How to Make a KitPvP and Duels Server in Minecraft: Kits, Arena and Plugins

KitPvP or duels: what you want to build

KitPvP is free-for-all in an open arena: you jump in whenever you want, without waiting for anyone. It's what works best with few people, because two players are already a match. It needs no special plugins: EssentialsX for the kits and WorldGuard for the arena.

Duels are 1v1 (or 2v2) in closed arenas, with the same gear for both and nobody butting in. They need a duels plugin that handles challenges, queues, arenas and kits. It's the basis of “practice” servers and of tournaments between friends.

You can have both at once: the open arena to pass the time and a /duel for when two people want to settle who's better.

What you need

A Paper server (or Purpur or Spigot): all of this is plugins, which don't load on Fabric or Forge. On NapNodes, Minecraft servers are delivered on Paper, on the latest version, so there's nothing to change. Plugins are found in the panel's “Mods & plugins”, which only shows the ones that work with your version and installs them with their dependencies.

The basics: EssentialsX with EssentialsX Spawn (kits, /spawn), LuckPerms (who can use each kit), WorldEdit and WorldGuard (the arena and spawn protected). If the one you want doesn't show up in “Mods & plugins”, download the .jar from its official page and upload it with “Files” to the plugins folder.

Kits with EssentialsX

1. Set up the gear in your inventory

   In creative, put on the armour and fill your inventory with what the kit will carry: sword, bow, arrows, food, potions. Whatever you're wearing and carrying is what gets saved.

2. Save it as a kit

   /createkit warrior 0 creates the “warrior” kit with what you're carrying. The number is the delay between uses in seconds: in KitPvP, 0, because it's requested every life. It's saved in plugins/Essentials/kits.yml, which you can tweak from “Files” (the delay in seconds and without letters: 60, not 1m).

3. Make three or four different ones

   A warrior (sword and iron armour), an archer (bow, leather armour, more speed), a tank (diamond armour, wooden sword) and one with potions. Different but balanced kits are what keep people coming back; if one always wins, everyone ends up using it.

4. Give permission to use them

   lp group default permission set essentials.kits.warrior true, and the same for each kit. They're requested with /kit warrior; /kit on its own shows the ones each player can use.

The arena and spawn with WorldGuard

Build the arena (or paste one with WorldEdit) and, next to it or above it, a small spawn to jump from. The spawn is a safe zone: that's where kits are picked without anyone hitting you.

1. Mark the arena

   With WorldEdit's //wand, left-click one corner and right-click the opposite one (it should cover top to bottom; //expand vert stretches it to the world's ceiling and floor). Then /rg define arena.

2. Set its rules

   /rg flag arena pvp allow (players can attack), /rg flag arena build deny (nobody breaks or places blocks), /rg flag arena mob-spawning deny (no mobs) and /rg flag arena item-drop deny (nobody leaves kit items lying around).

3. Mark the spawn

   The same way, with /rg define spawn and /rg flag spawn pvp deny. Set the spawn point there with EssentialsX Spawn's /setspawn: players go back to it when they die.

4. Test it with someone else

   Join with a friend (or a second account): at spawn you can't hurt each other, in the arena you can, and nobody can break the arena. Ops bypass WorldGuard's build protection: test with a normal account, without op.

The game rules that change the match

Since Minecraft 1.21.11, rules are written in lowercase with underscores (keep_inventory, not keepInventory). You change them in the “Console” without the slash (gamerule keep_inventory true) or, on NapNodes, in “Settings”, among the world rules. All of them are in the gamerules guide.

1. PvP on

   gamerule pvp true. It comes that way; since 1.21.9 it's no longer changed in server.properties. In “Settings” it's “Players can attack each other (PvP)”.

2. Kits not left lying around

   In KitPvP each life starts with a fresh kit, so whatever the dead player drops just litters the floor. With gamerule keep_inventory true nothing drops (and then /kit gives a clean one), or let it drop if you want the winner to grab the loser's potions.

3. Respawn instantly

   gamerule immediate_respawn true removes the death screen: you die and you're back at spawn. It's what people expect in KitPvP.

4. No natural healing

   gamerule natural_health_regeneration false stops health coming back by eating: only potions or golden apples from the kit. Fights become more tactical; for a server of friends, better leave it as it is.

5. No fall damage

   gamerule fall_damage false if the arena has heights and you don't want anyone dying from a jump. Hunger has no rule: if it bothers you, put food in the kits.

1v1 duels: the plugin

For duels you need a plugin that takes both players to a free arena, gives them the kit, records who wins and sends them back with their stuff. There are many and they come and go with each Minecraft version: search for “duels” in “Mods & plugins” and pick one that covers your exact version and was updated recently (check its page). The most complete ones bring queues per mode, rankings and menus; for friends, a simple one with /duel is enough.

The setup is similar in all of them, even though the commands change: you create several identical arenas (one per pair fighting at the same time), mark the two spawn points in each and say which kits are played. Duels plugins usually bring their own kits, also saved from your inventory, and give each player their inventory back at the end: so you can challenge someone from survival without losing anything.

If the plugin asks for WorldEdit to paste or regenerate arenas, you already have it. And read its page before opening: almost all of them have a command to reload the config without restarting.

Old (1.8) or new combat

Since 1.9, swords have a cooldown and there's a shield: fights are slower. Lots of people coming from PvP servers want 1.8 combat, with no cooldown and all about clicking. You don't need an old server: there are plugins that bring it back on a current Paper (search for “old combat” or “legacy pvp” in “Mods & plugins”), and some let you choose it per world, so survival has the new combat and the arena the old one. Both ways (real 1.8.9 or old combat on the latest), in Minecraft 1.8 PvP server.

Pick one before opening and say so in the rules: changing the combat halfway through a season changes who wins, and whoever loses leaves.

Keeping it from breaking: combat logging and cheats

In duels and KitPvP the oldest trick is disconnecting when you're losing. An anti combat log plugin (search for “combat log” in “Mods & plugins”) makes anyone who leaves mid-fight die anyway. And those hitting too fast or from too far are stopped by an anticheat; the guide to protecting the server covers it.

Appoint moderators with just the right permissions using LuckPerms, not op: an op can fly, switch to creative and skip the arena.

How much RAM it needs

KitPvP is light: the arena is always the same, nobody explores new world and there are no farms. With Paper and these plugins, 3 GB is fine for up to about 20 players. What weighs most is people generating terrain, so if you also have a survival world, give it a border and pre-generate the map with Chunky.

To set it up and test it with your friends, the NapNodes free server works (3 GB, no card). It shuts down after 20 minutes with nobody on and you have to hit “Start”; for an open server people join at any hour, a plan is better, always on and with backups. You switch with “Move to a plan” on the server's card in “My servers”, without losing anything you've built.

And to get people from outside, sign up on server lists and build a spawn that explains itself: it's in getting players for your server.

Frequently asked questions