Nemesis

The monster that kills you becomes your rival. It survives, hunts you, and grows stronger every time it kills you again. Slay it to claim your revenge.

Inspired by the acclaimed Nemesis system from Shadow of Mordor, reimagined for Minecraft servers. Ordinary deaths become an ongoing, personal grudge: the mob that beat you is promoted into a named, glowing rival that remembers you, tracks you down, and levels up with every kill - until you finally hunt it down and settle the score for a hard-earned reward.

Every rivalry is unique, persists across restarts, and is tuned entirely through a deep, friendly config - from stat curves to per-level abilities to the exact reward you earn.

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Table of contents

• How it works
• Level progression
• Installation
• Commands
• Permissions
• Configuration
  • Stat scaling
  • Per-level abilities
  • Revenge rewards
• Building from source
• Roadmap
• Support
• License

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How it works

1. A monster kills you. Instead of despawning, it's promoted to your personal Nemesis - given a name and title (Grishnak the Cruel), boosted stats, a glowing outline, immunity to sunlight, and it is marked never to despawn.
2. It hunts you. Whenever you're within range, it locks onto you and gives chase; you get an action-bar warning when it's close.
3. It kills you again → it levels up. Each rank adds new abilities (see below) and a scarier title, and it heals to full.
4. You kill it → revenge. You earn configurable loot (diamonds, XP and a named trophy by default), the server is told of your victory, and the grudge is settled.

Only one nemesis exists per player at a time, so the rivalry stays personal and meaningful.

Level progression (default config)

Level	Health	Damage	Speed	Added abilities
1	×1.6	×1.4	normal	Named, glowing, fireproof, persistent
2	×2.2	×1.8	+6%	-
3	×2.8	×2.2	+12%	Resistance I, knockback resistance, iron helmet
4	×3.4	×2.6	+18%	Regeneration I, Strength I, iron sword
5	×4.0	×3.0	+24%	Resistance II, Strength II, Speed I, full diamond kit

All of the above is configurable, and you can add ranks beyond 5.

Installation

1. Download Nemesis-1.0.0.jar.
2. Drop it into your server's plugins/ folder.
3. Restart the server. A config.yml is generated on first run.

Commands

Base command: /nemesis - alias /nem.

Command	Description
/nemesis info	View your current nemesis - name, level, type, last-seen location
/nemesis locate	Where your nemesis was last seen, and how far away
/nemesis list	(admin) All active nemeses on the server
/nemesis reload	(admin) Reload the configuration

Permissions

Permission	Description	Default
nemesis.use	Inspect and locate your own nemesis	everyone
nemesis.admin	List all nemeses and reload the config	op

Configuration

Everything below is editable; run /nemesis reload to apply without a restart.

promote-chance: 100     # % chance a mob that kills you becomes your nemesis
max-level: 5            # raise as high as you like - stats keep scaling
glowing: true           # nemesis glows through walls
fire-immune: true       # won't burn away in sunlight/lava
hunt:
  enabled: true
  range: 40             # locks onto you within this many blocks
  warn: true
  warn-range: 18        # action-bar warning when this close
eligible-mobs: [ ZOMBIE, SKELETON, SPIDER, PILLAGER, ... ]

Stat scaling

Scaled from each mob's own natural stats, so a nemesis skeleton and a nemesis ravager both feel fair.

scaling:
  health: { per-level: 0.6 }   # +60% max health per level
  damage: { per-level: 0.4 }   # +40% attack damage per level
  speed:  { per-level: 0.06, cap: 1.25 }  # gentle; hard-capped at 1.25x natural speed

Per-level abilities

Give each level potion effects, gear and knockback resistance. Add more levels (6, 7, 8…) and raise max-level to match - any level you don't define inherits the highest one you did.

levels:
  3:
    knockback-resistance: 0.6
    effects: ["RESISTANCE:0"]           # "TYPE:amplifier" (0 = level I)
    equipment: { helmet: IRON_HELMET }
  5:
    knockback-resistance: 0.8
    effects: ["RESISTANCE:1", "STRENGTH:1", "SPEED:0"]
    equipment: { helmet: DIAMOND_HELMET, chestplate: DIAMOND_CHESTPLATE, weapon: DIAMOND_SWORD }

Revenge rewards

Fully customizable drops, XP and trophy. Each drop is amount + (per-level × level).

revenge:
  xp-base: 20
  xp-per-level: 15
  drops:
    - { material: DIAMOND, amount: 0, per-level: 2 }
  trophy:
    enabled: true
    material: PLAYER_HEAD   # a decorative, uncraftable keepsake - not a farmable resource
    name: "&6Trophy of {name}"
    lore:
      - "&7Slain by {owner}"
      - "&8A nemesis vanquished."

Building from source

Requires JDK 21+ and Maven.

mvn clean package
# → target/Nemesis-1.0.0.jar

Only standard Bukkit APIs are used, so the built jar runs on both Spigot and Paper.

Compatibility

Requires Java 21+ (the runtime Minecraft itself requires from 1.20.5 onward).

Automatically verified by booting a real server per version and exercising the plugin in-game on: 1.20.6, 1.21.1, 1.21.4 and 1.21.11 - all loading cleanly with no errors. Versions between those are expected to work but have not been individually tested.

Roadmap

• 👹 Nemesis minions it can summon at high level.
• 🎭 Multiple simultaneous nemeses per player - a rogues' gallery.
• 📖 A grudge book GUI showing your rivalry history and past trophies.
• 📊 Optional boss bar when your nemesis is nearby.

Support

• 🌐 Website: studio.rexmicky.dev
• 💬 Discord: discord.gg/pfF5TpQ9UE

License

Released under the MIT License - © 2026 Rex Micky · Rex's Studio.