Player vs. Player

Player vs. Player is something that you will only ever encounter on a multiplayer server (because there are obviously no players to fight in singleplayer) or on LAN. While many of the PvP tips of Vanilla Minecraft will also apply in Middle-Earth, the addition of factions, their equipment and unit hiring will change your fights somewhat.

Don't attack allied players

While there's technically nothing stopping you from attacking allied players, doing so is generally frowned upon, as it is considered backstabbing your faction. If you quarrel with an allied player, the laughter of Mordor will be your only reward, and you can get yourself banned from many servers.

Ally yourself with a faction!

While it is possible to travel through Middle-Earth completely peacefully by not killing anything and not doing any Mini-Quests for factions, this is not recommended. Faction-specific equipment is generally stronger than vanilla equipment, and may provide you with some additional benefits. You will need +1 alignment with the faction you choose if you want to use their crafting table, and even more alignment if you want to hire units (see below). Also, the higher your alignment with a faction, the cheaper the troops will be, saving you a lot of money in the long run.

Get lots of money

In a skirmish, money might not be especially important. But if you're planning a large-scale war on another faction, you will need lots and lots of it. Why? Because hiring troops (see below) tends to become very expensive very quickly, and you will need a large army to be successful. In general, the faction that wins a war on a server is the one that has the most money -- not necessarily the one with the most players. A faction with 10,000 silver coins to spend, but only three players, may well win a war against one that has seven players, but only 3,000 coins. So, you might want to go do some trading or mining for silver before you declare war on a faction.

Establish a war fund

If you are faction leader on a server, you may wish to establish a combat fund, containing emergency cash in case your faction is attacked. You may raise funds by donations, or you can establish a tax, requiring every player to donate a small sum -- say ten coins -- to the fund every day that they are online. This may not sound like much, but if your faction has ten players, you can raise nearly 700 coins within a week -- and most players shouldn't have a problem donating that sum.

Hire an army!

When you get enough alignment with the faction of your choice, you should seriously consider hiring an army. Not just will it help keep you alive against the naturally spawned NPC's, but it will also offer you some great protection against enemy players. Also, if your enemy brings an army, the only way you're likely to stay alive is if you have your own army.

Don't hit "respawn" immediately after you die

If you are overcome by a fighter and have an army of hired units, do not immediately click "respawn". Instead, stay put for a while. That way the chunks will remain loaded, and any units that you've hired might just take out your opponent(s).

Get a Warhorn

If you have some spare money, start saving up for a warhorn. They're very expensive, so it might take a while to get enough money and alignment to buy one, but once you have one, you can summon an invasion of friendly units right where you're standing. Because units will not start spawning instantly, try to blow the horn about 30 to 45 seconds before your enemy arrives. Note that because the horn can only be used once, and that the enemy player might also have a warhorn (in addition to a hired army), it's always a good idea to keep a regular army of hired units with you.

Build an appropriate base (see here for more information)

Location, location, location

Once you've chosen the faction you want to ally with, try to settle as deep as possible within their territory. That way, it will be very hard for enemy players (and their armies) to make it to your base. If you insist on settling neutral territory, you can, but do so at your own risk. However, do not build your main base within enemy territory; doing that is just asking for trouble (and is against the rules on many servers). Having a trader or a captain near your main base is also a good idea.

Also, try to build your base somewhere where it's easily defensible -- this usually means on top of a hill. Having a base built on top of a hill will allow you to see enemies approaching from farther away and make it easier for you to snipe some of their units as they approach. Finally, make sure to build tall walls and towers, in order to improve your range.

Use Banners to protect your base

After building your base, protect it as soon as possible. Not just will this prevent players from tunneling into your base and backstabbing when you're not looking, but it will also prevent bandits and invasions from spawning. The last thing you want while seeing an enemy player and his army approaching your base is to see that player's faction launching an invasion just before or during the fight.

Mine for Mithril

In the depths of the Misty Mountains you will be able to find an ore like no other. It's the true-silver of Middle-Earth, stronger than any other material that you have ever laid hands upon in Minecraft before. To smelt it, you will need a Dwarven Forge, and you can use an iron pickaxe or faction equivalent to mine this ore, but it's truly worthwhile, for things made of this metal are the strongest in the game. Of course, you can also mine Mithril with a Mithril pick.

