Skill System
EliteMobs uses a skill-based progression system where players level up by fighting elite mobs. Rather than a single global level, players develop individual weapon skills and an armor skill that together determine their overall power.
There are 9 skill types:
| Skill | Weapon | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Swords | Any _SWORD | |
| Axes | Any _AXE | |
| Bows | BOW | |
| Crossbows | CROSSBOW | |
| Tridents | TRIDENT | |
| Hoes (Scythes) | Any _HOE | |
| Maces | MACE | Requires Minecraft 1.21+ |
| Spears | Any _SPEAR | Requires Minecraft 1.21.2+ (with resource pack) |
| Armor | Helmets, chestplates, leggings, boots | Levels passively |
Skills level up by using the associated weapon to kill elite mobs. Your Combat Level -- calculated from your skills -- determines what content you can access, what gear you can equip, and what difficulty mobs spawn around you.
How Skills Level Up
When you kill an elite mob, you earn XP based on the mob's level. The XP is distributed as follows:
- Weapon XP goes to the skill matching the weapon in your main hand only. Off-hand weapons do not earn XP.
- Armor XP is earned passively on every kill at 1/3 the rate of weapon XP. This means armor always trails behind your weapon skills.
- Group fights: When multiple players damage the same elite, XP is split proportionally based on each player's damage contribution. If you dealt 60% of the damage, you earn 60% of the base XP.
Base XP from Mobs
The base XP earned from killing a mob is:
mob_xp = mob_level ^ 2
| Mob Level | XP Earned |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |
| 10 | 100 |
| 25 | 625 |
| 50 | 2,500 |
| 100 | 10,000 |
Anti-Exploit Protections
- Low-level mobs: Mobs more than 5 levels below your combat level give no XP. This prevents farming easy content.
- High-level mobs: Mobs more than 5 levels above your combat level have their effective level capped at
combat_level + 5for XP purposes. You still get XP, but not the full amount. - Natural elite farming cap: Killing too many natural elites too quickly (10 kills in 10 minutes, or 30 kills per hour) triggers a temporary cooldown. This does not apply to custom bosses or dungeon content.
XP Progression
The XP required to advance from your current level to the next level follows this formula:
Levels 1-100:
xp_to_next_level = 20 * current_level ^ 3
Levels above 100 (soft cap):
xp_to_next_level = 20 * current_level ^ 3 * (1 + ((current_level - 100) ^ 2 / 100))
The soft cap multiplier is 1.0 at level 100 (no extra penalty) and grows quadratically. By level 150, the multiplier reaches 26x, making further progress extremely difficult.
XP Per Level Table
The table below shows the XP needed to go from a given level to the next, and approximately how many same-level mob kills that takes (weapon skill, not armor):
| Level | XP to Next Level | Kills of Same-Level Mobs |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 20,000 | 200 |
| 25 | 312,500 | 500 |
| 50 | 2,500,000 | 1,000 |
| 75 | 8,437,500 | 1,500 |
| 100 | 20,000,000 | 2,000 |
Armor earns XP at 1/3 the weapon rate, so it takes roughly 3x as many kills to level armor compared to the numbers above. At level 50, that means about 3,000 same-level kills for armor alone.
Combat Level
Your Combat Level is the overall measure of your power. It is calculated as:
combat_level = (highest_weapon_skill + second_highest_weapon_skill + armor_skill) / 3
The result is rounded down (integer division).
Combat Level determines:
- The level of elite mobs that spawn around you
- What gear you can equip (gear level must be at or below your matching skill level)
- Which dungeons and instanced content you can access
- XP and loot eligibility (anti-exploit checks use combat level)
Combat Level Display
Your combat level is shown as a floating number above your head, visible to other players. This uses packet-based text displays and updates automatically whenever your skills change. The display format is configurable (default: Combat Lv. X).
XP Bar
When you earn skill XP, an animated boss bar appears showing your progress toward the next level. The bar features:
- Smooth animation that creeps up as XP is gained
- A different color per skill type (e.g., red for Swords, green for Bows, blue for Armor)
- Special particle and sound effects on level up
- Auto-hides after 5 seconds of inactivity
Gear Restrictions
EliteMobs gear has level requirements tied to the skill system. To equip an elite item, your skill level for that weapon or armor type must be equal to or higher than the item's level.
Exception: Items at level 20 or below can be equipped by anyone regardless of skill level. This ensures new players can freely use early-game gear without being locked out.
If you try to equip an item above your skill level, you will receive a warning message and the item will provide no elite bonuses.
Skill Bonuses
As you level up your skills, you unlock special combat abilities at milestone levels:
- Level 10 -- First bonus unlocked
- Level 25 -- Second bonus unlocked
- Level 50 -- Third bonus unlocked
- Level 75 -- Fourth bonus unlocked
You can have up to 3 active bonuses per weapon or armor type at once. Skill bonuses are managed through the /em menu or by visiting the Skill Bonus NPC in the Adventurer's Guild.
See Skill Bonuses for the complete list of all 84+ bonuses and what they do.
Notifications & UI
The skill system provides several forms of feedback:
- Level Up: Title message, challenge-complete sound, and totem-of-undying particle burst. A server-wide announcement is sent.
- Milestones: Extra celebration effects are triggered every 10 levels (configurable via
milestoneInterval). - Combat Level Display: Floating number above your head, visible to other players. Updates automatically on level up.
- XP Bar: Animated boss bar showing skill XP progress during combat.
- XP Gain Messages: Optional per-kill XP messages (disabled by default as they can be spammy).
All of the above can be configured in skills.yml.
Admin Commands
| Command | Permission | Description |
|---|---|---|
/em skill check [player] | elitemobs.skill.check | View a player's skill levels, XP progress, and percentages |
/em skill set [player] [skillType] [level] | elitemobs.skill.admin | Set a specific skill to a given level |
/em skill setAll [player] [level] | elitemobs.skill.admin | Set all skills to the same level |
/em debug combat start | elitemobs.admin | Start automated combat system testing |
/em debug combat test [type] | elitemobs.admin | Test a specific weapon type (e.g., swords, bows) |
/em debug combat results | elitemobs.admin | View the results of the last combat test |
/em debug combat cancel | elitemobs.admin | Cancel an active combat test |
The skillType argument for /em skill set accepts: ARMOR, SWORDS, AXES, BOWS, CROSSBOWS, TRIDENTS, HOES, MACES, SPEARS.
Server Configuration
The skill system is configured in skills.yml. Key settings:
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
skillSystemEnabled | true | Enables or disables the entire skill system |
armorXPMultiplier | 0.333 | Multiplier for armor XP (1/3 of weapon XP) |
showCombatLevelDisplay | true | Show combat level number above players |
showXPBar | true | Show animated XP progress bar during combat |
showXPGainMessages | false | Show per-kill XP gain messages (can be spammy) |
showMilestoneTitles | true | Show extra celebration on milestone levels |
milestoneInterval | 10 | How often milestone celebrations trigger |
levelUpMessage | &a&lSKILL UP!... | Message format for skill level ups |
skillBarTitleFormat | &6$skillName &7Lv.$level$xpText | XP bar title format |
combatLevelFormat | &6&lCombat Lv. $level | Combat level display format |
For the full configuration reference, see the EliteMobs Configuration page.