Nexus Waves

Stable nights and sleeping

One attack per Overworld day

An unpaused Stable Nexus starts a new attack on its first processing tick when the Overworld clock is at least 13000 and below 23000 ticks within the 24000-tick day. There is at most one new attack per Overworld day. Activating during that window can trigger an attack immediately after activation completes; activating outside it waits for a valid night window.

Each attack has one phase. The continuous attack counter supplies its wave number: attack 1 uses wave 1, attack 2 wave 2, and so on. This wave number determines the current Stable Flux rate; the stored Nexus level is a separate counter.

At the next night's attack, the previous spawning sequence stops, but existing enemies remain in the world. Surviving attackers can overlap with the new attack. Prepare defenses for survivors rather than relying on dawn to clear the arena.

Sleeping is blocked across the server

The sleep check scans every server dimension for a selected Nexus in continuous mode. While one exists, players cannot sleep even far from the arena or in another dimension. /invasion pause does not lift this restriction: the sleep check ignores the pause flag.

To remove the restriction, end continuous mode, for example with the appropriate administrator stop command. Damping Agents postpone attacks rather than ending continuous mode. Pausing alone is suitable for suspending Nexus processing, not for permitting sleep.

Stable attacks have no inactivity timeout

A Stable night attack does not end just because two minutes pass without a kill. The 2,400-tick inactivity rule described under phase progress applies to Normal/Strong invasion phases, not continuous Stable attacks. This needs no configuration switch.

Clear the remaining tracked attackers to finish the attack, or let spawning complete with no living loaded combatant tagged for that phase remaining. Dawn alone does not clear survivors. The separate safeguards for failed spawn attempts still apply: disabling the kill timeout does not make invalid or impossible purchases spawn forever.

1. If an attack stays active, eat Small Remnants or Rift Flux, even at full hunger, to reveal loaded IM combatants.
2. With operator permission, use /invasion debug for coordinates and phase details, or /invasion status to check progress.
3. Use pause and continue for a break. Use the appropriate stop command to end the run; simply waiting is not a substitute for clearing the enemies.

The next valid night can still start the next attack while previous survivors remain. A Damping Agent postpones future night attacks, but does not finish an ongoing attack or remove its enemies. Saving and loading preserves the invasion instead of introducing an inactivity timeout.

Core health, healing and Stable defeat

A stationary Nexus Core has 100 HP. Its HUD health percentage reflects the remaining Core HP. Successful normal invasion startup and Engineer Hammer debug activation restore it to full health. Stable activation also restores Core health.

At 0 Core HP during a Stable continuous attack, that attack ends, its spawner stops and invader cleanup is triggered. There is no Power Level to reduce in the current branch.

This Stable failure does not invoke the normal bound-player defeat penalty. Read player binding and defeat for Normal/Strong and debug-mode loss. Continuous mode can proceed to a later night attack, whose start restores the Core's health.

Player Nexus — a moving invasion

Become the invasion target.
The Player Nexus Catalyst transfers the Nexus to one player. The invasion center and spawn area follow that player within the original dimension.

How to activate it

1. Craft a Player Nexus Catalyst from one Strong Nexus Catalyst and one emerald (shapeless).
2. Place a Nexus Core, or use your existing Nexus. Have the intended owner open its screen and place the Player Nexus Catalyst in the input/catalyst slot. The player inserting it becomes the owner; nearby players are not selected at random.
3. Be ready immediately: the transfer consumes one catalyst and removes the Nexus block without the normal catalyst charging delay. Remaining input and output items go to the owner's inventory; anything that does not fit drops at the player.

The owner must be alive, present in that dimension, and not a spectator. Another active Nexus in the dimension can prevent activation. Use the Nexus screen to insert the catalyst so the game can associate it with a player.

Waves and combat

An already active invasion keeps its mode, current wave, and phase. The Player Nexus Catalyst does not skip waves. Without an active mode, it starts a normal invasion at wave 1, even though its recipe uses a Strong Nexus Catalyst.

Invaders pursue the owner’s moving position, but strictly closer eligible mobs can distract them. The HUD’s Nexus health percentage reflects the owner’s current health relative to maximum health. Combat uses normal player damage; attacks against the former Nexus block do not add separate Nexus damage.

Which target do Player Nexus invaders choose?

For a non-Versus Player Nexus, the owner is the default target. An invader can choose an eligible, attackable mob only when that mob is strictly closer to the invader than the owner. At equal or greater distance the owner wins. Other players are not substituted for the owner by this target-selection rule.

With AI enabled, new candidates are checked every 20 ticks (about one second at 20 TPS) in a box extending 32 blocks around the invader on each axis. It compares actual squared distances, keeps a valid closer current mob when appropriate and chooses a still-closer candidate if one exists. A mob target must be alive in the same dimension, attackable by this invader and in the shared invasion target set.

That set includes eligible Villagers, Pigs, Illagers, Iron Golems, tamed Wolves and mob types configured as Attack Target. Nexus allies, protected internal entities and targets the attacker cannot attack do not qualify. Allied IM Wolves are excluded from this Player Nexus targeting handler.

The invader still knows the owner’s location beyond ordinary follow-range or visibility limits. A distraction lasts only while the mob remains valid and closer; moving the owner closer can restore pursuit. Keep friendly creatures away from the pursuit route. Separate owner-absence pause and death rules still apply; Versus uses its own opposing-team targeting.

Rewards and inventory

Open Exchange from the button in your normal inventory; use Inventory to return. Manual Exchange trades use your main inventory/hotbar, and Exchange Auto Buy changes the produced reward.

Nexus output is delivered automatically to the owner every 100 available-player ticks (about 5 seconds at 20 TPS). Keep inventory space free: excess items drop at your position. The former Core no longer provides an inventory screen.

