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Complex Gaming Prison Server Guide: Ranks, Prestige and Gangs
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Complex Gaming Prison Server Guide
How to get started on the Complex Gaming Minecraft Prison server
Complex Gaming Prison is a Minecraft Prison server where you mine through 38 mines, rank up from A to Z, prestige, upgrade your pickaxe with tokens and runes, and team up with your gang to become the richest prisoner on the server. Join at prison.mc-complex.com on Minecraft Java Edition (1.12.2 through the latest release) or Bedrock Edition. Prison is free to play.
Server IP: prison.mc-complex.com
Versions: Java 1.12.2 to latest, Bedrock supported
Mines: 38 (A to Z plus 12 prestige mines)
Features: pickaxe upgrades and skill tree, runes, gangs, Skull Island PvE/PvP zone, weekly leaderboards, Time Traveler, seasonal resets
Store: https://store.mc-complex.com/category/prison-ranks
Discord: https://discord.gg/ComplexVanilla
Last updated: July 2026, Prison Season 6
This guide covers everything you need to know on Complex Prison, from your first rankup to endgame Skull Island grinding. Make sure to read it carefully if you have questions or are just getting started.
Daily Rewards
Use /dailies - Small bonuses given daily!
Voting
Voting is a quick and easy way to get money on Complex Prison. Type /vote in game and a link will pop up in chat that takes you to all 8 vanilla voting sites. Each site gives you rewards for voting for the Complex Network: $1,000, 5 tokens and a vote crate key per voting link. The vote crate key is the most valuable of these, since other players will buy vote keys for good prices that can help you rank up quickly. Look out for shop advertisements in public chat for places to sell them! You can vote once a day. Once you vote, you are eligible for vote party rewards, and you can run /vp for more information (vote parties are an easy way to get money early game). To check if you have voted today, run /haveivotedtoday.
Dailies
Another way to get daily rewards is by typing /dailies, which teleports you to the Postman. Right-click the Postman to open a menu where you can collect your daily rewards. As a member, you can collect your daily reward every 18 hours, and buying a rank on the store unlocks more rewards each day.
Kits
If you have a Prison rank, you can use /kit to claim daily kits that give you tokens, runes, gear and a better pickaxe! Ranks can be purchased on our store: https://store.mc-complex.com/category/prison-ranks
If you don't want to purchase a rank but still want a better pickaxe (which is very important), you can buy pickaxes from other players on the auction house with /ah. More on the auction house later in this guide.
Mines, Ranking Up and Prestige
The basics of making money
Complex Prison has a total of 38 mines: 26 rank mines from A to Z and 12 prestige mines! Use /mines to see which blocks are in each mine. The higher the mine, the better the blocks.
To rank up, type /rankup in chat once you have the required amount of money. You can also use /rankupmax to rank up as many times as your current money allows.
Once you reach rank Z and have the required amount of money, you can prestige! Type /prestige to see the rewards and boosts for each prestige.
Note: Prestiging does not reset your tokens or pickaxe.
Note: Your money does not wipe when you prestige, only the prestige cost is deducted. Prestiging resets your letter rank but unlocks a new mine for the prestige you reached! (Ex: Prestige 1 unlocks the Prestige 1 Mine).
The better your pickaxe, the more money you make while mining. To upgrade your pickaxe, type /upgrade while holding it. Upgrades cost tokens, and you can disable almost any upgrade when you don't need it. Make sure to stick with the pickaxe you claim at the beginning, since using another player's pickaxe cuts its upgrades to half their level while you use it.
There is also an event called Flash Mine, where the top three players (or gangs) with the most blocks mined during the event are awarded keys!
Tokens
Tokens are one of the most important currencies on Complex Prison. They are mainly used to upgrade pickaxes and armor. You can also sell your tokens to other players, and the price changes over time since the economy is entirely player-driven. To sell tokens, first withdraw them with /tokens withdraw (amount).
