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minecraft, mods

Minecraft: 25 Mods You Absolutely Can’t Play Without

No more vanilla base game for you!
This article is over 9 years old and may contain outdated information

Playing vanilla Minecraft is fun and all, but sometimes you just need something to spice things up a little or generally improve the gameplay experience. That’s where mods come in, and these 25 are a bunch you absolutely won’t want to play without.

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Better HUD

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

Minecraft’s got a pretty good HUD as is, but there’s always room for improvement. With the Better HUD mod, you’ll have a compass, the time and day, the armor you’re wearing and arrows you’re holding, and anything your cursor points at will be broken down for you at a glance.

What about if you’re tired of having to keep switching things out from the hotbar just so you can easily equip it? The Dual Hotbars mod aims to give you way more space so there’s a whole lot less inventory checking.

Next up in the HUD optimization we have the TooManyItems mod. Its uses include buttons that change the time, change the gamemode, and fill hunger/health. Additionally, it’s an inventory management mod to help creators save a lot of time. You can search any block and add it to your inventory for a full set.

And finally, if clutter isn’t your style, there’s the Compact Display HUD mod that adds a sleek, minimalistic HUD to the game.

Vehicles!

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

Horses and boats are cool and all, but vanilla Minecraft could use some more flavor and excitement in the vehicles department. With the Ships mod, you’re able to control large masses of blocks. Simply shape them all into the ship of your dreams and you’re able to steer it through the high seas. How about on land, though? The Vehicular Movement mod adds 37 vehicles that you can drive around to get to where you need to go faster. And, finally, we have Flan’s Mod which is a really big mod full of mechs, tanks, and helicopters. It also has a ton of other military items, so go nuts.

Fly Like an Eagle

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

Now that you have the land and sea vehicles at the ready, want to know how to fly around? Airship Mod lets you customize a steampunk-esque airship to fly around with. Want to fly around in a more modern look, though? The Add Aircraft to Minecraft mod will add over 40 different aircrafts (and over 10 new weapons) to the game. Let’s say you want to bail out of your new airships or aircrafts, or maybe you want to go base jumping off a bunch of mountains. You’re going to want to get the Parachute mod then to save your little adventurer’s butt.

Shoot ’em Up

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

If the medieval weaponry isn’t doing it for you in Minecraft and you want some more modern firepower, the Balkon’s Weapon mod will ensure you get an upgrade. It will open up a whole new world of possibilities for weapons from “spears and knives to crossbows and muskets.” Melee, throwing, shooting, and more await you with this mod.

Go Anywhere Faster

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

Wish Minecraft had fast travel like other games? Now it can with the Teleportation Mod. This adds three wands: the Warp Wand which remembers a set location for easy teleportation, the Portal Teleportation Wand which creates a new portal or teleports you to a nearby one, and the Jump Wand which acts as an instant teleporter to wherever you’re looking. Also included with the mod are two weapons that teleport enemies away and a “Teleportation Dimension.”

Fix Up Your House

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

Let’s get the most obvious one out of the way: chimneys. Why weren’t these included in the base game? Why do players have to craft some makeshift ones? With the Decorative Marble and Decorative Chimneys mod, you can get some really nice chimneys on your humble abodes. For the interior designers out there, you’re going to want the Furniture Mod. It adds 30 pieces of furniture from refrigerators to sofas to entertainment systems. And for those with a green thumb, the Modular Flower Pots mod adds very beautiful ways to grow your garden with clay pot blocks and wooden posts.

Beautiful Oceans

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

Ever feel like the Minecraft oceans are pretty bland and lame to explore? Well, the Mariculture mod will add realistic deep sea biomes, diving gear, hatcheries, improved fishing, and a speedboat. Meanwhile, the Aqualculture mod adds new fish and cool Neptunium armor and weapons to catch. And the Oceancraft mod will add life to the sea with new ocean and beach mobs as well as an overwhelming darkness to really get that feeling of exploring a new world down.

Make the World Come Alive a Bit

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

Villages are nice to find in the alone world of Minecraft, but they’re boring beyond stealing their randomly generated stuff. No more! With the Helpful Villagers mod, you can assign jobs to villagers so that they become self-sustainable and mine, hunt, farm, and defend against mobs for you. Couple this with the Mo’ Villages mod and you’ll have a ton of villages to explore in the world. What’s more, you can get the Custom NPCs mod and give each villager a personality and even add quests that they’ll want you to do for them. And add in the Millenaire mod to receive brownie points from villages the more you trade with them. Get on their good side enough and you can become leader of them, even.

ANIMALS!!!

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

Vanilla Minecraft definitely needs an upgrade in the animal department. So check out Animals+ and More Nature for whales, sharks, manta rays, birds, caterpillars, lizards, snakes, penguins, and much more. Variety is the spice of life. And special, different chickens can be spiced up for deliciousness. Get the Mo’ Chickens mod for a whole slew of chickens that, instead of eggs, lay helpful items. You can even have Inventory Pets that grant you buffs whenever you have the pet in your hotbar. Oh, and don’t hesitate to get the Doggy Talents mod so that your canine friend can earn their keep with training. There’s even a mod for breeding up different dinosaurs. And, for the fantasy Minecrafter in your life, you can hatch, train, and ride your very own dragon with Dragon Mounts.

