Getting Started
Server Version: Minecraft 1.21.11 (Java Edition)
Note: Shards SMP is currently in active development. This guide will change often — always check Discord for the latest balance updates.
What are Shards?
Shards are magical items that grant you unique abilities and powers. Each shard provides:
- Passive Ability — Always-active effect; unlocks at +1 life
- Ability 1 — Activated with
/ability1; unlocks at +2 lives - Ability 2 — Activated with
/ability2; unlocks at +3 lives
Unlocking Your Powers
Your shard's powers are gated by your lives (see the Life System below). Lives range from −3 to +3, and each tier above zero unlocks more of your kit:
- At +1 life your passive turns on.
- At +2 lives you unlock
/ability1. - At +3 lives you unlock
/ability2.
How to Use Shards
- 1Get a Shard — Hold a shard item; you can carry one at a time, and its powers work from either hand.
- 2Climb your lives — Reach +1 for your passive, +2 for Ability 1, +3 for Ability 2 (kill players, or use Extra Life items).
- 3Use Ability 1 — Type /ability1 or /a1 in chat once you're at +2 lives.
- 4Use Ability 2 — Type /ability2 or /a2 once you're at +3 lives.
- 5Check Cooldowns — Your action bar shows cooldowns, charges, and meters; reusing an ability tells you the time remaining.
Available Shards
The server features 8 playable shards. Each one has a passive plus two activated abilities that unlock as you climb your lives (passive at +1, Ability 1 at +2, Ability 2 at +3).
Echo
Detection and warden-style sonic power.
Health
Lifesteal and survivability.
Sky
Mobility and aerial control.
Earth
Underground control and depth-scaled damage.
Lightning
Speed and storm strikes.
Scorch
Fire control and burning rage (reworked Hell shard).
Shadow
Assassination and area denial.
Nature
Poison, snares, and zoning.
Ocean
Aquatic zoning and pressure.
Arctic
Frostbound control and movement.
More Shards Coming
Additional shards are in development and will appear here as they're released. Keep an eye on the changelog and Discord for new kits and balance updates.
Passive Abilities
Each shard's passive unlocks at +1 life and is then always active while the shard is held — no activation, and it can't be toggled off.
| Shard | Passive Effect | Description |
|---|---|---|
Echo | Resistance I + Night Vision | Permanent Resistance I and Night Vision while held. Right-click a held Sculk Shrieker to eat one (45s item cooldown, 15% chance of Strength for 15s). |
Health | Regeneration I | Permanent Regeneration I while the shard is held. |
Sky | No Fall Damage + Faze | Take no fall damage, and a 10% chance to fully negate an incoming melee hit (faze straight through it). |
Earth | Earthly Grasp | Your melee damage scales with how deep you are: +5% below Y 60, +7% below Y 0, +10% below Y −50. |
Lightning | Speed I | Permanent Speed I while the shard is held. |
Scorch | Fire Resistance + On-Fire Damage | Permanent Fire Resistance, plus +20% outgoing damage while you are on fire. |
Shadow | Strength I | Permanent Strength I while the shard is held. |
Nature | Poison Touch | 10% chance to poison an untrusted player on each melee hit. |
Ocean | Conduit Power + Dolphin's Grace | Permanent underwater breathing, vision, and faster mining underwater, plus a swim-speed boost while held. |
Arctic | Frost Walker | While you hold the shard, standing on snow or ice grants +15% movement speed. It fades the instant you step onto anything else. |
Ability 1
Activated with /ability1 (alias /a1) — unlocks at +2 lives.
Untrusted players within 30 blocks are marked with Glowing (visible through walls) and Darkness for 30 seconds. Anyone within 8 blocks is additionally frozen in place for 3 seconds — locked even in mid-air.
Drains health from untrusted players within 20 blocks for 10 seconds, and steals 2 hearts from your last-hit target — they drop to 8 hearts and you rise to 12 for the duration.
A long forward dash on a cloud trail, plus a shorter bonus dash (second charge unlocks at +3 lives). Pure mobility — and you never take fall damage from the landing.
Swim freely through the ground for 10 seconds in the direction you look — up, down, or sideways — carving a self-restoring tunnel as you go. Passing beneath an untrusted player freezes them for 8 seconds (dragged into the earth if grounded, locked in place if airborne), able only to eat golden apples.
Dash forward 15–20 blocks on a lightning trail (1 charge at +2 lives, 2 at +3). Untrusted players hit in the path take 2.5 hearts and a 10-second ability lockout.
Erupt a wave of fire around you (radius 6): everyone caught is ignited — including you, since you're fire-immune — and untrusted players are knocked back. Staying lit powers your damage passive.
Teleport behind your last-hit untrusted player (within 25 blocks, always to safe ground) and blind them for 8 seconds. Refused with no cooldown if there's no valid target.