You can earn tokens by mining (with the Lucky Mining enchant), opening crates, buying them from other players, killing mobs on Skull Island, or opening lucky blocks. Lucky blocks come from the second perk of Lucky Mining (Lucky Spin 1). For more on Skull Island, check out the Skull Island section of this guide!
Bidwars and Auction House
Bidwars is a fast and efficient way to sell your items. You choose the currency (GC or in-game money) and the starting bid, and the community drives the final price. To get started, type /bidwars or choose "Bidwars" in the /market GUI. Click the chest, then click the emerald block to create an auction.
The Auction House is a vital part of the Prison economy. You can buy and sell items that aren't available in the regular /shop, like upgraded pickaxes, shards, or tokens for upgrading your pickaxe. Trading valuable items here is a great way to make money. Open the Auction House with /ah, or run /market and click "Auction House".
To list an item on the auction house, hold it and use /ah sell <Price>.
Runes
Runes are custom enchants with special effects that you can apply to your armor and tools on Complex Prison.
There are 5 types of runes: common, rare, legendary, mythic and seasonal. Common, rare, legendary and mythic runes can be obtained at /warp infuser, where you trade experience for rune tomes.
Right-click one of the tomes to view all of the runes in that tier. Click the crown to see a list of every seasonal rune released on Prison. Seasonal runes cannot be obtained from tomes. These unique runes with custom abilities only come on seasonal tools and gear won from seasonal crates, and they cannot be transferred to another item.
Once you buy a tome with experience at the infuser, right-click it to receive a random rune. Each rune has a success rate, a fail rate and a critical fail rate. If the rune fails, it vanishes completely and is not applied. If it critically fails, the rune vanishes and your armor is destroyed completely. To prevent fails and critical fails, buy lucky gems (the clover at /warp infuser), which can raise the success rate up to 100 percent.
If you have runes you don't want, convert them into experience with the rune incinerator at the infuser (the bomb). To remove a rune or vanilla enchant from armor or a tool, buy a cleansing wand at the infuser (the wand). This is handy for upgrading a specific rune or getting rid of one you don't like!
Kingpin rank and higher can claim free random tomes every three days with /freerunes. Higher store ranks get more free runes each time.
Milestones
There are three types of milestones: personal milestones, block break milestones and gang milestones (also known as gang levels). Type /milestones to view all of yours. You get rewarded every time you complete one!
Crates, Boosters, Dynamite and Cosmetics
Open your crate keys at /warp crates for a wide range of rewards. One of these rewards is Envoy Flares, which come from Prisoner, Escapist and Seasonal crates. Envoy flares are redeemed at /warp pvp and can be opened once the timer hits 0. They give great rewards, but PvP is enabled and other players can steal your contraband loot.
Money boosters also come from Prisoner and Escapist crates, and from milestones! They boost your sell price, which makes them one of the best ways to make a lot of money while mining. However, money boosters cannot be used at plots!
Dynamite can also be won from crates! It comes in 3 forms: Small Dynamite, Large Dynamite and Nukes. To use them, go to a mine and right-click to throw. Dynamite gives money but does not give tokens or experience.
Note: Dynamite cannot "proc" Seasonal Backpack runes.
Mystery boxes give you different cosmetics. You'll get them randomly as you play, or you can craft them with mystery dust in the Mystery Box GUI! To open your mystery boxes, use /warp cosmetics.
To personalize your gameplay even more, run /prefs to enable or disable specific settings.
If you want to try your luck, you can coinflip items, money, tokens, experience or GC! To coinflip money, tokens, experience or GC, run /cf <amount> and confirm in the menu. To coinflip the item you're holding, run /cf hand. You can also accept other players' coinflips by running /cf and clicking one.
Finally, if you're tired of the standard look of your pickaxe, you can get a pickaxe skin! Every seasonal crate has one, and you can also get them from the Time Traveler or buy them from other players. To equip a pickaxe skin, you first need to convert your pickaxe to netherite: craft a smithing table, buy a smithing template from /shop, get a netherite ingot (from lucky blocks, crates or the Z mine), place the smithing table at your plot, and convert your diamond pickaxe to netherite. Once your pickaxe is netherite, run /skins and click a skin you own to apply it.
