> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://esmp-fun.gitbook.io/plugins/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://esmp-fun.gitbook.io/plugins/mythic-trials/tiers-yml.md). # tiers.yml Controls the difficulty curve, the anti-cheese guardrails, per-mob tuning, and how parties are resolved. Edit it, then `/tcpmt reload` — changes apply live, no restart needed. ## How the curve works Difficulty is authored as a list of **bands**. Each band covers a range of tiers and carries a flat set of knobs that applies to every tier in that range. You'll usually have 3–5 bands — early game, mid game, end game, and one or two Mythic bands for prestige. ```yaml bands: - tiers: "1-5" # tier range: "1-5", "13-20", "M1-M5", or single "20" / "M3" health-mult: 1.3 melee-mult: 1.25 # ... more knobs - tiers: "6-12" health-mult: 2.0 # ... ``` Tier ranges: * **`1` – `20`** — Standard tiers (write the bound as a plain number). * **`M1` – `M5`** — Mythic tiers (write the bound with an `M` prefix). * Mix them however you like — `tiers: "M1-M2"` is a band for the first two Mythic levels. A tier whose rank isn't covered by any band behaves like vanilla (no scaling), so you never have to define them all. ## Design intent: Standard vs Mythic The shipped defaults follow this philosophy — useful to know when tuning: * **Standard 1–20** is balanced against the **vanilla ceiling**: a top player in netherite + Protection IV, Smite V, a Density/Breach mace, totems, and golden apples. T20 should be hard but fair for that loadout. * **Mythic M1–M5** is **custom-gear headroom** — for servers where the best players run stronger-than-vanilla gear. The defaults are tuned at roughly ×1.5 (M1) up to ×2.5 (M5) of the T20 values. **They are not balanced for vanilla gear.** If your server is vanilla-only, lower these. ## The knobs Every knob is optional; omitted = the no-scaling default in brackets. ### Stat scaling (per-mob attributes) | Knob | Default | Effect | | ---------------------- | ------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `health-mult` | `1.0` | Multiplies max health. | | `melee-mult` | `1.0` | Multiplies outgoing melee damage. | | `spell-mult` | `1.0` | Multiplies outgoing projectile / fang / potion / area-effect damage. | | `speed-mult` | `1.0` | Multiplies movement speed. Hard-capped by `speed-max-multiplier`. | | `resistance-pct` | `0.0` | Incoming damage reduction, in percent. Capped by `resistance-max-pct`. The most reliable lever — a flat multiplier that survives crits, Smite, and Breach. | | `armor-add` | `0.0` | Flat `generic.armor` points added on top of the mob's base. | | `armor-toughness-add` | `0.0` | Flat `generic.armor_toughness` added. **Toughness is what keeps armor relevant against burst damage** — pair it with `armor-add`, don't add armor alone. | | `knockback-resistance` | `0.0` | Absolute 0–1 target (1.0 = full knockback immunity). Replaces the base rather than scaling it. | | `follow-range-mult` | `1.0` | Multiplies `generic.follow_range` — how far the mob aggros from. | | `scale-mult` | `1.0` | Multiplies `generic.scale`. Physically enlarges the mob *and* its hitbox / melee reach. Doubles as a visual tier telegraph. Capped by `scale-max-multiplier`. | | `attack-knockback-add` | `0.0` | Flat `generic.attack_knockback` — extra knockback the mob **deals**. The lever that lets high-tier mobs shove players into chamber hazards (lava pits, ledges). | | `absorption-add` | `0.0` | Flat absorption "shield" hearts granted at spawn. Sits above the health pool, sidesteps the vanilla 1024 max-health ceiling, reads as yellow hearts. Capped by `absorption-max`. | ### Equipment Dresses a scaled mob in a random gear set at spawn, no drops. On ranged mobs holding a bow/crossbow, only the **main-hand weapon swap** is skipped (replacing their weapon would break their attack AI) — armour pieces are still applied. ```yaml equipment: apply-to-providers: ["vanilla"] # "*" to also dress custom-provider mobs chance: 0.7 # 0..1; roll per