Leaving, returning, and dying

For a non-Versus Player Nexus, if the owner logs out, leaves the original dimension, or becomes a spectator, Nexus processing and its targeted invaders pause. A Versus owner disconnect ends and resets the match instead. The invasion does not move across dimensions. Processing resumes when the owner is available again in the original dimension and is no longer a spectator.

Documented from the Minecraft 26.3 / NeoForge implementation; older builds may differ. For a stationary defense, use the Normal, Strong, or Stable catalyst instead.

Automatic arena chunk loading

An active Nexus keeps its arena loaded and ticking on the server, even without nearby players. This happens automatically: no extra chunk loader or item is required. For an ordinary stationary invasion, walking away or logging out does not pause it while the server continues ticking. A Versus owner disconnect instead resets the match. Attackers can keep advancing and damage the undefended Core.

The loaded area covers the chunks intersecting a square around the Nexus, extending the configured spawn radius by 10 blocks in each horizontal direction. Chunk boundaries can extend this area further. A larger radius therefore keeps more of the world active.

A moving Player Nexus

For a Player Nexus, the loaded arena follows its owner within the original dimension. The mod also keeps chunks around living, bound pursuers loaded, including distant pursuers left behind by the moving arena. Running away does not automatically unload these enemies.

The owner's availability is a separate rule: when the owner logs out, leaves the original dimension, or becomes a spectator, Player Nexus processing and its targeted invaders pause. This does not release the existing arena tickets. Processing resumes when the owner becomes available again; the owner's death ends the run. A stationary Nexus has no equivalent owner-absence pause.

Verified for Minecraft 26.3 / NeoForge. For setup, return to activating the Nexus.

Versus adds connections between all active opposing teams. A three-chunk-wide route and chunks around both armies remain ticking, including with moving Player Versus origins. Shared tickets are retained while another Nexus needs them. Stationary Versus owner logout also resets the match; the ordinary stationary logout rule above does not apply to that mode.

Overlapping arenas on Fabric

Several active Nexuses in the same dimension can need the same chunk. Fabric retains a shared chunk while another Nexus still holds it: releasing one arena does not unload its neighbor’s overlapping arena. The current NeoForge implementation uses tickets per Nexus owner, so its tickets likewise remain independent.

For example, activate two stationary Nexuses close enough that their radius-plus-10-block squares overlap. When A ends its invasion and releases its arena, B’s required chunks keep ticking, including the overlap. Chunks used only by A lose its tickets. Shared chunks lose the mod’s tickets after the last Nexus needing them releases them. Players, spawn tickets or another loader may still keep them loaded.

No extra item, toggle or manual /forceload command is needed. Pausing is different from release: active paused Nexuses still hold arena tickets. See saving and restarting and Versus connections for their rules. Each Nexus retains the chunks it currently needs as its radius or origin changes.

Saving an invasion and restarting the server

The invasion belongs to the saved world.
A normal world save records the Nexus state per dimension. Restarting the server is not a new activation and does not reset the run to wave 1.

What survives a save

The saved state includes the Nexus identity and position, mode, activation progress, wave and stored Nexus level, stationary Core health, production progress and continuous-attack state. It also includes the planned phases, phase progress and spawner state, participant binding, the two inventory slots and their processing progress, and the AI's death memory and scaffolds. A Player Nexus stores its owner's identity; its health comes from the player rather than a saved Core-health value.

A resumable maintenance break

1. With administrator permission, use /invasion pause in the Nexus's dimension if you want the run to remain paused after restart. Pausing does not freeze the world or remove enemies.
2. Shut down the server normally (or save and quit in singleplayer), letting Minecraft save the world and entities. Keep a backup of the complete world before changing mod versions; restore world data, chunks and entities together.
3. Reopen the same world with compatible mods and configuration. An active, unpaused invasion restores its spawner from saved state; a paused invasion stays paused. Active modes restore their arena chunk tickets even while paused.
4. Check the Core or Player Nexus HUD and inventory. Use /invasion continue to resume a deliberately paused run. Do not insert a new catalyst or use /invasion start merely to reload an existing invasion.

No invasion time is simulated while the server is shut down. While it is running, a stationary Nexus can continue without nearby players; Player Nexus owner availability adds its own pause rule. See arena chunk loading for the difference between pausing and releasing tickets.

If the run does not resume

Check the original dimension, the saved pause state and, for a Player Nexus, the owner's availability. Use /invasion debug to inspect loaded invaders and phase progress. A spawner restoration error is logged as Error resuming spawner and stops the Nexus without killing enemies; secure the area and inspect the server log before starting another run. Invalid persisted Nexus entries are skipped with a warning. Persistence is not a guarantee of recovery after a crash, partial world restore or incompatible downgrade.

Verified against the Minecraft 26.3 / NeoForge source. Keep the stationary Core in place: removing it is not a way to archive an active invasion.

Keeping an acquired attack target

During an active, non-discarded Nexus invasion, an IM combatant or a configured mob bound to that Nexus keeps a valid acquired shared combat target when a native target goal tries to clear it. Moving beyond the original detection range or temporarily breaking line of sight alone does not send it back to the Core. This protects an ongoing fight; it does not make every mob detect every distant creature.

The shared target set includes eligible players, Villagers, Pigs, Illagers, Iron Golems, tamed Wolves and mobs configured as Attack Target. Invasion allies and protected targets are excluded. The target must remain alive, loaded, in the same dimension, attackable, non-allied and outside Creative/Spectator protection. When it dies, is removed, changes dimension or becomes invalid, the lock no longer prevents clearing; ordinary AI can choose another target or return to the Nexus.