We recommend not to steal any Mithril from Dwarves, as this is oftentimes illegal, but instead murder dwarves, and then you aren't stealing from them, as they are dead.

Sometimes Mithril items spawn in the guarded Barrow-downs, which can make it good to loot. The guards are easy to kill in the barrows if you follow this guide on the Barrow-wight page.

Use a mount

If you're in an open area, consider using a mount. This will greatly increase your speed, allow you to jump farther and higher than normal, and means that you'll be able to draw, block, and reload without slowing down. On top of that, there's a good chance that your enemy will hit the mount by accident, sparing you some damage, and even if you're hit you won't be knocked back. Be careful in forests, though; because all mounts require at least a two-block wide space to travel through, it's possible to get cornered. If you're a good rider though, you can jump from tree to tree and be practically impossible to hit. Don't forget to equip your mounts with armour wherever possible, because otherwise they're quite easy to kill.

Types of mounts

There are many different kinds of mounts available to you:

• Shire Pony: A small variety of horse that you can only find in the Shire, with weaker health and jump strength than a regular horse. Significantly faster than sprinting, but not nearly as fast or strong as a normal horse. Can equip a chest, but not armour.
• Wild Boar: An easy-to-obtain mount found in most regions of Western Middle-Earth. Fairly strong and fast, and can wear armour.
• Horse: The most-often used mount by good players. Can rarely spawn in most western biomes, but horses obtained from Rohan are often stronger and faster. Can wear armour. Some Rohirric horses can reach speeds exceeding 15 m/s or jump over five meters.
• Woodland Elk: Only found in the Woodland Realm. Can wear armour, and has similar stats compared to normal horses.
• Camel: The mount used by the Near Haradrim. Spawns in Near Harad and is quite common there. Stat-wise, similar to horses, except that it doesn't take damage in the desert sun. Can't wear armour.
• Giraffe: Found in Far Harad, the Giraffe is one of the fastest mounts available. However, it's so tall that melee combat from the back of a Giraffe is often difficult. Can't wear armour.
• Rhino: Most often used by the Half-trolls, the Rhino is one of the most powerful mounts in the game, can be armoured, and has a powerful charge attack. A charging Rhino is capable of destroying entire armies. May be armoured.
• Zebra: Similar to a Horse, but spawns in Far Harad, and can't wear armour.
• Mordor Spider: Large spiders found only in Nan Ungol. Fast, powerful, and capable of climbing right up fortress walls! However, be aware that players may have built a rim around their towers, and then this tactic won't work nearly as well, and that this mount cannot wear armour.
• Mirkwood Spider: Can be found in Dol Guldur and Mirkwood Corrupted. Similar stat-wise to a Mordor Spider.
• Warg: A common evil mount found in many regions at night. Similar to a horse stat-wise. Can be armoured.

Know what weapons you're using

This mod adds many kinds of different weapons and weapon types not found in Vanilla. Not every faction will have every weapon type listed here, and the stats will vary from faction to faction.

Melee Weapons

A comprehensive list of damage, speed, range, and overall damage-per-second of melee weapons can be found here.

Sword

Speed: 100%, Range: 100%

A sword is your basic short range melee weapon. There's generally nothing too fancy about this weapon here, with a couple of exceptions:

• All Elvish swords glow blue when Orcs are around. This can give you advanced warning of naturally spawned Orcs, or of a player's army of incoming Orcs.
• The Morgul Blade inflicts a few seconds of wither effect on your foes.

All factions can use the sword.

Dagger

Speed: ~125% Range: 50%

Daggers are a melee weapon added by the mod. They're used in the same way that you would use a sword, but deal one-half of a heart less of damage than the equivalent sword (e.g. a Gondorian sword does 6.5 HP, and a Gondorian Dagger does 5.5 HP), have a shorter range than a sword, but also have a higher attack speed. Daggers can be very useful for quick kills on lightly armoured players, owing to their high attack speed, and are even more powerful if you can get them poisoned. To do this, take a Bottle of Poison and your dagger, and put them in the normal crafting area. A poisoned dagger does a few seconds (~5) of poison damage to your foe.

