Tutorials/Player versus Player

Player versus player, also known as PvP, refers to combat in Minecraft which involves players fighting other players in multiplayer. Whether fighting in teams or in one-on-one duels, this is a difficult skill to hone for many players.

This guide covers PvP in vanilla Minecraft, though it will acknowledge well-known server plugins.

Overview
PvP in Minecraft results in the death or injury of one or more players. When a player dies in normal difficulty, the contents of their inventory is scattered on the ground. This creates a powerful incentive for players to participate in PvP, as successfully killing another player rewards the killer with the dropped items, and sometimes reputation and power too.

PvP can occur on any server where the admin has not set rules on it, or has allowed it. As some servers endorse building and adventuring cooperatively, while others are PvP-oriented, servers will usually have rules which dictate whether or not PvP is allowed.

One such rule may be only allowing PvP in "war zones", which are designated plots of land wherein players are allowed to engage in combat. It is impossible for players to damage other players outside of these war zones. This type of rule may be in place to give players a safe area to restock on items or simply take a break from PvP.

Equipment
A combatant's equipment is a deciding factor in PvP, increasing one's survivability and damage output. A mediocre fighter armed with fully enchanted diamond gear will usually defeat a veteran combatant armed with iron weapons and armor. Players should be familiar with all aspects of equipment in order to effectively utilize them and play around that of their enemies'.

Enchantments

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Locations of PvP
In PvP, the fighters will have to fight in some setting, whether it be a custom-designed arena, normal terrain, or in a challenge map.

Normal Terrain
This is when two players fight in the naturally generated terrain of Minecraft. In this type of fight, players simply decide on a designated area or may be unexpectedly attacked (underground, caves, cliffs, or strongholds). One can also add custom features into the natural terrain.

Challenge PvP
This is PvP that takes place in a unique area or challenge map. Players that are friends may decide to create or use a challenge map that facilitates PvP. The players may choose to divide themselves into multiple groups, enjoy a free-for-all, or any other distribution of players that fight amongst one another.

Arenas
Players may prefer to build an arena for the sake of organization or aesthetics.

Types

 * Spawn (Most Common): Many servers have a PvP area at spawn or even around it! Be warned though, because you usually can't place or break blocks.
 * Ancient: Build a Colosseum inspired by the ancient Romans with fights against animals and perhaps some blood (redstone) on the floor (not historically accurate, however) — use stone or all the kinds of stone brick for walls, grass as the floor (sand also looks very nice) and wood for decoration and breaking the stone or stone brick up.
 * Survival Games: Huge arena that's in a dome and often has multiple biomes incorporated into it. The walls must be obsidian, bedrock or barrier. Supporters and spectators can send in messengers with food, armor etc. The battle goes on till only 2 are left who then need to go to the starting spawn point and fight to the death! Winner gets a good prize, losers don't.
 * Maze: Build the walls and seats so the spectators can watch the combatants run around scared mind-less as they fear a creeper around the next corner.
 * Multi-leveled: Have several floors on the arena with random holes; make sure the sides are made of glass so spectators can see all the gravitational action.
 * Nether Arena: It doesn't actually have to be in the nether. Make a 3 block high nether brick wall around the wanted arena area, and cap it with nether brick fences. Use a piston door with pressure plates on the entry side. Then, make a spectator booth that rises above the walls with nether brick stairs on one side. The arena floor should be netherrack with glowstone in the middle and even some lava dotted around (give players anti-lava protection to make things fairer). You can light some of the netherrack if you want, and add soul sand/soul soil for an extra twist. Have fun!
 * Spleef Twist: Who says you have to do the dirty work? Let lava below the map do it for you (tell combatants before the match to avoid having to pay compensation)! Run around stabbing your opponent whilst removing the floor from beneath their feet.
 * Sky: Build the arena in the sky and use piston traps to make random holes appear. Gravity is now your best friend and worst enemy.
 * Gimmick: create your arena as uniquely as possible — make pistons push from the floor to give some players a height advantage, use stairs to stimulate a slanted room to confuse anyone, or use water to slow everyone down and render sprinting useless. The possibilities are endless.
 * Raining Lava: Once the start lever is pulled, opening the combatant entrances, a redstone repeater delay is all that's stopping lava from pouring from the ceiling. Using pistons and a two-minute delay, make lava pour from the ceiling and kill all remaining combatants! (or make it so they have to dodge lava 'raindrops'. (Remember: Don't use flammable materials!)
 * Dome: Create a giant sphere out of glass so spectators can spectate.
 * Sea battle: Put a pool of water in a glass bowl and give each player a boat, first to sink loses, or continue until someone dies.
 * TNT Field: Put TNT in a random place and activate it. It will now cause a crater. Put multiple TNT to make crater bigger. Now put fences around it and let the battle begin!
 * Natural Lava Arena: Find a naturally-generated lava. Get lots of golden apples and/or fire resistance potions. Hop in, you will be burnt during the battle. More excitement and difficulty!
 * Mob Attack: Fill the arena with hidden monster spawners. Watch as the players get attacked by  both  monsters and other players!
 * Sky Blocks: have a 40×40 square up with a 50 block drop, have water at the bottom. Make multiple layers of having 1 block of air between the next block, so no blocks are actually touching each other. Make multiple layers with 2 blocks between, so players who fall down the first fall won't die, but continue. To add to the fun, do it while invisible in the dark, but make sure everyone is wearing a chestplate so it's still possible to play.
 * Trap Arena: Make an arena that is mostly stone with glass peepholes for spectators. It can have traps involving pistons, lava, fire, arrows. Also, have a few traps without glass in case if a combatant develops the idea that glass signals a trap. Add extra glass for this reason. The combatants should be in Adventure Mode.
 * Space: This is a suggested battlefield. Add an effect to the battlefield, such as Jump Boost I or II and Slow Falling II. Then, battle through the " lack of gravity". To make it more challenging, add shulkers, so arrows can flow slowly.
 * Honey House: An arena that's randomly placed using birch planks or stairs. Placed around and on the very top of it is an 8x8 birch plank battlefield when players will fall and slide through the honey block to get back up again.
 * Surprise Areas: This is also optional. Use this area to add a surprise battlefield. In caves, add hidden areas to hide on using a piston and a button and hidden areas to bow the enemy. It is suggested to add levers that apply hidden TNT and to build random and hidden TNT cannons for an explosive surprise.
 * Spellgrounds (Suggested Wizard Battles): This is a battlefield has full of effects like 5x5 levitation pod with slime, so people can battle through the air. A "Poisonous field" can be added for when they fall they will get the Poison effect and so that players will be sure to fall and speed ramps (Speed IV and Levitation II) so they can explore far through the battlefields. This also helps the players to escape.
 * Highgrounds (Knockback Field and King of the Hills/Ladders Battles): Put some levitation pods, so that players can get to the high grounds. Players have to knock them off the cliff. Put water below the cliff. The player that is the last on the high grounds wins will be the King of the Hills.
 * Bridge: Everybody's challenge of if they can cross without being hit by eggs, snowballs, bows, snow golems, etc. Players can hit themselves using eggs, snowballs, bows, snow golems, etc. until they fall through the void or the lava, To defend yourself from falling use shields, pearls and some blocks. Players can also practice fighting someone on 5x5 glass field to avoid falling.
 * Grasslands This a field that test of accuracy and sharpened skills, this will test your awareness from enemies, like unknown bow attacks, getting spleef by enemies, this can also help you become more aware around players in Murder Mystery also playing in grasslands mostly comes by spawning, but helps you charge, using this arena that you can use for advantage.
 * Illusion: Using certain blocks makes a battle a battle confusing. Using glass, create different illusions like fake blocks that may leave to another area, random portals, and hidden traps. Players must know what kind of field are they battling in. that's why these creations will confuse a player, but if that player is smart, they can use the illusion battlefield to escape.

Use the environment to your advantage
Here is an example of how you can use the environment to your advantage:


 * The Nether: Use a Knockback sword, Punch bow, or even the knockback from charging your opponent to knock them off a higher platform. With luck, they will take significant or even lethal amounts of fall damage. Or they may simply fall into the lava ocean that lies below! Bonus points for knocking them onto magma blocks or finishing them off from above with a bow/crossbow/trident. Soul Speed will be especially useful in a Soul Sand Valley, and you can use that to your advantage.
 * The End/End City: Use a Knockback sword or Punch bow to try to knock your enemy off the island. If you are in an End City, lure a shulker into hitting your opponent, which will inflict Levitation, sending them into the air and disorienting them. You can then shoot them repeatedly with a ranged weapon. Once they fall, finish them off with a trident, sword or axe.
 * C4 In Alternate Dimensions: In both the Nether and the End, Beds are a deadly explosive weapon if you can get the timing right. The deadliest strategy involves knocking the enemy up elevated terrain with your sword and/or axe before intentionally exploding a bed next to them on the elevated terrain while they're still in midair (make sure your feet are below the bed when you blow it, otherwise the recoil damage may end up killing you instead!) This will massively damage/kill the enemy, and you don't really receive much recoil damage. A downside to this strategy is that the fires after the explosion may burn some valuables the enemy/enemies are carrying.

Combat Itself
This is an overview of various types of PvP. Further sections may take this into greater detail.

Friendly PvP
Friendly PvP is when two or more players agree to PvP for friendly practice and training ONLY. Friendly PvP is great to play on LAN. It is the least hostile option for PvP as it:


 * Avoids grudges.
 * Stops property loss from thieving player drops.
 * Encourages cooperation.
 * Allows players to use any type of weapon without worry

Organized PvP
In organized PvP, players agree on the circumstances of their fight, and then battle. The victor may be agreed to receive anything, from diamonds and emeralds to proven superiority to nothing at all.

This type of PvP can be highly competitive and players may need an impartial judge to enforce the rules.


 * Combat Time!

Time to battle! You can fight them sword to sword, bow to bow, bombard them with potions, or run around like a headless chicken and hope they starve first. Whatever you do, make sure you win!

Dodge their attacks with your lightning reactions (or butter fingers) and stab by rapidly clicking your mouse's left click button (Tip: It is best to wait until the sword cools down until you hit again). If you have a shield, use your right mouse button to block attacks, sprint at opponents and hit whilst falling for critical hits (tip: If you are not touching the block under you, and you are in a cobweb, you count as falling, giving you critical hits! Then again, it is also hard to move when doing this, so keep that in mind)! If you practice, practice, and practice, nothing will stop you and a well equipped character!

Walk in circles around the player rapidly hitting them, and they'll never be able to hit you! This is called strafing. Or try a direct approach and spam left click and W to create a combo. It is also an advantage to get them stuck on a wall and strafe around them, they will be blown up into the air and it is harder to hit someone below you rather than at the same height.

An excellent technique for PvP in Java Edition 1.8 is to spam both left and right click to block hit, taking 60% less damage while outputting the same in return.

Traps for players

To make a trap, you need 4 sticky pistons, a pressure plate, and 8 blocks that take a long time to mine like end stone. Obsidian may be tempting, but it cannot be pushed by pistons. First, dig 4 holes that are 2 deep that surround a pressure plate in the center on the cardinal directions. In the holes, place 1 sticky piston, and 1 block each. Make sure that the block is on top of the piston! Although the trap does not kill the player, it is an annoyance to get out of because you have to waste time to get out and to make this even more annoying, you can place a piston with a block on top of the plate. The block is under the piston and the block is 2 high. This will lead to suffocation damage. A simpler version is at night, do what I said with the plate and the block on top. Do this in front of their fort and if they are AFK, do this around them. If you are afraid that they will take out the pressure plate, then this will trap them! Dig 2 blocks down from their spot but leave the block they are standing on. Place a sticky piston on the bottom and place the slime block on the top. Place a lever on the piston and watch them go!

Unorganized PvP
This is when someone surprise attacks you without warning. Keep your weapons ready for this!


 * Fight Back!

If you have better equipment than your attacker, you will likely be able to kill them. At this point, there is no better time to give it your all. Utilize anything and everything at your disposal to destroy your opponent—any method that Minecraft provides, you should exploit. (Combat-logging, hacking, and other out-of-game methods are unacceptable except on select servers.) Always carry extras. You never want to be stuck in battle without a weapon. Therefore, extensive measures must be taken to ensure that equipment can be readily replaced in a fight, such as enchantments, extras, and consistent resupplying.

