Ultimate Minecraft Particle Guide | Pro Tips

Hi everyone, it’s UnderMyCap, and welcome back. Today I’m going to show you some advanced particle effects you can add to your Minecraft character. I believe this works on Minecraft Java 1.15, but I’m not 100% sure—there are so many versions coming out right now.

Sorry for not uploading in a while. I’ve been busy with school, and editing videos takes a lot of time. But I decided to come back with another Minecraft video because you’ve been enjoying them so much.

Today I got a comment asking if I could show how to make a cape-like particle effect on a Minecraft player. The answer is: yes and no. You can’t make a “real” cape using particles, but you can create an effect that looks very similar—and it’s actually pretty easy.

Getting a Command Block

First, you’ll need a command block. Use:

/give @s command_block

Place the command block down.

Using the execute Command

The command we’ll be using is execute. In my opinion, it’s one of the best commands in Minecraft—especially now that you can do so much more with it. It’s great for map-making and makes a lot of command setups much easier than constantly copying and pasting.

Start by typing /execute. Then you need to define where the command runs. For example, I’ll run it at my player:

execute at UnderMyCap

You should replace UnderMyCap with your own username. You can also use selectors like:

@a (all players), @e (all entities), @p (nearest player), @r (random player), or @s (yourself)

The idea is that the command will run at the target’s position.

Running a Particle Command on a Player

After that, add run, because you want to run another command at that location:

execute at UnderMyCap run particle

Now choose a particle. Let’s use one of my favorites: totem. Then add coordinates using tildes so the particles spawn relative to the player:

execute at UnderMyCap run particle totem ~ ~ ~

At this point, you’ll probably notice the chat getting spammed with command output. To stop that, use:

/gamerule commandBlockOutput false

That disables the constant command block messages.

Once that’s done, you’ll see a particle effect following you, which already looks really cool. Some particles (like totem) fall quickly, so they may appear closer to your feet. If you use something like flame, you’ll still notice it tracks your movement. Because the command is being run repeatedly, it updates continuously as you move and jump.

Customizing the Particle Trail

You can customize a lot of the behavior using the extra particle parameters. If you want a deeper explanation of each section, check out my earlier video on the particle command, but here are the basics.

You can adjust things like speed and count. For example, increasing the count makes the trail thicker:

… particle totem ~ ~ ~ 0 0 0 0 10

If you set it to 1, the trail becomes lighter and more spaced out.

Adding a Radius (Spread)

You can also add spread/radius values for X, Y, and Z. This changes how far from the exact position the particles are allowed to spawn.

If you use a 1-block radius, particles can spawn one block higher/lower/left/right/forward/backward from the target position:

… particle totem ~ ~ ~ 1 1 1 0 10

If you change that to something extreme like 10, it becomes very intense and fills a large area around you.

Creating a “Cape Trail” Effect

To make something that looks like a cape trail, you need to spawn the particles slightly behind (and usually a bit above) the player.

For example, you can adjust the relative coordinates so the particles appear behind you while you run. You’ll need to experiment, but values like moving it upward (e.g., 0.5 or 1 block) can help place it in the air rather than at your feet.

Once positioned, it creates a trail that follows behind you, which is about as close as you can get to a particle cape effect.

You can also duplicate the command and offset it slightly to widen the trail, or use different particles (like totem of undying) for a different look.

Making Particles Follow Other Entities

One more useful trick: you can make particles follow entities, not just players.

Use @e to target all entities, and if you want to exclude players, you can use:

execute at @e[type=!player] run particle angry_villager ~ ~ ~ 0 0 0 0 1 force

Make sure your command block is set to Repeat, and that you’re using relative coordinates (the ~ ~ ~ part) so the particles spawn on the entity.

If there aren’t any mobs around, summon something like a pig. You’ll notice the particle effect sticks to it as it moves—even if you hit it and it runs away. This is really useful for “tracking” entities with particles.

If you switch to a particle like flame and raise it to around two blocks high, it becomes even easier to see. You’ll notice particles appearing all over where mobs are. Even dropped items count as entities, so you can use this to help locate items on the ground too.

Wrapping Up

Thanks for watching. If you enjoyed this, please leave a like and subscribe—it really helps. If you have questions or want me to cover something like I did today, leave a comment and I’ll try to respond as quickly as possible.

Also, before I go: I launched a website at undermycap.com where you can buy caps, hats, shirts, and more. The link is in the description, along with my social links.