diff --git a/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/geyser.platform-conventions.gradle.kts b/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/geyser.platform-conventions.gradle.kts
index 8f269437d..7a342783b 100644
--- a/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/geyser.platform-conventions.gradle.kts
+++ b/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/geyser.platform-conventions.gradle.kts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ tasks {
                 "id" to "geyser",
                 "name" to "Geyser",
                 "version" to project.version,
-                "description" to project.description as String,
+                "description" to project.description,
                 "url" to "https://geysermc.org",
                 "author" to "GeyserMC"
             )
diff --git a/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/geyser.publish-conventions.gradle.kts b/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/geyser.publish-conventions.gradle.kts
index 036ee803c..eca587721 100644
--- a/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/geyser.publish-conventions.gradle.kts
+++ b/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/geyser.publish-conventions.gradle.kts
@@ -7,3 +7,9 @@ indra {
     publishSnapshotsTo("geysermc", "https://repo.opencollab.dev/maven-snapshots")
     publishReleasesTo("geysermc", "https://repo.opencollab.dev/maven-releases")
 }
+
+publishing {
+    // skip shadow jar from publishing. Workaround for https://github.com/johnrengelman/shadow/issues/651
+    val javaComponent = project.components["java"] as AdhocComponentWithVariants
+    javaComponent.withVariantsFromConfiguration(configurations["shadowRuntimeElements"]) { skip() }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/geyser.shadow-conventions.gradle.kts b/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/geyser.shadow-conventions.gradle.kts
index 675df5158..c160e5ec6 100644
--- a/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/geyser.shadow-conventions.gradle.kts
+++ b/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/geyser.shadow-conventions.gradle.kts
@@ -2,11 +2,7 @@ import com.github.jengelman.gradle.plugins.shadow.tasks.ShadowJar
 
 plugins {
     id("geyser.base-conventions")
-    id("com.gradleup.shadow")
-}
-
-shadow {
-    addShadowVariantIntoJavaComponent = false
+    id("com.github.johnrengelman.shadow")
 }
 
 tasks {
@@ -37,4 +33,4 @@ tasks {
     named("build") {
         dependsOn(shadowJar)
     }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/core/build.gradle.kts b/core/build.gradle.kts
index 63c516224..5c7f34499 100644
--- a/core/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/core/build.gradle.kts
@@ -59,10 +59,8 @@ dependencies {
     }
 
     // Test
-    testImplementation(platform("org.junit:junit-bom:6.0.0"))
     testImplementation(libs.junit)
     testImplementation(libs.mockito)
-    testRuntimeOnly("org.junit.platform:junit-platform-launcher")
 
     // Annotation Processors
     compileOnly(projects.ap)
@@ -110,7 +108,7 @@ fun isDevBuild(branch: String, repository: String): Boolean {
     return branch != "master" || repository.equals("https://github.com/GeyserMC/Geyser", ignoreCase = true).not()
 }
 
-class GitInfo {
+inner class GitInfo {
     val branch: String
     val commit: String
     val commitAbbrev: String
diff --git a/gradle/libs.versions.toml b/gradle/libs.versions.toml
index 8c08804d0..19e9b2607 100644
--- a/gradle/libs.versions.toml
+++ b/gradle/libs.versions.toml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ minecraftauth = "4.1.1"
 mcprotocollib = "1.21.9-20251026.124736-17"
 adventure = "4.25.0"
 adventure-platform = "4.4.1"
-junit = "6.0.0"
+junit = "5.9.2"
 checkerframework = "3.19.0"
 log4j = "2.20.0"
 jline = "3.21.0"
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ runvelocityversion = "3.4.0-SNAPSHOT"
 