spawn sets: - helmet: { type: DIAMOND_HELMET, enchants: { protection: 2 } } chestplate: { type: DIAMOND_CHESTPLATE, enchants: { thorns: 2, protection: 2 } } leggings: { type: DIAMOND_LEGGINGS, enchants: { protection: 2 } } boots: { type: DIAMOND_BOOTS, enchants: { protection: 2 } } ``` * Slots: `main-hand`, `off-hand`, `helmet`, `chestplate`, `leggings`, `boots`. * `enchants:` accepts both modern names (`protection`, `sharpness`) and legacy ones (`protection_environmental`, `damage_all`). Over-levelling works (`protection: 9` etc.). ### Permanent spawn effects Status effects applied once when the mob spawns. Use for permanent buffs like Speed II or Regeneration. ```yaml effects: - { type: speed, amplifier: 1, permanent: true } - { type: regeneration, amplifier: 0, permanent: true } ``` Avoid `resistance` here — incoming-damage reduction is already handled by `resistance-pct` above; stacking would double-dip. ### On-hit punishment What a player suffers when this band's mobs land a hit. ```yaml on-hit: effects: - { type: wither, duration: 60, amplifier: 1, chance: 0.35 } - { type: blindness, duration: 40, amplifier: 0, chance: 0.35 } true-damage-fraction: 0.25 true-damage-type: armor_piercing # or "unblockable" anti-heal-ticks: 60 ``` * **`effects`** — status effects rolled per hit (`chance` is per-effect). * **`true-damage-fraction`** — a portion of the hit (0–1) dealt as a *separate* damage event that bypasses armor points. Counts against the one-shot cap, not on top of it. * **`true-damage-type`** — * `armor_piercing` = MAGIC damage. Ignores armor points, but Protection and Resistance still reduce it. Respects totems. The right counter to stacked Prot-IV netherite. * `unblockable` = bypasses armor, Protection, Resistance, and totems. The nuclear option — the one-shot cap still prevents a full-HP instakill, but otherwise nothing mitigates it. Reserve for Mythic. * **`anti-heal-ticks`** — how many ticks the victim cannot regain health after being hit. 20 = 1 second. Attacks the gapple-sustain meta. ### Spawn dynamics Tunes the trial spawner's behaviour for the chamber's effective tier. ```yaml spawn: simultaneous-bonus: 3 # extra mobs allowed alive at once (0 = unchanged) cooldown-mult: 0.7 # multiplier on the inter-wave cooldown (<1 = faster waves) horde-intensity: 7 # 1-10 wave-pacing dial (5 = vanilla) ``` A swarm beats single-target burst — mace and Smite hit one mob, so raising `simultaneous-bonus` is often more effective than raising HP. **`horde-intensity`** controls how "all at once" a wave arrives, on a 1–10 dial where **5 is vanilla** (the spawner is left untouched): * **Below 5** stretches the gap between individual mob spawns — a slow trickle (1 = almost glacial). * **Above 5** compresses that gap toward a single burst, and at **8+** it also raises a floor on how many mobs may be alive at once so a whole wave can be on the field together. **10 = full horde-fest** (the wave dumps near-instantly). It drives the spawner's `ticks_between_spawn` and `simultaneous_mobs` directly; the vanilla baselines are restored automatically on every chamber reset, so it never compounds across cycles. Set a **server-wide default** with the root-level `horde-intensity:` key (also 1–10, default 5). Any band that doesn't set its own `spawn.horde-intensity` inherits it: ```yaml # top of tiers.yml, alongside party-resolution horde-intensity: 5 # default for every band that omits its own ``` ## Per-mob overrides Bands scale every mob identically. `mob-overrides` lets specific entity types scale differently, so casters don't become unkillable and weak-by- design mobs stay relevant. ```yaml mob-overrides: evoker: health: 0.6 # ignore 40% of the band's health bonus spell: 0.4 cave_spider: health: 0.5 resistance: 0.4 armor: 0.4 bogged: health: 1.3 # buff a weak-by-design mob melee: 1.25 witch: spell: 0.5 vex: health: 0.5 ``` Each factor is a multiplier on that stat's band contribution: `1.0` = unchanged, `0.0` = mob ignores the tier's boost for that stat, `>1` = amplified. For the multiplier stats (`health`, `melee`, `spell`, `speed`, `follow-range`) the factor scales the *bonus*; for the rest (`resistance`, `armor`, `armor-toughness`, `knockback-resistance`) it scales the magnitude. Available factors: `health`, `melee`, `spell`, `speed`, `resistance`, `armor`, `armor-toughness`, `knockback-resistance`, `follow-range`. {% hint style="info" %} **Smite reality.