Mobs Use Shields

This mod allows certain mobs to actively use shields in combat instead of only holding them as equipment.

When a compatible mob equips a shield in its offhand, it gains AI behavior that allows it to raise the shield to block incoming attacks, creating short defensive windows before returning to normal combat.

Features

• Mobs can raise shields to block attacks
• Shielding has a configurable duration and cooldown
• Knockback from blocked hits is reduced
• Humanoid mobs display the correct blocking animation
• Mobs can anticipate certain threats and raise shields preemptively
• Axes can disable mob shields, similar to player shield interactions
• By default, only Husk, Zombie, Vindicator and Wither Skeleton would have a chance to spawn with a shield.
• Users can customize which mobs may spawn with shields, and other behavior parameters.

General Configuration

Several global behaviors can be configured:

• mobConsumeShieldDurability Whether mobs consume shield durability when blocking.

• mobAlwaysAnticipate Forces mobs to always use anticipation logic. If set to false, anticipation logic only activates when local difficulty × recent HP loss exceeds a random threshold. (Setting this to true can make PvE combat annoying.)

Entity Tag Configuration

You may add entity types that you do not want to be affected by this mod to the mobsuseshields:disable_shield tag. This disables the mod's shield behavior injection for those entities.

This is useful for preventing AI conflicts with mobs that already have their own shield-using goals, such as Guard Villagers.

Data Pack Configuration

This mod supports data-driven mob shield configs through JSON files.

Example: https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/data-packs/mobs-use-shield-expansion

For detailed explanation, please check wiki.

Compatibility

Vanilla shield interactions remain unchanged.

• For example, Hoglins and Ravagers still interact with shields using their vanilla mechanics.

Fresh Animations / EMF

• Proper blocking poses can be displayed with Fresh Animations.
• This mod overwrites entity arm poses in the EMF render pipeline while shields are being used.

Spartan Weaponry

• Weapons with the Shield Breach trait can disable mob shields, similar to vanilla axes.

Guard Villagers

• Guard villagers are blacklisted from modification made by this mod by default, so that the mob behavior does not conflict with each other.

Notes

Shield behavior is designed around vanilla-style combat flow, with Zombies serving as the primary reference for timing and pacing.

Because different mobs use different vanilla AI structures, some variation in behavior is expected. Compatibility improvements and edge-case fixes may still be added over time.

If you encounter mobs with unusually broken or inconsistent shield behavior, feel free to report them.

Support

If you'd like to support my modding work, including maintenance, updates, and compatibility work, Patreon is available here: https://patreon.com/vomiter_scp