How to Make a Minecraft Lifesteal Server: Plugin, Rules and RAM

How Lifesteal works

Everyone starts with normal health (10 hearts). When you kill another player you gain a heart of max health and they lose one. Almost every plugin also lets you turn one of your own hearts into an item to give someone else, craft hearts with an expensive recipe, and revive an eliminated player with an item or a ritual.

When they reach zero, depending on the plugin and how you configure it, the player gets banned or becomes a spectator until they're revived. That's why Lifesteal is played with the whitelist on or with clear rules: a game with no rules gets taken over by the first person who spends all day killing newcomers.

Which server and which plugin

Lifesteal is a plugin, so the server has to be Paper (or Purpur or Spigot), not Fabric or Forge. On NapNodes, Minecraft servers are delivered on Paper, on the latest version, so there's nothing to change (unless you've switched it to mods).

There are several plugins with the same idea. LifeStealZ is one of the most used and is published on Hangar, PaperMC's plugin repository; there are others on Modrinth (search for “lifesteal”). Before choosing, check two things on its page: that it covers your server's exact version and that it was updated recently. A plugin stuck on an old Minecraft version won't load on a new one.

1. Make a backup

   In the panel, “Backups” → create. If something goes wrong, you go back to how it was. (The free server has no backups: download the world folder from “Files” first.)

2. Install the plugin

   In the panel's “Mods & plugins”, search for “lifesteal”: only the ones that work with your version and server type show up, and they install with their dependencies. If the one you want doesn't show up (for example, because it's only on Hangar), download its .jar from the official page and upload it in “Files” to the plugins folder.

3. Restart and check

   “Restart” and, in the console, type plugins: it should show up in green. If it shows in red or not at all, the console says why (almost always, a Minecraft version the plugin doesn't cover).

4. Configure it

   The plugin creates its folder inside plugins with a config.yml. Edit it from “Files” and restart, or use the reload command it comes with (it's on its page).

The settings that change the game most

The exact names vary from plugin to plugin, but they all have roughly these. Think them through before opening the server, because changing them mid-season annoys anyone who has already lost hearts.

1. Maximum hearts

   With no cap, the best player ends up with 40 hearts and nobody can beat them. A ceiling of 20 (double the normal amount) keeps the game open.

2. What happens at zero

   Temporary ban, ban until revived, or spectator mode. For friends, spectator or a short ban; a permanent ban only makes sense with lots of people waiting to get in.

3. Deaths that aren't from players

   Decide whether falling into the void, lava or a creeper also takes hearts. If they do, the game is harder and fairer to those who don't fight; if not, only PvP counts.

4. Heart and revive recipes

   Make them expensive (diamond blocks, netherite, totems). If they're cheap, nobody is ever out for long and the fun is gone.

5. Killing the same player over and over

   Many plugins let you limit the hearts gained from killing the same person repeatedly, or someone who has just joined. Turn it on: it stops two friends passing hearts back and forth.

PvP, combat logging and cheating

PvP has to be on. Since Minecraft 1.21.9 it's no longer set in server.properties but with a game rule: /gamerule pvp true (it's on by default; if someone turned it off, this turns it back on). On NapNodes it's also in “Settings”, among the rules: “Players can attack each other (PvP)”. The other rules are in the gamerules guide.

The classic Lifesteal problem is combat logging: whoever is losing disconnects before dying and doesn't drop the heart. You prevent it with an anti combat log plugin (search for “combat log” in “Mods & plugins”): if someone leaves mid-fight, they die or leave behind a dummy that can be killed.

If the server is open, appoint moderators with LuckPerms (with just the permissions they need, not op) and keep CoreProtect handy to see who did what. Both are in the guide to protecting your server from griefers.

How much RAM it needs

Lifesteal is survival with PvP: it weighs the same as a normal SMP. With Paper and a few plugins, 3 GB is fine for a small group and 4 GB for 10 to 20 players. What puts the most load on it is people spreading out to explore new terrain, so pregenerating the map with Chunky and setting a world border helps a lot.

To try it out with your group, the NapNodes free server works (3 GB, no card needed). Bear in mind it shuts down after 20 minutes with nobody on and has no backups: for a serious season, where losing the world hurts, a plan is better, which is always on, with backups and more disk. You switch with “Move to a plan” on the server's card in “My servers”, without losing the world.

If you're going to open it to the public

Mojang's rules for servers don't allow selling gameplay advantages: selling hearts, revives or kits with weapons is forbidden. If you want to make something to pay for the server, make it things that don't change who wins (the guide to making money with your server covers it).

And announce your seasons: Lifesteal is played in seasons of a few weeks, with a new world and everyone back at 10 hearts. How to start over without losing the old map is in the guide to resetting the world.

Frequently asked questions