Clean Combos

Clean Combos is a lightweight melee combat overhaul for Minecraft that focuses on consistent weapon behavior, responsive attacks, and polished animations.

No datapacks, weapon compatibility packs, or individual weapon configuration required.

Features

Universal Weapon Compatibility

• Automatically detects and categorizes vanilla and modded melee weapons.
• Three primary movesets: Swing (swords and most weapons), Chop (axes and maces), and Thrust (spears and polearms).
• Unarmed attacks and fist weapons use their own animations.
• Optional configuration overrides for unusual weapons.
• Vanilla mace retains its original smash mechanics by default.

Weapon Handling

• Two-handed: +25% damage, −20% attack speed when holding a compatible weapon with an empty off hand.
• One-handed: Standard damage and attack speed when holding a non-weapon item in the off hand.
• Dual-wielding: −20% damage, +25% attack speed when holding two weapons, with alternating attacks.
• Weapon attributes, enchantments, and attack-speed modifiers remain relevant.
• Grip bonuses and penalties are configurable.

Combat Mechanics

• Two-hit attack combinations with distinct first and second attack timings.
• Attack speed determines animation and combo speed.
• Click-to-attack targeting with automatic approach movement toward enemies.
• Distance-sensitive lunges, with longer approaches taking more time.
• Directional attacks with narrow hit arcs and limited multi-target damage.
• Target tracking that can be broken through movement.
• Jump attacks use downward strikes; thrusting weapons retain their thrust.
• Sprinting with swinging weapons produces a forward thrust.
• Reduced movement speed during attacks.

Animation and Visuals

• Hand-authored attack animations with consistent timing and weapon movement.
• First-person and third-person attack animations.
• Weapon trails following the actual attack trajectory.
• Brief hitstop and impact feedback on successful attacks.
• Subtle visual indicator when a combo follow-up is available.
• Minimal visual clutter, without extensive combat HUD elements.

Deliberately Limited Cleaving

• Attacks use narrow, directional hit arcs rather than broad sweeps that strike entire groups of enemies.
• Cleaving is limited to a small number of nearby targets, preserving the restrained feel of vanilla Minecraft's sweeping attacks.
• Positioning and target selection remain important, particularly when fighting groups.
• Weapon animations are more elaborate, but ordinary attacks are not intended to function like large-area combat abilities.

Configuration and Multiplayer

• Fabric and NeoForge support for Minecraft 1.21.1.
• Server-synchronized combat settings.
• Configurable attack speed, combo rhythm, grip modifiers, movement speed, hitstop, and weapon classification.
• No weapon-specific datapacks required.

Design Philosophy

Clean Combos prioritizes a small number of consistent, reusable attack animations rather than giving each weapon category an extensive custom moveset.

Weapons are differentiated primarily through their existing attributes, attack speed, reach, and handling rather than animation variety.

Combat is intended to remain familiar to Minecraft players. There are no complex combo inputs, stance trees, or additional combat progression systems.

The emphasis is on making ordinary melee attacks feel more deliberate and physically connected while retaining compatibility with equipment-heavy modpacks.

Choose Clean Combos if you prefer consistent attacks, automatic modded-weapon support, straightforward controls, and a minimal combat system over extensive weapon-specific animations or complex action-combat mechanics.