This is not an unconditional target lock. Retaliation and other deliberate target replacements retain their priority. Pigman Engineers and Zombie Builders, including their derived builder families, can clear targets for construction. Brain-based target systems have their own rules. Unbound mobs and stopped/discarded invasions do not receive this shared protection.

Player and Versus exceptions

A normal Player Nexus can switch from a distracting mob back to its owner when that mob is no longer strictly closer. Versus uses separate team selection: opposing army mobs must be within 32 blocks with line of sight, closer eligible enemies may replace them, and armies take priority over the opposing owner. A valid opposing owner can remain the objective beyond normal detection range or behind cover. The shared ordinary-invasion rule does not remove these mode conditions.

Defending against pursuit

Use cover to block attacks, then create enough distance to survive or defeat the pursuer; cover alone does not end the fight. Ranged attacks still need their normal firing conditions, and a retained target does not guarantee a usable path or a hit. Keep civilians away from escape routes. If a mob appears to ignore the Core, inspect its current invasion state and these target priorities before assuming it is stuck.

Verified against the current Minecraft 26.3 / NeoForge source and existing target-retention regression cases; no live-game test.

For the full army-first selection order, owner protection and continuing spider hits, read Versus army and player targets.

Death memory and advanced terrain construction

A defense can change the next approach.
Invaders learn dangerous routes, while eligible builders can descend toward a buried Nexus and reuse siege towers.

Learning from the previous wave

Each Nexus records the death positions of its current-wave invaders, including configured external wave mobs. At the next wave boundary, those concentrations become an extra pathfinding cost for bound invaders. Phases within the same wave do not rotate this memory, and deaths from older-wave survivors do not teach the current wave.

The memory uses four-block cells and a local influence that fades within eight blocks of a cell's center. Sparse deaths contribute little; concentrated kills make a route less attractive. The added cost is capped. Mining-capable ground navigation tries safe routes first and falls back to unavoidable routes, so a death hotspot does not permanently close a chokepoint. Ground, flying and swimming path searches can use the penalty; it does not forbid a corridor or guarantee a different route. Only the preceding wave's concentrations guide the new wave, and the memory survives a world save.

Keep alternative approaches covered and repair defenses between waves. A successful kill corridor can encourage enemies to try another available path in the next wave; it does not become permanently safe.

Descending spiral staircases

The configurable spiral_staircase ability lets eligible ground mobs build a descending route when their combat target or Nexus is at least three blocks below them and within six blocks on each horizontal axis. The route follows a 3×3 perimeter, descending one full block per step and eight blocks per revolution; it uses full-block landings, not staircase-shaped blocks.

The builder secures each landing with its configured building_block, clears headroom, walks down, then extends the next step. It requires mobGriefing, loaded terrain, room for the mob and a full-cube building material. Fluids, protected blocks, block entities, adjacent ladders and world-height limits can prevent a safe step. Flying, special jumping and mobs wider than one block are excluded. Burying the Core therefore needs a defended approach, not just a vertical drop.

Shared towers and repairs

The engineer_tower ability uses shared tower footprints stored in the dimension independently of the original builder. An eligible builder can approach a nearby surviving tower, replace missing supports, platform blocks and ladders, and climb it instead of always starting another tower. A different builder or building material can continue the structure; the original engineer's death does not erase its footprint. Recognizable older towers can also be discovered from their remaining blocks.

Reuse still needs loaded remains, an accessible work position, suitable height toward the objective and permission to clear or replace the required blocks. An arbitrary wall or flat bridge is not automatically a tower. Damaging a ladder alone may invite repair: intercept the builder and defend the upper approach. These siege towers are separate from four-block sniper columns.

See Pigman Engineer, Zombified Engineer and Zombie Builder. To enable these abilities for a supported entry, edit its abilities in Entities, choose a suitable building block, then save the server's entity configuration and test fresh invaders. Availability depends on the entry's settings; the abilities do not apply to every mob automatically.

Verified for Minecraft 26.3 / NeoForge.

Skeleton Builder and Wither Skeleton Builder combine engineer construction with ranged defense and summoning monuments. Their five-hit helmets have separate protection rules. Skeleton Breachers instead clear blocked routes with TNT.

The Mole approaches beneath surface defenses with four blocks of cover and fast tool-based mining; Flying Creepers can choose shorter air routes over walls. A Charger Zombie can throw defenders away from the core. Gift Zombies consume loose drops, while the rare Homer retains Fat Zombie growth with doubled speed.

Safe routes before mining

Mining-capable IM ground navigation prefers an existing, reachable safe route, even when cutting through a wall would be shorter. This is automatic in the current 26.3 / NeoForge code; there is no separate safe-route switch. The mob still needs its Mining ability and permission from mobGriefing before it can open a route.

1. Try movement without breaking blocks. A safe path that reaches the objective wins over a digging shortcut.
2. Try a safe route with mining. If no safe movement path reaches the objective, eligible mobs may open a safer passage. Dangerous nodes include previous-wave death hotspots, damaging cautious terrain and impassable rail path types. Fire and lava are avoided by mobs without fire immunity.
3. Keep an unavoidable route usable. If neither safe search reaches the objective, navigation retries without the strict danger filter, first without mining and then with it. A lethal chokepoint is therefore not permanently forbidden. Normal collision, mining and reachability limits still apply.

A mob already inside a death hotspot may move toward an equally or less dangerous cell to escape it. Burrowers, including the Lava Creeper family, similarly try an open crawl route before excavating and retry unavoidable tunnels when necessary. Configured terrain workers also follow a reachable safe movement path before starting ordinary obstacle work.

Exceptions: the Mole retains its dedicated underground approach. Explicit clearance requested by construction, such as tower headroom, still uses timed block breaking; this movement preference does not cancel required building work. An incidental collision on a reachable movement path normally requests a new path instead of mining the block.

