Minecraft combat test removes 'coyote time' and buffs healing

(Image credit: Mojang via Tomlacko)

Mojang has been quietly tweaking Minecraft's combat for a while: unless you're a power user of the game's forums or reddit you probably don't even know they're happening. The latest, version six, is now available to install manually for the Java version (check this thread) and it's mostly a series of compensations for the previous version of the test.

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Minecraf 1.18 key art — (Image credit: Mojang)

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For example: six months ago Mojang tested 'coyote time' in combat. This is basically a small auto-aim that was designed to help make combat against smaller enemies, like bats and rabbits, less frustrating. But the implementation proved unpopular— especially for players focused on PvP—so the new version of the test has removed it entirely.

Instead of 'coyote time' smaller creatures will now have "bounding boxes" that are slightly larger than usual, so you're not maniacally swinging for too long to little avail.

There are a number of other changes, mostly stat changes: natural healing is faster by a second, and being attacked will interrupt eating.

Here are the full changes, via reddit:

Aim assist:

Removed "Coyote Time"
Entities with bounding boxes that are smaller than 0.9 of a block are inflated (for targeting purposes) to be 0.9 of a block (rabbits, bats, etc)
Swords always have sweeping attacks again, axes have it with the Sweeping enchantment
Missing now only puts a 4 tick delay until the next attack regardless of weapon.
Increased base reach to 3 (was 2.5) and removed bonus reach for delayed attacks

Changes to shields:

Shields now only protect up to 5 damage for melee attacks (still 100% against projectiles)
Shields recover faster after an attack

Changes to axes:

Renamed Chopping to Cleaving
Removed other weapon enchantments from the enchanting table. The axes simply had too many possible enchantments. It also feels a little bit fitting with a rare Cleaving enchantment than a common Sharpness enchantment for axes

Changes to bows / projectiles:

Player momentum is added to thrown projectiles, but only in the direction you are aiming
Bow and arrow accuracy now slowly decreases the longer you pull the bow

Changes to food and hunger:

Reverted eating time to 32 ticks
Eating is now interrupted if something hits you
Natural healing is even faster (2 seconds, was 3 seconds)
Natural healing drains food 50% slower
By popular request - Reintroduced the rule that sprinting requires more than 6 points of food

Other changes:

Removed the attack indicator completely since it is no longer used by any systems
Fixed knockback calculation
Fixed damage value on items being off-by-one client-side
Fixed bug that caused players to be unable to attack/interract after respawning
Nerfed Sweeping Edge enchantment to 25/33/37.5 percent (was 50/66/75%)

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.