KOTH

KOTH
Full name	King of the Hill
Type	Scheduled event
Frequency	Several times daily
Capture timer	5–15 minutes
Reward	Loot key or crate
Variants	Citadel, Palace, Conquest

KOTH, or King of the Hill, is the standard scheduled event in Hardcore Factions. A capture zone activates somewhere on the map, and the first faction to hold it continuously for a set timer wins the loot.

KOTHs run several times a day, which makes them the main reason factions leave their base. Between raids and the weekly Citadel, they are what keeps a map active.

In short: stand in a small area, alone, for ten minutes, while every other faction on the server tries to push you out of it.

How it works

Activation

A KOTH is announced server-wide, usually with a countdown, and activates at a fixed location. Schedules are published in advance so factions can organise attendance. Most networks rotate between several named zones across the map.

Capturing

Standing inside the zone starts a countdown, typically 5 to 15 minutes depending on the network and the zone. The timer displays publicly, so everyone knows how close a faction is to winning.

The timer only counts down while your faction, and no other, has someone in the zone. Three things stop it:

Being killed or knocked out of the zone.
An enemy entering the zone. Contested zones do not tick for anyone on most networks.
Leaving voluntarily.

The reset rule

This is what makes KOTH difficult. On most networks the timer resets to full when you lose control, rather than pausing. A faction eight minutes into a ten-minute capture that gets pushed out starts again from zero.

Some networks pause rather than reset, or reset only after a grace period. This is one of the bigger rule differences between servers and worth checking.

Winning

When the timer completes, the holding faction wins. The reward is normally a loot key or crate containing gear, potions or cosmetics, and the win is announced server-wide.

Roles in a KOTH fight

Class	Job
Diamond	Hold the zone itself and body-block the entrances. The bulk of the team.
Bard	Sit outside the zone, in cover, dropping strength and resistance on whoever is inside. Its range is a sphere, so it does not need line of sight.
Archer	Tag whoever is capping from distance so the diamonds kill them faster.
Rogue	Reach enemy bards and archers positioned away from the main fight.
Miner	Rarely used at KOTH.

A single Bard can hold a zone alone under sustained attack using resistance and regeneration, a play known as tanking. It is the highest-skill way to take a KOTH and one of the most-recorded plays in HCF footage.

Pearls

Unlike Citadel, ender pearls work normally at a standard KOTH. That changes the fight completely:

Holders can pearl out of a losing position and return.
Attackers can pearl directly into the zone to break a capture, then leave.
Terrain around the zone is bypassable rather than defensible.

This is the single biggest difference between KOTH and Citadel, and the reason Citadel is the map-deciding event while KOTH is routine. See Cooldowns for pearl timing.

Variants

Event	How it differs
Citadel	A fortified KOTH with pearling disabled inside. Weekly, four per map, decides the map.
Palace	A large capture event run on some networks, including Kohi, in place of or alongside Citadel.
Conquest	Multiple simultaneous capture points scored over time rather than one zone with one timer.
Nether and End KOTH	The same event in another dimension, harder to reach and to escape from.

Practical notes

Turn up geared. KOTH schedules are public, so everyone arrives prepared and a half-stocked team loses immediately.
Watch the timer, not the fight. Knowing an enemy is at 0:30 changes what you should be doing.
Don't overcommit. Deaths at KOTH still carry the full deathban and still freeze your faction's DTR. Losing four players over a loot key is a bad trade.
Have an exit. Being combat tagged away from base after a lost KOTH is how factions get picked apart.