Some pickaxes from kits are already netherite, so keep this in mind!
Mid and Late Game
Plots
Plots are another good way to make money. Players set up chest shops on their plots to buy and sell items while they mine. To learn how to set up your own chest shop, check out our Chest Shop Guide.
To get a plot, type /plot while in spawn, and when the GUI appears, click the emerald block to create your plot.
To return to your plot, run /plots and click the plot you want to teleport to.
If you have issues creating a plot, first double-check that you are in spawn. If you still aren't teleported to an available plot, wait for a reboot and try again once spawn has restarted.
To browse other players' plots, run /pw. This is a good way to find popular chest shops to sell your items.
To get a featured plot, buy a featured slot for tokens in /pw whenever one is available.
To make a plot warp, run /plot, right-click your plot, click Plot Warps, and press Create a New Warp. You can then right-click the warp to adjust its settings. To make your plot public, click show on public warps under Warp Settings.
Hot Streaks
Hot streaks are enabled in /upgrades by right-clicking an upgrade and clicking the flint and steel. You can have up to 3 hot streaks enabled at any time.
When enabled, there is a small chance a hot streak will activate, boosting that specific upgrade.
An active hot streak lasts until your Mana runs out (shown on the right side of your screen). You start with 100 Mana storage, which can be upgraded with +Max Mana Increase Vouchers. To make hot streaks last longer, use Mana Refill Vouchers while a hot streak is active. Mana regenerates at 0.5 per minute (30 per hour) while you're online and 0.16 per minute (10 per hour) while you're offline, so choose your hot streaks wisely.
Momentum
The Momentum upgrade is an alternative way of mining. Instead of breaking blocks as fast as possible, you need to be precise. Unlock and activate Momentum with /upgrade while holding your pickaxe.
With Momentum, you break blocks by hitting the green particles shown on them.
As you build momentum, you gain a Fortune bonus, a Sell bonus and a Haste boost. How big the bonus is depends on your Momentum upgrade level and your streak. Your streak drops a little every few seconds, and the higher it gets, the faster it drops, so keep up the pace. Don't go too fast though, because one misclick can cost you your streak.
Backpacks
Everyone starts with a special item called a backpack! Your backpack is extra storage for sellable blocks, and it starts filling once your inventory is full. Equip it by placing it in your offhand (from your inventory, or press 'F' while holding it).
Every backpack starts with a capacity of 500 blocks, and you can upgrade it by shift + left-clicking while it's equipped. Upgrades cost Golden Shards. See how many shards each level needs here: Backpack Guide | Complex Gaming Wiki.
You can get Golden Shards from the pickaxe enchant Scavenged Shards, or by killing mobs and escaping on Skull Island (/skull).
Seasonal backpacks are special backpacks with a unique custom enchantment. You can trade for them with other players using GC or in-game money, or win them from seasonal crates (Celestial, Imperial, Cupid, etc).
Upgrading
Make your tools and armor stronger
Use /upgrade to upgrade your tools and armor with tokens and make them more efficient! This opens a menu where you can choose which upgrades to add to your pickaxe.
Skill Tree
The skill tree gives you many options to upgrade your tools. Once you complete one perk, you can move on to the next. Perks get exponentially stronger as you progress, and some require a specific prestige or level.
Best Upgrade Order
If you don't know what to upgrade first, follow the starter path shown on the pickaxe. Hover over the pickaxe logo at the top of the menu for a list of recommendations!
After finishing the starter path, you can choose from a variety of upgrades. Read their descriptions and prioritize whatever fits your playstyle.
Note: It is recommended that you max out each starter path upgrade before moving to the next one.