** Most chamber mobs are undead (zombies, husks, skeletons, strays, bogged), so a player with Smite V deletes raw HP. Don't fight this by inflating band HP for everyone — it'll over-tune the non-undead (spiders, breezes). Bump undead mob-overrides instead. {% endhint %} ## Guardrails Anti-cheese clamps applied **after** the per-band values. They make it safe to push numbers high without breaking fairness. ```yaml guardrails: resistance-max-pct: 65 # mobs are never immune speed-max-multiplier: 1.5 # mobs stay catchable on foot damage-cap-fraction: 0.75 # one hit ≤ 75% of a player's max health scale-max-multiplier: 3.0 # absolute cap on generic.scale absorption-max: 40 # cap on absorption hearts per mob ``` * **`resistance-max-pct`** — incoming damage reduction is clamped here no matter how high a band sets `resistance-pct`. Range 0–99. * **`speed-max-multiplier`** — absolute ceiling on movement speed. Range ≥1.0. * **`damage-cap-fraction`** — the headline anti-one-shot rule. A single mob hit (including the true-damage portion) can never remove more than this fraction of the victim's maximum health. At 0.75, a full-health player always survives at least one hit from anything, at any tier, including unblockable true damage at M5. Range 0.1–1.0. * **`scale-max-multiplier`** — absolute cap on `scale-mult`. Vanilla allows up to 16; the default of 3.0 keeps mobs from clipping inside low-ceiling rooms. * **`absorption-max`** — cap on the absorption hearts a single mob can be granted at spawn (vanilla allows up to 2048). ## Party resolution When several players are inside a chamber together, whose tier do the mobs scale to? ```yaml party-resolution: lowest # lowest | highest | host | average ``` | Strategy | Behaviour | | -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | `lowest` *(default)* | Match the least-progressed player. Fair to newcomers; lets veterans help friends. | | `highest` | Match the most-progressed player. Aspirational — the group rides the veteran's difficulty. | | `host` | A designated leader's tier. Falls back to `lowest` if no leader is set. | | `average` | The party's average rank, rounded down. | ## Tuning tips * **Don't pour budget into `armor-add` alone.** Vanilla's damage formula decays armor against burst, and the **Breach** enchantment erases up to 60% of it. Always pair `armor-add` with `armor-toughness-add`, or shift that budget into `resistance-pct` (which Breach can't touch). * **Resistance is your most reliable lever.** A flat multiplier that survives crits, Smite V, Breach, and armor-piercing true damage. If a band feels too easy against geared players, raise this before anything else. * **Use true damage to bite the Prot-IV netherite meta.** The shipped 13–20 band lands \~12% armor-piercing true damage for exactly this reason. If your top players still trivialise it, raise the fraction or switch to `unblockable` for that band. * **Swarm beats burst.** Mace and Smite hit one mob. Raising `spawn.simultaneous-bonus` is often more effective than raising HP. * **Reach for `horde-intensity` when you want pressure, not just numbers.** Pushing it to 8–10 makes a wave arrive all at once instead of trickling — a very different feel from the same mobs spread over time. Set it once at the root for a server-wide vibe, then bump individual high-tier bands. * **Speed and scale are subtle by default.** A `speed-mult` of 1.1 is barely noticeable; `scale-mult` of 1.1 is a 10% bigger silhouette. Use them as flavour, not as the main difficulty driver. *** Next: [**chambers.yml →**](/plugins/mythic-trials/chambers-yml.md)