Tip: Potions and tipped arrows are underrated but very powerful items, especially if the enemy doesn't have maxed enchants. A strength II potion more than triples your damage output on 1.8, allowing you to easily burst your opponent down with a good combo. On 1.9+, A critical hit with a even just a stone axe and strength II does to a player with full diamond armor. Enough to kill in just three hits. On the flip side, a splash potion of weakness on the enemy pretty much neutralizes their damage and allows you to easily outheal their damage with decent armor and high saturation food items like steak or golden carrots, unless if they also drink strength. The most useful potions are Strength, Speed, Fire Resistance, Weakness (Splash) Instant Healing (Splash) and Slowness (Splash) Slowness and Instant Harming potions can also be used to make tipped arrows allowing you to chase down a fleeing enemy or slow them down when you escape for the former, and for the latter, do a set amount of extra damage (Like if your arrows had the damage bonus of a strength potion!)


 * Flee!

Run if there is almost no chance of victory, using ender pearls and hopefully a Speed Potion. While running does carry an inherent danger to it, it is probably your only hope at that point. If you are outdoors with an elytra and fireworks, using them will almost guarantee escape.

If you are in your base, consider whether running will be a good strategy, as then they will most likely raid and pillage your base, and come back repeatedly to continue their pillaging. (Unless Factions is on your server)

Fleeing is also known as 'kiting' (or to 'kite'). This term is most often used in Hardcore Factions (HCF). If you decide that fighting while outnumbered isn't an option, you can kite to a safe location to avoid being killed.


 * Get mixed in Pig's Food...

Get eaten by the pigs.

This may sound confusing, but say that you are attacked. If someone intervenes in your fight, and attacks the enemy, then you and the new fighter can kill the enemy. When that is finished, then you will fight the new opponent and possibly lose. That is why it is called Pig's Food, because instead of possibly losing to your hated foe, you chose to possibly get eaten AKA defeated by the person intervening, who is the pig. However, if the "Pig" does not attack you, you now owe a debt to that person, which is also a way to get "eaten"-through the need to repay them. Also, you may have a chance to "clean up" the player that won the fight between the 2 when they are low on health, or to escape while they fight. This is also known as "third-partying".


 * Don't Give Up

Now, this may sound like a weak statement, but hear this. Suppose someone attacks you, and there is no escape possible for you. You hate the player who is killing you and the fact that you aren't combat-savvy enough to fight back. If there is honestly no escape, try to hit an assailant. However, keep in mind that if they hit you with a sprint attack and a melee combo, which is characterized by an extremely quick-draining away of health and rapid FOV shaking, you will be unable to deal any damage at all. To stop this, make a point-blank bow shot to give yourself a chance to deal some damage. Thankfully for you, this combo effect is not achievable post-1.9.

Also, never underestimate the power of snowballs.

Even though they deal no damage at all, snowballs are powerful weapons in PvP. If you happen to be low on health and another player with a good sword is coming after you, pelt them with snowballs to keep them away. You might be able to knock them off a cliff or into lava. Maybe you could even break their armor for an easy kill. This does not work in 1.8+. Eggs can be substituted, and the baby chickens that spawn from the eggs could push them off a small (ideally 1x1) platform.

What's next?

 * Tournaments: Get a few players together: about 10+ is good, then put them two at a time against each other. If you win, you fight another winner; if you win again, you fight another winner again and again until you lose or there is only one winner left. You never fight a loser; if they lose they are out, except perhaps for a battle for third place.
 * Free-For-Alls/Last Man Standing: 3+ players fight against whoever they want in the arena at the same time. Maybe there is someone who is annoying or swears too much — who wouldn't want to try killing them…?
 * Mini team: Put around 5 players on equal teams (there can be more than two teams) and the last team standing wins.
 * Team: 10+ players on equal teams.
 * Un-official Duels: Let's say you have a person who you really hate, but you have more TNT than them? Call them on and if they say yes, start the battle. There is going to be a lot of fouls (like lava pouring, TNT and flint and steel burnings) but this is why it is an Unofficial duel, as they don't yet count.
 * Survival: Make about 10+ players and make monster spawners in the arena. Give all the players wooden swords. There should be no creepers. Last person standing wins. Players can attack their rivals to kill them or team up and share the victory.

Multi Professions
This is a type of PvP with a relative small map size, should no more than 500x500 blocks. Instead of players gathering materials through the terrain, they choose a profession at the start of the game and get a set of gear, each profession is different and some may have status effects. Players should be in adventure mode and have keep inventory, except for certain professions. Choose a method of teams (solo/small team/faction size), as well as a score mode (time attack or score attack). Some common professions include generic, tank, sniper, potion user, cavalry, etc.

Capture the Flag (fortress assault)
A type of PvP where there are multiple sides with at least 5 players and a fort on each team. The goal of the game is to reach a certain spot(s) in the fort, usually a pressure plate, button to win, or capture wool or something representing a flag. There are usually split roles of each team which are attackers, defenders and commander(s). The map size is somewhat big. Players have pre-given gears and keep inventory, each team also has a spawn point and players will respawn there if they are defeated. Make sure you keep it balanced!

Bed Wars
This type of PvP is popular in Chinese servers. This style was popularized in a spin-off by the Java Edition server, Hypixel. It consists of multiple teams and a small base with beds, crafting tables, furnaces etc. for each team. There are commands set that players can respawn and keep getting resources (like iron) as long as there are beds on their team (which cannot regenerate if destroyed). So there are two parts of defeating the enemy: destroy their beds, and then kill their players. It requires a lot of tactics.

Attack Related
Practice. Whether or not it's in Multiplayer; practice shooting moving targets. This can train how well the player can hit, strafe and can sharpen their reflexes, as well as giving them the ability to quickly judge the speed and direction of a target and adjusting their aim accordingly.
 * Trigger Happiness.


 * Round and Round

When engaging in a fight, the most intuitive course of action is to charge the enemy and spam the mouse clicking. However, circling the opponent can be used to the player's advantage. Move in a circle by quickly pressing W, A, S, and D quickly in sequence. Simple, but effective. This should reduce the damage taken by a significant amount, while the player is still able to deal damage to their opponent.


 * Snowballs

Enemies like to pillar up on platforms to attack from afar with a bow or charge the player for extra knockback. Snowballs (or eggs in a pinch) are useful for knocking enemies back and even off small platforms (especially 1x1 platforms). It MAY give the opponent the impression they are being attacked, while also knocking them back and allowing the player to create distance. Most players will try to use their most powerful sword and charge you. In this case, back off, as serious knockback and damage can be dealt with a charge attack. Take note that snowballs will also damage armor, so if you see someone in full Gold Armor (for its high enchantability), don't be afraid to pelt them with snowballs/eggs.

Tip: Snowballs are cheap, easy-to-mass-produce armor killers! It is highly recommended that snow golems are kept in a base for this purpose. Unfortunately it takes a little less than 4 chests of snowballs to destroy diamond armor. However, it can easily destroy gold armor with its low durability. In a pinch, eggs can be used as a substitute, albeit with some disadvantages (including the baby chickens that can be spawned).


 * Strafing Tactics

PvP isn't always standing still in one spot while hitting someone with a sword, and never should be. Circle strafing around your enemies can benefit the player, especially if the opponent(s) wield diamond weapons. Because the opponent needs to aim slightly forward with the bow or crossbow, since there is a delay before the arrow strikes (and a charge period for a regular bow), it can disorient the opponent and allow the player to avoid hits much easier. To make it even harder for your opponent to hit you, use a Potion of Swiftness. However, this should be avoided when near obstacles like walls, or hazards such as lava or cactus. Most players don't strafe, use it to your advantage.


 * Deploy a Decoy.

If you are with a group or faction of people and have a reputation on the server, use this to your advantage. Create a fake base near the spawn. Be sure to make it look convincing, perhaps a low sky base or an obsidian above-ground base. Do not store anything (basic non valuable gear like leather armor and stone tools will add to the facade, however) in this base and make a trap inside the base, like a Piston Pitfall trap or Button-activated trap. People will come for this base assuming it is your real base. Unfortunately, it may not always work. This method works best on faction servers, but if you are good enough at designing these you can make it compatible with a non-Faction PvP server. Once they fall in the trap and die, you are able to take their items. This is a great source of money, items, and PvP supplies.


 * Punish as the Juggernaut.

Most PvP servers are unruly and free-for-all situations. Now what's the best thing you can get? Victory and Survival! What's the best tool? Juggernaut-like armor (and some brains mixed in)! First, you'll need to find iron or diamonds, and netherite if possible. Watch out for people, because they'll most likely be on the same track. Second, brew potions such as strength, health, regen, and invisibility. Third, enchant everything. Enchant the armor for maximum Protection. Enchant the sword to maximum Sharpness with Fire Aspect, Knockback, etc. Remember, Sharpness is the only generic damage booster. Smite and Bane of Arthropods V may seem impressive, but in a PvP situation, they are useless. A useful PvP only fighter is the Juggernaut Supreme build with a powerful bow and a few arrows.

If you have enough players on your team (at least 15) you can use techniques like the one below. Use this when attacking a base. The reasoning for this technique is that the enemy will believe that the middle (who falsely attacks the enemy) is a weakness, therefore, counterattack towards the middle giving. When they do you can lure them away from their allies and defense (into your own plotted familiar terrain). One can also add some more reinforcements who charge into the enemy base after some enemies are lured out to do the actual attack after many enemies went away, it should be easy if done correctly as the enemy base won't have much enemies within. (insert picture) --- ++                    ++  ++        #####       ++     ++              ++             ***

- represents allies in front and drawing fire, do a little false attack, once enough enemies come out, move back then counter


 * 1) represents enemies

+ represents allies hiding near the side and behind to surround and terminate enemies, they should be the best PvP players in your team


 * (optional) represents allies that hides and do the actual attack, can be at sideways or otherwisely distributed


 * Click faster!

Java Edition 1.7-pre, Java Edition 1.8 only.

Many competitive PvPers can click fast, to increase the number of times they hit a player. Some methods of fast clicking include Jitter Clicking, Butterfly Clicking, and Drag Clicking. Click speed is measured in Clicks Per Second (CPS). Most PvPers are able to Jitter Click about 8-16 CPS. Depending on the server's hit delay (20 ticks by default) you will be able to hit an opponent more times within a second. Note: Butterfly and Drag clicking may not be allowed on some servers. Java Edition added a weapon cooldown in 1.9, however, it is still possible in Bedrock Edition.


 * Block Hit

Java Edition 1.7-pre, Java Edition 1.8 only.

Block hitting is when a player presses their attack button and place block button at the same time. When a player block hits it allows them to take 50% less damage than if they weren't block hitting. This will increase knockback for an opponent. Block hitting does not work post-1.9.


 * W-Tap

W-tapping is a technique where the player taps W right after hitting their opponent. W-tapping resets a player's sprint and increases the knockback dealt to the opponent. Despite popular belief, W-tapping does not increase reach.


 * Aim

Aim plays a big part in PvP. Reach is measured from your head to the enemy hitbox. If you aim at the head you will get the most amount of reach because the reach is measured from your head to the enemy hitbox. The distance between your head and the enemy's head is 3 blocks and the distance between your head and your opponent's legs is more than that. Minecraft's reach is 3 blocks meaning you will not get the first hit if you aim for the legs while your opponent aims at your head.

Defense Related

 * Make a trap!

