The ULTIMATE Crystal PvP Guide (1.21+)

0:00I asked some of the best players in the

0:01world tell me make the ultimate crystal

0:03PvP guide. And now I'm going to teach

0:05you everything that they taught me.

0:09[Music]

0:16[Music]

0:28[Music]

0:32All right, let's start from the very

0:33beginning. What is crystal PvP? Crystal

0:36PvP is a fast-paced, high skill combat

0:38style in Minecraft where players use end

0:40crystals, anchors, and precise movements

0:43to destroy their opponents. It's not

0:45just about clicking fast, it's about

0:46thinking fast. You'll need to know how

0:48to pearl, ledge dash, use totems, place

0:51crystals quickly, and understand a

0:54diverse set of mechanics. This includes

0:56things like when to be aggressive, when

0:58to anchor, block positioning, when to

1:00disengage, and more.

1:03If you're not improving, chances are

1:05you're doing one of these. Number one,

1:07overrelying on mechanics. Game sense is

1:10typically always better than the

1:11mechanics. While mechanics are still

1:12very important, winning mainly comes

1:14down to knowing how to use your

1:15mechanics to produce good decision-m via

1:18GameSense. Instead of relying on

1:20mechanics, you should be playing to

1:22strengths and making smart decisions.

1:24Game sense is overall more important,

1:26but good mechanics is still very helpful

1:28in allowing you to utilize your game

1:30sense to its fullest extent.

1:33Number two, bad decision-m. This game

1:36consists of pearling to a player with no

1:38saturation, letting your ego take over,

1:40like staying in a whole fight for too

1:41long, and playing off of emotion. All of

1:44which are extremely common problems

1:46players have and will often bottleneck

1:47your skill.

1:50Number three, mental. This is probably

1:52the biggest reason why people fall into

1:54a poor state of improvement and think

1:56that they're stuck at the same skill

1:57level and cannot improve. Trust me,

1:59you're not. In order to get better, you

2:01must be optimistic and take the time to

2:03step back and think about where you're

2:04doing wrong and spend your practice

2:06efficiently improving the issues you

2:08identify rather than just spamming quick

2:10fights expecting to get better. Number

2:13four, bad keybinds. Bad binds that

2:15restrict strafe movement, your speed, or

2:17the flow of your mechanics are often an

2:19issue that people have that restricts

2:21their capabilities. You want to have

2:23keybinds that allow you to move freely

2:25and execute actions quickly while also

2:27making sure that they're comfortable to

2:28use.

2:30You have to stop looking and trying to

2:31copy other players key bonds. Every

2:33single set of bonds is unique to a

2:35player. And in order to get the quote

2:36unquote best bonds, you have to find out

2:38the ones that work best for you. For

2:40example, even if you were to have

2:42Marlo's key bonds, it wouldn't make you

2:43anywhere close to her skill level. Her

2:45skill comes from her knowledge of the

2:46game and the mindset that she has

2:48towards improving that almost nobody

2:50else has. Other reasons a player may not

2:52be able to improve is due to them not

2:54being able to stay calm under pressure.

2:56Some people have poor nerve control and

2:58this can cause people to struggle with

3:00aggressive or quick plays such as

3:02toteming or being fast in fights as well

3:04as people who cannot react fast in

3:06highintensity situations. Not being able

3:09to accept a loss. Failure teaches you

3:11much faster than success. You'll figure

3:13out what strategies don't work, what

3:15your weaknesses are, and where to

3:16improve next. This is what you should

3:18ask yourself after you die. Why is it

3:20eye to die? What could you improve on or

3:22be faster with? What did your opponent

3:24do that worked against you? and what

3:26could you do to prevent that from

3:27happening again? Another good way to

3:29speed up this process is to record your

3:31gameplay and analyze mistakes in order

3:33to improve your skills. Note, this is

3:35highly advanced and it takes a lot of

3:38time, but is very, very, very good if

3:40you want to improve quickly.

3:46Flat fights and dtapping. In order to

3:48dominate in flat fights, you need to

3:51know how to DTAP and how to pearl flash.

3:54Pro flashing is extremely important in

3:56the current day meta as it allows you to

3:58take no knock back and easily hit

4:00crystal your opponent.

4:03Here's some tips when it comes to flat

4:04fights. You do not want to be

4:06predictable. You have to try to change

4:07up your play style and utilize as many

4:09mechanics as possible in order to catch

4:11your opponent offg guard and win the

4:13encounter. It's always okay to leave an

4:14encounter if you don't win.

4:17In order to pearl flash correctly, you

4:19must first pearl directly at the ground

4:21just before your opponent is about to

4:22hit you. Then look up rapidly and

4:24perform a hit crystal or double tap.

