Cobblemon 1.8.0, called the Make Your Move update, came out on September 6, 2026. It stays on Minecraft 1.21.1 and ships for both Fabric and NeoForge, so you do not have to move your server to a new Minecraft version. What you do have to deal with: new worldgen, new config options, an advancement reset, and sidemods that need their own update before they work again.
Everything below comes from the official 1.8.0 changelog on the Cobblemon wiki.
The Big Additions
- Alpha Pokemon. Bigger, stronger and more aggressive than normal spawns. They always know a TM move, adapt to be stronger than your party, and always lead herds. Hopo Berries now work as bait that attracts them.
- TMs and the TM Machine. TMs are made from elemental type gems, and a recipe unlocks when you have a Pokemon that knows the move. Ruins now hold a guaranteed TM in their gilded chest.
- Habitats. 49 new habitat structures with rarer Pokemon, where different Pokemon can show up on different days. There is also a Habitat Block, a spawner block meant for servers and adventure maps.
- New structures. 10 new ruins and a Magma Shipwreck Cove.
- Pokemon sizes. Every Pokemon is now between 5 percent smaller and 5 percent bigger than normal, and baby Pokemon grow from 10 percent smaller at level 1 to full size at level 10.
- New rideable Pokemon. Crobat, Skarmory, Milotic, Archeops, Goodra (both forms), Drampa, Duraludon, Archaludon and Pidgeot.
- New species. Including Skitty, Zangoose, Seviper, Pawniard, Bisharp, Kingambit, Rockruff, Lycanroc, Applin and its evolutions, Snom and Frosmoth, plus several regional forms.
- Move Dex. The Pokedex now shows which moves a Pokemon can learn and which Pokemon can get a given move.
What Server Owners Need to Know
New config options. 1.8 adds options to make TMs infinite-use and to unlock all TM recipes from the start. You can now turn off Pokemon spawning per world, which is useful for a lobby or creative world. Two experience options were added too: awardExperienceToFaintedPokemon gives experience to fainted Pokemon that helped in the fight, and awardExperienceOnBattleLoss still hands out experience for defeated enemies after a loss or forfeit.
New command. /givetm gives TMs, handy for event rewards.
Advancements reset. The advancements were refactored and some were removed. Everything except the root advancement (picking your starter) resets for every player. Announce this before you update, or people will think the server lost their progress.
Structures only appear in new chunks. The 49 habitats, the new ruins and the Magma Shipwreck Cove only generate in chunks that did not exist yet. On an existing world you have three options: expand the world border, start a fresh world, or accept that players need to travel past the explored area. Fishing boat maps to shipwreck coves now skip explored chunks, which helps players find them.
Better performance in some places. Berry trees and pasture blocks both got performance improvements on servers. The default pasture wander radius went down to 32 blocks. A bug where pastured Pokemon despawned and ran off is fixed, and so is a bug where rare Pokemon spawned several times in one spawn cycle.
Alphas add load. Alphas spawn in herds, so a busy evening means more Pokemon entities in loaded chunks. If your server already drops below 20 TPS at peak, sort that out first. Our Cobblemon server optimization guide covers the usual fixes.
Multiplayer mount fixes. Hover mounts no longer become useless when they touch the ground on a server, and the visual desync when someone mounts a Pokemon outside your loaded chunks is fixed.
The Update Routine
- Check your sidemods first. Mega Showdown, Cobbleverse, shrine mods and anything else built on Cobblemon need their own 1.8 release. If one of them is not ready, stay on 1.7.3 for now.
- Make a full backup. World folder, the config folder and a list of the exact mod versions you run, so you can roll back in one go.
- Test on a copy. Run the update on a copy of your world first and let a few players try it for an evening.
- Update the server and the clients together. Server and players need the same Cobblemon version and the same loader. On a modpack, everyone moves to the same pack version.
- Tell your players. Mention the advancement reset and where the new structures will be.
FAQ
When did Cobblemon 1.8 release? On September 6, 2026, according to the release table on the official wiki.
Does Cobblemon 1.8 need a new Minecraft version? No. It runs on Minecraft 1.21.1, the same as 1.7.
Does 1.8 need a world reset? No, but new structures only generate in unexplored chunks. A fresh world or a bigger world border shows the update best.
Will my Cobblemon modpack update automatically? No. A modpack updates when its maintainers release a new version. Servers running a pack like Cobbleverse wait for the pack, not just for Cobblemon.
Does 1.8 add egg breeding? Not according to the 1.8.0 changelog. See our Cobblemon breeding guide for the current state.
How much RAM does a Cobblemon 1.8 server need? Plan on 8GB for up to 10 players, 12GB for 10 to 25 players or when you add sidemods, and 16GB for public servers. Alpha herds add entities, so do not go below that. Details in our Cobblemon modpack requirements guide.
Running 1.8 on Your Own Server
A release like this brings back players who took a break. If your group wants a world that stays online with the new habitats and Alphas, our Cobblemon server hosting page shows which plan fits your group, with one-click installs from Modrinth and CurseForge.