Redstone is a vital skill to learn. The ability to make unseen and creative traps allows for the killing of enemies whose diamond-plated armor might be otherwise unstoppable. For example, the first thing enemies would normally do is take out the water around the base and replace it with lava. If that happens, and you have a BUD to confirm that water is still there, TNT is supposed to be set off under a pile of sand, with water to block out the damage to the environment (be careful using it without water, you'll probably get more damage done than you bargained for) and torches to break the sand. Maybe even not add torches to suffocate the enemies, but the explosion will be reduced. Another use is emergency switches. Set your faction's spawn point in a 2×2 hallway. Put an emergency button to pull in the blocks under you with sticky pistons and the enemy will fall into lava. Note that this is guaranteed to waste the enemy's armor, not to kill them. Use a button, not a lever! If you are looking for a way to win, then you can lay siege. At night, the simple plan is to make a 3 or 4 block trench around their base. Pillar up about 2 blocks and start a platform that takes people to the fort of the enemy. USE COBBLESTONE because the people under siege might light TNT. It could destroy your bridge if it is made of dirt or wood. Once you have the platform, expand it so it covers the entire trench which will make it a death trap. Close the box up and watch the players fall into the trap! Or before you fold up the box, make a stairway to the door and remove the door. Close the box. Now you can lay siege with the help of monsters! They could still light the box up and defeat all the mobs, but by that time they might be too weak to resist that you could 1 hit them.


 * Extremely thick (and perhaps tall) walls.

For the paranoid. Make walls 20-40 layers deep if you want. This is not a death trap. This is meant to give you enough time to escape. Though most players will be weakened/don't want to take the trouble after 3-6 blocks, determined people will go somewhere around 10-15, and only madmen will mine through all 20-40 blocks.


 * A really neat hybrid defensive and offensive tactic is to coat your inner walls with cascading of lava. The lava not only protects your base from TNT cannons, but also turns anyone who attempts to break in into an instant Korean BBQ.


 * Secret switches.

Not always will enemies come via broken brick walls. They might just come through the front door. Hide your entrances and fool enemies with fake entrances. Make sure all your team knows of them. Maybe one can use a special circuit (weighted pressure plates) so that a first number of times (could be the number of players in your team) that an entrance is entered it's safe but then anyone who go in will fall into the trap.


 * Spleef o' Death.

Players in diamond armor might come and kill you and raid your chests. You are in iron, huh? Shovels are your weapon here. Put snow blocks as the one layer floor block, dig all the way to bedrock, (or the void if in The End/custom map with no bedrock) lay TNT everywhere (just make sure it is out of reach from your base), and depending on how strong they are or how much you hate your enemy, put a manual switch or lay tripwire to automatically blow them up. Note that you might not get their loot.


 * Gas Chamber.

Cram dispensers in the walls of a tight hallway, load them with damage potions, lead a rapid clicker to them, place a switch to restrain it, and then put sticky pistons in the walls to trap people in separate rooms. Nothing, not even Heavy weapon dudes with so much as Protection X (not that that enchantment is available without editing the NBT file) can survive. One may also unleash monsters in there once the opponent is in, or use other armor penetrating methods. A clock circuit leading to pistons can render the trap unable to break out without explosions or maybe tons of liquids, if your team has really great redstone scientists, these can also be set up.


 * Keep your distance

You can melee other players, but you'll need a fast clicking pace and some conditions to fight. Keep your distance! An enchanted bow is the best against an armored player. Regular bows work as well. The only case where you have no choice but to melee is when you're out of ammunition or if marksmanship isn't your thing. Even at point blank range, a bow could be a better choice, fully charged it sends a critical hit the power of a diamond sword!


 * Your money won't save you

Whilst in the middle of a multi-player PVP standing around and checking out the loot from the player you just killed is just being a burden on your group, having to protect you and in most cases they won't protect you, most likely getting you killed and losing the loot you just got and your original possessions. Although a bit of scenario analysis is also needed (i.e. take this advice with a pinch of salt). Just grab whatever loot there is and continue the fight (unless if you got great gear in your hotbar right away).


 * Tunnel Escape Route Tactics

Although an escape tunnel is a great idea, your enemies might follow you through. To combat this, you should have a lot of dirt at hand. Simply block up the top part of the tunnel. Don't block the bottom, as placing blocks on the bottom lets your enemy shoot arrows. (NOTE: The tunnel must be 1×2 to make it easier.) It usually takes longer to dig through the dirt than placing it. Plus, this can easily frustrate your enemies heavily. An alternative is to have dirt ceilings in the tunnel with sand or gravel on top, so if someone comes, you can break the dirt to drop the gravel or sand, which can be much easier. Using torches to support multiple columns with one block is suggested, as it can take 1 block broken to cause a huge blockade. Alternatively, make a 1-block deep ditch in the ground. When your enemies come, fill the pit with soul sand or water, slowing them. Again, this will create an ENORMOUS amount of rage in your opponents, as they usually will have to get through a long period of block removal before they mobilize. But, this can make your enemies more enraged and chase you harder. One can place ice (perhaps packed or blue ice so it won't accidentally melt) accordingly to increase sprinting speed, or use a boat on it to travel really fast. Be sure to block the enemy with pistons when using this method.


 * Block

If someone is pummeling you with arrows and you cannot dodge them, block them by right click holding your sword, or shield in recent versions. This will reduce incoming damage by half, or with a shield will block all damage (though means you'll be sneaking). Block in between shots while trying to get closer to them.


 * Keep armor and a sword on you at all times

You might have iron armor and a pickaxe mining in a well known mine, but you're not very hard to defeat against someone without armor but a stone sword, which is the first weapon people settle for. Keep a sword on you at all times and hopefully, you can retaliate, plus, keep armor, even if it is basic leather or even the fragile gold armor, so if someone does attack you, you can still live to turn around and kill your attempted killer.


 * Safety first

When you are using lava or TNT, bring some obsidian and/or a water bucket. This will protect you from explosions and burning.


 * Be Vigilant

On a PvP server, you never know where people are. Even if you are far away from spawn someone may be spying on you, stalking you, waiting to attack or worse. Never think you are alone, always assume someone is near you and will attack you. Keep your fingers ready to whip out your sword.


 * Don't Trust Anyone

Prime rule. Do not trust anyone. If there is an online map, use it to track locations of people. Stay away from other players. If they offer to let you in their faction just if you do something very simple for them, there may be something underhanded about the deal. They might kick you out or even kill you immediately if they give no notice they want you (on servers with the Factions plugin for Bukkit). Be ready for that just as ready as when attacking. Assume that everyone will stab you in the back. Also on some servers, there are teleport commands. On a PvP server, if you get a random teleport request from someone you don't know, never accept it! They only randomly teleport to look for a victim to raid and kill. Also, don't accept it if you think you have better stuff, you may not know what they have in their arsenal and also on some servers there is a /back command. Even if you kill them, they can teleport back and camp there. If someone wants to fight in a 1-versus-1 face-off, be careful if you accept. They may bring someone along to "watch." Take this advice with care, since putting too much trust in even your best combatant might get you in an irreparable situation.


 * Smart Layered Walls

In addition to the extremely thick layer, smartly add multiple types of layers to your wall: Solid: solid layers of obsidian with no gaps, this should make up the majority. Liquid: a layer of water or lava, put one on the outside to prevent explosions, and some on the inside to delay the enemy charging in. Also used for the roof and perhaps floor of the wall. Height: should be the solid type, used to stop elytras, cannons and climbers, best with a lava shield, at least at the bottom to kill elytra pilots. Don't put them too outwards.Another variation is to use tons of sand and gravel,(expensive to get normally) not to use against elytras, but to fill down the wall that the enemies broke, causing a huge delay. If they use torches, the massive amounts of dropped items (if it is built up to the height limit, or as high as possible if the server has mods) may crash the server and undo their work, if they charges in while it's lagging, they may get buried! Checker: put multiple layers of clay, wood, obsidian, liquid or cobwebs (choose two from those) in a checkerboard pattern. As they are mined with different tools, enemies must switch tools constantly (most of them won't bring shovels, shears, and axes at all!) in order to get pass them, and its hard for them to climb if liquid is one of the materials. Cobble: use water and lava in a single layer accordingly to continuously generate cobblestone, these can't be mined through without enough intelligence,(a wrong step in disarming it may leak liquid out which drowns/burns players) and is usually explosion (wither) proof! Fill any other space in that layer with obsidian. Room: make an empty space without lighting to spawn monsters in it, all walls around it should have no liquids. One can put it around a spawner to maximize its potency, or lure some exotic monsters in and lock them (wither cages). When the enemies break the surrounding walls, an array of monsters (which spawns while they are near and mining through the other layers difficultly) will flood out! Trap: add buds to random parts of the wall and connect them to TNTs, when the enemy unfortunately mines the parts, BOOM! one can also add a semi-wall of TNT to stop massive amounts of raiders if necessary, make sure not to put lava layers near! As long as obsidian can't be blown up due to plugins, these shouldn't damage your walls. All other traps can be used if one knows how to!

A good combination of these layers will make the perfect wall that barely any enemies can get in. by adding defense on nether transportion so the enemy can't get in (but you can), your base will be truly impenetrable. Enemies may often found this wall so hard to pass that they give up, or to see the intelligence of you and your allies and have second thoughts about attacking. Also note to use similar techniques about the floor beneath the wall, make them out of slowing blocks, damaging blocks and traps (such as pits or landmines) and use them in tandem with the wall's layers will furthermore enhance the defense.


 * Wolves are your Friends

Usually, you'll die alone from fighting a player with a better advantage than you, but this can be a different story altogether if you have wolves or golems with you. Wolves will follow and protect you, and unless your enemy is smart enough to set up a hidden advantage or just blatantly stupid, will not bother attacking you because most know they will die from a pack of wolves attacking them. Even though a wolf has no armor and only has an attack strength of 4 life points, a pack of them can still pack a punch. Iron golems are a good choice as well as your attacker might accidentally hit the iron golem, in which case it will attack them, and even diamond equipment is second to the strength and health of an Iron Golem. After one of the golems attacking, the enemy will have to retreat. You do not have to worry about aggravating the iron golem if it is made by you, as Iron golems will never attack their creator. Using snow golems to damage armor excessively and cause huge knockback (maybe into lava) is also effective.

Note: Iron golems are neutral mobs and do not attack players unless provoked, and remember to take rotten flesh to heal your wolves. With some pistons and correct spacing, one may be able to push the iron golem and lock them in place so the enemy will get blocked by them and have a higher chance of provoking them.


 * Hidden Areas

Usually, this defense contains hard vital redstone and using this kind of trick is very tactical. Using hidden rooms can hide you through the unknown. For example, if you're at low health, use a special tactic to escape the enemy in a short period of time. Creating a hidden area in the battlefield supports your life, and creates and connects areas to explore. It takes hard work to create a vital escape away from enemies only using pistons and redstone from small spaces and thick areas. This kind of defense can support your life without pets, can hide you from strong enemies and can ambush enemies in a hidden open.

Other Tactics

 * Suggestions for PvP Setup

It is recommended to have the great armor, weapons, and items you can in any fight, in order to maximize chances of victory. However, be sure to be as minimalist as possible; doing so will allow for easier inventory management and weapon changing. Put Unbreaking III on anything you can. This is a good rule of thumb for PvP and Minecraft in general. Make sure your sword has enough durability, or bring a spare. Having your sword break is just downright terrible, especially in a tense match. Put Infinity I on your bow or bring 32-128 arrows. Bring the bow!


 * Strategic Tactics

In general, don't go charging at someone before you plan every single step you take.

The following factors are of immense strategic value:


 * A map. Not only it will help you see the environment around you, but it will also indicate where other players are.
 * Fully Functional, Armed, and Finished Base: A base is always a good choice in PvP servers. To make sure that nobody will find your base try and base it in an ocean biome, underground. Or…
 * Skybase: A base floating in the air is difficult to access, especially if it is built above an ocean. It will be difficult to locate and difficult to break into, as long as it is fortified with obsidian. Best when used on factions servers especially, but only if you are smart about laying out land. Just make sure you can access it.
 * The best equipment possible.

Or live on the run, without a home base or faction. Raid any unoccupied bases you see and never stop, apart from the evenings when therefore you hide out in somebodies' base when you can find it. There is no problem with living on the run as you can never really be targeted as they do not know where the target is (unless they have a map) and you can get free loot from raided chests.

Keep in mind that small tactics like this are quite fruitful!