All factions can use the dagger.

Warhammers

Speed: 65% Reach: 100%. +1 Knockback bonus

A Warhammer is a new type of melee weapon added by the mod. Not all factions use a warhammer, but even if your faction doesn't use a warhammer, it's important to know what it does, for the sake of your own defense. A warhammer deals much more damage than a sword, and deals a knockback effect; it cannot be used to block incoming attacks, however, and it has a rather slow attack speed.

If your faction has a warhammer in its equipment set, be sure to keep one of these in your hotbar. A warhammer can be very powerful against an opponent with a sword; if you're quick, you can knock him back far enough that he can't hit you and not take any damage. On top of that, your opponent may take fall damage, especially in hilly terrain. However, do not use a warhammer against someone who uses powerful ranged weapons! Those players won't mind the knockback, and knocking them back will result in you getting shot at.

If someone comes at you with a warhammer, try using throwing axes or quick (not fully drawn) shots from a bow to kill them (try to use a bow with a fast draw speed). You can also use a pike as well.

The warhammer is used by the following factions: Dol Guldur, Angmar, Mordor, Gondor, Uruk-Hai, Dwarves (all kinds), and Utumno.

Note that Rohan does not have a faction warhammer, but it's possible to buy a Blacksmith Hammer from the Blacksmith of Rohan.

Clubs

Speed: 65% Reach: 100%. +1 knockback bonus

This weapon is only used by the Dunlendings and the Morwaith. The stats of a Dunlending club are similar to a warhammer, but it doesn't deal nearly as much damage. The stats of the Morwaith club are equivalent to most warhammers. Both types of clubs are fairly cheap to craft, requiring only three wooden planks.

Fight players using a club similar to the way you'd fight players with a warhammer, although a Dunlending wielding a club is less dangerous than most NPCs that use warhammers, since they can't do nearly as much damage.

Only the Dunlendings and Morwaith use a Club.

Tridents

Speed: 83% Reach: 150%

This weapon is exclusive to Dunland and Pelargir, a subfaction of Gondor. While it's not the most powerful weapon out there, dealing only three hearts of damage, it can be used to fish by right-clicking on any body of water, making it useful for quickly getting food when travelling.

This weapon has the same characteristics as the battlestaff, and requires no special techniques.

Dunland and Gondor (Pelargir only) use a Trident.

Battleaxes

Speed: 75% Reach: 100%

A Battleaxe is a weapon that is used by several factions. It does more damage than a sword, though it can't be used to block, and features a significantly slower attack speed. You can also use a battleaxe to chop wooden blocks faster, similar to a regular axe.

Fight players using a battleaxe with a warhammer, if possible, although with good PvP skills, a sword should work too.

Battleaxes are used by the following factions: Dwarves (all kinds), Angmar, Dunland, Dol Guldur, Mordor, Uruk-Hai, Utumno, Rohan, Half-trolls, Morwaith, Taurethrim, Dale.

Pikes

Speed: 65% Reach: 200%

Pikes are a type of polearm added in Beta 25. They benefit from an greater reach when compared to a spear, with a 33% improvement in that regard, but have a significantly slower attack, 35% slower than that of a normal sword. Unlike a spear, the pike cannot be thrown, and it can't be used to block either. Despite its slow attack speed, the pike can be very useful; because of its reach, you will be able to hit sword-wielding players without standing any risk of being hit.

If you are fighting players wielding a pike, try to take them out using a pike, spear, or ranged attacks. If that's not an option, charging with a dagger can sometimes work, because the pike's attack speed is significantly lower than that of a dagger.

Uruk-Hai, Taurethrim, Near Haradrim, Gondorians, Dwarves (both kinds), and Half-trolls use pikes, though all factions can create an iron pike.

Lances

Speed: 50% Reach: 200%. +1 knockback bonus

The Lance is similar to a pike in terms of reach, but its attack speed is even slower. It makes up for this, however, by dealing an increased knockback. This weapon can be very deadly when fighting from horseback or in mountainous terrain; even if your shot doesn't kill the player, he might die of fall damage.