4:28Fly fights take a lot of practice and

4:30time to get good at, so don't be too

4:32hard on yourself if you don't get it the

4:33first time.

4:38Now, let's talk about whole fights.

4:39These are probably the hardest technique

4:41in the game to master. In order to

4:42dominate and win every single hole

4:44fight, you must have good mechanics and

4:46fast decision-making skills, such as

4:48knowing how to properly execute certain

4:50mechanics, fast toteming, and knowing

4:52when to enter and exit a whole fight.

4:56In order to ledge dash, you have to

4:57place an anchor three to four blocks

4:58away from yourself and two to three

5:00blocks away from your opponent for the

5:01best hole formation. Right after the

5:03anchor explodes, you want to pearl to

5:05the bottom. You don't want to risk any

5:07sword hits and go straight for the

5:08crystal.

5:10If your opponent takes out a shield,

5:11then you can proceed to either anchor

5:13behind them, use an axis shield disable

5:15them.

5:17Number two, entering an existing hole.

5:19Only go in if you have a strong pearl

5:21angle into the back or into a ledge

5:24below. If not, then just rim anchor.

5:27Exiting a hole. When you're in a hole,

5:29you either fully leave or you fully

5:31fight back. Block up first, then pearl

5:33out. Don't panic. Failed pearls equal

5:36death. When exiting, you should focus on

5:38actually exiting. This means that you

5:40don't go in for a DTAP since you risk

5:42getting popped again. When you want to

5:44exit, you must take away any risk of

5:46losing more items than you already have.

5:51A meta is a 1x two hole that you fight

5:53your opponent in. Here are some ways

5:55that you can win these 1v ones.

5:57Important note, you should almost always

5:59anchor spam your opponent if they fire

6:01tick, as it's much more consistent than

6:03trying to go for a 50/50 dtap. These

6:06strats allow you to get good positioning

6:07and start training your opponent.

6:11Number one, mining one block into the

6:13wall and anchoring.

6:15Number two, anchoring above your

6:16opponent.

6:19Number three, mining out two blocks to

6:21the side and then placing anchor to the

6:22side of your opponent's feet.

6:25Important whole fight strategies. Number

6:28one, chaining. Chaining is when you line

6:30up multiple attacks and techniques to

6:32repeatedly pop your opponent and keep

6:33them toteming in the inventory for as

6:35long as possible.

6:39It always requires much more mechanical

6:41skill and effort to aggro compared to

6:43defending. This is because when you

6:44aggro, you have to make such quick

6:46decision-m skills and you have to be

6:47ready to counter your opponent with very

6:49fast attacks. I would personally

6:52recommend practicing aggro if you are

6:53trying to work on getting faster with

6:54your mechs and decision-m skills. But

6:57for the love of sweet Jesus, please do

6:59not just mindlessly aggro. This leads

7:01into the worst of the worst of bad

7:02habits. And please keep your mind turned

7:05on when you're playing the game.

7:09Anchoring is much better than dtaps a

7:11lot of the time because a lot of the

7:13time when you're under headers or up

7:14super close to your opponent, you want

7:16to prioritize anchor usage to its

7:18maximum. After the double blast brought

7:20change, it made anchor so OP. And the

7:22better you get with using them, the more

7:23rewarding they become.

7:25Remember, you want to try to anchor

7:27three to four blocks away from you and

7:29one to three blocks away from your

7:30opponent. And try to use terrain,

7:32blocks, like, etc. to defend you and the

7:35anchor so that it damages your opponent

7:36and it doesn't damage you. Another

7:39reason why anchors are absolutely goated

7:40is because when you're fighting against

7:42double blast brought, you can chain

7:43people solely with welltime placed

7:45anchors, allowing for insane combos.

7:47Blocking up. This is super important in

7:49both drain and regular hold fights.

7:51Whenever you're being crystled up into a

7:53ledge, you want to prioritize toteming,

7:55but also try to block up in between

7:56retoteming.

7:58Doing this will allow you to survive,

7:59prevent yourself from being chained, and

8:01give you time to breathe to think about

8:02your next move, whether you want to

8:04counter strike, leave, or heal.

8:08Toteming. And yes, there is a proper way

8:10to totem. First of all, you want to

8:11switch to your hopper totem. Second, you

8:13want to open your inventory. And

8:15finally, you want to offh hand another

8:16totem from your inventory. Doing it this

8:19way will allow you to always be holding

8:20a totem and it will lower the risk of

8:22dying while you're retoming.

8:25Double hand. This is where you hold two

8:27totems that makes you unkillable unless

8:30you get triple tapped, but this is

8:32likely never going to happen, so you

8:33don't have to worry about it. Here are

8:35some methods that I use that help me

8:37with double hand. You can either try to

8:39predict when you're about to be double

8:40popped or tapped by rapidly keybinding

8:42the moment your opponent hits you or

8:44that you think that you're about to be

8:45popped. And another method is just to

8:47always be double-handed, especially on

8:49survival cuz you can get snaked at any

8:51moment.

