diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 3198bfad0..d5e5030f5 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@
     <properties>
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
         <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
-        <java.version>17</java.version>
+        <java.version>21</java.version>
         <!-- Non-minecraft related dependencies -->
         <powermock.version>2.0.9</powermock.version>
         <!-- Database related dependencies -->
@@ -161,12 +161,6 @@
             <id>papermc</id>
             <url>https://repo.papermc.io/repository/maven-public/</url>
         </repository>
-        <repository>
-            <!-- This is a temporary reference as the Maven Shade plugin 
-                that supports Java 16 is not released yet -->
-            <id>maven-snapshots</id>
-            <url>https://repository.apache.org/content/repositories/snapshots/</url>
-        </repository>
         <repository>
             <id>minecraft-repo</id>
             <url>https://libraries.minecraft.net/</url>
@@ -548,7 +542,7 @@
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                 <artifactId>maven-shade-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>3.4.0</version>
+                <version>3.6.0</version>
                 <configuration>
                     <minimizeJar>true</minimizeJar>
                     <dependencyReducedPomLocation>${project.build.directory}/dependency-reduced-pom.xml</dependencyReducedPomLocation>