Cobblemon
Cobblemon is the mod that finally lets you catch, train and battle Pokémon inside an actual Minecraft world, without leaving the game’s own rules and blocks behind. Unlike older attempts at the idea, it was built specifically to fit into modpacks and other mods you already run, using the Pokémon Showdown battle engine underneath a fully block-shaped cast of creatures. Whether you’re picking a starter for the very first time or trying to work out if your server can handle a full Pokédex, this guide walks through everything from installation to legendary encounters.
Overview Cobblemon:
What Is Cobblemon?
Cobblemon is an open-source Pokémon mod for Minecraft Java Edition, built for Fabric and NeoForge, with Forge support available through a compatibility layer. Over 700 Pokémon can be caught, trained and evolved, and every fight runs on the Pokémon Showdown battle engine, so type matchups, abilities and held items behave the way they do in the mainline games. Cobblemon also borrows a few ideas from Pokémon Legends: Arceus: you can move freely and keep mining or building while a battle plays out nearby, relearn old moves at any time, and decide yourself when a Pokémon evolves instead of it happening automatically.
One detail worth knowing before you install anything: Cobblemon has no official multiplayer server of its own. Public servers exist through community listings and the project’s Discord, but if you want a world for you and your friends, you’ll be setting one up yourself.
Cobblemon Is Not PixelmonCobblemon and Pixelmon are two separate mods with similar premises, and it’s an easy mix-up to make. Pixelmon is the older of the two, built around Forge and NeoForge with a bigger Pokémon roster and a more traditional RPG structure of gyms and NPC trainers. Cobblemon takes a lighter, more vanilla-friendly approach on Fabric and NeoForge. They are not compatible with each other and need to be installed separately. We compare the two mods in detail further down this guide.
The Cobblemon Installation
Getting Cobblemon running comes down to two decisions: which mod loader to use, and how much RAM to set aside. Both are covered below before you touch a single download link.
Which Loader to Choose for Cobblemon
Cobblemon is officially built for Fabric and NeoForge. For Fabric, you only need the Fabric API alongside the mod itself. NeoForge additionally requires Kotlin for Forge, since parts of Cobblemon are written in Kotlin. Classic Forge isn’t natively supported, so if a modpack specifically calls for it, check that it’s actually running on NeoForge under the hood before you install anything. If you’re unsure which loader a modpack you’ve found uses, the CurseForge and Modrinth listing for the official Cobblemon mod always states it clearly.
Cobblemon System Requirements & RAM
For a singleplayer world or the official client modpack, Cobblemon needs a minimum of 2.5x GB of RAM allocated to Minecraft, with 3x GB or more recommended for smoother performance once Pokémon start spawning in numbers. This is separate from what a dedicated multiplayer server needs, which we cover in the section on playing with friends further down.
How to Catch Pokémon in Cobblemon
Catching Pokémon in Cobblemon works close to the mainline games, but with one Minecraft-specific twist: you throw the ball yourself instead of clicking a button.
Cobblemon Poké Ball Types and Catch Rates
To catch a wild Pokémon, equip a Cobblemon Poké Ball in your hotbar and throw it directly at the target, either during a battle or out in the open. A missed throw drops the ball on the ground so you can pick it back up. Reducing a Pokémon’s HP or inflicting a status condition such as asleep or paralyzed noticeably improves your odds. There are 48 Poké Ball variants in total, and most of them need to be crafted from apricorns and metal ingots. A few examples worth knowing early on:
- quick ball: offering a high catch rate on the first turn of battle
- dream ball: boosting catch rate against sleeping Pokémon
- beast ball: built specifically for ultra beasts
- master ball: guaranteeing a catch regardless of conditions
Tips for Catching Rare & Shiny Pokémon
A handful of habits make the difference between a full box of duds and a team worth showing off:
- weakening the target before throwing a ball
- inflicting sleep or paralysis for a bigger catch bonus
- crafting great balls or ultra balls early instead of wasting basic ones
- keeping an eye out while exploring, since shinies can appear anywhere a Pokémon normally spawns
The Cobblemon Healing Machine
Once your party starts taking real damage, you’ll want a base setup rather than relying on natural regeneration. The Cobblemon healing machine restores HP, PP and cures status conditions with a single right-click, and doubles as a job block that can turn a nearby villager into a nurse. The Cobblemon PC sits alongside it as your storage system, letting you swap party members and view IVs, natures and held items for every Pokémon you’ve caught.
Cobblemon Legendary Spawn Conditions
Legendary Pokémon are the one area where Cobblemon leans hardest on server configuration rather than fixed rules, so it’s worth understanding both the base mechanics and their limits before you go hunting.
Where to Find Cobblemon Legendary Pokémon
Most legendaries, including Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Rayquaza and Xerneas, require the community-made Legendary Encounters datapack to spawn at all. Mew and Mewtwo are the exceptions available in the base mod. Encounters typically follow a beacon-and-key-item pattern: Articuno, for example, appears in a snowy biome when you right-click a beacon while holding 4x ice stone, while Rayquaza requires the ender dragon egg on the main island of the End. Legendary Pokémon usually spawn between level 55 and level 100, so a mismatched team can be wiped out fast.
Keep in mind that server owners can disable, rebalance or replace these encounters entirely through their own datapacks, so treat any specific spawn method as a starting point rather than a guarantee on every world.