Time Traveler
Every Saturday, you can bid on two old seasonal items at /warp timetraveler. Bidding lasts 24 hours, and bid amounts are hidden from other players. You can raise your bid at any time during those 24 hours, but you can't lower or cancel it. If your bid doesn't win, it is refunded. The tiers of the seasonal items are randomized. Bids can only be placed with GC (/gc). If an item has multiple quantities, one is given to each of the top bidders. Once you win an item, claim it in the top right of the Time Traveler GUI. Every Week 1 item is a Guaranteed Max Tier item with only 1 given out (the item with the Nether Star).
Skull Island
Skull Island is the Complex Prison PvE and PvP zone, and one of the best ways to earn tokens, golden shards, experience and tomes. You can fight mobs, open treasure chests, join events, and trade your golden shards for loot at the merchant. Skull Island is very challenging, so make sure your armor is runed up before you go!
Note: To leave Skull Island, you must find one of the exit beacons located around the map. Use the in-game directional indicator to find the nearest one!
To enter Skull Island, pay the 5,000 token entry fee at /warp skullisland.
When you enter, you'll be placed on a Phantom. To start your journey, press shift (sneak) and you'll glide down to the ground.
Once you land, start grinding mobs for golden shards, experience and tokens! Skull Island has several tiers with different difficulty, limiters and loot. Use /skull to view all tiers!
To earn golden shards, use /upgrade on your sword and focus on Swindled Shards. To earn experience, use /upgrade on your sword and focus on Seafarer's Bounty. Every mob kill gives you tokens. You must leave Skull Island through an exit beacon to keep the tokens and shards you earned.
Note: It is crucial to /upgrade at least ONE level of Seafarer's Bounty and to upgrade MENDING on all of your armor. This keeps your armor from breaking while fighting mobs.
You can trade your golden shards at the Shard Merchant. Find him on the map to open his secret shop, which sells:
Sea Biscuit - Upon use, gain Absorption IV, Strength IV and Regeneration II for 30 seconds.
Price: 16 Golden Shards
Pirate's Grog - Upon use, gain Slowness IV and Resistance IV for 30 seconds.
Price: 16 Golden Shards
Lodestone - Upon use, reveals the coordinates of the Treasure Chest on Skull Island.
Price: 32 Golden Shards
Ancient Acid - Throw this acid to force all Skull Island monsters within 32 blocks to target the splashed player for 1 minute.
Price: 64 Golden Shards
PvP Beacon - Place this beacon on Skull Island to enable PvP in an area around it.
Price: 160 Golden Shards
Gold Coin - Increases the chance of receiving Golden Shards from the Swindled Shards upgrade by +25% for 1 hour.
Price: 160 Golden Shards
2x Elevator Blocks - Place them at your plot to easily go up or down!
Price: 128 Golden Shards
Silver Ticket - When redeemed on Skull Island, instantly teleports you back to spawn. Cannot be used in combat.
Price: 256 Golden Shards
Mending Glyph - Trade this glyph at The Blacksmith to repair your damaged items.
Price: 512 Golden Shards
Reforge Glyph - Trade this glyph at The Blacksmith to repair your Shattered items. There is a chance the restoration fails and you lose a random rune.
Price: 512 Golden Shards
Stacker Wand - Right-click the side of a block to place 12 blocks of the same type from your inventory onto that side.
Price: 512 Golden Shards
Private Mine Voucher - Grants you your own private mine for 1 hour. Requires Prestige 1 to redeem.
Price: 1,028 Golden Shards
Special Tag Voucher - A unique tag you can redeem.
Price: 2,048 Golden Shards
Hidden Treasure - Apply to an upgradeable item to increase the max level of one upgrade by 1. Maximum of 5 increases per upgrade.
Price: 2,048 Golden Shards
Skull Backpack - A backpack worn in your offhand that boosts item drops from mobs you kill. Upgrade it with Golden Shards to drop even more items.
Price: 2,048 Golden Shards
Island PvP
Skull Island is mostly PvE, but a PvP Beacon enables player combat for 15 minutes within a 50-block radius. This lets players kill others for their contraband items (items marked as contraband, like golden shards, drop on death).
Note: If you die to a player or a mob, you lose all contraband items and tokens you earned.