Defend alternate entrances as well as your kill corridor. To check an apparent change in behavior, compare an open bypass with a blocked bypass, inspect the mob's abilities and use invasion diagnostics. A route must fit the mob and reach its objective; this preference does not guarantee a path through protected or unbreakable terrain.

Builder gravestones and reinforcements

Skeleton Builders place normal gravestones on engineer-tower platforms; Wither Skeleton Builders place red Nether Gravestones. Placement needs Mob Griefing, a grounded Builder, a free replaceable position left of center as viewed from the ladder, solid support and no collision. Occupied spaces and existing monuments are not overwritten. These are invasion-generated blocks, with IDs invmod:gravestone and invmod:nether_gravestone, not Nexus crafting upgrades.

Every 200 ticking game ticks (10 seconds at 20 TPS), the monument randomly chooses an active configured mob from its theme whose cost is at most 100 Rift Flux. This includes eligible configured Vanilla or other-mod mobs. The cost is a selection limit; summoning does not deduct Flux from an inventory. It does not use a more expensive candidate when the filtered theme is empty.

The summon needs one of the four horizontally adjacent blocks to be loaded, replaceable, fluid-free and supported by a full solid block, with enough collision-free room for the chosen mob. It tries these neighboring positions, not a distant fallback location. If none fits, or no candidate exists, that attempt produces no mob; the next regular attempt follows after another interval. Unloaded or non-ticking chunks do not advance the timer.

New mobs receive their configured wave stats and retain the Builder's Nexus association. In Versus, they join that same Nexus army instead of being assigned to the opposing team. The gravestone saves both its interval progress and Nexus binding across chunk reloads. A bound gravestone cannot summon if its original Nexus is missing, inactive or discarded, even if another Nexus remains active.

Breaking/removing a monument attempts one extra summon, using the same theme, cost and space rules. Players can break both kinds; invasion mining treats gravestones as indestructible. Stop the Builder as well, because a surviving Builder can replace a missing gravestone on a suitable platform.

When no active Nexus remains in that dimension, ticking gravestones are removed without drops or an extra summon. Those in unloaded chunks disappear once their chunks tick again. If another Nexus is still active, this global cleanup condition has not been reached; an inactive bound monument remains unable to summon.

Aquatic invaders

Guardians enter waves through environmental spawn replacement, not a direct budget purchase. A Drowned spawn in water has a 10% Guardian chance, including normal Zombie spawns first changed to Drowned by water. A Nexus-bound Guardian can then become an Elder Guardian after a squid kill, with a chance of min(current wave, 100)%.

Both variants charge a beam at a stationary Nexus within 16 blocks, dealing 2 Nexus damage per completed charge. The Guardian needs 80 ticks; the Elder needs 60. Their block-targeted beam does not require line of sight. Neither type belongs to direct custom-theme purchases or the built-in extra boss selection.

Land-based supplies also matter: the Shroom Bandit can steal gear for enemies and build paths from collected blocks. Its built-in themes are SWARM, FAST, MIXED, RANDOM and RANDOMHELL.

Drowned weapons also change the threat: see bows, crossbows, tridents and the 26.3 living-target exception, including Core damage and sniper settings.

For additional native roster choices, see the Brute variants and Tier-2 skeleton family. Each uses a separate entity configuration entry.

Custom themes and squads

Global edits change costs, construction materials, abilities and theme assignments across the roster. The fallback mob fills leftover phase budget and minimum purchase counts, even outside its assigned themes. With Friends & Foes installed, IM Wildfire can also join themed purchases and the extra boss selection in the last phase of waves 15, 20, 25 and onward.

Use Custom Themes to organize eligible mobs into named phase pools, then test one with /invasion start <wave> <theme>. Use Custom Squads to buy several members together with configurable counts and a shared cost. A theme chooses a roster; a squad is one possible group purchase within it.

For the editor and server files, see Configuration. The spawn-layer setting controls surface/underground eligibility independently of the Nexus radius.

Both editors are available through the NeoForge mod configuration and save through Entities → Save. Configure the instance running the world; a local client edit does not update a remote server. Existing wave plans are not rebuilt by saving.

The current preset adds BRUTES, UNDEAD, ZOMBIES, SKELETONS and PIGLIN. Review saved versus freshly generated defaults if an older world has different members or costs.

Wave budgets and phases

A wave is one progression step; a phase is one batch of purchases within it. Each phase chooses a theme that defines its eligible roster and cost rules. All phases are planned at wave start.

Purchases, fallback and free additions

1. Each phase receives wave × 10 budget points. A random affordable mob is bought repeatedly. If affordable squads exist, each iteration has a 1-in-5 chance to buy a squad instead, using its shared cost for all members.
2. When nothing themed fits, each remaining point buys one fallback mob selected for that phase's theme. Free fallback purchases then fill the plan to at least wave × 5 individual purchases. Squad members count individually. Fallback mobs can appear outside their theme assignments. If no eligible active fallback exists, these filler purchases are omitted, so the minimum is not guaranteed.
3. Every phase adds one free Pigman Engineer support purchase. Variant selection can turn it into a Zombie Builder or Zombie Miner.
4. From wave 15, every fifth wave (15, 20, 25, …) adds one free random boss in its last phase. Choices include Wither, Warden, available Mutant Monsters bosses, IM Wildfire when installed, and active configured bosses.

Ordinary purchases follow roster costs and eligibility. Free support and built-in extra bosses use a separate path: removing their theme membership does not remove those additions. See Configuration, Custom Themes and Custom Squads.