8:53When you're actively training or

8:54attacking someone, pro players usually

8:56just switch to their hopper totem

8:58offhand it so they can keep agging your

9:00opponent. This strategy is actually

9:02really OP because it doesn't mean that

9:03they have to go to their inventory to

9:04retote them manually. And this can allow

9:06them to keep applying pressure on your

9:08opponent and allow you to retote them

9:10later.

9:14Let's talk about play styles. These

9:15define how you fight and how you win.

9:17Aggressive play styles. Aggressive play

9:19styles are really good at putting

9:20pressure on your opponent. They require

9:22smart pearls and very strategic aggros.

9:25But bad aggression can equal throwing.

9:27You have to learn how to control your

9:28aggros. Shield is typically better for

9:30aggro as it gives you better chances at

9:32surviving ledge dashes and it allows you

9:34to put more pressure on your opponent

9:35because you can always fall back on your

9:37shield if you make a mistake. High tier

9:38fours and low tier threes that think

9:40that they have quote unquote aggressive

9:41play styles are most likely just

9:43mindless auring dopamine addicted tree

9:45frogs that just want as much stimulation

9:47as humanly possible. They don't have any

9:49patience.

9:51In order to master being aggressive, you

9:53must actually know to properly apply

9:54pressure and correctly aggro your

9:56opponent. Defensive play styles. These

9:58contain a lot of ledge dashing, playing

9:59smart, and waiting for your opponent to

10:01make a mistake or aggro you. The axe and

10:03shield are really good tools for this

10:05play style. Passive aggressive play

10:07styles. These are kind of a mix of both.

10:08You want to wait for big opportunities,

10:10and it does require a lot of patience.

10:12These are really good at punishing your

10:14opponent, but you also won't throw

10:15everything just on a sudden impulse.

10:20Here are some super important mods. Some

10:22mods that I highly recommend is Apple

10:25Skin mod. This shows your saturation so

10:27that you know when to gap or when to

10:28aggro. Crossbow hit indicator. This puts

10:30an icon on your crosshair every single

10:32time that you hit your opponent with an

10:33arrow. This is super helpful when

10:35knowing that you still fled your

10:36opponent or not.

10:39Low fire. This prevents fire from

10:41blocking your screen when you are

10:42PvPing. Low shield. This allows you to

10:44see much more of your screen while

10:46you're fighting. Satis timer. This shows

10:48how much time your effects will last.

10:50Other mods that are necessary, but I

10:52really, really like. Better ping

10:53display. mod menu, til break, join auto

10:57sprint, toggle chat, inventory scale,

11:00gamma utils, and day/ night changanger.

11:05What is drain? Drain is where two

11:07players go all in trying to completely

11:08burn each other's gear, totems, and

11:10mental. Drain fights are brutal, and

11:12they test everything that you have.

11:14Here's how to master drain fights. You

11:17want to stay at full saturation always

11:19and double blast pro is the current meta

11:21as it allows you to take no knock back

11:23and crystals being extremely

11:25overpowered. This has caused a lot of

11:27players to hate it. Knockback 2 may be

11:29good to use in high ping drain fights

11:31against double blast brought due to the

11:32ability to hit players on ledges easily.

11:35However, knockback one is more

11:36consistent and overall better. I would

11:38experiment with both of them to see

11:40which one fits your play style the best.

11:43Shield is overall more consistent in DR,

11:46but I wouldn't spam it blindly. You want

11:48to use it strategically

11:52in whole fights. Usually the player that

11:54enters the whole fight first and gets to

11:55the bottom usually ends up winning the

11:57encounter. You have to react smart and

12:00don't just spam all of your mechanics.

12:02You want to focus on controlling the

12:04area. Movement and positioning are

12:06everything.

12:13This is how you can correctly use the

12:14shield in drain fights or just in

12:16general. You do not want to overuse the

12:18shield, but you want to use it to get

12:19good positioning or to get out of a bad

12:21situation. If you're being ledge dashed,

12:24try to pearl out or block up as it's

12:26much more consistent. You want to shield

12:27behind corners or walls and be ready for

12:29your opponent to ax you. Blocking up is

12:32generally safer than relying only on a

12:34shield. If you're being ledge dashed,

12:36try to pearl away first, then shield if

12:38it's absolutely needed.

12:41How do you know when to aggro? Smart

12:43aggro wins fights, and bad aggro loses

12:45them. You want to aggro when your

12:47opponent is low HP. If they mess up a

12:49mechanic, such as a ledge dash, they

12:51miss a pearl, they're too close or

12:53unaware, and you have to strike when

12:55they're weak, but you don't want to

12:56force the aggro. Minus aggression will

12:58always get you popped.