Fire a ray-traced vine. Hit an untrusted player to pull, poison, and freeze them in place a moment later (often mid-air); hit a wall or ceiling to swing or reel yourself toward it for traversal.
Drop a churning water zone at your feet for 10 seconds. Untrusted players inside take armour-bypassing drowning damage every second and are weighed down with Mining Fatigue and Hunger.
Summon a swirling freeze vortex at your feet for 20 seconds. Untrusted players caught inside are gripped by frost (icy screen and heavy Slowness), take 8% more damage from every source, and are trapped — they cannot walk out of the vortex until it ends. It deals no direct damage of its own.
Ability 2
Activated with /ability2 (alias /a2) — your most powerful ability, unlocks at +3 lives.
Fires a warden-style sonic beam dealing true damage, fuelled by your Sound Meter — up to 5 hearts at full charge, 3.5 at 75%+, 2.5 below. The meter fills from sounds you and nearby players make.
Grants bonus max health for 15 seconds, scaled by time since last use: up to 20 hearts if 5+ minutes have passed, 14–16 hearts if used more recently. Refused (no cooldown burned) if used under 2 minutes ago.
Charges a Pressure Meter over roughly 5 minutes. At full charge you launch upward and slam down — untrusted players caught in the slam take 3.5–4.5 hearts.
Summon 3 boulders that orbit you, partially shielding you (5% chance to absorb a hit). Each cast hurls one along your aim for 2 hearts of true damage; the cooldown starts only once all three are thrown.
Summon a storm for 10 seconds: lightning strikes random untrusted players within 30 blocks 3 times for 1–2.5 hearts each, and you gain Speed II.
For 25 seconds your fire turns black and cannot be extinguished by water, rain, or other players. A Rage Meter fills as you land melee hits (and a little when you take them), scaling your outgoing damage up to +50% at full rage.
Raise a 25-block dome of dark blocks for 15 seconds. Untrusted players inside are blinded; you gain Strength II, Haste II, and a purple glow.
Summon a ~20-block ring of leaf walls for 20 seconds. Untrusted players inside cannot throw wind charges, and touching the walls inflicts Poison II.
Fire a pressurized water beam that stops at the first wall. Every untrusted player it passes through takes 4.5–5 hearts of true damage and is knocked back hard.
Freeze the first player in your crosshair solid for 10 seconds — they can't move, jump, use abilities, or use items (only a golden apple can steady them). Trust-protected.
Life System
Lives are the heart of Shards. They range from −3 to +3, everyone starts at 0, and they both unlock your shard's powers and debuff you when they go negative. Lives persist across deaths, relogs, and restarts.
Everyone begins at 0, on a scale of −3 to +3.
Kill a player and, if you're below +3, you take +1 life. Extra Life items also grant +1.
Any death — PvP or environment/mob — costs −1 life (floored at −3).
Lives Ladder
Every life threshold is re-checked on each change and on respawn. Going up unlocks your kit; going below zero stacks debuffs.
+3Ability 2 unlocked (plus everything below)+2Ability 1 unlocked+1Passive unlocked0Baseline — nothing unlocked, no debuffs−1Grace step — still no debuffs−2Slowness I (while at this level)−3Slowness I + Weakness I (debuffs stack downward)Trading Lives
Kills between trusted players are inert by default — no life is lost, gained, or dropped — so you can't farm friends.
Trust System
The Trust System lets you protect friendly players from your abilities. Use /trust <player> to add someone to your trust list. Trust is directional: trusting someone shields them from your abilities, but does not shield you from theirs unless they trust you back.
What Trust Does
When you trust a player, they gain the following protections from your abilities:
Trusted players take no damage from your offensive abilities.
Trusted players are immune to harmful status effects (poison, slowness, weakness, darkness, blindness, etc.).
Trusted players can still receive healing and positive buffs from you.
Trust Commands
/trust <player>/untrust <player>/trustlistOnly abilities are gated by trust — ordinary sword and bow damage between trusted players still lands.
Strategic Use
- Trust your team so your AoE abilities don't catch them — e.g. Scorch's Fire Wave or Lightning's Thunderstorm.
- Coordinate group fights without locking down or poisoning your own allies.
- Remember it's one-directional: both of you must trust each other for mutual protection.
- Trusted kills are inert, so you can't trade lives with a friend.
Relics
Relics are special items that empower you simply by being carried in your inventory — no shard slot, no cooldown to manage. Keep one on you and its perks are always active.
Dragon Egg
Slain the Ender Dragon? Every kill now drops a Dragon Egg. While it sits anywhere in your inventory — hotbar, storage, or offhand — it supercharges your shard play:
The egg must be in your inventory for the perks to apply — drop it and the bonuses stop (cooldowns already running aren't affected either way).