Let’s Get Realistic with the Environment

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

With the Enhanced Biomes mod, you can add 87 new biomes, 15 new trees, and 6 new stones to your Minecraft world for whatever kind of environment you want. Want to live in constant fear of the environment, though? The Local Weather Mod adds a realistic weather system that goes beyond simple rain. Tornadoes, cyclones, and hurricanes will be available to make your life hell.

FOOOOOOOOOOOD

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

As was said before, variety is the spice of life. Add way more food to your Minecraft world so you’re not stuck eating the same damn thing over and over. With the Still HungryMoar Food, and Pam’s HarvestCraft mods, you’ll get a ton of new food to harvest and new tools to do so.

Make the Lights Pretty

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

If you find that there’s not enough glow in your life, then the Dynamic Lights mod will make everything that’s supposed to glow do exactly that. Gone are the days when lighting items didn’t glow before being placed. Watching a zombie roast is a thing of beauty now, too.

Let’s Get Realistic with Ourselves

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

Steve is practically a robot. A lifeless, soulless, husk of a person. With the Animated Player mod, though, you can add facial expressions and much more realistic movements to Steve as you adventure through the world. Finally, your character won’t look completely unfazed and depressed about life.

WHAT? POKEMON?

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

In the greatest feat known to humankind, there can be Pokemon in Minecraft. With the Pixelmon mod, Pokemon roam the world and you’re able to catch, train, and fight them. You can check out the list of available Pokemon here. Here are all the items and Poke Balls the mod adds. And here are a variety of recipes available with the mod. A 3D Pokemon adventure awaits!

Be a Sicko

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

Look, we won’t judge if you want to build a mansion full of mob heads. Or maybe have an entire wall full of the heads of your fallen foes/victims. Go ahead and get the Headcrumbs mod to make your sick, sick dreams come true.

Store More

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

If you find yourself constantly running out of room in your inventory while you adventure about, the Iron Backpacks mod will allow you to craft four kinds of backpacks that expand as you upgrade them. There’s even an “eternity” upgrade that allows you to keep the backpack and its contents in the event that you die. The Better Chests mod, on the other hand, allows a whole lot of upgrades and different helpful perks to chests.

Get Thirsty

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

So there’s already hunger in Minecraft. But what about thirst? The Thirst Mod adds a thirsty bar above the health bar. It also adds recipes for rain collectors, drinks brewers, and drinks stores. Check it out for even more realism!

Craft Anywhere

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

The iBench mod allows your Steve to have a modern day cellphone that doesn’t actually call anyone but does have a very useful app: crafting. With it on the hotbar, you’re able to craft wherever and whenever as you would with a crafting table. Gone are the days when you had to stick to that dumb table. Welcome to the 21st century.

Be the Mega Builder You Can Be

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

Want massive structures but don’t have the time? Starting a new game and really looking to get started with a quick farm or storage room? The Instant Massive Structures mod will spawn exactly that, wherever you want. Build anything from a tower to a football field instantly and hassle free.

Get a Little Spooky

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

In the utmost morbidity, the Gravestone Mod adds cemeteries and gravestones throughout the world. Furthermore, it will add a grave site wherever you or your pet or horse or whatever dies. And, get this, you can even dig up your dead animals’ corpses. That’s the only way to get them back. Not only that, but more skeleton and wither spawners appear. What a way to go bump in the night.

Craft Even More

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

Want the capabilities of creative mode but also want to stick to survival? Check out the More Crafting Recipes Mod to be able to craft things like ore blocks and music disks. You can even craft blocks originally only within the Nether and the End.

Craft Even the Smallest Items

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

Want the most realistic looking building interiors? Get the Decocraft mod to craft a ton of furniture and, most notably, silverware. That’s right, even the smallest fork can be crafted to complete that spotless dining room look. This mod really adds a massive amount of decorations that you won’t be able to imagine playing Minecraft without again.

Chat it Up!

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

Play a lot of multiplayer servers? If you find that it’s difficult to keep up with the chat, or even just want a cool way to read other players’ messages, the Chat Bubbles mod is for you. It adds chat bubbles above the head of people that type something into the chat. It really gives Minecraft a comic book feel, to boot.

Don’t Waste Any Materials

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

Every make a mistake and craft way too many of an item you didn’t really need? What a shame to hoard it because you feel guilt from having just wasted that material. With the Deconstruction Table mod, you can deconstruct whatever item so as to salvage the blocks that would have been wasted otherwise. Simple to use and saves a ton of heartache, it’s a wonder it’s not in the base game already.

Don’t Get Lost

Top 25 Minecraft Mods You Can’t Play Without

 

The map in Minecraft can use a ton of work, let’s face it. And let’s not even get started on if you don’t have one. Which way is north? Where the hell are you? Who can truly tell? With the Finder Compass mod, you’ll get extra needles on your compass that point out strongholds, mob spawners, and ores. It’s so useful for its mining capabilities. No more struggling to find coal. Meanwhile, the VoxelMap mod adds a minimap (and optimizes regular maps) to display elevation, mobs, structures, other players, waypoints, and even the last place you died at.


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Author
Image of Yamilia Avendano
Yamilia Avendano
Yami was the founder of Twinfinite having written for the site since its inception in 2012 through until she sold it to the GAMURS Network in March 2022. Yami has been playing games since 1991, with a penchant for anything in the simulation and action genres. The Sims 4 has consumed thousands of hours of Yami's life, and she's totally ok with it.