Vanilla Minecraft is fun enough for many users, but often, it’s not uncommon for players to spice things up a little. By doing this, players have more fun and unique experience with the game, whether it be vanilla-friendly, to create, or for surviving. Minecraft mods are perfect for enhancing the game in virtually every aspect, including weather enhancement, newer and more unique animals, improved biomes with different blocks, upgraded survival weaponry, and more intense mobs. For many players, mods are used to give Minecraft more perks and beauty, something that players often feel that the original game is missing. Adding mods to your Minecraft and going into creative mode is beneficial enough for building, but if you ever wanted a way to increase the difficulty of surviving, mods are the key to your heart. The mods on this list comprise mostly vanilla-friendly mods, so they aren’t game-defying or too alien to the original Minecraft. Despite this, mods always give the player the opportunity and abundance of both convenience and difficulty in terms of survival. With that being said, this list comprises the 15 best Minecraft mods that are fun, exciting, and great for survival mode.

15. "Spice of Life" Mod

Spice Of Life: Carrot Edition Mod Review Awesome Mod For Unique Food!

This mod focuses entirely on food and health, an aspect in Minecraft that is often overlooked and not really seen as important. In survival mode, your only goal is to survive, making the food you eat during the game is not a thing of concern. However, for this mod, eating specific and more unique food in the game can give you more benefits compared to vanilla. This mod allows you to eat food, and the more different the food type is, the more health benefits you get. You are given a task of crafting the “food book”, an item that comes only with this mod, that tracks the number of foods you have eaten, the number of hearts you have gained by doing so, the “boring” foods you have tasted, and a few other things the book keeps track of.

Crafting this book is simple–all you have to do is get a book and a carrot, put that into a crafting table, and there you obtain it. Speaking of hearts gained, the more unique foods you eat, the more hearts you gain on your health bar, making survival mode way beneficial in the long run. 

Overall features/benefits of this mod:

• Gives you more hearts overtime 
• New crafting abilities 
• Better health

Get the mod here

14. "Bountiful" Mod

This mod is very great for first-time users, people who love playing games with tasks, and others who find more value in quests. The Bountiful mod features a post-like block that generates on a singular wooden fence stick, typically generated in a village. This block contains pages that act as tasks for the player to complete, each page giving you a certain amount of time, a certain task, and a reward for each one finished. Each bounty board contains different bounties from one another, some being rarer or more common. For example, a bounty on the bounty board may instruct you to kill five zombies for a certain amount of emeralds or gold ingots. This is great for receiving materials more quickly and making great use of being in survival. It also challenges the player and creates more activity, providing an enhanced and more fun way of playing survival. 

Overall features/benefits of this mod:

• Given tasks for more playability 
• Rewards with rarer materials 
• More challenges 

Get the mod here

13. "General Disasters" Mod 

Minecraft General Disasters Mod!

As the name of this mod implies, it gives you the ability to spawn and also be in natural disasters, such as sinkholes, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes. You can do this in either creative or survival mode, but especially in survival mode, this mod can be very intense and unexpected, giving the player a great experience. The sinkholes that this mod provides are brief and medium-sized craters that randomly spawn at any moment, or spawn right away if you type in commands. This can inflict damage on your health depending on where you stand, and can partially devastate a village and your survival home.

Earthquakes can also negatively inflict on your health and the surrounding structures–but the volcanic eruptions, by far, are the most damaging of the three. The natural disaster spawns volcanoes that pierce the sky, with a large hole directly in the center of the top. This hole fills the lava over time and quickly creates an immense cloud of black smoke, shooting off tephras at random places, making a circle of fire wherever it lands (hopefully not on you). This mod is great for survival as it offers a more unique and realistic feature to survival, making the experience of surviving more difficult–and fun. 

Overall features/benefits of this mod:

• Sinkholes, volcanoes, earthquakes 
• Can destroy a lot of areas 
• Great escapist survival 

Get the mod here

12. "Sophisticated Backpacks" Mod 

Guide to Sophisticated Backpacks, Customizable Backpack Mod

Have you asked yourself one time, “Would Mojang ever add backpacks to Minecraft, for handy inventory and design?” If you have, you are probably still disappointed that backpacks are yet to be added to vanilla, but for this mod, you can finally wipe your Minecraft tears. This mod simply allows you to don and use backpacks for some much-needed room for inventory and tools that you would use for survival on the go. Players also can dye the backpacks any color, giving them a wider variety of styling and design.

The convenience of having a backpack in Minecraft is very impressive, especially if you plan on using survival mode for this mod. The backpack in this mod is crafted ‌simply–all you have to do is grab some string, leather, and a chest for the storage aspect, and boom! A wonderful backpack that you can put anything in. For added inventory space and quality, you can also craft iron, gold, diamond, and Netherite backpacks. These backpacks have more space in them, and can simply be crafted into their material requirements. Iron backpacks have the second smallest inventory space, while the Netherite one has the most inventory space. If this wasn’t cool enough, this backpack comes with slide slots that allow you to perform crafting, smelting, stone cutting, and much more without having to have a block to do it. The only thing this backpack needs is… a map! 

