The heavy core is the rarest ingredient from trial chambers and the one every player wants, because it is half of the recipe for the mace, the weapon that deals huge damage when you hit an enemy after falling. You cannot craft it, mine it or trade for it. The only source is an ominous vault, which means taking on the hardest version of a trial chamber. This guide explains how to get a heavy core in Minecraft step by step, how ominous trials work, how to improve your chances, and how to turn it into a mace.
Quick answer: where do you get a heavy core?
- Get an ominous bottle from a raid captain.
- Drink it to get Bad Omen.
- Walk into a trial chamber. Bad Omen turns into Trial Omen.
- Defeat the waves from ominous trial spawners to get ominous trial keys.
- Use the keys on ominous vaults. Each opening has a small chance to give a heavy core.
Step 1: Find a trial chamber
Trial chambers are underground structures of tuff and copper, usually between Y -40 and Y -20. Buy a trial explorer map from a cartographer villager, explore deep caves, or use /locate structure minecraft:trial_chambers with cheats on. See how to find trial chambers.
Before starting an ominous trial, it helps to clear the chamber once in normal mode so you know the layout, loot the normal vaults and find where the ominous vaults are. Ominous vaults look like normal vaults but darker, with a blue-gray glow.
Step 2: Get an ominous bottle
Ominous bottles drop from raid captains, the pillagers and vindicators carrying a banner on their heads. You find captains at pillager outposts, wandering in patrols, and during raids. Kill a captain and it drops an ominous bottle. Vaults in trial chambers can also contain ominous bottles, so once you start, you can often keep going without another raid.
Step 3: Get Trial Omen
- Drink the ominous bottle. You get the Bad Omen effect.
- Do not walk into a village, or Bad Omen will start a raid instead.
- Walk into the trial chamber. Bad Omen changes into Trial Omen.
Trial Omen lasts a set time. While it is active, every trial spawner near you switches to its ominous form, with blue flames.
Step 4: Beat ominous trial spawners
Ominous spawners release tougher waves: mobs wear armor, carry enchanted weapons, and some spawners also drop harmful potions and projectiles from above. When you defeat a wave, the spawner drops an ominous trial key along with other loot. Each spawner gives a key once per cycle, then goes on cooldown.
- Fight in narrow corridors so mobs come one at a time.
- Carry a shield for skeleton and bogged arrows.
- Close the distance quickly with breezes; their wind charges deflect arrows.
- Bring milk to remove poison and the Weaving or Oozing effects.
Step 5: Open ominous vaults
Use an ominous trial key on an ominous vault. It ejects a random reward. The heavy core is one of the rare rewards, alongside the Flow armor trim, enchanted golden apples, the Creator music disc and strong enchanted books. Each player can unlock each ominous vault only once, so in single player you need to visit several trial chambers to get many attempts.
How to improve your chances
- Visit many trial chambers: each chamber has several ominous vaults, and each one is a new chance for every player.
- Play with friends: every player can open each vault once, so a group of four gets four times as many rolls from the same chamber.
- Keep ominous bottles: collect them from raids and vaults so you can start the next ominous trial straight away.
- Raid farms: late-game players build raid farms to collect stacks of ominous bottles and emeralds.
The heavy core is a rare drop, so expect to open many ominous vaults before you get one. Treat the other loot as a bonus along the way.
How to make a mace with a heavy core
| Empty | Heavy core | Empty |
| Empty | Breeze rod | Empty |
| Empty | Empty | Empty |
1 heavy core above 1 breeze rod makes the mace. Breeze rods drop from breezes in trial chambers. The mace deals more damage the farther you fall before hitting, and it resets your fall damage when you land a hit, which makes it deadly with wind charges or an elytra. See how to make a mace and what Density and Breach do.
Heavy core facts
- It can be placed as a small block and works as a decoration.
- It has no other crafting use besides the mace.
Heavy cores in Java vs Bedrock
Heavy cores come only from ominous vaults in both editions, and the mace recipe is the same. Exact drop chances and how ominous trials scale with players can differ slightly between editions.
Is the mace worth the effort?
For many players, yes. The mace is the strongest single-hit weapon in Minecraft when you attack after a fall, and with Density it can defeat most mobs in one hit from a modest height. Wind charges, which also come from breezes and vaults, let you launch yourself into the air and slam down on enemies without needing a tall tower. With Breach it cuts through armor, and with Wind Burst it launches you back up after every hit so you can chain attacks. The hunt for a heavy core also rewards you along the way with enchanted books, golden apples, diamonds, emeralds and armor trims, so even unlucky ominous trials are rarely wasted. Plan a few trips, bring friends if you can, and treat the heavy core as the grand prize at the end.
FAQ
Where do you get a heavy core in Minecraft?
Only from ominous vaults in trial chambers, opened with ominous trial keys.
How do you start an ominous trial?
Drink an ominous bottle from a raid captain to get Bad Omen, then enter a trial chamber to turn it into Trial Omen.
Can you craft a heavy core?
No. It cannot be crafted, mined or traded for.
What is a heavy core used for?
Crafting the mace, with one breeze rod.
How rare is a heavy core?
It is one of the rarest ominous vault rewards, so expect to open many ominous vaults to get one.
Checked by the Game Respawned editorial team against the current Java and Bedrock versions. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.