Sneak Peek #2: The Darkzone Is Coming to Factions Lava
Our second sneak peek for Factions Lava is a brand new PvP zone: the Darkzone.
The Darkzone is a void End arena where PvP is always on. Grind Void Mite pits to fill your satchel with shards, then make it to an extraction pad to bank them. Die on the way and everything you’re carrying drops for someone else to grab.
🌌 Getting In
Type /darkzone or open /warps and click the Darkzone. After a 5 second countdown you land on one of four spawn platforms at random. You can’t warp in while you’re in combat.
You get 5 seconds of spawn protection when you arrive, so nobody can kill you the second you land. Hitting someone ends it early.
The Darkzone is one island floating in the void. Fall off and you’re gone.
💜 Filling Your Satchel
Spread across the island are 7 Void Mite pits: one big pit in the center and six around it. These are server-owned spawners, so nobody can claim them and everyone fights over them.
Every Void Mite you kill adds a shard to your satchel. Your satchel holds up to 1,500 shards, and your action bar always shows how full it is. Carnage works here too, so every mob it kills counts.
Here’s the catch: shards in your satchel aren’t yours yet. You have to get them out first.
🚪 Extraction
There are 4 extraction pads, one on each side of the island (north, east, south and west). Every pad has a hologram above it, and the coordinates of all four show up in chat when you warp in.
Stand on a pad for 8 seconds to bank your satchel. Taking damage restarts the timer, so you’ll want your factionmates covering you. When it’s done:
- Your shards turn into Void Shards, which sell for $250 each with
/sell. A full satchel is worth $375,000, and your rank sell bonus and the global booster apply on top. - You’re sent straight back to spawn.
Pads also work as an exit when you’re not carrying anything. If you leave with /darkzone leave instead, any shards you haven’t banked are lost.
💀 Dying in the Darkzone
When you die, your entire satchel drops on the ground as Unstable Shards. Anyone can pick them up and they go straight into that player’s satchel. They disappear after 5 minutes.
Dying also locks you out of the Darkzone for 2 hours. The Darkzone item in /warps always shows whether you can enter and how long you have left. Pick your fights carefully.
🌑 Blackouts
Every hour at :30, a Blackout starts and lasts 10 minutes. During a Blackout every Void Mite pays 2x shards and the Wither Skull chance is doubled. You’ll get a warning in chat a minute before it starts.
☠️ Wither Skulls
Every hit on a Void Mite has a very small chance (1 in 20,000) to drop a Wither Skull. Only 2 can drop per day across the whole server, and the whole server finds out when one does.
The skull goes into your satchel as an Unstable Wither Skull, and you glow until you extract it or die. Everyone will know you have it.
Wither Skulls are the only way to build withers outside of deep Lost Sectors runs, and withers are how void bases in the End get raided.
🐉 The Void Dragon
Every 2 hours on the hour, if at least 2 players are in the Darkzone, the Void Dragon rises over the arena. You get a 60 second warning, then 10 minutes to kill it before it flies away.
- Bows only. Melee does nothing, so bring arrows.
- It circles high above the island and swoops down low every 35 seconds, which is when everyone fights underneath it. At the bottom of a swoop its wings blast nearby players back.
- It shoots fireballs at players the whole time.
- A boss bar shows its health. It has 300 HP plus 100 for every player inside (up to 2,000).
| Reward | What you get |
|---|---|
| Last hit | 750 shards, 2 Magma keys and a Void Hunter II book |
| #1 damage | 500 shards, 1 Magma key and a Void Tracer II book |
| #2 damage | 350 shards |
| #3 damage | 200 shards |
| 3%+ of the damage | 75 shards |
Dragon shards go into your satchel like any other shards. You still have to extract them, and you can still lose them.
🏹 Darkzone Bow Enchants
Two new bow enchants are made for the Void Dragon. They only work in the Darkzone, and they only affect the dragon, never players.
| Enchant | Tier | Levels | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Void Hunter | Legendary | I-V | +10% arrow damage to the Void Dragon per level (up to +50%) |
| Void Tracer | Rare | I-III | Your arrows curve toward the Void Dragon once it’s within 20, 30 or 40 blocks |
You can find them in Legendary and Rare enchant books, and the dragon itself drops them for the last hit and top damage.
📜 Rules of the Zone
- PvP is always on. No safe spots.
- No building, no flying and no claiming.
/sethome,/flyand/tpahereare blocked inside. - Ender pearls work, so use them to escape or to chase someone down.
- Check your stats with
/darkzone infoand the top extractors with/darkzone top.
🚀 See You on Launch Day
Factions Lava launches Saturday, October 31st at 3:00 PM EST on play.polarmc.net. You can join from 1.8 all the way up to the newest version, and Bedrock players can join on bedrock.polarmc.net with port 19132.
Everything on store.polarmc.net is 50% off for the release. More sneak peeks are coming in the Polar Discord. See you in the Darkzone!