 * Switch Tactics

You may be pretty powerful with your not-inconsiderable Protection IV diamond armor and Sharpness V Knockback II and Fire Aspect II sword. However, as diamonds are not exactly impossible to find and more people will attempt diamond (or even netherite) swords and enchants, staying with this setup is not recommended. Sooner or later, their sheer number will make your PvP a button mash while surviving in a free-for-all becomes luck-based. Therefore, keep different weapons on you. Here's some ideas:


 * 1) Poison them.
 * 2) Use a fire charge to burn them.
 * 3) Use snowballs or eggs; these are cheap rapid-fire armor breakers.
 * 4) Use Punch II bows to knock them back.
 * 5) Strafing your opponent can turn the tides of battle. Do so by rapidly spamming "A" and "D" while you hit your opponent. Doing so will cause difficulty while trying to hit you!

All this is vital, as the once invincible enchanted diamond armor is now commonplace for any serious PvP player.


 * Use monsters to your advantage

Let's say you're in a small guerrilla faction. Your members in your faction aren't half bad. However, the only problem is that there are a few people. They don't mine or gather too much, although they are quite skilled. The problem here is that even if they don't die much, they still do. Instead of using people that need supplies, why not make an army that purely just spawns with them? An army of skeletons is best, although zombies work too (husks or drowned are better, husks won't burn in sunlight and inflict hunger while drowned may have tridents which deals heavy damage). If you can, try to get your hands on wither skeletons, that can attack with their stone swords and still give the Wither effect, or better yet, give them bows long forgotten and unneeded so that they can shoot flaming arrows (even with unenchanted bows) and set the enemy on fire, although this may take more time to wait for them to spawn and transporting them is more difficult. Find a skeleton monster spawner, set up a network of water transportation (if you are using wither skeletons, try using lava), bring them to a certain room, with someone in there. Then, when the time comes and somebody comes to raid the base, unleash them. Such an army does not mine diamonds for you, but even so they're useful by the fact that they're easy to find and easily replaceable. Perhaps your server has a custom spawner of more powerful monsters such as vindicators, if that's so, also use them! (Make sure that your enemy won't take advantage of the monster's loot, such as the totem of undying.) One can throw a trident enchanted with Channeling and Loyalty during thunderstorms to cast lightning which makes charged creepers, zombie pigmen and witches.


 * Through their armor

There are certain damage methods that ignore one's armor. For armor without protection enchantment (or Feather Falling), it can be falling, fire, drowning, potions, suffocation and certain monster attacking methods (such as the evoker). Even for players in protection enchanted armor, you can still penetrate them by somehow tiring them (make a non-lethal trap that forces jumping and sprinting, unleash some husks or destroy their food source) so they will starve and be weakened while you are full, or by knocking them into the void, in some servers, the admin may set up a trap made of /kill, these will kill anyone even with the best armor (probably except for the admins themselves). Also by exploiting glitches or using super fast knockback (see below), one can trick the enemy so they will be thought of as illegal flying or other illegal actions and get kicked, effectively killing them. This is very dirty play, and is considered unsportsmanly and/or can get you banned/suspended. In other words, exploiting glitches is NOT recommended.

Organized PvP
"Organized PvP" would be a non-free-for-all and small-amount-of-factions PvP. Suppose there are only 2 factions, one is evil and one is good (or they are neither). Below are some tutorials for if there are only about 2-4 factions (recommended for only 2 factions) and is a very organized player versus player. This could be useful if there happens to be a ranking system on the server. I was very creative with this and it is also recommended for lots of players play at once. It would be good to mark the team you're on on your structures so you don't accidentally wander into an enemy's base and get yourself killed.

Structures

 * Standard Base

A base made of cobblestone with several chests and beds for allies.


 * Heavy Base

A base made of 3 layers of cobblestone and about 50 beds and over 100-150 chests. Recommended to have a tree farm.


 * Hidden base

Very small, but easily camouflageable. Do not make this base more than 15 blocks wide, or it will lose its ability to hide. Cave or jungle biomes are your best bet for making this base. To hide its identity more, add leaves and other natural resources around it. You could even add portal entrances to the base, so baddies cannot infiltrate inside the base from outside.


 * Factory

Not really a base, but produces resources and holds some player. Has about 50 bed s and tons of chests. As the name suggests, this is where you get most supplies, but make sure your other bases have mini factories too. Have tree farms, ranches, mob grinders, Experience farms, crops, cobblestone generators, and stockpiles. Have people who run it, and people who defend it. Make sure to add mine cart rails and tunnels to transport supplies and people from the factory to the bases. A self destruct machine is helpful to avoid it falling into enemy hands. Make sure it has farms to produce food, potions/nether wart, iron and other minerals, and wood and stone!


 * Destroyer

A huge sky base with 200 beds, 200 chests and made of stone bricks with people monitoring the outside with dispenser turrets and other advanced weaponry. The only way for it to be destroyed fast would be lots of TNT. If you wish to mass-produce these, you really should build a cobblestone farm.


 * Battlecruiser
 * Battlecruiser

A medium-sized sky base with enough space for 100 troops and lots of storage and requires lots of cobblestone.


 * Turret

A redstone turret with a redstone clock and a rapid fire redstone gun that shoots about 3 arrows/second. Recommended for the guns to be high and blocked off.


 * Cobble Farm

Recommended to mass-produce everything above. Creates cobblestone with lava and water.


 * Local Brewery

Made of about 3 layers of cobble, with creeper and witch farms (or just a lot of chests with these materials in them) and dispenser guns. Make sure to have about 10 brewing stands and people operating them, with about 20-30 beds and chests. Put splash potions of harming, poison, and weakness in the guns, hook up a redstone clock and watch the fireworks.


 * Redstone House

This house is the trap of them all! Make the house look very inviting, iron blocks behind the glass, chests everywhere, and maybe a sign that was "supposed" to be to a friend for a secret entrance. They walk in the door, see the chests, and open them, only the chests are trapped chests! When they are activated, you can have them shoot arrows, lava, or even TNT! Make sure to add a piston that blocks the door when the chest is opened too!

Troops

 * Standard

Standard is a troop with iron armor and a bow enchanted with Infinity and Unbreaking I and 1 arrow also with an iron sword.


 * Officer

Officers command troops with the number depending on the rank you give them.


 * Commander

Commanders have enchanted iron armor with Protection 2 and Unbreaking 1 and Enchanted Iron Sword with Sharpness 2, Knockback 1 and fire aspect 1, plus Bows with Infinity and Unbreaking with 1 arrow.


 * Gunner

Gunners have at least chain armor plus their weapon of choice and operate redstone turrets.


 * Monitor

Monitors have iron armor and watch your destroyers (see above).


 * Pilot

For those experienced with using elytra (1.9 only). Equips full Projectile Protection armor with Feather Falling IV (minus chestplate), elytra, a Punch II bow/fireworks(1.11.1 or above only) for boosting oneself in midair, and a fully enchanted bow for dealing damage from above. Try equipping potions if aim is good. A Knockback II sword is also good if your enemy has the same ideas. Pack a lot of steak and arrows (or Infinity).


 * Guard

Guards have iron armor enchanted to the max and diamond swords. They guard you and prison cells (if you happen to capture your enemies).

Faction Wars
This can be done with a Factions plugin or through other means. This is when a group attempts to irreparably exterminate members on another group and later destroy or loot all property of said group. These can range from a surprise attack to a formal challenge of two armies, and can have up to hundreds of warriors on either side (though this is extremely rare and may cause lag). In some servers, you may be asked to pick a team without knowing who is on it.

Sabotage
If you can't hurt them from the outside, hurt them from the inside! If possible, join your enemy faction while you are still able to. If you get into their base as a faction member, wait until the faction moderators are all offline. This is the best time to strike. Take their best valuables, then break the furnaces, chests, and burn the items with a flint & steel. If they have a water mine, block the water. If they have a staircase mine, put a lava or two at the top. Go to the "/f home" and dig a hole. Put lava in it, from the ceiling and make a wall so as soon as they "/f home" they will constantly respawn in lava. If you have spare lava, fill the place with it! Make sure that there aren't any hidden chests, and destroy the farms if no one in the faction catches on. If possible, if they don't know you griefed/raided them, wait until they repair their bases with more food/loot and restart the process! Remember to give loot to your actual team after each raid.

Infiltration
In most, if not all faction servers, there is a plugin that allows factions to claim chunks of land. If you are raiding a base, there is a 99% chance that they have claimed their base. So how do you get in? Here's how.


 * 1) Scout out weaknesses: Occasionally, your enemy may have carelessly built part of their wall in unclaimed territory, allowing you to simply mine away the wall. They could have also left a hole or entrance connection their base to the outside, negating the need for you to make your own entrances. Finally, a wooden base is incredibly flammable and there is a flint and steel you can craft...


 * 1) Use a TNT cannon: Any block except obsidian or bedrock will break down with a couple of well-aimed TNT blasts. Set up your cannon and fire away until the walls comes tumbling down.

Do note that certain servers have plugins that enable obsidian to be destroyed by a sufficient amount of TNT. If that's the case, then set up your TNT cannon and blow up a hole in it. There are bases that have obsidian covered in water, you CAN TNT-cannon in, but before that, either you have to turn that water to cobblestone or you have to fire sand in using the TNT cannon. Then after you've covered the water, fire your TNT in, now you have a hole to enter their base. If these servers do not have these modifications, on servers with the essentials plugin (Basically every factions server), if you sethome in a "dangerous" thing, such as lava and water, it will teleport you to the safest place. Abusing this glitch to get into bases where they have water underneath them or on top of them to prevent from being exploded, you can sethome at the side of the base in the water, walk away and use your command to go to that home, usually, you will be teleported inside of the base, but a way to counter this is to layer your base twice, what this means is you put a second layer around your base that can fit a player on all sides, then create a box inside of there, then even if someone glitches in, they are stuck in the outside layer and cannot get to your chests.

You can also build hidden cannons for a surprise raid. TNT cannons can combine with bombing flying machines and elytra pilots perfectly.

Note: Some servers prevent you from ender pearling right next to a block.
 * Ender Pearling:' If you throw an ender pearl up at a roof, your head will get stuck in it, and if you throw another ender pearl up while in that state, the ender pearl will go through the roof. A way to combat this is to make your ordinary floor, dig 1 block below each block of your floor, and fill it with lava.

Raiding
If you intend to explore the full tactical armory of PvP, then a helpful one and likely the first is the raid.

Simply put, a raid is the theft of materials from the property of another player and killing enemy team members. Raids have a pro and a con.


 * It drains the resources that can be used against you and increases your own resources.
 * It increases your priority on their hit list.

There are three different types of faction raids:


 * 1) TNT raid. Most of the time, nobody in a faction is online. In this case, simply bash the walls with TNT and then steal everything from the chests. This is very difficult on underground and obsidian bases though, which is why usually you will do a…
 * 2) Claim raid. This means that you will simply kill players in the opposing faction when they are online and claim their land. This is the only way to raid factions with huge obsidian walls.
 * 3) Stealth raid. Though it is possible, but really hard, your faction can send a few of your faction members to attempt to raid the base without being seen. This is especially useful, if the enemy's base isn't tightly secured, but stealth is most likely playing Russian roulette.

Generally, raids are worth the risk. There are two objects that are absolutely necessary if you want the raid to be effective and efficient.


 * Lots of food.
 * An Efficiency IV diamond pickaxe. (You can combine two Efficiency IV enchanted books in an anvil or put one of the Efficiency IV enchanted books on the Efficiency IV pick to get an Efficiency V Pick)

The first is always needed since this may take some time. However, you may wonder why the list contains an enchanted diamond pick. It's because you can break almost anything fast. Without a powerful pick like this, the odds are that the owner will have mowed you down before you could even get inside their base! Therefore, you must be fast.

Choosing a base is easy, and really, an unmanned base is a dead base. When a minimal amount of people are manning the base, then you can strike. Steal all goods. Remember that your point is sabotage, and so you should dispose of all you didn't steal. If you really want to damage them, clog all entry points. Don't stay around too long, though. Take a minute longer and they might be online and hunting you down, in the end you're just wasting your time.