Random events happen on Skull Island, including Last Man Standing, Boss Events and envoys! Winning them gets you rewards like golden shards and runes.
You and your gang can claim a pond on Skull Island, which boosts mob drops by +25% and experience gain by +50%. Run /ponds to see which gang controls it and whether it's claimable.
Treasure Chests spawn on Skull Island every hour in different locations, and can be opened with a Treasure Key before they disappear. You get Treasure Keys by mining with the Confidential Contraband upgrade on your pickaxe. Rewards include Mana vouchers, shards, a temporarily upgraded pickaxe and more! See when the next treasure chest spawns with /treasurechest.
Hidden deep in the caves are Skull Ores. Mine them with a pickaxe to earn Gang Points for /gangtop. There are 5 types of ores, worth 1 to 5 points depending on rarity.
When 1,500 ores are mined across the server, it triggers a Skullrush! A Skullrush gives boosted rarity for higher tier ores, 30 second ore regeneration and double points from all ores for 5 minutes! For more info, use /skullmilestones.
Gangs
Form one with your friends
Gangs on Complex Prison let you team up with your friends to compete for "gang top," with rewards given out every month.
Create a gang with /gang create <name>, invite your friends with /gang invite <username>, and join a gang with /gang join <gang name>. You can also use the GUI by running /gang.
Once you're in a gang, run /gang to open the gang menu:
Golden Block: Share money with your gang by depositing into or withdrawing from the gang bank. Open it directly with /gang bank.
End Portal Frame: A Gang Private Mine that runs on Golden Shards, unlocked through Gang Upgrades.
Chest: Store valuables to share with your gang by clicking the chest or running /gang vault.
Crown: See the top 6 gangs by value by clicking the crown or running /gangtop.
At the end of each month, the top 6 gangs by value receive rewards. Run /gangtop and hover over the crown to see them!
Gang value resets every week, and again each month after monthly rewards are given out.
Emerald: Gang upgrades let you spend tokens on things like member limit, gang vault slots, gang bank limit, Skull Island mob resistance and Skull Island mob strength. Click the emerald or run /gang upgrades.
Ladder: Check your Gang Level progress by clicking the ladder or running /gang levels. Every gang level you complete gives multiple rewards.
Compass: Daily gang missions are goals your gang works on together, and completing them rewards Gang Top Points. Weekly Gang Missions give every gang the same mission, and the first 3 gangs to finish earn Gang Top Points, Gang Boosters and a 1.25x Sell Booster (6 hours). Click the compass or run /gang missions.
Paper: Gang logs show who claimed milestones, deposited value crystals, added or took items from the gang vault, deposited or withdrew from the gang bank, contributed to upgrades, changed permissions, invited or kicked members, plus admin logs. Click the paper or run /gang logs.
Command Block: In gang settings, you can change your gang name, gang color and secondary color, and toggle friendly fire.
Barrier Block: In gang permissions, you can control access to functions (like withdrawing from the bank) for each rank: visitor, recruit, member, moderator and admin.
Player Head: The member section lets you manage your gang's members, including changing ranks, setting titles and kicking players. Gangs start with a 3 member cap, which can be upgraded to 5 in gang upgrades.
Door: Disband your gang by clicking the door or running /gang disband.
Note: All items and upgrades in /gang vault and /gang upgrades are lost when you disband!
Leaderboards
Weekly leaderboards on Complex Prison reward players at the end of every week! You earn points by ranking at the top of tasks ranging from Most Ores Mined to Most Bosses Killed.
There are 23 categories in total. The top 10 in each category earn points based on their placement (Ex: #1 in a category gets 10 points, #10 gets 1).
Every week, 3 randomly selected categories are worth Double Points, making some categories more important than others. Leaderboards reward well-rounded players who are good at every part of the game mode.
The top 12 players with the most points at the end of the week receive rewards. See the full rewards with /lb!
Note: You can increase your leaderboard winnings by upgrading Leaderboard Payouts in Gang Upgrades.
