Hard Mode

*In a distant land beyond the setting sun where life is /hard, he beckons. Discover fame, fear, power, and pain. He waits, and the stone remembers.*

> *"hard mode is hard, go there yourself to experience its challenges"* - Dandiest Derp
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## Introduction

"If you're looking for a bigger challenge, type **/hard**.  Hard mode includes unique challenges, like not being able to build or go home unless you are below Y-40...  and unique opportunities like special mobs to kill for heads or tame.  There are also secret achievements built in, which reward you with more powerful server commands and make sure everyone knows what a badass you are!" *-The Book Of Steve*

## New Challenges

**Disclaimer: Updates or changes to Hard Mode are usually not announced. All of this information is subject to change, but all information as of writing this has been verified by multiple players.**

Upon typing **/hard**, you will be warped into a new drop point in the wilderness world. You will be unable to place any blocks except for ladders and redstone torches, or using flint and steel to create fire, however you will still be able to break blocks. If either stone, cobblestone, granite, andesite, or diorite is broken, it may randomly create lava or 2-3 silverfish after being mined, and while the chance of this happening is not exact, it is estimated to be around 40% to 50%. The only way to leave Hard Mode alive is to successfully use **/home**, which can only be used if the player is standing on a block below Y -40. Used to be Y 95 but was changed after the 1.18 update with the new generation and then was Y200 but changed by Steve to be more hard. Death will also bring a player out of the Hard Mode area, unless the respawn point was set within the Hard Mode area (E.G. a village bed). If you die in hard mode and you have the Keep Enchanted items on death perk, you still have a 25% chance to lose enchanted items.

Mobs will do more damage to players, in addition to nonstandard mobs appearing. Phantoms will be active every night (as opposed to normal mode when they are disabled), Illusioners spawn in the wild with Witches, Blazes and Wither Skeletons will spawn in underground caves (with Wither Skeletons having flame bows), and Killer Rabbits will spawn with other rabbits. Guardians spawn in the water, and oceans may contain Elder Guardians. Caution is advised when dealing with any of these.

The Elytra, altough great for getting around, breaks much faster in Hard Mode. Each tick of what would be 1 damage deals 5 instead, and they will also permanently break, as opposed to Regular Mode, where they will simply stop working. Alternative methods of getting around include Riptide Tridents, Ender Bows / Crossbows, and even regular enderpearls. Be careful with Elder Guardians!

The command **/enderchest** is also disabled, however **/workbench** is not.

The Keep Enchanted Items on Death Sorcery works partially. There is a 25% chance of losing a piece of your enchanted gear on death in **/hard**.

## Power and Fame

While exploring The Wilderness in Hard Mode, a player may earn both Power and Fame the longer they stay in the mode. Each has its own rewards and its own method of acquisition, but the exact details of how to earn Fame and Power are unknown. If a player does post a guess that's close to or accurately what's required, Steve is liable to change the details quickly. It is basically a check-list of things to do and the reward for either is delayed. As a result, if someone claims to know exactly what to do, that player is wrong or will be wrong in the near future.

### Fame

Used in order to brag to other players about your achievements, the final reward of Fame is a color change of your username in chat. Your ordinary name will turn to purple to represent your success in Hard Mode. Based on historical ways to gain Fame, it is likely that mining is involved.

### Power

It is not known how to level up Power. Power is the ability to use **/home** or **/vi [islandname]** while underground. This will NOT work in Hard Mode, the End, or the Nether, but is supposed to help players in the normal wilderness. Based on historical ways to gain Power, it is likely that combat is involved.

### Various Other Rewards

An additional reward for hard mode is that diamond ore in the Hard area gives the occasional emerald, and fortuning diamond wields way more drops than regular mode.

### Getting to the Nether in Hard

It is difficult but not impossible to find or create a nether portal while in Hard. However, going through it leaves the Hard area and normal game rules resume applying. If you go back through the portal, you'll be back in Hard.

### Getting to End in Hard

Players can no longer add Eyes of Ender to the End portal, meaning that access to The End is impossible in Hard.

## Recommended Strategies

### Mezcal mining

A new strategy was recently found for strip mining. When using a mezcal brew, the player receives 15 minutes of fire resistance granting immunity to the lava spawning when mining. This also helps because the lava will kill most of the silverfish. There is also a brew that players can learn at Parkour that provides even longer fire resistance (26 min).

### The Underwater Caves

The most popular and the fastest depending on how enchantments on gear are effectively used. Because players can't break blocks without running the risk of killing themselves, getting a helmet with respiration 3 on it, or using a Turtle Shell, and then finding an ocean biome is how this strategy starts. Upon reaching an ocean, the ocean floor may have underwater caves or ravines. Often times because the caves and ravines themselves are at a low Y-Level, multiple ores will be exposed to be mined along with enemies to be killed. Ideally this should take anywhere between 1 and 4 hours depending on how expansive the ocean is or how many ores are mined. Milk may be necessary to deal with Elder Guardians.

### Meteors

As of June 2022, the MeteoritesPro Plugin was added to the server. They will only appear in Hard Mode, typically near the drop point, variating on the Z axis (North/ South). They can appear as either Fiery or Icy, and contain various blocks, most notably diamond and gold ore (both as the stone variant). The size of the meteor can vary, as well as the amount of ore inside of it. One can also acquire a Diamond Block from the center of some meteorites.