The Big Pumpkin has a native base cost of 200 and is a shipped configured boss candidate. Boss eligibility, preserved settings and its support Ghost’s empty theme list are explained in pumpkin defaults. The Bug Clawer costs 4 and can carry defenders away from the attacked Nexus.

Built-in themes

These are supplied pool descriptions, not guarantees of individual spawns. Configuration, variants and replacements can change the result. Except for RANDOM and RANDOMHELL, individual purchases use ordinary roster/configured costs.

Squads retain their own group costs; fallback and free additions follow the separate rules above. Eligible custom themes with mobs or squads also enter random selection. Deleted themes are excluded. A /invasion start <wave> <theme> forced theme applies to every phase of that newly generated wave, not permanently to later waves.

Wither Skeleton grouping changes at wave 25: the earlier ten-block recruitment radius is removed, allowing distant same-Nexus skeletons to assemble and merge.

RANDOMHELL from wave 100

RANDOMHELL is a random phase theme with reduced individual boss prices, not an automatic boss-only wave.

Each phase draws uniformly from the remaining candidate slots. Without custom themes, deletions or adaptive bias, the twelve built-in themes have one slot each from wave 100: RANDOMHELL then has 1/12 (about 8.33%) per phase. With all five additional shipped themes eligible and no bias, there are 17 slots: 1/17 (about 5.88%). Eligible custom themes and extra adaptive slots change that denominator; equal regular slots do not mean equal final probabilities under bias.

For example, wave 25 without custom themes or bias has eleven other themes. RANDOMHELL's total phase chance is 0.5 × 1/12 = 1/24, not 50%. Wave 99 does not offer it automatically; waves 100, 101 and 105 each contain one regular RANDOMHELL slot. Every phase is planned at wave start, so a four-phase Normal wave can choose different themes.

Non-boss individual purchases cost 5, bosses 20, within the ordinary wave × 10 phase budget. This does not guarantee a boss, change its HP or make it the separate free last-phase boss. Squads retain their group prices, and fallback/support/free additions keep their own rules.

Force a test or remove the choice

With operator permission or cheats, place a Core and use /invasion start 20 RANDOMHELL in a test world, then /invasion debug. A forced valid theme bypasses the automatic wave gate and applies to every phase of that starting wave; even a lower wave can be forced. Later waves return to automatic selection. An already active invasion must first be stopped; see command lifecycle.

Deleting RANDOMHELL from the saved theme catalog excludes it from automatic choices and command validation once the server configuration is applied. Removing a few memberships does not erase its built-in pool. Test a new wave plan after saving. Read additional shipped themes and preserving or resetting defaults before changing an existing setup.

Adaptive selection and spawn environment

At next-wave/Stable-attack planning, the Nexus consumes the previous wave's recorded construction and kill counts. These conditions add one extra copy of the indicated theme to the candidate list, increasing its chance rather than forcing it:

• More than 20 recorded player block placements: SIEGE.
• At least 75% melee kills among recorded player mob kills, with at least one kill: RANGED.
• At least 75% ranged kills: SWARM.
• More than 20 fire, soul-fire or lava-containing positions in the cube extending 30 blocks in each direction from the Nexus: NETHER.

Counters reset after planning; all phases use the same bias but independently choose their themes unless forced. A bias cannot restore an unavailable theme. The fire/lava check examines blocks, not a Nether biome.

At spawn positions, ordinary IM Zombies in water become Drowned and those in lava become Pigmen, including planned purchases. A water-spawned Drowned has a 10% Guardian chance: see aquatic invaders. These replacements do not make Guardians direct purchases.

The additional biome-replacement path applies to unplanned/legacy spawns, not ordinary budget-planned entries: ocean/river, desert-pyramid biomes and villages favor Drowned, Husk and Zombie Villager; swamp Tier-1 Zombies have a 25% Slime opportunity. Swamps favor Bogged, deserts Parched, snowy plains/ice spikes Stray. Where relevant variants exist, the subsequent variant roll is 75%; otherwise it is 3% for eligible Zombies and 1% for Skeletons. This path can also replace Slime with Magma Cube from wave 8 at 20%.

Budget plans instead have their own random family-variant rolls. A biome does not guarantee a whole wave's composition. Spawn space, fluids and layer restrictions still matter.

HUD and phase progress

A phase can end when its tracked remaining count or the whole wave's count reaches zero, or when spawning is complete and no living loaded IM combatant tagged for that phase remains. Invalid entries can be discarded; blocked placements use outward-then-inward spawn recovery before any remaining purchases are skipped. A purchase plan does not guarantee that many successful spawns.

For Normal and Strong invasion phases, the timeout is 2,400 game ticks without a kill belonging to the current phase (two minutes at 20 TPS). It starts at phase activation and resets on each qualifying kill. It is not a fixed maximum phase duration. At timeout, the remaining spawn schedule is finished; survivors can remain as progression continues. The HUD can advance before the defeated counter reaches the total. Pausing holds the timeout. Stable continuous attacks have no such inactivity timeout; remaining enemies can keep the attack active. Find hidden attackers with Glowing foods or command diagnostics.

Verified against the current Minecraft 26.3 / NeoForge source; older builds may differ.

Wave-scaled weapons and armor

New wave spawns receive gear before extra enchantments.
Surviving enemies are not continually upgraded. An ordinary spawn egg does not exercise this sequence.

Weapons

Planned purchases independently roll a weapon flag at min(wave, 100)%. For weapon-enabled mobs this fills an empty main hand from registered melee/ranged weapons. Default recipients include eligible Zombie, Pigman, Zombified Piglin and Imp families; entity settings control permission. Existing main-hand items remain unless the ranged rule applies. RANGED phases force that rule for supported mobs and select recognized ranged items, including bows, crossbows, tridents, the Searing Bow and tagged modded weapons.