Overall features/benefits of this mod:

• Backpacks that can be upgraded in storage space 
• Available in many colors 
• Comes with crafting abilities 

Get the mod here

11. "Terralith 2.0" Mod 

Terralith 2.0: Overworld Evolved - Official Trailer

“Incredible” wouldn’t be enough to describe how exceptional this mod is. For this mod, biome generation and formation is beyond beautiful and provide structures that would otherwise not be seen usually in vanilla Minecraft. This mod provides completely unique biomes such as the highlands, amethyst forests, groves, and Skylands that are astonishing to look at. For survival, this mod is optimal and perfect for exploring and building a home. Terralith 2.0 can also be played in vanilla Minecraft, making it one of the friendliest games to use in the original without adding new blocks. The landscape generation is very realistic, and beautiful, and gives the player a chance to explore deeper caves to find more materials. As beneficial as it is for survival mode, this mod is absolutely perfect for creative mode, because of the more enhanced and realistic formation of biomes. This mod is phenomenal overall, and a brilliant choice for a survival game.

Overall features/benefits of this mod:

• Beautifully generated terrain 
• Vanilla friendly 
• Great for building 

Get the mod here

10. "Better Animals Plus" Mod 

Minecraft. Better Animals Plus Showcase

If you’re like most people, you probably love animals. In Minecraft, iconic animals such as the pig, cow, sheep, wolf, and ocelot are the only real animals in Minecraft that are versatile and popular in the game. Many players could only wish for a bear or moose to be added to Minecraft, but for this mod, those wishes come true. Better Animals Plus is a mod where new animals, notably North American, are added to the game and come with many beautiful designs and functions.

This mod comes with animals such as the grizzly bear, black bear, deer, moose, turkeys, other birds, goats, wolves, squirrels, and even sea creatures such as octopuses, eels, whales, sharks, and much more. The best feature of this mod is that you can use the animal heads to plaster onto your wall as ‌decoration. There are so many majestic animals in this download, 35 animals in counting, and would be perfect for a Northwestern-styled Minecraft cabin home. Just make sure you don’t mess with the bears in survival… or you may have to get a tombstone mod. 

Overall features/benefits of this mod:

• Plenty of animals with a variety of behaviors 
• Abilities such as tamability and fur collecting 
• Can use decapitated animal heads as decor

Get the mod here

9. "Xaero's World Map" Mod

Xaeros World Map and Minimap!

This map mod is ideal and truly perfect for any survival mode world. Simply, this mod is a map where you can see every detail of your world and travel directly to one spot without having to get lost. Xaero’s World Map can be accessed at the top of your screen and can be adjusted to any size you prefer. This mod comes with plenty of settings that can be used and suited to fit your game. A noticeable benefit of this mod is that you can map out your survival base spot without getting lost in different biomes, for a way more convenient and better way to travel and explore. 

Overall features/benefits of this mod:

• A detailed corner map and main map 
• Great for plotting survival bases
• Ideal for exploring 

Get the mod here

8. "Spiders 2.0" Mod 

Realistic Climbing Spiders in Minecraft! (Spiders 2.0 Mod)

Now we enter the mods that are more challenging in survival mode and slightly more… scary. The mod Spiders 2.0 is a mod in which the spider mobs are enhanced and act more like actual spiders, giving them more combatting abilities. With this mod, spiders are transformed into more realistic spiders who can climb against walls, and on top of ceilings which make them more difficult to fight as they are smarter. Add this mod to your Minecraft survival and try to scare your friends with some abnormally enhanced spider mobs. You may need to play survival with a friend right beside you, or better yet, with the lights on. 

Overall features/benefits of this mod:

• Spiders that act realistically 
• Faster and creepier spiders 
• Stronger and smarter spiders 

Get the mod here

7. "True Darkness" Mod 

Showing off 'True Darkness' mod

True Darkness is a mod that simply allows the Minecraft world to become completely dark, making survival mode at night more challenging and frightening. In normal vanilla Minecraft, the night is still visible with a blue hue cast on the surrounding blocks. However, for this mod, everything is pitch black, unless you have a light source around you or carried in your hand; such as a torch. The total darkness in a survival mode game makes exploring caves much more challenging, as light sources are scarce and makes the entire atmosphere eerier. Fighting mobs and running into them during the night will also be ‌many horrors, making survival more realistic and difficult. 

Overall features/benefits of this mod:

• Pitch black darkness at night 
• More spooky 
• Challenging to fight mobs 

Get the mod here

6. "Tool Belt" Mod 

Tool Belt: Item access made easy! Bit-by-Bit by Mischief of Mice!

