Guards
The prison is watched. Guards are posted throughout the mines, and they don't take kindly to inmates attacking each other on their watch. This page covers the four guard kinds, healing at a post, what turns you into a villain, Guard Frenzy, getting caught (and losing your gear), the followed status, and how to stay clean.
If you keep your hands to yourself, guards are a benefit: stand by one to heal. The trouble starts the moment you raise a weapon against another player where the watch can see it.
Guard kinds
Guards come in four kinds, each with a ❤ health bar floating above it. Guards have no damage reduction: their health is all of their toughness, and their armour is only for looks.
| Kind | Health | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hitman | 175 | Posted in the Emerald mine. Half a Sentinel's health and damage, but twice the knockback and a faster chase. Black leather armour. |
| Sentinel | 350 | The everyday patrol |
| Guardian | 3,750 | A serious step up in toughness and damage |
| Archon | 15,000 | Elite enforcers: don't pick a fight you can't win |
A guard standing at its post can't be attacked. Only a guard that is actively hunting you becomes a valid target, and only for you. Nobody else can hit your pursuers, and you can't hit theirs.
Where they stand
Mine guards are placed to watch most of each mine. Gold has extra Sentinels and Emerald has 3 Hitmen. The deepslate parts of Redstone, Gold and Diamond stay unguarded.
Healing at a post
The watch isn't all stick. Stand right beside a guard at its post and you'll slowly recover health. Higher ranks heal faster, so an Archon patches you up quickest and a Hitman slowest. You don't heal for 30 seconds after a teleport. It's a courtesy reserved for clean-record inmates only: villains and followed players get nothing from a guard until their mark clears.
Becoming a villain
Attack another player while you are within a guard's awareness and you're instantly branded a VILLAIN. It's your position that counts, not the player you hit. The Guarded line on your scoreboard shows whether a guard can see where you stand. The label appears above your head for everyone to see. Roughing up someone who's already a wanted villain doesn't count.
Guard awareness is directional: they see much further ahead than behind, they need line of sight to witness a fight, and they can also hear a scuffle that breaks out close by, even behind their back. Don't assume you're safe just because a guard is facing the other way.
While you're marked
The mark lasts 15 minutes, and it follows you:
- Guards are dispatched to hunt you down (one per rank that spots you), and every hit they land keeps your timer running, so you can't just tank them until it expires.
- You can fight back against the guards hunting you. But killing them has a price (see Guard Frenzy below), and guard kills are announced to the whole server.
- Logging out doesn't clear it. Your record is remembered and the hunt resumes when you return.
Guard Frenzy
Each mine guard you kill as a villain makes guards deal 50% more damage to you, adding up with every kill (three kills means 150% more). It lasts until you die as a villain or your criminal status clears, it is saved across restarts, and it shows under Criminal Record on your scoreboard.
Getting caught
If the guards bring you down, or anything else (a fall, a mob) finishes you off while they're hunting you, your gear is confiscated: everything you would have dropped goes up in smoke instead of hitting the ground. That's the real cost of getting caught. Socketed jewels are the exception: you keep them through a guard kill, the same as any other death.
The one exception is a kill by a real player: that does not burn your gear. Your loot drops as normal, with killer-priority pickup so your killer gets first claim. Dying to a player in a fight is a normal death; dying to the watch is a loss.
The followed status
Dying as a villain, to anyone or anything, clears the villain mark, but the guards don't forget. You're marked FOLLOWED for the next 5 minutes: a guard escort shadows you, and if you attack anyone while your escort is watching, you're a villain again on the spot, no guard post required.
Staying clean
Two ways to keep your record clean:
- Survive the full 15 minutes as a villain without being caught and the mark clears on its own.
- Don't start fights where the watch can see you in the first place.
The overworld zones have their own rules of engagement, with no guards looking over your shoulder. See PvP Basics for where fighting is fair game and where it brands you. Cell raiding and boss arenas (with their own fight mechanics) play by separate combat rules from the watch. The Auto Clicker never hits mine guards.
Version history
v4.0.13a
- You now only go villain when a guard can see you, not the player you hit.
v4.0.0 (Map 4)
- Mine guards no longer have damage reduction. Sentinels now have 350 health (was 100), Guardians 3,750 (was 750) and Archons 15,000 (was 3,000).
- Added Hitmen, a new kind of mine guard posted in the Emerald mine, with half a Sentinel's health and damage.
- Mine guards are moved to watch more of each mine. Gold has 6 more Sentinels and Emerald now has 3 Hitmen. The deepslate parts of Redstone, Gold and Diamond stay unguarded.
- Guard Frenzy: each mine guard you kill as a villain makes guards deal 50% more damage to you, adding up with every kill, until you die as a villain or your criminal status clears. It shows under Criminal Record on your scoreboard.
v3.0.0
- Guards now confiscate your socketed jewels along with the rest of your gear.
v2.0.0
- Guards now go bare-headed. Sentinels, Guardians and Archons no longer wear a helmet, so you can see their face and skin (other armour unchanged).