Wither Skeletons have separate setup: RANGED chooses the ranged pool, otherwise a 50/50 roll chooses melee or ranged. Non-Wither Tier-1 skeleton-family mobs holding a bow have a separate 5% chance to replace it with a random melee weapon. Tier-2 entries skip that roll. Baby loadouts and sniping can subsequently change gear. Shared sniping throws tridents and uses arrows for other recognized ranged weapons; a modded item's full native firing behavior is not automatically reproduced.

Repeated armor rolls

Each eligible spawned mob rolls at min(wave, 100)%. A success equips one random registered humanoid armor item or special block helmet in a permitted empty slot, then rolls again at the same chance. A failure ends the sequence; occupied slots are retained. At wave 100+, all permitted empty slots with available suitable items are filled. This also runs for mob riders/passengers.

Armor items, base armor stats and extra enchantments are separate. ARMORED does not bypass slot restrictions or guarantee low-wave armor. Equipment setup does not guarantee drops.

Compatible IM mobs created with spawn eggs also receive the active Nexus's equipment rolls, including dispenser spawns and egg-created offspring. Without an active Nexus, this extra equipment pass does not run.

With compatible server-side Infernal Mobs, fresh eligible enemies also receive the wave-number percentage Infernal roll, including configured Active natural spawns. Existing success and failure results are saved.

Active shields and attack openings

A spawned mob with a recognized melee main-hand weapon and empty offhand has a min(wave, 100)% chance to receive a random recognized shield. Occupied offhands remain unchanged. Active blocking requires a living, AI-enabled mob carrying that melee/shield pair.

Eligible invasion combatants, wave-marked mobs and active configured mobs face a visible living threat and raise their shield. A recent attacker can supply the threat when the main AI targets the Nexus. Incoming projectiles create a 300-tick (15-second) defensive window facing the attacker/projectile origin even without a visible combat target.

Exploit windup/cooldown openings or flank the mob. Facing, the shield item's blocking rules and piercing projectiles still matter. Picking up a shield can also let an eligible melee-equipped enemy defend itself.

Ordinary Snow Golems can pick up melee weapons and shields and use these same blocking openings, even outside an invasion.

Persistent harmful arrow effects

One effect roll per newly wave-spawned mob.
Each mob, including mob passengers, has a min(wave, 100)% chance to choose one random registered harmful status effect, even without a bow. Successful and failed rolls are saved.

New ordinary arrows and IM Skeleton Arrow projectiles owned by that mob receive tipped-arrow potion contents with the chosen effect and a nominal 200-tick duration (10 seconds). This sets projectile contents rather than adding a second independent family effect. Effect-specific and native impact rules determine the actual result; installed mods can add harmful effects to the pool.

Equipment changes, chunk reloads and surviving into a higher wave do not reroll. Saved arrows are not reprocessed on loading. Tridents, thrown items and arbitrary modded projectiles are outside this hook. At wave 100+, a fresh mob chooses one effect if the registry contains harmful effects; it does not receive all effects.

Use cover and prepare for status effects. See baby projectiles, sniping, Weapons and Traps.

Verified against Invasion Mod 3.0.0 source for Minecraft 26.3 / NeoForge.

Pumpkin and melon helmets

The random wave armor pool includes normal Pumpkins, Carved Pumpkins and Melons as head-slot equipment. These use the existing armor rolls and slot restrictions; no separate chance guarantees a block helmet. In Versus, armor rolls use the purchased Armor skill chance.

Pumpkin • fire immunity

Carved Pumpkin • fire immunity

Melon • effect immunity

Pickup and restrictions

Mobs with equipment pickup and a permitted head slot can also collect these three blocks from item drops. The items are treated as head equipment; pickup delays, existing equipment evaluation and slot permissions still apply. Dropping a block near a mob does not force it to equip it.

Armor permission and the family restrictions in the equipment table remain in force. Helmet-only families may receive block helmets; Zombified Piglins retain their wave helmet exclusion, and Fat Zombies receive no random wave armor. Occupied wave slots are not replaced by another roll.

Against a pumpkin helmet, rely on direct damage instead of fire or lava. Against a melon helmet, use direct weapon damage rather than potion debuffs; the mob also loses Witch support while wearing it. See per-mob equipment and Fireproof settings.

Skeleton Builder helmets are a different feature: a model helmet blocks five targeted head hits, without enlarging collision height.

See purchased Armor chance and its slot limits before equipping a Versus army.

Pumpkin death rules: a worn Pumpkin or Carved Pumpkin has a 50% equipment-drop chance on death, replacing its ordinary equipment roll; an enchantment preventing equipment drops still applies. Independently, the death has a 10% chance to create a Pumpkin Ghost while a living Big Pumpkin is loaded anywhere in the same dimension. Ghosts collect dropped Pumpkins to supply healing minions. Big Pumpkin can also apply pumpkin helmets by contact and summon helmeted reinforcements.

Wave-scaled equipment enchantments

When a wave mob finishes spawning and receiving its equipment, each equipped item is considered separately for extra enchantments. This includes equipment on its mob riders and other mob passengers. Empty slots receive no item, and items with no eligible enchantment are unchanged. This spawning mechanic does not continually upgrade enemies that are already alive.

The chance for each successful addition or upgrade is min(wave number, 100)%. In continuous mode this uses the current attack's wave number. After each success, the same chance is rolled again for that item, until a roll fails or no eligible upgrade remains.

Which enchantments can appear?

Each success selects randomly among registered enchantments that the item supports, that are compatible with all of its existing enchantments, and that have not reached their maximum level. A new enchantment starts at its minimum level; an existing one gains one level. Existing enchantments are retained. Server datapacks and mods can therefore affect the available pool.