This mod is super convenient, especially for mining and building in survival mode. The Tool Belt mod, as the name implies, is a mod in which a tool belt is worn on your character and can be accessed with a few clicks to open the inventory. The standard belt you are given only has two slots, but once you upgrade the belt with enchantment points, the more slots you get. This expands your inventory for housing items during any exploration or hunting you may be on about. It’s a much-needed feature in Minecraft that we can hope is added to the original vanilla game soon. 

Overall features/benefits of this mod:

• Easy-to-access tools 
• Can upgrade belt for more space 
• Wearable 

Get the mod here

5. "Blood Moon" Mod 

BLOOD MOON SURVIVAL! | Stronger Mobs Pack

Now we are back with the freaky mods. This mod will have you extra strapped and terrified every night in survival mode. Mobs in the Blood Moon mod are way more powerful, with abilities being enhanced such as faster speed, more mob lifespan, faster regeneration, powerful and enchanted items they carry, and faster respawning. Skeletons, in particular, have better weapons, such as enchanted bows and armor. Zombies are faster and take less damage, making them harder to defeat. Creepers can actually run and come charged, as well as spiders and Endermen having more lifespan and speed. If you ever wanted survival mode to be much more difficult and borderline terrifying, this mod is your answer. 

Overall features/benefits of this mod:

• Stronger and scarier mobs 
• Are faster and smarter
• Can utilize enchanted weapons 

Get the mod here

4. "Archer's Paradox" Mod 

Archer's Paradox! - Mod Overview | Minecraft Java 1.16.5

Archer’s Paradox mod is a great mod for defeating mobs, surviving in your world more efficiently, and having more advanced weapons. With this mod, your level of combat is drastically increased due to having a wide variety of arrows that all have different qualities. Such arrows in this mod include arrows that freeze the mob, cause explosions, and fires, have teleporting abilities, and much more. If you want to upgrade your mob fighting game, this mod is ideal for you. The true way to survive in survival mode is defeating the enemies around you and staying safe, so with this enhancement, you will have a larger opportunity to destroy them!

Overall features/benefits of this mod:

• A variety of arrows with different abilities 
• Great for fighting mobs 
• Increases survival 

Get the mod here

3. "Better Weather" Mod 

Better Weather Mod - Blizzard Rain, Acid Rain in Minecraft

This mod enhances the Minecraft weather by adding new weather climates and seasons. In this mod, the player can experience acid rain, blizzards, light rain, and cloudiness, which all influence you, the mobs, and animals. The acid rain harms mobs more than animals, and the blizzards can slow your speed down. The seasons within the mod can change the biomes in terms of temperature, affect the speed of crop growth, the effect of animal breeding, and the natural coloring of crops. You no longer need to cry about bland and depressing weather in Minecraft, now you can have acid rain and be burned alive–fun! 

Overall features/benefits of this mod:

• Acid rain, blizzards, light rain, cloudiness 
• Can attack mobs by itself 
• More challenging in survival 

Get the mod here

2. "Alex's Mobs" Mod 

Alex's Mobs (Minecraft Mod Showcase | 1.16.5)

Similarly to Better Animals Plus, Alex’s Mobs is a classic and iconic mod in Minecraft. This mod features so many animals with a variety of abilities and styles, giving you the “Spice of Life” in a survival mode world. In contrast to Better Animals Plus with mostly North American animals, Alex’s Mobs adds a staggering 71 new mobs to the game, giving so much variety of animals that have tons of features. The grizzly bear, for instance, is tameable, and loves honey, but can attack you if you get close to their babies. Raccoons are also another feature in this mod that are both absolutely adorable and can assist you in fighting mobs. This mod is amazing for anyone that finds the vanilla mobs get kind of old and overused most times. Other featured animals include ravens, elephants, many other birds, orcas, gorillas, American eagles, and so much more! 

Overall features/benefits of this mod:

• 71 animal mobs with different behaviors 
• Can drop animal remains
• Tamable animals 

Get the mod here

1. "Improved Mobs" Mod 

Minecraft: Guardian-Riding Zombies With Lava Buckets! Improved Mobs Mod Showcase

To finish ‌this list, we come to the last mod, which is truly terrifying and very difficult, especially if you decide to play in survival mode. Basically, what this mod does is it enhances the mobs, giving them the ability to steal your items from chests, don diamond swords and other powerful weapons, be faster, and wear armor that would make it very difficult to defeat them. These mobs can also use lava buckets to pour directly onto you–yeah, you heard that right. They can also break blocks and set you on fire, literally. These powerful enhancements can add a whole extra layer of difficulty yet excitement to vanilla survival and make your time’s worth. This mod is also great for multi-players and would be a substantial challenge, or a competition maker. 

Overall features/benefits of this mod:

• Scarier and stronger mobs 
• Can attack you more efficiently 
• May steal your stuff and kill you with lava, fire 

Get the mod here

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