Attacking a player using a lance is difficult unless you're using a pike or ranged weapons. A Spear can work, but is rather risky.

Gondor, Rohan, and Dol Amroth use lances.

Battlestaves

Speed: 83% Reach: 150%

These weapons are only used by Elven factions, and are very similar to spears in terms of statistics, with the one noteworthy exception being that they attack slightly more slowly and can't be thrown. They also deal slightly more damage than spears, doing the same amount of damage as an Elven sword (+7 HP).

Battlestaves are very useful when fighting on horseback, as the high damage and good reach will allow you to kill enemy players before they can even get close enough to hurt you or your horse.

If you're confronted by someone with a battlestaff, the best weapon to use against them is a spear or pike. A sword's range is simply too short.

Elven factions use a Battlestaff.

Halberds

Speed: 65% Reach: 200%

Halberds are the Near Haradrim/Mithril/Rhudel equivalents of the pike. Their stats are identical, and they are used the exact same way.

Only Near Harad and Rhudel uses a poleaxe.

Warscythe

Speed: 83% Reach: 150%

This is the Mordor equivalent of the Elven battlestaff, and has identical stats.

Only Mordor uses a warscythe.

Ranged Weapons

Bow

The bows that you'll find in the LotR mod are very similar to vanilla bows, but different faction bows have different traits, for example:

• The Bow of Mirkwood has the fastest draw speed, and a significant damage bonus
• The Bow of Harad is much slower to draw than a regular Bow, but is somewhat more powerful. The Gondorian Bow is just as powerful, but reloads significantly faster.
• The High Elven and Galadhrim Bows have the most powerful attack of any bow in the mod, and the most damage per minute.

See this detailed comparison to choose the bow of your choice.

Crossbow

A Crossbow is similar to a bow in that it performs a powerful ranged attack, but it is fired very differently. Instead of immediately drawing and firing, you must first load it until you hear a "click". Then you right-click again to fire it instantly, doing heavy damage to anything you hit. The crossbow comes in four varients; bronze, iron, Uruk, and mithril, in order of increasing durability and damage. They fire crossbow bolts, made out of iron, sticks, and feathers. Be aware that loading a crossbow takes a considerable amount of time, and even a good player will not be able to shoot much faster than 16 RPM.

Some tips for using the crossbow:

• Always keep it loaded when not in use. Reloading takes close to four seconds, and leaves you very vulnerable. Keeping multiple loaded crossbows in your hotbar is a good idea, too.
• It makes a good "hit and run" weapon, especially when mounted. Reload your crossbow while riding away from your opponent, then charge at him and fire.
• Use it for defending your fort, and for picking off hired units from afar.
• Good for sneak attacks on unsuspecting players -- first shoot the player, then finish him off with a melee weapon.

Only the Uruk-Hai have a faction-specific crossbow, though all factions can make Bronze, Iron, and Mithril crossbows.

Sling

The sling is a relatively weak ranged weapon, which uses Pebbles as its ammo. It doesn't have a charge time, so that you can fire very rapidly, but this also makes it very hard for you to aim over long distances. Generally, it's advisable to find a more powerful ranged weapon as soon as possible.

Throwing Weapons

This is an entirely new category of weapons that is added by the LotR mod.

Conkers

You get these weapons randomly from the leaves of a chestnut tree -- they fall naturally every now and then. You can either cook them and eat them, or you can throw them. They may only do half a heart of damage, but they do this damage regardless of your opponent's armour and they also deal a significant knockback. A stack or two of conkers should be enough to finish off an opponent who does not have a ranged weapon. After firing, you can pick up the conkers and re-use them.

Spears

Throwing

Draw Speed: 100%

These throwing weapons allow you to perform the most powerful ranged attacks in the entire game -- a Mithril spear can often hit up to 24 HP, which is enough to one-hit an unarmoured player! These weapons are also reusable and can penetrate multiple foes, further increasing their strength. However, the use of the spear requires some finesse:

• Try to always have at least two spears in your hotbar -- that way if one spear misses, you still have another shot.
• Spears are thrown similarly to firing a bow, meaning you have to aim them before firing. Use the mounted tactic described for crossbows. Drawing while mounted can help solve this problem.
• Because spears have to be retrieved within a certain amount of time after being thrown, they're not good for sniping enemies from your base, unless you have a lot of spears that you're willing to throw away.
• Try to throw the spear through your opponent. That way, it'll deal more damage.
• Do your best to avoid being hit by an opponent's spear. They deal a lot of damage, even through armour.
• Be aware that other players can pick up your spear and throw it back at you. If your blow doesn't kill the player, always be prepared for a counter-throw!

