I made a mod that lets mobs actually use shields
This is a small mod that makes survival slightly harder.
In vanilla Minecraft, mobs can sometimes pick up a shield and hold it in their offhand, but they do not really know how to use it. They just carry it around as equipment.
This mod changes that. Humanoid mobs can now actively use shields to block attacks.
By default, the mod can make zombies, husks, and wither skeletons spawned in harder regions generate with shields. Their shield spawn chance, blocking duration, cooldown, and other behavior values can be adjusted through datapacks.
The mod should also work with most modded shields, so it is not limited to the vanilla shield only.
It also supports Fresh Animations. If Fresh Animations is installed, shield-using mobs should still play the correct blocking animation instead of looking broken or awkward.
Supports 1.20.1 Forge / 1.21.1 Neoforge
Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKdwYA6107s
CurseForge:
https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/mobs-use-shields