The Dragon Shard Ritual
The Dragon Shard — a mythic — isn't given out or found in a chest. It's earned by slaying the Ender Dragon and winning the ritual that follows.
Slay the dragon
Kill the Ender Dragon. A Dragon Shard rises and hovers above the End exit portal, glowing pink — but you can't grab it yet.
Wait out the timer
For 15 minutes the shard is locked in place and cannot be picked up. A pink boss bar counts the time down for everyone nearby.
Brace for the wave
When the timer ends, a wave of black-and-pink energy erupts from the portal, blasting players back 10-15 blocks. Only then does the shard fall, now free to claim.
Claim it first
The first player to pick up the dropped shard becomes its owner. It replaces your current shard — unless you're already carrying a mythic, in which case it stacks alongside.
The Dragon Shard
Once it's yours, the Dragon Shard keeps you permanently empowered and arms you with two abilities:
Commands
Player Commands
| Command | Aliases | Description |
|---|---|---|
/ability1 | /a1 | Use your shard's Ability 1 (unlocks at +2 lives). |
/ability2 | /a2 | Use your shard's Ability 2 (unlocks at +3 lives). |
/trust <player> | Protect a player from your abilities. | |
/untrust <player> | Remove a player from your trust list. | |
/trustlist | View who you trust (and who trusts you). | |
/withdraw <amount> | Convert your own lives into Extra Life items (1:1). | |
/shard <name> | Give yourself the named shard (if enabled by admins). |
Admin Commands(OP/Permission Required)
| Command | Description | Permission |
|---|---|---|
/shard <name> [player] | Give a shard to a player. | Configurable (default: OP) |
/livesset <player> <value> | Set a player's lives (−3 to +3, clamped and audited). | Configurable (default: OP) |
/shard_type_clear <name> | Remove a shard type from all players (online & offline). | Configurable (default: OP) |
/shard_clear_player <player> | Remove any shard from a single player. | Configurable (default: OP) |
/shards reload | Reload config, messages, and shard kits. | OP |
/shards info [player] | Debug: shard, lives, cooldowns, meters, trust counts. | OP |
/shards cooldown clear <player> [ability] | Clear a player's ability cooldowns (testing aid). | OP |
Command permissions can be configured by admins in config.yml to allow all players or restrict to OPs.
Quick Reference
Cooldown Tiers
| Tier | Abilities |
|---|---|
Short (60–75s) | Echolocate (60s), Sonic Shriek (75s) |
Medium (100–120s) | Dash (100s/charge), Health Drain, Fire Wave, Vine Grapple, Shadowstep, Sky Dash, Driller, Riptide Zone, Snow Storm (120s) |
Long (180s) | Thunderstorm, Overheal, Black Flame, Grove Prison, Shadow Domain, Boulder Throw, Hydro Beam, Frostbite |
Meter-charged | Sonic Shriek (Sound), Skyfall (Pressure, ~5 min), Black Flame (Rage) |
Damage Abilities
- Echo - Sonic Shriek: up to 5♥ true damage (A2)
- Lightning - Thunderstorm: 3× 1–2.5♥ AoE (A2)
- Sky - Skyfall: 3.5–4.5♥ slam (A2)
- Lightning - Dash: 2.5♥ + lockout on path (A1)
Crowd Control
- Nature - Vine Grapple: pull + poison + stun (A1)
- Echo - Echolocate: glow + darkness + close stun (A1)
- Earth - Driller: bury untrusted players for 8s (A1)
- Nature - Grove Prison: leaf ring + wind-charge lock (A2)
- Arctic - Snow Storm: trap + freeze + +8% damage vortex (A1)
- Arctic - Frostbite: full 10s freeze in place (A2)
Mobility
- Sky - Sky Dash: long + short dash, no fall damage (A1)
- Lightning - Dash: 15–20 block dash (A1)
- Shadow - Shadowstep: teleport behind your target (A1)
- Nature - Vine Grapple: swing/reel to walls & ceilings (A1)
Sustain & Zoning
- Health - Health Drain: lifesteal aura + 2♥ steal (A1)
- Health - Overheal: up to 20♥ max health (A2)
- Scorch - Black Flame: rage-scaled damage, +50% (A2)
- Shadow - Shadow Domain: blind dome + self buffs (A2)
Area of Effect Ranges
| Range | Abilities |
|---|---|
Close (6–8 blocks) | Fire Wave (6), Echolocate stun (8) |
Medium (15–20 blocks) | Dash (15–20), Health Drain (20), Sonic Shriek (20), Grove Prison ring (~20) |
Long (25–30 blocks) | Shadowstep (25), Shadow Domain dome (25), Echolocate (30), Thunderstorm (30) |