13:00You can also aggro your opponent when

13:02they're not paying attention or if

13:03they're inventory or even if they're

13:05just spamming slowfall. You can also

13:07aggro your opponent if they're not

13:09paying attention or if they're in their

13:11inventory. If your opponent is focusing

13:13too much on trying to slowfall, then you

13:15can pearl on them the moment they bring

13:17out the crossbow. Now that you know when

13:19to aggro, let's look at how you actually

13:20do a good aggro. In drain, you only

13:23really want to take your own whole

13:24fights that you initiate.

13:26When you start or drain hole fight, you

13:28want to try to anchor to get low ground

13:29before your opponent, so you can secure

13:31yourself with a winning position. Also,

13:33it is much easier to win a whole fight

13:34once you have low ground than compared

13:36to high ground.

13:40The elytra is a great option for PvP,

13:42whether you're using it to escape a bad

13:44situation or to aggro players. And this

13:46is how to master it. The elytra is best

13:49used to catch an opponent off guard in

13:50order to agg them correctly. You want to

13:52fly around the opponent and attack them

13:54either when they don't have a good

13:55enough reaction time or if they won't

13:57see it coming. Now, here's how to

13:59properly use the elytra. You want to

14:01make quick, rapid movements that catch

14:03your opponent off guard, and you do not

14:05want to be predictable.

14:07Here's some tips for using the mace.

14:09Mace is excellent for crystal as it's

14:11super fast and outright broken. When you

14:14pair the elytra and the mace together,

14:15it comes for a dangerously broken combo

14:18as you can easily get in and get out. In

14:21order to master the mace, you must be

14:23quick with it as it's not for beginners.

14:25You're going to need fast mechanics and

14:27you have to do a lot of practicing with

14:28it. The only downside for the mace and

14:31train fights is that slow falling

14:33instantly counters it.

14:37Here are some mindset tips. Number one,

14:39you cannot get mad. Getting mad pushes

14:42you the farthest away from improvement

14:44as it allows your emotions to take over

14:46and prevent you from learning and

14:47getting better as you'll be relying on

14:49emotion and reacting on it instead of

14:51actually accurately evaluating the

14:53situation and understanding what you

14:55have to do to get better. You have to

14:57keep a strong mindset. It's just a

14:58blocking. You don't want to till after a

15:00death. You want to take a break or take

15:01a second to restore your mental before

15:03going into the next fight. Even if

15:05you're at zero totems or down 03, you

15:07can still come back.

15:09You always want to have your eyes on

15:11your opponent and you always want to try

15:12to play as smart as you possibly can.

15:14The most important thing is to always

15:15have fun though. If you're ever getting

15:17overly mad while playing, you're not

15:18going to improve.

15:25Want to improve? Here's how. In game

15:28habits, you want to practice a lot. You

15:30want to play consistently. And you want

15:32to get a lot of sleep. Like, please

15:34don't stay up until like 4:00 a.m.

15:36grinding Crystal PvP every single day.

15:38It is not good for you. You're probably

15:41not going to get better because you'll

15:42be too tired to actually think

15:44correctly. Practicing the theob bot or

15:46the zombie bot is amazing.

15:49If you're only practicing on these bots,

15:50and if you never actually fight any real

15:52players, then you're not going to be

15:53able to keep up with the meta, and

15:54you're not going to learn faster or

15:56better than actually fighting real

15:58players. Another way to get better is to

15:59watch pro players or streamers, as these

16:02players are usually pretty high tier and

16:03pretty good at the game. When you play

16:05to genuinely improve instead of winning

16:06a duel, you'll skyrocket in skill. Speed

16:09is a very good trait to have, but if you

16:11don't know how to use it, then you're

16:12just going to get yourself killed by a

16:13competent opponent. You absolutely need

16:16to take things step by step. Improve by

16:18mastering a mechanic or strategy before

16:20moving on to the next. This way, you

16:21don't get too overwhelmed easily, and

16:23it's much better for improvement.

16:26Something that helps me is by taking

16:28things in order. Number one, identifying

16:30the issue. Number two, understanding

16:32what steps you need to take to improve.

16:34Number three, implementing the interior

16:36play style.

16:43Crystal PvP is intense, but once you

16:45understand the rhythm, it clicks. This

16:47guide is just the beginning. If you

16:49master these concepts, drain, play

16:51style, reaction timing, whole control,

16:53you'll start winning fights that you

16:55used to lose.

16:57Thank you all so much for 1k subs. This

17:00really means a lot to me. And if you

17:01want to see more content like this, then

17:03I would highly recommend subscribing.