Higher waves can strengthen both weapons and armor even when the mob type looks familiar. Prepare weapons and traps before skipping waves; riders can be dangerous independently of their mounts. This mechanic does not guarantee equipment drops.

Verified for Minecraft 26.3 / NeoForge.

Sniping and shooter towers

sniping is a configurable mob ability for accurate ranged attacks from up to 32 blocks away. It also gives normally melee-oriented mobs a shared ranged attack when they hold a recognized ranged weapon. It does not make an unarmed mob receive a weapon.

The five separately configurable Tier-2 variants enable sniping and towering by default: Skeleton Tier 2, Bogged Tier 2, Stray Tier 2, Parched Tier 2, Wither Skeleton Tier 2. Their articles list costs, themes, drops and command IDs; none has a dedicated Tier-2 spawn egg.

Enable it for a mob

1. Open the Invasion Mod configuration through NeoForge's Mods screen, switch to Entities, and find the desired entity ID. Open its abilities editor.
2. Enable sniping. For a raised firing position, also enable towering and select a suitable full-cube building_block. These are separate abilities; sniping works without tower building.
3. Click Done in the abilities editor, then Save with Entities selected. Done alone does not write the configuration file. Do not use Regenerate to save: it resets settings.

The values belong in the chosen entity's abilities object in config/invasion_mod_mobs.json. Configure the server that actually runs the invasion; saving a local client file does not upload it to a remote server. Test newly spawned, equipped wave mobs after applying the server configuration. Each tier-2 skeleton has its own entry, separate from its base mob.

Weapons and targeting

During spawn equipment setup, an existing main-hand weapon is replaced once with a random registered item recognized as a ranged weapon. This includes bows, crossbows, tridents, the Searing Bow, and items in the ranged-weapon tag. Empty hands and non-weapons are left alone. The selection is saved and is not rerolled simply by reloading a chunk; wave enchantments are applied after this equipment step.

The sniper needs a clear line of sight to fire. A living combat target takes priority; otherwise a bound sniper can aim at an active stationary Nexus from more than 4 and up to 32 blocks away, with a clear block ray to the Core. Shots have no random spread and use a 65-tick cooldown (about 3.25 seconds at 20 TPS), but cover and moving targets still matter. The shared attack throws tridents when holding one and uses arrow projectiles for other recognized ranged weapons; a modded weapon's own special firing behavior is not automatically reproduced.

Building a four-block firing position

With both abilities enabled, the mob can place a column under itself and climb to four blocks above its starting position, at one block per 20 ticks. It prioritizes building while construction is possible, even if it already has a clear shot. A tower can help overcome obstructed sight lines, but does not let shots pass through walls.

• The server's mobGriefing rule must allow building. Disabling it prevents the tower, not otherwise valid ranged shots.
• The mob must stand on the ground and cannot be riding or carrying a passenger.
• The entire remaining climb, including the mob's body, must fit without collision and remain within the world's build height.
• Each block position must be air or replaceable. The configured building block must have a full-block collision shape; cobblestone is the fallback material.

Use solid cover and account for elevated firing positions when designing an arena. See the related Skeleton, Stray, Bogged, Parched, and Wither Skeleton profiles.

Verified for Minecraft 26.3 / NeoForge; entity settings and installed mods affect the available weapons and abilities.

Administrative controls

Use the complete /invasion command reference for permissions, Nexus targeting, starting at a chosen wave or theme, pausing, resuming, stopping, and diagnostics. Check the differences before using stop or the server-wide destroy.

Blocked wave spawns: automatic radius recovery

If scheduled wave mobs cannot be placed, the spawner searches at other distances before giving up. It starts at the configured Nexus radius, doubles its temporary search radius up to 1024 blocks, then halves it down to 8 blocks. This is automatic for wave spawning, including waves around a Player Nexus; it is separate from Versus army purchases.

For the default configured radius of 52, the retry radii are 104, 208, 416, 832, 1024, then 512, 256, 128, 64, 32, 16, 8. The first attempt already uses 52. Each new spawn sequence begins at its configured radius again.

Retries start after the scheduled spawn duration and a 30-second grace period; a successful spawn also grants a fresh 30-second grace period. Subsequent radius steps wait at least one second and finish generating candidate points before advancing. Searches are spread across server ticks, so a large or obstructed area can take additional time. Times assume 20 TPS; this is not a fixed deadline for the whole recovery.

• Successful spawns stay counted. Recovery retries outstanding purchases rather than restarting the wave or removing mobs already placed.
• The configured radius stays unchanged. The menu and tool readout keep that setting; they are not a live display of the temporary search distance. Recovery does not resize walls, the configured arena or participant-binding area.
• Spawn rules still apply. Per-mob spawn locations, the global spawn layer, fluids and support and collision checks still constrain candidates. Searching farther does not make an invalid floor valid.

Only after the inward search reaches 8 and the remaining placements still fail are the missing mobs skipped. Participants receive mobs could not spawn and were skipped with the missing count and current spawn-layer. Skipped purchases reduce the remaining requirement; they are not recorded as player kills. Enemies that did spawn still need to be dealt with.

Valid ground-spawn surfaces

Nexus wave mobs can spawn above more than full cubes. Dry lower slabs, carpets, snow layers, rails, buttons and plants can pass the shared support check. These rules extend wave placement, not Minecraft's ordinary natural-spawn rules. There is no extra toggle.

Slabs

Carpets

Snow layers

Rails

Buttons

Plants

Dry ground and enough room remain mandatory. Liquids and waterlogged supporting blocks fail ground placement. A waterlogged slab is not an exception. The mob's body must pass its normal obstruction and collision checks; accepting a floor does not allow a tall or wide mob to fit through a low ceiling or wall.