 * Some tips:


 * 1) If it's reinforced with obsidian, it's likely they'd leave a door or something for ease of access. Enter there if necessary.
 * 2) If you just want the enemy's equipment, then do it when nobody's around the base.
 * 3) Creepers will be easier to control than TNT since you can lure them to the enemy's walls. Just be sure to wear some armor.
 * 4) To find some bases, you can just randomly teleport to some people in the server, if there is a teleport trap where you cannot get out, usually you can sethome in that place as you are dying, come back with new gear and go try to kill them as they open it up to get the items, if it is a hole trap where they just hit you try to ender pearls out, people mostly idiotically make these smack dab in their base, so now you can get all of their items, setting home in a base is a very effective way to raid, as you can raid while they are offline, if it is an enemys territory, it is not known commonly that you can do /esethome and you can sethome in an enemy base.
 * 5) If you know the base coordinates, go into the Nether. Walk/teleport to your enemy's coordinates divided by eight. Build a portal, and when you go back to the Overworld, you will be in the enemy's base.

Tactical Planning
Keep in mind that faction wars are not always about combat. It's about preparations and knowledge in order to turn the tide exponentially in your favor, such as how you can slay a player in diamond armor with only iron armor and win a battle before going out to war. You can't rush into an attack, you need to plan it.

First of all, PvP is clearly about fighting and killing your enemy before they kills you. Here's the lowdown on your armor.

If someone has Protection III diamond armor, it takes without them healing…


 * from bow or sword damage
 * hearts from fire or falling
 * hearts from potions, drowning or suffocation
 * Tossing them in the Void somehow is a certain death.

Now say a new enemy has come and they have Protection IV armor, with a Sharpness V sword, and an obsidian base. Attacking them would be suicidal in a fair fight (unless you have better equipment). First, send someone to scout their base while you prepare a full assault. TNT their base and ruin the defenses. This allows you to eliminate their source of power. Then, send someone to cause a diversion to distract them. They'll be chased all the way until they come back and finds the smoldering ruin that was their home. Lead them to a terrain useful to you, such as a cliff where the wall is shaved clean for at least 64 blocks with a diamond block next to the edge. By the time they realize you were invisible behind them with a Punch II bow, it's too late. A plan like this might be hard to follow, but brains beat brawn. You may also fake running away and at the last second, strafe around and hit them with a knockback II sword, it's usually certain death if you can find the right cliff.

Always make sure every fight is strongly in your favor. Go to reasonable lengths to ensure you can attack, but they cannot retaliate, or sacrifice to gain power, such as you losing through snowballing them, but in the process breaking their diamond armor.


 * Behind Enemy Lines

As stated earlier, faction wars are not always about fighting. Although the point of a Faction War is to demolish, a clear assessment about the other side is very helpful in doing so. Let's go into another scenario. Another faction is the strongest faction but is secretive, stealthy, mean, and very rich. Your faction has never liked them, and in fact, hated them. But in terms of pure force, your faction is outclassed. They need you. Now, they equip you with invisibility potions, a diamond sword, a bucket of milk, a splash potion of poison and 3 of harming, a bow with 128 arrows, and 32 pieces of pork. Throw in some Fireworks for distractions, and you're ready to go. The whole faction depends on you!

Now, as a spy, don't ever alert them to your position, because even if they don't know who you are, you are someone sneaking around their base, and they will pursue. To do that, you must follow some steps.


 * 1) Leave an object to hold Shift to sneak and make it so that nobody sees your nametag. You don't have to sneak if you are invisible, but you will leave particles if you run. Don't run ever.
 * 2) Make no noise, under any circumstances. To recap: no noise ever!
 * 3) If they catch you, they will certainly declare war. Kill yourself with permission from the faction leaders unless in hardcore to escape discovery if they are closing in. Be warned that you must use fire or risk your item drops being seen. Alternatively, if the server allows it, teleport out using /tpa . You may also use the command /espawn if you are in enemy territory.
 * 4) Even if you know you aren't in reach of one, setting off a trap gives you away! Even if you are safe from it, setting it off may also alert whoever is in the control room. Take alternate routes. The only reason to try to defuse a trap is if there is no other way. Or if there is no other way because of people blocking you, you can set off the trap on purpose to direct attention to hide and kill anyone who comes to check the trap out.
 * 5) Carry around a Knockback II Sword as a last resort (see below). Kicked players are usually displayed by the server, but there's a chance that the base you're infiltrating won't have any idea of what's going on.
 * 6) Always have an escape route. (ex. Ender Pearls, /spawn or /tpa, etc.…) If enemies have set their particles to "all" in the options, they CAN see potion particles emanating from your invisible character and you need a way to avoid being discovered.

Make note of everything. Don't write on a book and quill, write it on pen and paper to avoid being exposed, but write it on an in-game book later. This intelligence is most important, and can get you one step closer to victory. Do not forget that secrecy is required. Report back to your base once you think you have more than enough information on the enemy and that is when you can declare war. Another trick is to (if in a faction server) station your teammates nearby. (Say, a mountain bunker in the distance) That way, if you are caught and running for your life, you can send a distress signal or flares (The most obvious thing would be fireworks).

One other trick is to pay attention to what you hear. Say you are in the base, and you hear someone munching on food. Avoid them as quickly as you can. If you hear a nether portal, then your team may be able to build a corresponding portal in the Nether and invade through the enemy's portal.

Base Building
Building a base to protect yourself from the diamond swords and the arrows? Good work! Here are some tips to help you make your base even more efficient: (Note that the marvelous Multiplayer PvP Bases guide is also useful.)


 * Size: Bigger may not be better, as a visible structure gains visibility the larger it is, and leaves more space unguarded. On the flip side, big bases are very good for large amounts of people that are working on something together, and can hold more munitions. A small base is also dangerous, because it will be very easily demolished.
 * Type: One effective type of base is a base that is deep underground. Here enemies will take days to hunt you down, while you survive on a farm and branch mine for diamonds.


 * Another base, meant for continuous habitation, is far above the world. Therefore enemies will be required to build up to it. Unless a prohibitively expensive defensive structure is used to get up, they can be easily pummeled with arrows, a single one of which could send them falling to their death or at least making them restart. For sky fortress builders, the most important rule is to not have any spots that are out of the fortresses' archers' line-of sight. Try building the bottom floor in a "multiple ring" shape to do this.


 * Also, make a disabled nether portal that will upon activation become an escape (disable it to ensure that it cannot accidentally link up to another portal). Bases in mid-air are effective during a raid, when manned, as entry is all but impossible. Again, this base type is best for continuous habitation, but it is only slightly more protected than a house on the ground if nobody is manning it. Also make sure to put cobwebs all over the bottom to stop ender pearl glitching.


 * 1) Defenses: Every good base needs traps and defenses! First of all, we have the wall. A good wall should contain at least one obsidian or water layer to shield explosive force, and require at least one minute to mine through with an unenchanted diamond pickaxe. To further prolong base penetration, chessboard wood and cobble to force players to slowly break wood or switch from axe to pick. Traps are great defenses to surprise enemies that make it through the wall, but are generally not infallible.


 * Note that self building walls can be useful during an attack to repair severe damage (aka the TNT equivalent of a bunker missile). However, remember that a trespasser will not simply pound at the wall forever (unless they are monotonously dedicated to it). Eventually, they will most likely climb it with blocks, or disable it by destroying the mechanism.


 * 1) Allies: This is one of the great secrets to PvP mastery! Trustworthy allies can be useful in many tasks, from grunt work to being the safe keeper of your gold. Be careful whom you choose for an ally, as treachery or lack of skill can easily hamper or destroy your attempts to thrive in PvP. Haste in that aspect is generally a waste.


 * 1) Tough Base with a Factions Plugin: If the server you're playing on has the Factions plugin, you can create an impenetrable base with water and cheap walls. To do this, dig a hole along the border of claimed land (INSIDE your faction land, otherwise it can be blocked up or destroyed) all the way to bedrock. Next, cover your base with water, including the sides and roof, and let it flow down to bedrock. Make sure TNT cannot land anywhere in the base. There should be no blocks connecting your base to the wilderness. The water acts as a shield, making your base invulnerable to TNT, and impassable by enemies. The only way to counter this is make a sand/gravel cannon (a TNT cannon that shoots the falling gravel/sand instead). This can also be countered by a team of people using Wither.


 * 1) Skybase: Gather enough dirt to build to the build limit (about 3 stacks). Then pillar jump with all of it, or until you reach the build limit. Then dig 17 blocks down. Place 1 obsidian by pillar jumping with it, mark that corner, then build a 12×12 obsidian platform. (Set home to platform if /home is enabled!) Then find the corner you marked, dig down, (you should see dirt, and not fall), dig 2 more dirt down, replace the obsidian, and coat the bottom with lava. (Fire Resistance is highly recommended) Ender pearl down, dig the bottom block of dirt, and dig a 12×12×2 trench where the lava lands. Then teleport up, either with an ender pearl (may take multiple tries) or /home. You can now add the necessary items to your new base as needed. And finally, add redstone blocks around the edge, and build rings around the platform at a lower level for archers and potion lobbers to walk on.


 * Security

Building a base? Smart. However, check that your seemingly secure base is not vulnerable. Time to troubleshoot!


 * Problem: Enemies can easily blow up walls and tunnel through them.


 * Solution: Reinforce the walls with rings of obsidian embedded in it to break TNT impact and deter speedy tunneling, and coat with water. To prevent glitching in, create two layers, the first layer is one that someone can teleport into with the teleport glitch (explained earlier) with a place on every side that a player can get into, then create a box in the middle, the second layer so that the person who glitched in cannot get to your chests, put two coats of obsidian on this layer so that the person cannot block glitch into your chests.


 * Problem: An air based attack gets you quite often.


 * Solution: Build tall ladder shafts around the perimeter so that you can climb them and shoot off the enemy.


 * Problem: Enemies eventually get through your walls.


 * Solution: Put lava falls to help deter them and have archers constantly patrolling the walls.


 * Problem: Don't have any lava.


 * Solution: The Nether is there for open use.


 * Problem: Enemies tunnel under your base.


 * Solution: Dig a long 1 block wide trench all around your base beyond the walls all the way to bedrock. Occasionally look down it, and if you spot any gaps in the "canyon" in the form of tunnels, ladder down and attack.


 * Problem: You have bricked yourself in.


 * Solution: Find a way to put an inactive nether portal to another dimension in your base so you can portal away, or build your base around an end portal, or build tunnels.


 * Self-Destruct and Escape!

If the base is being raided, and your hand is forced, activate the self-destruct on your base. It is very important to keep one on hand at all times and also have an escape. The self-destruct must be designed to overwhelmingly destroy all life and loot inside the base and the base itself but also be well-hidden. This is hard and so you should experiment. In times of need, start the lethal countdown and escape. Ender chests are good for these kinds of bases, as they don't drop their content and it can be accessed anywhere as long as you have another one.

Escape pods are essential for above-ground bases as they can drop you deep underground into a water spot, where you can dig (possibly minecart) yourself up to the ground and escape with your friends (if you have more than just one pod) to far away from the base. You can lock the escape pods with pistons to prevent enemies follow you when attempting to escape.


 * Keep In Touch

Not all of your faction skirmishes in the PvP world will be set up beforehand. Organize raids with your faction. Find some server to host a voice chat box with your teammates. This will allow you to coordinate your attacks on hostile bases and their creations. The more connected you are with your fellow faction members, the more likely you are to emerge victorious. Keep in touch with them and increase your odds of success.


 * Keep Your Own Bases

Let's say that you have just moved in with your awesome new faction. They have diamonds, dozens of anvils, and general awesomeness. Now, a faction war has started, and you have no base, no food, nothing except what the faction gave you. This is dangerous. In the event the faction fails, you are defenseless. Trust nobody and keep a secret base all to yourself. Put a home there and be safe from pursuers and spawn campers. Be ready! If you need to and fear that the faction is about to fall, steal some items and leave the faction when necessary.


