Cooldowns
Cooldowns are the timers that govern what you can do and when in Hardcore Factions. Most of the format's tactical depth comes from them: fights are won by knowing whose pearl is down, when a class comes back online, and how long a faction has left before its DTR starts regenerating.
Values vary by network. The durations below are typical, not universal. Enchantment caps and cooldown lengths were the two biggest differences between servers, and assuming one network's numbers on another is a good way to lose a fight. Check the rules page of the server you play on.
Quick reference
| Cooldown | Typical length | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Ender pearl | ~16 seconds | Individual |
| Combat tag | 30–60 seconds | Individual |
| Class warmup | A few seconds | Individual |
| God apple | Minutes to hours | Individual |
| Logout | ~30 seconds | Individual |
| Home warp | ~10 seconds | Individual |
| Bard energy | Continuous | Individual |
| Archer tag | ~10 seconds | Individual |
| DTR freeze | Minutes | Faction |
| Deathban | 30 min to hours | Individual |
Individual cooldowns
Ender pearl
The most important cooldown in the game. After throwing a pearl you cannot throw another for roughly 16 seconds.
This single number shapes how fights work. A player who has just pearled cannot escape again, which is why teams track enemy pearls and commit when they see one used. Pearling into a fight without a way out is the most common way to die.
Pearls are disabled entirely inside the Citadel, which is what makes that event different from every other fight in the format.
Combat tag
Being hit by a player applies a tag lasting 30 to 60 seconds, and every further hit resets it. While tagged you cannot:
- use
/f home - enter spawn or any safe zone
- log out safely
The tag is what stops fights from being ended by warping away. Escaping means physically getting clear and staying untouched for the full duration, which is why kiting and pearls matter so much.
Class warmup
Equipping a full armour set does not activate the class immediately. A short warmup runs first, typically a few seconds, during which you have the armour but none of the abilities.
Swapping classes mid-fight therefore has a real cost: you lose the old class the instant a piece comes off, and wait through the warmup before the new one works. A Bard switching to diamond under pressure spends that window with no class at all.
God apple
Eating a god apple starts a long personal cooldown, anywhere from several minutes to several hours depending on the network. Some servers scale it by rank.
Because the cooldown often outlasts the fight, gapples are spent at the decisive moment rather than early. Knowing an enemy has used theirs is worth as much as knowing their pearl is down.
Logout timer
Disconnecting doesn't remove you instantly. Your character stays in the world for around 30 seconds and can still be killed, which prevents combat logging as an escape.
Logging out while combat tagged is blocked outright on most networks, or results in an immediate death.
Home warp
/f home does not teleport instantly. There is a warmup of roughly 10 seconds, and taking any damage cancels it.
Combined with the combat tag, this means retreating to base requires breaking away cleanly first, waiting out the tag, and then standing still through the warp. Three separate windows in which you can be caught.
Bard energy
Not a cooldown in the strict sense, but it works like one. Bard energy fills passively while the full gold set is worn, typically to a cap of 100, and each effect spends a fixed amount.
Regeneration is usually faster when out of combat or standing still, so bards top up between pushes rather than during them. A bard at zero energy is a very fragile diamond, which is why energy management is the hardest part of the class.
Archer tag
An Archer hitting someone with a bow applies a tag lasting around 10 seconds, during which that target takes increased damage. Further hits refresh it.
The tag is the archer's whole contribution. It doesn't kill on its own; it makes whoever your diamonds are focusing die faster.
Faction cooldowns
DTR freeze
When a faction member dies, the faction's DTR drops and enters a freeze. During the freeze it does not regenerate at all. The freeze typically lasts several minutes and resets with every further death.
This is what makes losing fights spiral. A faction taking casualties cannot recover while it is still being killed, so a bad fight pushes it steadily toward being raidable with no way to stabilise until the attackers stop.
Once the freeze expires, DTR regenerates slowly back toward its cap. Rates and caps scale with roster size and vary by network. See Factions.
Claim and disband
Some networks apply cooldowns to disbanding a faction, unclaiming land, or setting a new home, to stop factions from relocating instantly when found. Details vary considerably.
Deathban
The longest cooldown in the format, and the one that defines it. Dying removes you from the server for anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours. Ranks often shorten it, which is one of the main things networks sell.
See Deathban for the full mechanic and its consequences.
Why they matter together
A fight in HCF is largely an exercise in tracking several timers at once, on both sides. Whether the enemy bard has energy, whose pearl is available, who has eaten a gapple, how long a faction's DTR has been frozen.
Teams that call this out loud beat teams that don't, which is why coordination matters more than individual skill at the top of the format.