The Monstrous Anchor is the weapon you build from the Ancient Guardian‘s Anchor Handle, a huge, slow anchor that hits for 14, reaches further than a sword, and hurts everything near whatever you strike. Hold right-click and it throws you into the air and stuns every mob within 3 blocks for 3 seconds. That’s the mod’s first real crowd control.
It swings slowly, at 0.65 attack speed, so it’s a weapon for crowds and for big slow targets rather than for anything quick. Against the packs of Spiky Worms, a nest of 
Zombies or a Legendary Monsters boss that stands still, it does far more than a 
Diamond Sword, and against a 
Spider it does less.
Obtaining
The recipe is 2 
Iron Ingots with an Iron Block between them on the top row and the 
Anchor Handle underneath. The handle is the Ancient Guardian‘s only drop, one per Guardian, and the Guardian sleeps in the Ancient Stronghold that generates on the surface in Dark Forests, Taigas and Old Growth Spruce Taigas.
The same handle smelts into a 
Molten Metal Ingot for the 
Spiky Shield, so a Guardian is one or the other. Most players take the anchor first, as the Shield is a defensive sidegrade and the anchor is a genuine upgrade at the point in the game you meet it.
Where the Handle Comes From
The Anchor Handle on its own is a weapon too, a 6 damage club with 250 durability, and it’s worth swinging until the Iron Block is in hand rather than carrying it as an ingredient. It’s fire resistant, so it survives a drop into Lava.
Usage
In the hand the anchor reads 14 attack damage at 0.65 attack speed, with three quarters of a block more reach than a normal weapon and 1100 durability. It repairs with Iron Ingots on an 
Anvil, takes sword enchantments at an 
Enchanting Table with an enchantability of 14, and it’s Epic rarity, which changes nothing but the name color.
| Weapon | Damage | Speed | Durability | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monstrous Anchor | 14 | 0.65 | 1100 | Cleave and a stunning slam |
| Diamond Sword | 7 | 1.6 | 1561 | None |
| Netherite Sword | 8 | 1.6 | 2031 | None |
Every hit that lands also hits everything within 3 blocks of the target for 6, which is the cleave the tooltip describes. So a full swing into the middle of a group is 14 to the one you hit and 6 to the rest, and the slow swing matters less when one swing is doing that much.
The Slam
Hold right-click for about three quarters of a second and let go, and the anchor launches you into the air and stuns everything within 3 blocks for 3 seconds. Stunned mobs can’t move or attack, so the slam is three free seconds against whatever was about to hit you, and it goes on a 5 second cooldown.
The launch takes you above head height, so the trick is to slam as a crowd closes in, come down on top of it and put a full swing into the stunned pile. Everything you hit takes 14 and everything around it takes 6, and none of them can answer for 3 seconds.
The slam doesn’t do any damage on its own, it costs no durability, and it skips your tamed animals, so it’s safe to use with a 
Wolf pack or a Skeloraptor at your feet. It stuns other players too, so pick your moment on a server.
Enchantments
It counts as a sword, so Sharpness, Smite, Looting, Fire Aspect and Sweeping Edge all go on it, along with Unbreaking and Mending. Sharpness raises the main hit and not the 6 damage cleave, and Sweeping Edge is redundant with the cleave, so the levels are better spent elsewhere.
Against the mod’s bosses the damage cap of 21 per hit is the number to remember. A Sharpness V anchor swings for close to 17, so it stays under the cap and loses nothing, whereas anything stronger would be wasted, which makes this the best boss weapon in the mod until the 
Soul Great Sword.
Tips
Use it against things that come to you. A Zombie horde, the Spiky Worms in the stronghold, the Skeletosaurus and the Overgrown Colossus all stand still long enough for a 0.65 speed swing to land, and the cleave and the slam turn a crowd into a pile. Keep a sword on the hotbar for the Spiders and Endermen.
Bosses in Legendary Monsters are immune to the stun in most cases, as the bigger ones can’t be affected by potion effects at all, so the slam is a crowd tool and not a boss tool. The launch still works, though, which makes it a way out of a bad spot even when nothing around you stops moving.
Repair it before a boss rather than after, as 1100 durability sounds like a lot until you realize every cleave hit counts. Iron Ingots are cheap on an Anvil, and Mending makes the whole question go away.
FAQ
Two Iron Ingots with an Iron Block between them on the top row and an Anchor Handle below, at a 
Crafting Table. The Anchor Handle drops from the Ancient Guardian in the Ancient Stronghold, one per Guardian, and there’s no other source.
Hold right-click for about three quarters of a second and release, and it launches you upward and stuns every mob within 3 blocks for 3 seconds, on a 5 second cooldown. It doesn’t cost durability, and it won’t touch your tamed animals.
14 per swing at 0.65 attack speed, plus 6 to everything within 3 blocks of the target on every hit that lands. It reaches three quarters of a block further than a sword and has 1100 durability, repaired with Iron Ingots.
Yes for the damage, no for the stun. A Sharpness V swing lands under the mod’s 21 damage cap, so nothing is wasted, but the bigger bosses ignore potion effects and the stun doesn’t land on them. Use the slam to escape and the swing to kill.