Melee

Speed: 100% Reach: 150%

In addition to serving as a throwing weapon, spears can also be used as a melee weapon. When used as a melee weapon, spears deal half a heart less than the corresponding sword, but retain the sword's high attack speed. They also get a 50% reach bonus, making these weapons useful for fighting foes from atop a mount and allowing you to hit your enemy before they even get close enough to touch you. Be aware that using a spear does have a few drawbacks:

• Spears deal less damage in melee than swords. Therefore, it'll take longer to kill somebody using a spear than it would with a sword.
• Although spears have a reach bonus, they don't get any knockback bonus, so they're not necessarily the best option in mountainous terrain (a warhammer might be better in that case).
• Spears don't have a reach nearly as great as a pike, so be careful when fighting opponents wielding a pike.

Almost all factions have a spear.

Throwing Axes

This type of weapon is only used by the two Dwarven factions in the game, the Blue Mountains Dwarves and Durin's Folk. They are similar to a spear in that they can be retrieved after use, but they are thrown more like a conker or a snowball. They don't deal as much damage as a spear, but their rate of fire makes up for this; you can theoretically throw up to four axes per second, although in practice, you'll be limited by how fast you can switch hotbar slots.

Axe-throwing tips:

• Make sure that you have at least three throwing axes in your hotbar, and possibly six to seven.
• Try to stay within about 16 blocks of your enemy, as this distance is the best compromise between good aim and safety.
• Keep a melee weapon in your inventory for backup.
• Enemy players can pick up the thrown axes and throw them back at you (in the same way that they throw spears). Plan accordingly.

Exploding Termites

These unique items are the equivalent of frag grenades in Middle-Earth. They can only be obtained by going into Far Harad Bushland and breaking a Termite Mound; when you do this, many small, fast-moving termites will swarm you and attempt to blow you up. Their explosions often break more termite mounds, releasing more termites, and the cycle continues. However, if you do manage to kill the termites (and avoid getting blown up) they will drop as items, which you will be able to throw the same way you throw conkers. When the termites hit a block or an entity, they will explode, causing severe damage and sending your opponent flying through the air.

Some termite-tossing tips:

• As with axes and conkers, try to keep several exploding termites in your hotbar. That way, you don't have to go digging through your inventory while you're trying to fight a player.
• Don't try to use termites at very close range, else they will blow you up too.
• Always make sure you have a melee weapon on you.

Plates

These are rather weak throwing weapons that you can find in Hobbit Holes and locations that feature lots of food. They will break glass panes when thrown, but will not deal much damage to entities they hit. On top of that, the plates break when thrown, so they're not reusable. Plates are not a great throwing weapon, and, as such, shouldn't be used in combat, unless you have no other choice.

Use the correct armour

Get faction armour as soon as possible. The faction armour not only shows that you are allied with a certain faction, but also is generally better than vanilla armour (except diamond armor). Also, some armours (like the Wood-Elven scout armour) provide buffs to the player.

While Mithril armour is generally considered to be the best type of armour, many servers forbid its use by any players other than staff, due to its appearance and its tendency to be considered overpowered.

Use beverages that provide buffs

Although trips to the Nether are not permitted on most servers, there are still plenty of ways to make buffs that will make you stronger. These range from Miruvor, used by the Elves (which makes you stronger and faster), to Orc Draught, the Evil equivalent of Miruvor, to Dwarven Tonic, which allows you to see well in dark places, to the totally OP Athelas Brew, which provides regeneration and Strength boosts. Players aligned with Fangorn will have Ent Draughts at their disposal as well, which can provide all kinds of buffs, ranging from regeneration to fire resistance to even hiring their own Huorns!

For more information, see the Brewing page.