Better Combat mod for Minecraft, the directional attack rework
Loaders: Fabric (primary), Forge (community port) · MC: 1.19.2, 1.20.1
What the Better Combat mod does
Better Combat is the Minecraft mod that replaces vanilla left-click swing with a proper action combat layer. Every weapon class has its own moveset, swords, axes, spears, greatswords, katanas and daggers each animate differently, hit different arcs and interrupt at different frames. Attacks are directional, look at a mob and swing sideways, downwards, or from behind for different damage windows.
Off-hand slots become useful for the first time since 1.9. You can dual-wield swords, hold a torch and swing a pickaxe, or run a shield in the main hand with a dagger in the off-hand for a parry-and-riposte build. Every weapon animation is bundled with the mod, no resource pack required.
Better Combat is one of the flagship inclusions in the Better Minecraft modpack and is the reason melee actually feels responsive again. Install standalone from the link below, or grab the full modpack for the combined experience.
Features
Directional attacks
Each weapon has 3-5 attack directions triggered by camera angle. A sword swung from above is an overhead crush, a spear thrust while looking level is a lunge, a katana pulled sideways is a quick horizontal cut.
Weapon-specific movesets
Swords, axes, greatswords, hammers, spears, halberds, katanas, daggers, maces, sickles and unarmed all animate differently. Damage numbers, arcs and stun timings match the weapon class.
Dual-wield support
The off-hand slot accepts any weapon, not just shields. Attack cadence alternates hands automatically. Twin-daggers, sword-and-shield, torch-and-pickaxe all work.
Parry and stagger
Well-timed off-hand blocks stagger the attacker, opening a punish window. Weight of the incoming weapon determines how long the stagger lasts.
Modded weapon compatibility
Auto-generates movesets for weapons added by other mods (Alex's Weapons, Simply Swords, Epic Fight) based on tag scanning.
Install
Or grab the full full Better Minecraft modpack and skip the mod-by-mod install.
- 01
Install Fabric or Forge for Minecraft 1.19.2, 1.20.1 (Fabric preferred, mod is Fabric-native).
- 02
Download Better Combat from CurseForge or Modrinth, drop the jar into your Minecraft mods folder.
- 03
Add Fabric API (Fabric build only) if it is not already present.
- 04
Launch, load a world. New keybinds for directional attacks are auto-mapped, edit them in Controls if you prefer WASD-directional over camera-directional.
Loaders
Fabric (primary), Forge (community port)
Minecraft versions
1.19.2, 1.20.1
Compatibility
Works alongside Epic Fight (auto-detects), Simply Swords, Alex's Mobs. Conflicts with Combatify, First Person Model (partial).
Better Combat FAQ
Is Better Combat on Bedrock?
No. It is a Fabric/Forge mod, Java Edition only. Bedrock has no equivalent.
Does Better Combat work with Optifine?
On 1.19.2 there are known animation glitches with Optifine. Use Sodium + Iris Shaders instead, both are bundled in the Better Minecraft modpack.
Best weapon in Better Combat?
Katanas have the highest DPS uncontested. Greatswords have the highest per-hit damage and the widest arc. Spears out-range everything and are the safest pick against multiple mobs.
Can I disable directional attacks?
Yes, toggle in the mod's config file (better-combat.json), every attack falls back to a single vanilla-like animation.
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