For an arena, provide supported dry flooring and clearance for your selected mobs, then check the per-mob location and spawn layer. Carpets, buttons or lower slabs alone are no longer reliable wave-spawn prevention. Underwater and lava locations have separate fluid rules. If placements still fail, follow blocked spawn recovery.

Passive Rift Flux — current production rates

A running Nexus produces Rift Flux without consuming an input ingredient. At wave 1, one item takes 1200 processing ticks / 60 seconds in Normal or Strong mode, or 2400 ticks / 120 seconds in Stable mode. All seconds here assume 20 TPS. Power Level has been removed; the Stable screen shows its current wave.

Each further wave adds 1% of the base production rate. This is additive rate growth, not a 1% reduction in duration. For Normal, Strong and Stable, duration = base duration / (1 + 0.01 × (wave − 1)).

When production runs

• Normal / Strong: generation runs while the wave spawner is active, including the inter-wave wait while it remains active.
• Stable: generation also runs between night attacks. A Stable Damping Agent postpones future night waves; it does not stop passive production.
• Stopped or administratively paused: no passive progress. A timed Damping Agent pause in Normal/Strong also skips generation until its time has elapsed. Existing items and partial progress remain.
• Versus: one Flux every 30 seconds, independent of the wave. Each Faster Rift Flux level removes one second, down to one second at level 29. Old saves with higher levels are capped at 29. See upgrade costs, Sale and Stack Size. The same rate applies to selected Exchange output.

Collect output and handle overflow

1. Activate a Nexus and collect Rift Flux from its output slot. Hoppers can extract it; hopper insertion into the Nexus is disabled.
2. Production continues when the output is full or contains another item. The part that cannot fit is dropped above the stationary Nexus, rather than held until the slot is cleared. Use collection space and secure dropped items before they despawn.
3. With Exchange Auto Buy, the Nexus produces the selected complete item package instead of Flux. Multiply the one-Flux duration by its listed Flux price. For example, a diamond takes four times as long. Selection and fractional accumulated progress are saved and preserved when changing products.

A Player Nexus delivers output to its owner periodically; overflow that cannot fit the owner's inventory drops at the player. Saving preserves production progress, but there is no generation while the server is offline. Tick lag increases real-world durations.

This is separate from crafting nine Small Remnants into Flux, buying and selling in Exchange, and processing input Flux into Strong Catalysts. See JEI's generation reference, pause and resume and saved Nexus state.

Damping Agents — mode-specific controls

Craft a Damping Agent from 1 Rift Flux and 2 lapis lazuli, or a Strong Damping Agent from 3 Damping Agents. Open an active stationary Nexus and put one in the input/catalyst slot. Each agent is consumed; another agent adds to the delay. They no longer hold or lower Power Level.

Normal/Strong pause time uses game ticks at 20 TPS and is saved. Already spawned enemies remain active; damage and kills still count. Wave catalysts inserted during that pause wait until it ends. In Stable mode, an ongoing night attack and passive production continue; the agent postpones future attacks and does not stop the Nexus or allow sleep. Further agents extend the scheduled delay.

To end a run, use the appropriate administrator lifecycle command. Agent input is unavailable after transfer to a Player Nexus, which has no Core input screen. Versus mode does not process these damping controls. See agent recipes and production conditions.

Nexus tools — adjusting the arena

Nexus Adjuster
Crafted from five iron ingots. Hold it and use it on a placed Nexus Core to change the spawn radius. The Material Probe provides the same radius controls.

Set the radius before activation and check the resulting radius in the chat message. This changes the distance used for spawning around the Core; it does not resize your walls. A change is rejected while the wave spawner is active, including when an active wave is merely paused. In that case the existing radius remains in effect. Continuous mode may allow adjustment between attacks once its spawner has stopped.

Both tools work on the placed Core, not on a moving Player Nexus. The setting is saved with the Nexus and also affects its loaded arena; very large radii keep more chunks active. The automatic recovery search can use other distances without changing this setting. In Versus, the Core menu hides the radius label. See Equipment & Tools for crafting grids.

Material Probe — checking block strength

Material Probe
Combine a blaze rod, Nexus Adjuster, and Phase Crystal (shapeless). Right-click a block other than the Nexus Core to display its Invasion block strength in chat.

This is the mod’s block strength for obstruction selection, path costs and other block-destruction mechanics. It includes configured strength overrides and applicable bonuses from neighboring construction blocks. It is distinct from timed mining based on Vanilla hardness, tools and effects and from blast resistance. The chat readout is a whole number, so small differences may not be visible. A strength readout alone does not mean a protected or indestructible block can be broken.

On a Nexus Core, the Probe adjusts the radius instead of displaying strength. It can also retrieve loaded traps. The cheaper Nexus Adjuster has no block-strength readout.

Engineer Hammer — Nexus test mode

Engineer Hammer
A testing tool with no crafting recipe in this branch. With command permission, obtain one using /give @s invmod:engineer_hammer.

1. Use a stopped, placed Nexus Core. Right-click it with the hammer to enable Nexus debug mode; the chat confirms success or failure.
2. The Nexus binds existing nearby IM mobs and nearby players, restores Nexus health, and becomes active without starting automatic waves. Use this mode to test existing mobs against a Nexus.
3. Right-click the same Core with the hammer again to stop debug mode. Existing enemies are not killed by this switch.

Activation fails if the Nexus is not stopped or another active Nexus prevents it from becoming active in that dimension. The hammer does not switch a running invasion directly into debug mode.

The tool behavior above is verified against Minecraft 26.3 / NeoForge. Return to Nexus setup or continuous-mode damping.

The Nexus status guide shows where Debug mode appears and how it differs from the wave counter.