement the split overlay textures and examine alpha_cutoff_bias keys.
• Command Parser: The /gamerule command now correctly handles full resource locations for gamerule arguments.
• Advancements: The "Mob Kabob" advancement has been shifted away from challenge advancement classification, which also repairs an issue where repeated hits during one charge erroneously satisfied the trigger.
• Audio Event Removals: Sound configurations referencing item.underwater_saddle.equip must be updated, as that event has been removed entirely.

Hosts tracking release progress towards Minecraft 1.21.11 servers or running later experimental snapshots like Minecraft 1.21.11 Pre-Release 4 should plan world migration tests prior to full production deployment.

What Players Joining a Server Will Notice

Combat and visual feedback feature minor but clear changes. Players charging with spears can maintain contact to rack up continuous damage during lunges, and the attack indicator properly reflects extended spear reach. Holding a spear will no longer lock players out of interacting with utility or decorative interaction entities.

Mounted nautiluses and their zombie variants have updated land sound effects for ambient sounds, dashing, injuries, and death. Nautilus shells now drop at expected rates when using Looting swords. Furthermore, riding camel husks no longer causes them to sink exclusively when players are mounted.