 * Don't be Afraid to be a Rōnin

Rōnin were Japanese Samurai who went rogue after their master was killed. If your group's/faction's leader has been killed, or you just feel like it, don't be afraid to go rogue. In order to do so successfully, you need to follow certain rules. First, you need to either decide whether you want to be a wandering rogue, or a bandit-style rogue. Wandering rogue life is relatively simple. You wander around, and occasionally raid abandoned or unguarded bases, and avoiding other players at all costs. If you decide on this, you can refer to the nomadic experience tutorial to help you get started. If you want to be a bandit-style rogue, however, then you need a top secret base of operations, and lots of equipment. Only engage people if you are 100% sure you can win, and escape as quickly as possible. Trust no one, let no one see you. Although the life of a rogue may not be as action-packed as being in a faction, it is certainly profitable, and once you have enough stuff, you might be able to join a new faction, either to settle down or backstab them, get their stuff, and move on to the next gullible faction.

Mass Battle
PvP in large factions can include multiple scenarios, from individual murders or attempts to murder, to entire factions battling it out with lines of defense, barricades, and tunnels.


 * Open-Field Battle

To make it brief, an open field battle is the combat of multiple factions in an open area. This can cause chaos and may lead to a slaughter in the right conditions. Be sure to be well-stocked for this.

First of all, the open field battle playstyle is to have minimal life lost on your side no matter what, even above the victory itself.

Think about it like this. With lots of people on one side, as well as regeneration from a full hunger bar slowly healing each player (and health potions), the whole army in general is almost continuously regaining health. (If your army's hunger bar isn't full, you shouldn't be in a battle!) Since all the opponent's damage is not placed in a concentrated area, every person alive is in a sense helping heal others. When someone dies, their regeneration and health is lost. So is their ability to fight, and the formation they were in is weakened, so momentum in terms of a steady advance is lost. Therefore, minimal life loss is the goal throughout the battle.

There are three major melee builds, which will be discussed more in depth later. They are:


 * The juggernaut. These are heavily enchanted soldiers. Highly costly to make!
 * The infantry. These are normally armored soldiers without enchantments. They are cheap on everything but Iron.
 * The exotic. These are users of exotic weapons (such as many potions or TNT, also including professional archers) with varying armor levels. They are not very difficult but suicidal hard in certain cases. Not very costly, but it takes time to make.

It is tempting in an organized battle to do one of two things:


 * 1) Charge the enemy.
 * 2) Run from the main areas of combat to camp the areas nobody goes to.

Charging the enemy is a waste of time and durability due to damage distribution. It is also near-suicidal due to the large number of weapons present. Running wastes time as well and is both cowardly and counterproductive, as then damage distribution will be far less useful.

Instead, have all your soldiers in a group and have a continuously switching front line.

The first situation is if the enemy has large numbers of archers. Send a wave of soldiers charging in, with moderate armor, a few Instant Damage II potions, and some skill. Even better, get some enderpearls and rush in to engage the archers, who will often be weaker in melee combat.

If they don't have archers, they will run or charge. If they run, have archers retreat to the back lines and then have the whole army sprint, bunching Juggernauts close to the front line while staying together, for maximum impact.

If they charge, stop their forward momentum with arrows, shooting when they are 10–15 meters away. Then the infantry should then fight for a bit, while juggernauts and potion lobbers move in at sprinting speed to surge into enemy lines and later replace the infantry and slaughter anyone that was engaging the infantry. Make sure that the juggernauts and potion lobbers do this carefully, as the enemy infantry may have lethal potions.

However, in general, the enemy can do little versus Juggernauts and potion lobbers coming in from a flank as well as a defensive row of Exotics to stop enemy Juggernauts from advancing effectively.

However, if you are on the attack, there are some threats to your advance you must take into account.


 * A massed force of archers or snipers (These can really break a big section of the front line off. Terminate them as soon as possible.)
 * A hardened, continually blocking front line (These are really hard to fight by, but you can bait them just by having a player sprint near them and run away.)

Then charge with infantry, followed immediately by exotics. The juggernauts among you should flank around and smash the enemy infantry after a few seconds of fighting. The Exotics should only engage juggernauts in combat, and only with superior numbers. In this situation, have archers aim for infantry advancing toward the fight, NOT the enemy front line, where you could shoot one of your own men. One can make some professional charging units with horses.

Never have everyone charge at once. They will lose momentum and a solid position, while also becoming less cohesive which causes less damage distribution. Retreat, while also dangerous, is far safer.

If possible, lure a charged creeper at them to blow them up and inflict very high damage. Best to do on hard. Use the wither to distract them and retreat quickly or the wither will kill you too.

A suggested tactic for a mass-team retreat on servers running Java 1.9+ versions: if you happen to be attacking as a juggernaut, take precautions in case of a forced retreat from battle, by bringing 1 stack obsidian, an efficiency IV+ diamond pickaxe, and end crystals, at least a dozen or so (if you don't have resources for juggernauts, just bring iron armor, 2 end crystals, and 4 obsidian blocks for a suicide-bomb version). First, get everybody around to retreat, now get your juggernauts and yourself to slow down the retreat by placing obsidian around them, one block above their feet. This often fools enemies into thinking the person's trapped, for one, and if they get close, place down the end crystal on the elevated obsidian, and fire in the hole! The explosion would easily kill off the peons chasing your team in iron, and likely even enemy juggernauts in protection IV if the difficulty is set on hard.

For maximum damage and a near-foolproof way to kill, wait for any enemy juggernauts near the vicinity to jump (either to critically hit you or because they couldn't hit you without standing on one of the obsidian blocks and attacking below) then place and detonate 2-3 crystals in quick succession. This is because a player's feet is much more susceptible to explosion damage, and even if someone uses an enchanted golden apple with full blast Protection 4, three point-blank end crystals would still be a guaranteed death. You'll take some recoil damage from this, but as long as your feet are below the crystals, the amount you take is minuscule to the amount you & your juggernauts dish out, buying your allies time to retreat and wasting the enemies far more resources, sometimes even forcing them to retreat as well.

In some cases, If they shoot at you or are rushing you without jumping, dig down, and place obsidian around you. Then get ready to crystal the top. If they dig down and try to mine through the obsidian or you're about to run out of end crystals, mine further down and block off the top. Since obsidian takes so long to mine, this strategy would likely last you long enough that the combat tag would expire and you'll be able to /home, which on most servers, takes idling for 5-10 seconds. Note while this is extremely effective in open battlefields, this isn't as effective in enemy bases, even if the floor is made of obsidian, as oftentimes, it'll be a flat floor which means you'll take just as much damage as your enemies.


 * PvP better

Many people think Minecraft PvP is "just clicking with a sword", yet it is so much more than that. Learning how to PvP may seem simple, but takes days, weeks, even months to completely master PvP.

Getting killed? With this guide and some practice, you will be killing diamond people with iron! First off. Swords are everything. Kill your enemy, and they won't hurt you anymore. Unless you are a tank and have some kind of lucky-level-30-enchanted sword, always remember that swords will save your life any day.


 * Leather armor The weakest armor, full leather armor will shield you for up to 28% of damage taken. If anyone has full leather armor, the thing that they will likely be able to get(and because risk of death is high), is an iron sword because leather is just about as easy to farm as iron is to find . If you ambush them with an iron/stone sword, you should be able to get about 2 or 3 critical hits in most cases. Each critical hit should be able to do.


 * Please note that they will likely start running. The best thing to do is to cut corners, meaning if they're waiting to see a wall to turn, turn right when they turn, that way you will get to them because you're both at the same place and they have traveled the most. Jump whilst sprinting to get to your enemy if you have the hunger to spare.


 * Gold armor Many people don't use this armor, and it shields for 44% of damage, if fully worn. A diamond sword critical hit will do hearts on it.
 * Chain armor This is the least used armor because it is so hard to get. Protecting for 48% of all damage, it is about as effective as gold armor.
 * Iron armor The third best armor and one of the most effective sets of armor (due to iron being easy to find) iron armor seems fairly weak to be the third best armor. It protects for 60% of damage taken.

A stone sword will do 1 full heart of damage against it with no buffs. A critical hit with a diamond sword will do of damage, and if that is Sharpness I then it will do  of damage.


 * Diamond armor The second strongest armor. It withstands a lot of punishment. Even a Sharpness V (5) sword will only do hearts of damage. It protects against 80% of damage taken. If fully enchanted with Protection IV (4) then a Sharpness V sword will only do  hearts of damage.
 * Netherite armor this armor is crafted from a netherite ingot made from netherite scraps from ancient debris and gold. it has about 2600 durability, has 1 knockback resistance, 80% damage reduction and 3 armor toughness, it could take real beating!

Now that we have described all armor, we will now give you a guide on how to PvP. our If you see a strong enemy heading for you, if you have one, drink a Potion of Strength II. As of Minecraft Java Edition 1.6.1, they increase your damage by a whopping 260%! Even if they have full Protection IV and you have Sharpness III, you still stand a chance because you do damage every hit! Note that can only be obtained by critically hitting. If the server has a plugin that shows the health of the enemy, even better!

Practice all the time with a sword against other players, if they allow you, or do it on LAN. Bows are not as useful at close range, depending on the skill of the player, medium-long is usually best. Jumping while shooting while fighting other archers will decrease the chance of getting hit, but only do this if your skill in aiming is good.

Always keep splash potions of Speed II in your hotbar. If you get a hit on your opponent, best with a knockback sword, you can throw the potion (make sure your enemy(s) get as little or none of the potion at all), and start running for your life. This can also be used against someone that loves to run. Remember! You should never jump while sprinting if you have Speed 2! (Jumping too much will cause you to not be able to take advantage of the Speed potion".

If you are in water, always go under your opponent! Be sure not to drown, though. This also applies when you're trying to hit someone and they're up on a mountain! That way, unless they are cheating, you will easily be able to knock them up on the mountain, plus your hits will make them unable to sprint, due to the fact that they are hit against a block. In water fights, you should always keep lily pads and jump off one while looking down and holding right click, so the lily pad will be placed right when you are about to hit the water, and so you will basically be able to walk on water. This works if you want to run, or if your opponent is running, because in water, your speed is so low and the knockback is so high that you will only be able to get 2-4 hits on them before they are 10 blocks away. Note that ping affects this.

If you are somewhere where strafing is impossible and you are not in water or hitting someone up a mountain, then jump, hit, and block at the same time. Spam the right and left click buttons at the same time. This will make you take a lot less damage while still dealing good damage to your opponent. If you are on a mountain and someone is repeatedly hitting you, you should jump over them, and then they will be at a higher elevation, so the fight will be turned in your favor.

If you are in water and someone is under you, wait until you get knocked back, when you do you have time to go down in the water, and then you will be at a lower elevation and the fight is turned in your favor. Be sure not to drown though!

On flat ground, you should always sprint after one second of getting hit, if possible. This will eliminate the possibility of the sprint glitch. Note that since Java Edition 1.7-pre, you can press to sprint. When sprinting, you will do major knockback, and this will allow you to get free hits on your enemy.


 * How to snipe

Sniping and using a bow can be difficult for some but for others it's their natural talent. Some people have many styles of shooting such as jumping and shooting, aiming upwards and strafing to the right/left or by simply hammering people with spam shots.


 * Some basics

In order for you to support your team as an archer/sniper you need:


 * as many arrows as you think you need unless you have Infinity on your bow
 * armor, unless suicide mission or if using invisibility
 * food (doesn't have to have high saturation foods since you should be far away from getting hit)

Also, it is recommended that you strafe from left to right when shooting and you should also know when the right time it is to shoot another person. A good scenario is that your in battle with another person, and they're a good few blocks away cocking their bow up and you just started charging your own, what do you do? Well, first of all, you release it halfway there then strafe so that when they shoot, you have the advantage of shooting back at them dealing more damage to the enemy. To hit moving enemies, lead the arrow ahead of them some blocks depending on their distance.


 * Sniping

Sniping is attempting to hit targets at long range with a bow. Done well, sniping can deplete an enemy's health or knock them off a cliff before they even notice you, or at least before they're upon you.

When using a bow at short range, there is no need to aim significantly up.

At 1 degree upward, a bow will hit anyone within 25 meters with over a 90% probability of hit.

