How to Get a Mace in Minecraft (Heavy Core Drop Rate)

To get a mace in Minecraft, you need one heavy core and one breeze rod. The breeze rod is easy, since every breeze you kill drops at least one. The heavy core is the hard part: it only comes from ominous vaults in trial chambers, and each ominous vault has a 7.5% chance of giving you one.

Last checked: November 9, 2026. Numbers come from the loot tables and item data in Java 26.3, the current release. The vault loot tables in Mojang's official Bedrock sample files use the same weights.

What is the mace recipe?

The mace is a shaped crafting recipe with two ingredients stacked vertically:

Put the heavy core directly above the breeze rod in a crafting table and you get one mace. There is no other way to craft it, and no structure chest or mob drop gives you a finished mace.

Where do you find a heavy core?

Heavy cores only drop from ominous vaults, the dark, ominous versions of the vaults found inside trial chambers. Normal vaults never give one.

An ominous vault has three loot rolls. The last one has a 75% chance to pull from a short list of special rewards, and the heavy core is one of five items on that list:

At 7.5% per vault, you need to open about 9 ominous vaults for a coin-flip chance at a heavy core, and about 30 to be 90% sure. Every player can open each vault once, so a big trial chamber with several ominous vaults, or a few chambers in the same area, is where most players get theirs.

The trial chambers guide covers how to find the structure and clear its spawners.

How do you open an ominous vault?

You need an ominous trial key, and those only come from ominous trial spawners. Getting there takes a few steps:

1. Get an ominous bottle. Pillager captains (the pillager carrying a banner, found leading patrols and at outposts) always drop one. Normal vaults in trial chambers can also give them.
2. Drink the bottle to get the Bad Omen effect.
3. Walk into a trial chamber. Bad Omen turns into Trial Omen, and trial spawners near you switch to their ominous form.
4. Clear an ominous trial spawner. Ominous spawners send tougher, better-equipped waves. When the last mob dies, the spawner gives each nearby player a reward. In the game data, an ominous trial key is picked 3 times out of 10, and food or potions the other 7.
5. Use the key on an ominous vault. Each key opens one vault, and only once per player.

Trial spawners go on a 30-minute cooldown after they have been cleared, so you cannot farm one spawner over and over in a short session. Moving between several spawners while Trial Omen lasts is the faster route.

Where do you get breeze rods?

Breezes drop breeze rods when a player kills them, 1 to 2 rods each. Every level of Looting adds 1 to 2 more on top. Breezes spawn from breeze trial spawners, which you will meet while hunting for keys anyway. A normal breeze spawner releases 2 breezes for one player, plus 1 more for each extra player.

You only need one rod for the mace, but keep a few spare. Breeze rods also repair the mace at an anvil and turn into wind charges.

How much damage does the mace do?

The mace has a slow normal swing and a huge falling attack.

The real reason to use it is the smash attack. If you have fallen at least 1.5 blocks when you hit, the mace adds bonus damage based on how far you fell:

So a 3-block drop adds 12 damage, an 8-block drop adds 22, and a 20-block drop adds 34. A successful smash also cancels the fall damage you would have taken from that fall and knocks back other mobs around the target. You cannot smash while gliding with an elytra.

The in-game advancement Over-Overkill asks for 50 hearts (100 damage) in one mace hit, which shows how far the falling damage can scale.

What are the best mace enchantments?

The mace has three enchantments of its own, plus a few shared with swords and tools.

Density, Breach, Smite and Bane of Arthropods all sit in the same group, so you can only have one of them. Pick Density if you mostly attack from big drops, since Density V adds 2.5 damage for every block you fall. Pick Breach if you fight armored players or mobs with normal swings, since Breach IV cuts armor effectiveness by 60%.

Wind Burst is what makes chained smashes possible. After a smash, it creates a gust that throws you back up, so you can fall onto the next target. The data gives knockback multipliers of 1.2, 1.75 and 2.2 for levels I to III, and it only fires if you fell at least 1.5 blocks. Ominous vaults only hand out Wind Burst I books, so you need to combine books at an anvil to reach III.

Use the enchantment order calculator to combine these with the fewest levels, and see the best enchantments table for how the mace compares with other weapons.

Tips for using the mace

• Carry wind charges. Throwing one at your feet launches you upward, which gives you the fall distance you need for a smash without building a tower. Normal and ominous vaults hand out wind charges often.
• Swap to it at the last second. Hold a sword or bow while you climb, then switch to the mace just before you land. The bonus depends only on your fall, not on how long you held the mace.
• Do not miss. The fall damage protection only applies to a smash that lands. Miss the target from 20 blocks up and you take the full fall.
• Keep it repaired with Mending. At 500 durability the mace wears out fast if you use it as your main weapon.

Frequently asked questions

How rare is a heavy core in Minecraft?

Each ominous vault has a 7.5% chance to give a heavy core. That works out to about 9 ominous vaults for a 50% chance and about 30 for a 90% chance, and each player can open every vault once.

Can you get a mace without a trial chamber?

No, not in survival. The heavy core only drops from ominous vaults, which only appear in trial chambers, and the mace has no other recipe or loot source.

Do normal vaults drop heavy cores?

No. Normal vaults have their own special reward list, with golden apples, the Bolt armor trim, the Guster banner pattern, the Precipice music disc and tridents. Only ominous vaults can roll a heavy core.

Does the mace stop fall damage?

Yes, but only when the smash attack hits. A successful smash cancels the fall damage from that fall, while a missed swing leaves you to take the full damage.

Is Density or Breach better on a mace?

Density is better for falling attacks, adding 2.5 damage per block fallen at level V. Breach is better against heavily armored targets and on normal hits. You cannot have both on one mace.

How do you get Wind Burst III?

Combine Wind Burst books at an anvil. Ominous vaults only give Wind Burst I, so two level I books make II, and two level II books make III.