Have you been wanting to start learning modded Minecraft, but don’t know how or where to begin? I’ve been there, too, friend – there’s so many mods and modpacks out there that choosing where to start your modded journey can be a daunting task. Overwhelming, even. But never fear! These modpacks are a great place to start. As someone who is still a little scared by complex tech mods, I can personally recommend these packs to you and tell you that they’re perfect to use as a learning tool. You might just become hooked!
10. Better Minecraft
Better Minecraft is a vanilla plus (vanilla Minecraft with tweaks and smaller features) modpack that’s a great place to start, consisting of small quality of life mods, fun new dimensions to explore, performance mods, and small tweaks and bug fixes to give the player a small taste of what mods can do for the game. Perfect to dip your toes into if the idea of mods scares you a bit.
Better Minecraft’s Key Features:
- There’s 100 quests to get you used to how questing in modpacks works, especially since most modpacks are heavily dependent on quests
- New structures and dimensions to focus the player on exploring new destinations
- Vanilla tweaks and vanilla-esque mods for an easy understanding of what mods are capable of doing to and for the game
Get it here
9. Farming Valley
Are you a fan of relaxing farming simulators as well as Minecraft? Farming Valley will have your bases covered. Created specifically to emulate games in the farming genre, such as Stardew Valley, this modpack centers around building, propagating, and raising money for your farm to grow and build it up, amassing a large crop and NPC townsfolk along the way. Hopefully you’ll “cultivate” a taste for modded Minecraft with this soothing modpack!
Farming Valley’s Key Features
- Incredibly lightweight pack with only 73 mods, so very performance-friendly
- Easy-to-digest progression and achievements
- Relaxing, no-pressure experience and premise for a more calm game style
Get it here
8. Project Ozone 3
One of the more well-known modpacks, Project Ozone 3 is certainly a stark contrast to the previous two modpacks. It’s chock-full of popular mods all waiting to be discovered and guided through with quests. For me, the part of this modpack that makes it great for beginners is the fact that it takes place exclusively in the sky. This way, the player can focus more on learning mods, rather than deal with troublesome terrain or mob spawns. You’ll go from sifting gravel to crafting singularities in no time!
Project Ozone 3’s Key Features:
- Features the Botania world generation of “Garden of Glass”, a skyblock that keeps the player more focused on quests and mod progressions
- Packed to the brim with mods so the player can pick and choose what to learn, and at their own pace
- Very in-depth questlines and almost 1200 quests to go through
Get it here
7. Project Ozone Lite
Is your computer a bit too slow or old to run Project Ozone 3? Or maybe Project Ozone is simply too daunting of a pack for you? Believe me, my friend, I’ve been there too. As a matter of fact, I’ve downloaded the previous pack on an older machine only to find out that my computer couldn’t handle it! Fear not, Project Ozone Lite is a much lighter and performance-friendly version of the popular pack. It contains plenty of mods and quests, but much of the bulky parts are trimmed out to improve the performance on slower computers.
Project Ozone Lite’s Key Features:
- Almost all quests are retrieval quests for ease of understanding
- Much more performance-friendly than the other Project Ozone packs
- Made with multiplayer in mind, so you can play well with friends!
Get it here
6. Crucial 2
This modpack was designed by the one and only Vazkii – the creator of the mod “Quark”, which is purposely made to have features that vanilla Minecraft could – or should – have. What exactly does this mean for the modded newbie? It means that Crucial 2 is incredibly vanilla plus, which are always the best packs for beginners to try out, as they ease you into the idea of modded without becoming too difficult or complex right away. Similarly to Better Minecraft, it’s perfect to start your modded journey with!
Crucial 2’s Key Features:
- Every mod is explained directly in the modpack to save the player from needing to head to Google, a common practice in the modded community
- Carefully curated with every type of Minecrafter possible, from builders to explorers, to farmers and redstoners, there’s mods for every type of player
- All mods are configured to work well with each other so it’s much easier and better connected for low stress gameplay
Get it here
5. Enigmatica 2
It’s no enigma - Enigmatica 2 is one of my personal favorite modpacks, being a “kitchen sink” pack that’s absolutely packed with the most popular mods of 1.12.2 modpacks. As stated on its download page, the pack is designed specifically to “get you into mods”. The mods aren’t stuck behind locks, or “gated”, meaning you can explore them at your own pace. I’ve played this one many times, and every time was unique as my skills improved!
Enigmatica 2’s Key Features:
- Features a nice blend of tech, magic, building, and world generation mods that are put together seamlessly
- Encourages freedom of playstyle to give the player more control over how they choose to go about playing
- Over 800 quests designed to guide beginners through all of the most popular mods
Get it here
4. Life in the Village
Personally, this was one of the very first modpacks I ever played, and it holds a special place in my heart. It’s a very low-tech, vanilla plus modpack built to be a cozy Minecraft experience. It focuses on Millenaire and Minecolonies, two mods that add new types of NPCs, and other rustic mods for a relaxed medieval feeling.
Life in the Village’s Key Features:
- Low tech, which means you can still process materials but without the hassle of complex machinery or technology
- Features daily quests to follow to keep you busy
- Trade, build with, and gain reputation with the Millenaire villagers for a fresh and unique feeling of interacting with villagers in Minecraft
Get it here
3. All the Mods 8
Another one of my personal favorites, this is a larger modpack with a lot of focus on both newer and smaller mods, and older, more popular mods. This pack is also newer, meaning that the mods within are given a fresh coat of paint to match the feeling of the newer version of Minecraft (1.19.2). Sadly, though, it does not contain all the mods(which may be good news for some of you!).
All the Mods 8’s Key Features:
- Lots of options for tech and magic, including quests to help you learn them as you go
- Beautiful visuals added by the shaders and the incredible Sodium mod to enhance your immersion and make the game feel new and exciting
- Maybe not *all* the mods, but the largest amount of mods on this list, so you can conveniently learn them within just one neatly crafted modpack
Get it here
2. Automaton
When I think of beginner modpacks, this is the first one that springs to mind! Automaton is an incredibly lightweight pack designed to help you build a factory with just a few large mods and smaller mods sprinkled throughout it. It’s easy to learn and wrap your head around, introducing common concepts, terminology, and machines within the technology mods.
Automaton’s Key Features:
- Focuses on Immersive Engineering, Applied Energistics 2, and Mekanism, 3 tech mods that are simple to understand and progress through
- Fun decorative mods to make your factory look more exciting and aesthetic
- Mods like WOOT, Environmental Tech, and Bonsai Trees to automate basic materials and resource gathering to cut through the grind
Get it here
1. FTB Academy
Finally, there’s no better modpack for beginners than a modpack specifically created to teach the most common concepts and technologies of popular mods! This pack is designed specifically for beginners to play, without needing to hop between mod wikis as everything is explained right inside the modpack. So even if you’re new or a veteran, this pack is sure to teach you something new!
FTB Academy’s Key Features:
- Mod descriptions built right into the pack, as well as a tutorial area before entering you’re your world that explains common modded terminology and concepts
- 300 quests guiding you through the mods of the pack, all written with beginners in mind
- Low-pressure experience as it doesn’t throw the most complex things at you right away
Get it here
And those are my top ten Minecraft modpacks for beginners! I hope that those of you with the ambition to start getting into modded Minecraft enjoy learning your way through the wonderful world of mods and the cool things you can accomplish with them!
If you liked this article, check out some more of my work:
Top 10 Best Modpacks for Multiplayer