 # plugin versions
 indra = "3.1.3"
-shadow = "9.2.2"
+shadow = "8.1.1"
 architectury-plugin = "3.4-SNAPSHOT"
 architectury-loom = "1.11-SNAPSHOT"
 minotaur = "2.8.7"
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ mockito = { module = "org.mockito:mockito-core", version.ref = "mockito" }
 # plugins
 lombok = { group = "io.freefair.gradle", name = "lombok-plugin", version.ref = "lombok" }
 indra = { group = "net.kyori", name  = "indra-common", version.ref = "indra" }
-shadow = { group = "com.gradleup.shadow", name = "com.gradleup.shadow.gradle.plugin", version.ref = "shadow" }
+shadow = { group = "com.github.johnrengelman", name = "shadow", version.ref = "shadow" }
 architectury-plugin = { group = "architectury-plugin", name = "architectury-plugin.gradle.plugin", version.ref = "architectury-plugin" }
 architectury-loom = { group = "dev.architectury.loom", name = "dev.architectury.loom.gradle.plugin", version.ref = "architectury-loom" }
 minotaur = { group = "com.modrinth.minotaur", name = "Minotaur", version.ref = "minotaur" }
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar
index f8e1ee312..a4b76b953 100644
Binary files a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar and b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar differ
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
index bad7c2462..d4081da47 100644
--- a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
+++ b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 distributionPath=wrapper/dists
-distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-9.2.0-bin.zip
+distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-8.14.3-bin.zip
 networkTimeout=10000
 validateDistributionUrl=true
 zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
diff --git a/gradlew b/gradlew
index adff685a0..f5feea6d6 100755
--- a/gradlew
+++ b/gradlew
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
 #
-# Copyright © 2015 the original authors.
+# Copyright © 2015-2021 the original authors.
 #
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -86,7 +86,8 @@ done
 # shellcheck disable=SC2034
 APP_BASE_NAME=${0##*/}
 # Discard cd standard output in case $CDPATH is set (https://github.com/gradle/gradle/issues/25036)
-APP_HOME=$( cd -P "${APP_HOME:-./}" > /dev/null && printf '%s\n' "$PWD" ) || exit
+APP_HOME=$( cd -P "${APP_HOME:-./}" > /dev/null && printf '%s
+' "$PWD" ) || exit
 
 # Use the maximum available, or set MAX_FD != -1 to use that value.
 MAX_FD=maximum
@@ -114,6 +115,7 @@ case "$( uname )" in                #(
   NONSTOP* )        nonstop=true ;;
 esac
 
+CLASSPATH=$APP_HOME/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar
 
 
 # Determine the Java command to use to start the JVM.
@@ -171,6 +173,7 @@ fi
 # For Cygwin or MSYS, switch paths to Windows format before running java
 if "$cygwin" || "$msys" ; then
     APP_HOME=$( cygpath --path --mixed "$APP_HOME" )
+    CLASSPATH=$( cygpath --path --mixed "$CLASSPATH" )
 
     JAVACMD=$( cygpath --unix "$JAVACMD" )
 
@@ -203,14 +206,15 @@ fi
 DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS='"-Xmx64m" "-Xms64m"'
 
 # Collect all arguments for the java command:
-#   * DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS, JAVA_OPTS, and optsEnvironmentVar are not allowed to contain shell fragments,
+#   * DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS, JAVA_OPTS, JAVA_OPTS, and optsEnvironmentVar are not allowed to contain shell fragments,
 #     and any embedded shellness will be escaped.
 #   * For example: A user cannot expect ${Hostname} to be expanded, as it is an environment variable and will be
 #     treated as '${Hostname}' itself on the command line.
 
 set -- \
         "-Dorg.gradle.appname=$APP_BASE_NAME" \
-        -jar "$APP_HOME/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar" \
+        -classpath "$CLASSPATH" \
+        org.gradle.wrapper.GradleWrapperMain \
         "$@"
 
 # Stop when "xargs" is not available.
diff --git a/gradlew.bat b/gradlew.bat
index c4bdd3ab8..9d21a2183 100644
--- a/gradlew.bat
+++ b/gradlew.bat
@@ -70,10 +70,11 @@ goto fail
 :execute
 @rem Setup the command line
 
+set CLASSPATH=%APP_HOME%\gradle\wrapper\gradle-wrapper.jar
 
 
 @rem Execute Gradle
-"%JAVA_EXE%" %DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS% %JAVA_OPTS% %GRADLE_OPTS% "-Dorg.gradle.appname=%APP_BASE_NAME%" -jar "%APP_HOME%\gradle\wrapper\gradle-wrapper.jar" %*
+"%JAVA_EXE%" %DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS% %JAVA_OPTS% %GRADLE_OPTS% "-Dorg.gradle.appname=%APP_BASE_NAME%" -classpath "%CLASSPATH%" org.gradle.wrapper.GradleWrapperMain %*
 
 :end
 @rem End local scope for the variables with windows NT shell