At further ranges, the level of precision needed to have a good hit rate increases. It is still possible to achieve hit rates close to 90% out to 60 meters, with a pitch of around 10 degrees. However, it is necessary to accurately estimate the range of the target. For example, an 8-degree pitch shot will hit a target between about 47 and 52 meters out with 90% accuracy, or about 46 to 54 with 50% accuracy. This means that judging distance accurately should be a reflexive habit for anyone who wants to learn sniping archery. Being able to, in a split second, figure out the range of a target, the height, and the approximate angle needed to hit (hint: F3 menu helps) will allow you to make shots at truly vast distances, with a 37-degree angle putting shots to around 120 meters.

If you want a mathematical formula as a guideline that will work fairly well under 80 meters.

Aim 1 degree up for every 4 blocks away your target is over 18 on level ground, compensating for movement appropriately. So for example, to hit a target 50 meters away, aim up by 8 degrees. 62 meters away, aim up by 11 degrees. 74 meters away, 14 degrees.

So.

Another good thing to do is keep in mind the target's horizontal angle. This allows you to make shots confident that the target is horizontally at the right position. Further, learning to judge distance is valuable. As a rule of thumb, a block at 60 meters away is 1 degree tall. A player at 60 meters away is about 1.8 degrees tall.

So for ex, let's say you see a player you want dead and they're at your altitude: the procedure a good sniper will go through is as follows.


 * 1) Check the distance to the player by measuring their height in degrees. 1.4 degrees tall means 77 meters away.
 * 2) If they're stationary, check the horizontal heading and note it.
 * 3) Pull up by the appropriate amount. So in our example, it's 59/4=14.75 degrees. 14.7 for simplicity.
 * 4) Make final lead adjustments based on player movement.
 * 5) Fire. Don't just fire once unless you know you'll hit AND kill. Best to fire off shot after shot unless absolute stealth is a priority. This serves two purposes. For one thing, a bow can't hit with 100% reliability at 77 meters (My tests vs. armor stands indicate 60% accuracy, vs. 80% at 60 meters), no matter how good your aim, and unless you have a very powerful bow vs. an injured or lightly armored foe or one above a hazard like a cliff or lava, it is very likely your first hit will not be instantly lethal. If the enemy is walking toward or away from you, compensate by 1 degree per second. If the enemy is sprinting, up it to 1.3 degrees per second. If they are sprint-jumping, by 1.6 degrees per second, and also and additional amount due to them being higher up on average.

If a player is higher than you, a simple way of compensating is to look them in the face and set that as your zero. This works for relatively flat shots that aren't at an enormous range. For example, let's say we look at a player 9 degrees above us who's 1.8 degrees tall? They appear to be 60 meters away based on their height. 60-18=42. 42/4=10.5. 19.5 degrees pitch is a good approximation of where to aim. I wouldn't try this method for targets more than about 30 degrees off of level, and not for very long range shots, but for under 70 meters and 30 degrees, it works quite reasonably.

Obviously, you don't need to do a bunch of math every time you fire a bow, but these rules of thumb can help you aim at a long range.


 * Shooting styles

Many people who shoot have developed their own style of shooting such as:


 * Strafing

People who strafe just simply move in one direction while shooting the target and occasionally take cover when getting pinned down. So when shooting you have to aim slightly above your target's head before shooting for a larger hit rate. In extended combat, opponents may be able to read your strafing patterns if you move predictably, so be sure to vary your strafing.


 * Spam shooting

Spam shooting is being very close to a charging target and lightly cocking the bow and shooting the target. This is a risky style you can do but the risk fades if you shoot the target off a high place like a cliff. Note that when encountering another spam shooter, you have to strafe to avoid getting hit by it. Another easy way to kill a spam shooter is to sprint, then jump, this takes advantage of the fact that you can't be hit while your character turns red, and are immune to damage in that short time. This will be more than enough time to spam-click the person to death (however, this is ineffective and it was proven on actual PVP servers).


 * Classic sniping

While most of your allies are fighting the enemy melee (better if there aren't many troops on each side), the classic styled sniper (which have very powerful bows) can fire a precise shot which will do good damage while the enemy cannot retaliate much due to your allies attacking them with a sword. Be sure not to hit the ally though. One may drink invisibility potions so even if the enemy noticed the shot and want to hit the sniper first, they cannot shoot the sniper.

Note that arrows can also activate wooden buttons or pressure plates, thus making good archers able to operate redstone contraptions from afar.

Server War
This is a rather rare type of PvP. It is not friendly at all. It is just like a real war. Two parties fight for power or resources on a server.

Server Wars happen when one party, typically griefers, organize into an army and invade or attack a certain area or group of people on a server.

This attacking party is typically very organized and very well armed. They launch an attack big enough to cause a disturbance on the server. Another party, typically admins, retaliates against this attack. If the retaliating party is composed of admins, it will typically resort to Intel and the power to ban players. However, admins will counterattack with weapons in the process of banning the attacking players. Unless they allow griefing of course.

In an all out server war, you have two choices: you can either fight for one of the two parties, or you can flee to safety and let the admins sort it out.

Most players decide to fight for their server, however, players who have a lot of resources like diamond, might feel the need to protect their precious resources and flee to safety. If you decide to join the party that is defending the server, you don't really need to worry about firepower since you will probably be armed by fellow soldiers.

If you join the attacking party, you should equip enchanted weapons with high damage. It is also good to equip weapons of mass destruction such as TNT, end crystals, lava buckets, etc. You should do everything in your power to keep your nametag hidden if you don't want to be banned. Being banned means you are out of the server, and out of the war. You can no longer fight alongside your comrades.

When you are fighting with the attacking party, you typically want to destroy as much as possible and invade as much of the server as you can. A good tip? Drink an invisibility potion, arm yourself with end crystals and blast protection armor, and let the terrorist bombings commence on anyone you see, especially the ones that are insecure.

Remember, the retaliating party doesn't always win even though they seem like the "underdogs". Server wars are won with great soldiers, and most importantly, great leaders. You don't have to be a "grizzled" war veteran to be a great general, a great general is someone who is smart and fights alongside their soldiers. Remember, great generals take point, they don't watch from a safe distance and bark orders while watching their fellow players get slaughtered.

Also, if the server has mods equipped, especially mods like "flans mod", "flintlock weapons mod", or "Mo' explosives mod", use that to your advantage!

Because of the nature and the danger of these wars, the mechanics of these "groups" of people that are attempting to overthrow the server will be explained.

Generally, the group may know each-other personally. If three friends chose to do this, and each friend tells two of their friends, then we already have nine people ready to attack. Doing this makes it easier to create order and hierarchy. This is also done to deter any traitors or turncoats in the group. Some of these groups go into faction servers, claim land, and make a legitimate faction. They will probably use the faction as a temporary "bank" for what they steal and make. They will build a secondary base, and will use this when they attack. They are highly armed, and are equipped with heavy enchants, potions, lava buckets, redstone, TNT, and whatever the Modifications on the server make available. They disband the faction, and move to the other base and create a new faction, (if they make one at all) and begin their attack, or they may each stay factionless (to avoid detection) and cause great destruction to large bases using the exploits above, communicating attacks via a third-party social platform.

There is a hierarchy involving the status and rank of the players usually, there are generals of the troops that go to battle. They are on the battlefield. And they command the players to attack. But these generals get their orders from one player. This player is the equivalent to the "god father". They are never seen, although sometimes in the game anonymously.

Several of these groups have primarily PvP champs, but most of them have hackers, x-rayers, cheat mods, and whatever they chose. Most times the hacker is the godfather or at least very close to the top. They also have spies and intel groups. This is not the most usual case, but there are exceptions.

Some of them have strategies that they commonly use. Some are griefing, personal raids, and singling out a player. For example, if they know that a player has valuables (diamonds, enchanted books, etc.) and they don't know where it is hidden, they may grief and threaten the player.

PvP Behind The Scenes
Player-against-player combat is far more advanced than it may look. With it said, it's best to know what people can encounter in a so-called "behind the scenes" stage.

Politics

 * Be Popular and Revered

If you want griefers or spawnkillers on your side, be really nice to them. Most of them are notoriously good at PvP from practice, and giving them a reason to be on your side through making sure they never have to worry about starving or being hunted by others is a good way to avoid alienating them. Ironically, this may be the most effective way to make allies with random people, giving them full access to all of your resources and your considerable efforts to be hospitable will generally remove any want to take your items. (As always, this may backfire).


 * Know The Surroundings

If a server has an online dynamic map or if the Rei's Minimap mod is allowed (most likely), USE THEM. Rei's Minimap helps you understand what structures are ahead of you, and Online maps show everything and also show locations of players. Forgo any advantage you can get your hands on.


 * Participate in Server Events

Whether it'd be a Drop Party or an organized PvP match, participate in server events and you'll be known by most members in the server. This means people will have second thoughts of attempting to kill you.


 * Be Nice To Your Troops

This one is obvious. Make sure to be friendly and caring with your members. Give items randomly to the squadron. Make an Army, Navy, and Air Force if you must, but let them mingle. Give crate keys to your teammates if the server has a crate system. And make sure to not act stuck up. Listen to their opinions. If you want a Mega-Uber Skull Laser Chainsaw Castle of Death™, and your friend wants a smaller base, compromise.


 * Defending Your Base

Let's say you're on a faction server and you have many enemies. Your base has not been found until now. Two players each holding a Sharpness V, Fire Aspect II, Knockback II sword and wearing Protection IV armor are directly outside your base setting up a TNT cannon.

You should always have defenses that are innately active, such as obsidian and water to negate explosions and if available, a spawner that can funnel out mobs on command (go exploring for spawners) to distract and dangerously deter, or snow golems to break armor.

If you have these, don't jump down and PvP. Wait for the spawning mobs to break their armor, or call for your faction members and allies to assist in defeating the enemy.

In these cases, booby traps are good, so set up booby traps everywhere where the enemy can't find them. In fact, make some that are meant to make the enemy know about the traps but it itself is a trap. These work as warnings and signals. Use tripwires and wool under them to use as signals for example.


 * Hate the Spawn

If you're building a massive fortress near the spawn, a griefer or simply a plain idiot might run behind you and kill you, disassemble your fortress and run off with your materials. Well, the easiest method to prevent this is to build your house away from spawn and try to survive a good distance away from spawn. It is usually a good idea to use the /sethome command around this area where you wish to live, as if it is a long way away from spawn and you die, it's a long walk, or mad chase if there are spawnkillers with diamond armor and enchanted diamond swords. Using the /home command if you used /sethome cuts the time getting to your safe zone drastically, usually having the spawnkillers and griefers be dazzled in confusion.


 * What about my valuables?

The best way to keep your most precious valuables is put them in an ender chest. Then put a chest in your house with basic invaluable items in it (with a few valuables mixed in to help fool them), and bury a chest with 8 obsidian, an eye of ender, a crafting table, and other less semi-valued objects in it a short way away from your house.

Even if your entire house is a crater and the ender chest you placed is destroyed, the chest you buried will still be safe, and your can craft an Ender chest with what is in it to access all your valuable items and loot in there, as well as the loot in your actual chest.

Basic PvP supply setup
The following is a step-by-step tutorial on how to survive while being new to a PvP server. Follow in this order:


 * Go solo for now. If the server you play on has Factions, make one to protect your stuff. Be sure to walk at least 5500 blocks. Using a boat is a good idea as you do not need food and can travel at night.
 * Go in the opposite direction people are moving toward. This prevents you from being noticed.
 * Make sure it is far away from anything. There's nothing more horrifying than your mortal enemies being your next-door neighbors.
 * Make a small, undetectable base. Underground is the least noticeable around layer 10 is ideal, putting you near good materials and hiding your nameplate on the surface.
 * Cheating is something that undermines every setup. Step carefully!


 * Start gathering immediately. Do them in this order;
 * -Get wood.
 * -Make a bed to set your new spawn point (unless your server is customized).
 * -Make chests and protect them.
 * -Build a farm.
 * -Find coal and iron.
 * -Look for diamond. Layer 12 eye position is the best, but look for caves especially.
 * -Mine obsidian and reinforce the walls of your base.
 * -Make a portal to the Nether in order to find blazes and nether wart.
 * -Once you have a blaze rod or two, start hunting for Endermen.
 * -Make an ender chest.
 * -Start brewing potions.
 * -Find leather and sugar canes.
 * -Make an enchantment table if you have the tools to and keep it well concealed.
 * -Make an anvil to combine enchantments.
 * -Enchant your diamond armor and sword.
 * -Tip: Enchant Some leather armor with Protection IV if possible and a stone or wooden sword with extreme enchantments. This will trick players into thinking "That player is terrible and doesn't even have good armor". Then sneak and follow them (use an invisibility potion if you have one), and they may end up revealing a base or hidden valuables. If you know you can beat them then go for it. Big tip: use potions always!