Preparing for a Legendary Encounter
Before summoning anything with three-digit levels in Cobblemon, a bit of preparation goes a long way:
- leveling your team to at least 50
- crafting a stock of ultra balls or better
- packing potions, max potions and revives
- saving your world first, since most legendaries can only be summoned once
Breeding Pokémon in Cobblemon
Breeding in Cobblemon exists in two forms: the mechanic built into the base mod, and a set of addons that go further with IV control and server economies.
Native Cobblemon Pasture Block Breeding
Right-click a Cobblemon pasture block with wheat to activate it, and any compatible Pokémon roaming on or near it will begin producing roughly one egg every 15 minutes. Attach a hopper and chest underneath to collect eggs automatically instead of checking manually. To push for strong IVs, breed with a high-IV Ditto, equip a destiny knot to guarantee inheriting five IVs, and hold an everstone on the parent whose nature you want to keep.
Best Cobblemon Breeding Addons
If native breeding feels too random for competitive teams, a few community addons expand on it directly:
- Cobbreeding, adding full IV, nature, ability and shiny-hunting mechanics to the pasture block
- Daycare+, offering a configurable daycare interface and an optional fertility-based competitive breeding mode
- Cobblemon Breeding API, a base framework other addons build their own breeding features on top of
Best Cobblemon Addons
Beyond breeding, a handful of addons consistently show up on well-run Cobblemon worlds:
- gold and silver bottlecaps, letting you max out IVs without breeding at all
- Pokémon-style settlements, adding towns with healers, marts and NPC trainers to natural terrain generation
- gender, shiny and form-change items, useful for adjusting a Pokémon you caught with the wrong cosmetic traits
- Cobbleverse, a full modpack bundling nearly every known Pokémon, mega evolutions and custom gyms into one install
How to Play Cobblemon With Friends
Since there’s no official Cobblemon server, playing with friends means either joining a public community server or hosting your own. Either way, the hardware side comes down to memory.
Cobblemon Server RAM Requirements
Cobblemon spawns Pokémon continuously across every loaded chunk, and each one runs AI logic every tick, which makes RAM planning a bit different from a vanilla server. As a rule of thumb:
- 4x-6x GB for a pure Cobblemon install with 1 to 8 players
- 7x-10x GB for the same setup with 9 to 15 players
- 8x-16x GB for a full modpack such as All The Mons, depending on group size
The reason RAM climbs so quickly is entity count rather than player count alone: a server with 10 active players spread across different biomes can easily have 200x-400x Pokémon loaded and ticking at once.
Setting Up Your Own Cobblemon Server
Every player needs to match the exact mod loader, Cobblemon version and any addons the server runs, or they simply won’t be able to connect. In practice, that means installing Fabric or NeoForge on the server first, uploading the matching mod files via FTP, and starting the server once so it generates its config folders before anyone joins. If you’d rather skip the manual setup entirely, a Minecraft server with modpack support handles the loader, RAM allocation and uptime for you.
Cobblemon vs Pixelmon: Which Pokémon Mod Is Better?
Both mods put Pokémon inside Minecraft, but they’re built around different priorities. The table below breaks down where they actually differ. So, the question isn’t really which is better but which Pokémon mod fits you best.
| Category | Cobblemon | Pixelmon |
| battle system | Pokémon Showdown engine, free movement during fights | turn-based battles closer to a classic RPG structure |
| loader support | Fabric and NeoForge | Forge and NeoForge |
| performance | lighter; runs on around 4x-6x GB RAM | heavier; typically needs 6x-8x GB RAM |
| Pokémon roster | 700+, growing with regular updates | 1,000+ across all nine generations, including mega evolutions |
| structures & content | lighter world generation, addon-dependent gyms | built-in gyms, NPC trainers and generated structures |
| visual style | blocky, native Minecraft look | detailed 3D models closer to the mainline games |
If you want something that feels like vanilla Minecraft with Pokémon roaming the world, Cobblemon is the lighter, more integrated pick. If you want the fuller Pokémon RPG experience with gyms and a bigger roster out of the box, Pixelmon is still the more complete package.
FAQ
Cobblemon is generally the easier entry point since it changes less about how Minecraft plays and runs on lighter hardware. Pixelmon suits players who specifically want gyms, NPC trainers and a larger Pokémon roster from the start.
The Cobblemon healing machine is crafted from 3x copper ingot, 4x iron ingot, 1x redstone dust and 1x max revive.
For most legendaries, yes. Only Mew and Mewtwo are available without an additional datapack such as Legendary Encounters.
Around 4x-6x GB for up to 8 players on a pure Cobblemon install, rising to 8x-16x GB for larger groups or full modpacks.
Not directly: Cobblemon officially supports Fabric and NeoForge; classic Forge isn’t a supported loader for the base mod.
Gotta Craft ‘Em All: Your Next Cobblemon Steps
From your first poké ball to a fully healed, freshly bred team, Cobblemon gives Minecraft a genuine Pokémon layer without asking you to leave the game you already know behind. If you’re still deciding on your setup, our guides on Fabric and NeoForge cover the loaders in more depth, and our mod installation guide walks through the basics step by step. Ready to catch Pokémon with friends instead of alone? Rent a pre-installed GPORTAL Minecraft server and have your Cobblemon world running in minutes!