Tip: You must have a fallback in your base in the case of hard times. This means:


 * A renewable source of food,
 * A renewable source of wood, and
 * A set of stone tools to restart the gathering of supplies.


 * To make raids against you rare, it is recommended to live in the Nether (but not the End since it's highly coveted) where people normally don't go. It's dangerous, but not as dangerous as living in the overworld. Keep in mind, if you have a mining base, that too must be defended as since raiders can get there via the portal.


 * Make a faction and start recruiting.

-Note to do this when only a few people are online to make sure that nobody else is there to make you enemy (if you're lucky). (Factions is a Bukkit plugin and is not part of a vanilla server.)

That's it! Not too long ahead, you should become good enough to last through most attacks... eventually.

Getting Loot Quickly
A lot of times in single player survival Minecraft, you are going to need something. In factions, you are going to need it a lot more because you are competing with other people for it. Some ways to get it faster:


 * selling- in many faction servers you can sell, auction, and buy stuff. Check and see what you can sell. Most Faction servers allow you to sell cobblestone and dirt, quick ways of getting money.


 * Teleport killing- In the chat bar you see a new player and you want to take their stuff. They don't have any faction, so you tell them "Teleport to me and you can join my faction" as soon as they arrive mercilessly slaughter them. (Note that this can create a bad image for you on the server and could potentially get you banned, so only do this on servers that this is allowed or you don't value).


 * glitching- use certain glitches to your advantage such as item duplication, again avoid the possible banning

Lag creates opportunities
Despite lag making people randomly visually act, cause injury because of damage just showing up, and crash the server, it may still be useful instead of a nuisance if you know how to control it to your advantage. Whenever you hit someone under the effects of a lag spike, there is a chance that they won't be hurt and can escape. You can use this time to run when a lag spike comes, therefore you may escape if necessary. Keep in mind, lag also delays redstone machinery, meaning if there's a staircase that only activates when you're on a pressure plate, you can get up easier.

Exploit Knockback
Most servers have anti-flying plugins installed to prevent hacking users. If your server has one, use it! Spamming hits from a Knockback II sword will send your enemy flying fast enough to trick the server into counting them as flying, so that they will be immediately kicked (possibly banned) from the server. If there is a combat logging plugin as well, all the better! Your opponent will drop whatever loot was in their inventory for your enjoyment. Though you can be banned from many servers from exploiting any server side anti-cheat programs.

Mistakes
Ambushing someone is good. It's even better when they turn around to attack you with the wrong item! (e.g. food or blocks) This makes an easy kill. Take this advantage. And try to make sure this does not happen to you. If it does, it can cost you everything you have on hand!

Weapon training

 * Be a grenadier!

Always carry potions of damage and poison on you. You'll never know whether you're fighting a player with a stone sword in gold armor with minimal enchantments or if you're face to face with a full armed juggernaut carrying what people consider as "God Equipment." This is the most efficient way of disposing of anybody.


 * Train yourself with weaponry.

You may be a fast clicker with a powerful sword and you may have a large chest's worth of damage potions, but without training these aren't of any use. Train yourself to arch with a regular and enchanted bow so that you are so good at it that people accuse you of having an aimbot (don't shoot people constantly or you might get banned mistakenly). Get it in your mind to strafe around the enemy and jump to get critical hits and get an edge over your opponent. Train to throw potions so well that you don't wound yourself and get direct hits for maximum effectiveness.


 * Rapid fire!

You see a player mining some diamonds, and the only weapon they have is a bow. You decide to kill them. It seems like a great idea, especially when you have armor, until you get close to them and they start rapidly shooting arrows. Some players have an uncanny ability to shoot arrows very fast at low charge. They may only deal 1/2 heart of damage, but they will knock you back, and enough of them will kill you. If someone starts using this tactic on you, do not rush them! It will most likely lead to your death. Fall back behind some cover, and if you have a bow, start shooting back at them. Stay far away, because while they are amazing at close range, they usually aren't very good at hitting those far shots (there are exceptions). Finally, Almost no amount of spam shots can stop a sprint-jump attack, Ender pearl charge or splash potion, so if ranged combat is not your strong suit either, hit them with a critical attack or potion, this will usually cause them to run, then be slaughtered by your melee strikes. Remember though; you could do this as a tactic too!


 * Creative Tactics and Weapons

Who says you need normal weapons to beat a strong enemy? Nobody, that's who! The truth is, using weapons that your enemy doesn't even think about will make you more probable to beat your enemy. If you know how to use them, that is. For instance, if you are fighting a juggernaut, there are few weapons usable against them;


 * 1) Potions (most effective)
 * 2) Snowballs and eggs (to knock them back)

Potions harm and distort the enemy, making them the most effective against especially such people with Protection IV armor. There is no magical protection in vanilla, so armor points are useless. Snowballs and eggs will knock the enemy back. You can project them into lava or a pit, and as part of a bug in the game, it damages armor as well because it technically harms the player pummeled by it. Always try to find a way around normality!

Good Philosophy for Fights

 * "Only the dead have seen the end of war."

There is that one case of being Left for Green. This means that your squad disbanded, you are out, all alone with maybe a few enemies a kilometer or two behind you looking for you, and you're starving. Be independent. What if nobody is there to help you? What if your leader takes all the valuables and leaves their troops out to die? You must gather resources, get help of any kind, whether it be a lone man just with a stone toolkit or a juggernaut in Protection IV armor, and you must be careful and start your own faction. Tip: Since anyone can be bought…eventually, keep your own secret, hidden, well guarded bases. Never tell anyone about it. It is for you and only you.


 * Watch videos and tutorials on how to build traps (or other PVP tactics), and be smart with what you learned. Many people know how to make traps. That is good on one hand, but on another, they might not know how to use their knowledge to their advantage. Combine traps and improvise offline.


 * Don't overkill yourself. Think first before charging ahead to do something. Think first of the necessities, which are supplies, and deal with the secondary needs after.


 * Don't be scared to act like a coward. If you stand no chance, save what you can save and run! If you're nearly killed, and have no hope of victory? Run! And don't let yourself be lured into 1-on-1 PvP unless you can win!:Use your mind over your in-game muscles! Preferably, use both! Most important is to use your environment wisely. For example: if you're in a jungle biome, run into the trees and attack your enemies! If you're in a big NPC-village with iron golems: make your foe hit the Iron Golem, then run off and snipe the foe! If you're on a small island in an ocean biome: get a boat, sail a little away, and use your bow to take down that diamond-armor juggernaut! While in The End, spleef your enemy into the void for a sure victory! It will all be yours if you succeed! Your sword might be a strong weapon, but your bow is even stronger if you use your mind. Also, don't be scared to use potions: they can give you a great advantage over your non-potion using enemies.


 * Evaluate your position. In other words, take into account all your advantages, all their advantages, and weigh the options. Sometimes, you need to guess and check. The most important ones are your advantages or disadvantages in:


 * 1) Armor and armor enchants
 * 2) Swords and sword Enchants
 * 3) Bows and bow Enchants
 * 4) Ender pearl or portal availability
 * 5) Potions, skill, and hunger

The most iffy is skill. Some people are so good with their timing that they can calmly mine and take their diamond ore, then swing around and shoot just as soon as you are within a block of them!

In fact, who says you need better equipment to win? Let's say that your base is in the sky with a public chest containing some equipment. Then, all of a sudden, you come down with one teammate and realize that the base is being raided! In the chest, you find some string and cobblestone. The enemies are in iron armor, but enchantments are unknown due to this being before the 1.3 update. Now, if the raider's armor was not enchanted, then you're in luck. A stone sword against iron armor with no buffs deals a full heart of damage. A fully charged bow does about as much damage as a diamond sword. Even if you have no armor, you still somewhat stand a chance against those two since it's you and your teammate fighting them. You do not need to be the same size as long as you can beat them. If you and your teammate are strategic, let's say they stick together, and your enemy doesn't, then you are almost guaranteed to kill them, that is if both of you have at least stone swords and they are alone with an iron sword and full iron armor. If you got lucky enough to mine a diamond sword, bring that out too: if you can, enchant with even just Sharpness I, which will do about hearts every hit. If you somehow have gotten a Strength II potion, maybe by buying it on a server, then DRINK IT! It will multiply your damage by 3.6, so that, if you make that a critical hit (by falling when attacking) (will do hearts) WITH Strength II, then you just might have killed your opponent in one or two hits.


 * Get to your senses.

You may be thinking that people who have lost so much that their anger is uncontrollable are going to go psycho to win and when people come with supreme equipment you should be scared out of your wits, since that "causes" adrenaline. No! Anger and fear are both factors to defeat. When either happens, whether it be an attempt to kill a player who has diamond armor with your fists or combat logging just because you are so scared that you have to go to the bathroom of fear of peeing in your pants, you will most likely forget all the tips you have learned until you get back to your senses. Avoid that. Now, you must stay calm. Run for cover, and don't stop to watch the deaths of your teammates. If you have one, drink a Potion of Swiftness (the second tier is highly recommended), and keep running. Do not turn back, do not look back, do think of what's back there, and do not stop. Just keep running until you reach safety, whether it be allied or peaceful territory, or a secret place. Don't stop. Stay sharp.


 * Peace, dude.

Remember what's been said about not trusting anyone? Your turn to chip in to take a stab at backstabbing. Create peaceful factions for your team. Their only purpose is to earn supplies while being impossible to touch.


 * Diamonds aren't the key to victory.

If two players in diamond with enchantments come and raid your base, and you're 4 people in iron, and only you have a full set of diamond equipment, do not bring it out! It is obvious you don't stand much chance as you are overpowered. You do, however, need to keep potions. They should consist of the following:


 * Poison+Damage+Speed+Health+Invisibility

Also, keep flint and steel, along with fire aspect swords and bows, along with you. And if you find generation errors that create gateways to the Void, use them. Don't forget to keep your dispensers loaded and ready to fire with arrows, damage splash potions, and fire charges. The reason why this equipment and these traps can beat people in diamond is because they go right through their armor. Nothing, not even diamond armor, can resist their effects (except for arrows. Fire, potion effects and Void damage are the only lethal things unaffected no matter what kind of armor.). Also, a potion of invisibility will mean no one will know where you are attacking from!

Also, remember the gift of decoys. Say you have nothing at all and you were just a player that started in a faction war faction. Use your expendable condition. Say there is a hall of traps designed by a redstone scientist. Throw yourself at the traps, run like a madman, break those hidden redstone clocks, and just kill your player on those lethal traps so your faction can zip in and break a hole in their obsidian shield. To victory!


 * In and out

On some servers, the PVP can take place in real life, as well. If you have many friends who play Minecraft, you can call them to join your (allied) faction, which will make strength in numbers. If one of your friends is good at persuading or knows a lot about strategy, that's even better! Also, if you know your in-game enemy well in real life, you can somehow reduce the time they can play or have a talk with them, so they may have a change of heart.

Trick the enemy
It is said above regarding running in traps (refer to "Diamonds aren't the key to victory") being a tactic that will fool the enemy, this makes it a rather effective attack. Always use psychology as a weapon! When running into a row of tripwires, the enemy might find it as a suicide attempt and not as a double trap, although not very likely since most people will tend to just chase you. However, if you have a circuit that makes it so that the first time somebody runs through it, there is a chance your enemy may think that it's a dud or just a scare for the raiders. Once they step over it, though, the trap activates. This makes it useful since it can make the enemy think you are intending to run away when you're instead luring them into a death trap. If you have any type of invisibility potion or maybe you are just very good at not being noticed, you can easily lure the enemy away from your actual position, then jump-attack them when they are least expecting it. This can be the key to a neck-and-neck battle, where your enemy's equipment is as good as yours.