Reset Vault
Save your items for next season
Complex Prison runs in seasons. When a season ends, store your valuable items in the Reset Vault so they are transferred over to the next season. We announce on our Discord when the Reset Vault opens. Pickaxe upgrades and armor runes are not saved through the reset, so we suggest vaulting items like backpacks, seasonal armor pieces and tags.
Claimed Tags, Pickaxe Skins and Ranks carry over automatically, along with everything in your Reset Vault.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the IP for Complex Gaming Prison?
The IP is prison.mc-complex.com. It works on Minecraft Java Edition 1.12.2 through the latest release and on Bedrock Edition.
How many mines are on Complex Prison?
There are 38 mines: 26 rank mines from A to Z plus 12 prestige mines.
How do I rank up on Complex Prison?
Use /rankup or /rankupmax. Once you reach rank Z, use /prestige. Prestiging resets your letter rank but keeps your tokens and pickaxe.
How do I get tokens on Complex Prison?
Mine with the Lucky Mining enchant, open crates and lucky blocks, kill mobs on Skull Island, or buy tokens from other players.
What is Skull Island?
Skull Island is the Complex Prison PvE and PvP zone where you fight mobs for tokens, golden shards, experience and tomes. Entry costs 5,000 tokens at /warp skullisland, and you must leave through an exit beacon to keep what you earned.
What carries over when Complex Prison resets?
Ranks, claimed tags, pickaxe skins and everything stored in the Reset Vault carry over. Pickaxe upgrades and armor runes do not.
Is Complex Gaming Prison free to play?
Yes. Complex Prison is free to play. Ranks and crates are optional and available on the store.
We hope this helps you get started on your journey to escape prison! If you have any more questions, ask the staff members online at the time or our helpful community, who can answer most of your questions!
How to get started on the Complex Gaming Minecraft Prison server
Complex Gaming Prison is a Minecraft Prison server where you mine through 38 mines, rank up from A to Z, prestige, upgrade your pickaxe with tokens and runes, and team up with your gang to become the richest prisoner on the server. Join at prison.mc-complex.com on Minecraft Java Edition (1.12.2 through the latest release) or Bedrock Edition. Prison is free to play.
Server IP: prison.mc-complex.com
Versions: Java 1.12.2 to latest, Bedrock supported
Mines: 38 (A to Z plus 12 prestige mines)
Features: pickaxe upgrades and skill tree, runes, gangs, Skull Island PvE/PvP zone, weekly leaderboards, Time Traveler, seasonal resets
Store: https://store.mc-complex.com/category/prison-ranks
Discord: https://discord.gg/ComplexVanilla
Last updated: July 2026, Prison Season 6
This guide covers everything you need to know on Complex Prison, from your first rankup to endgame Skull Island grinding. Make sure to read it carefully if you have questions or are just getting started.
Daily Rewards
Use /dailies - Small bonuses given daily!
Voting
Voting is a quick and easy way to get money on Complex Prison. Type /vote in game and a link will pop up in chat that takes you to all 8 vanilla voting sites. Each site gives you rewards for voting for the Complex Network: $1,000, 5 tokens and a vote crate key per voting link. The vote crate key is the most valuable of these, since other players will buy vote keys for good prices that can help you rank up quickly. Look out for shop advertisements in public chat for places to sell them! You can vote once a day. Once you vote, you are eligible for vote party rewards, and you can run /vp for more information (vote parties are an easy way to get money early game). To check if you have voted today, run /haveivotedtoday.
Dailies
Another way to get daily rewards is by typing /dailies, which teleports you to the Postman. Right-click the Postman to open a menu where you can collect your daily rewards. As a member, you can collect your daily reward every 18 hours, and buying a rank on the store unlocks more rewards each day.
Kits
If you have a Prison rank, you can use /kit to claim daily kits that give you tokens, runes, gear and a better pickaxe! Ranks can be purchased on our store: https://store.mc-complex.com/category/prison-ranks
If you don't want to purchase a rank but still want a better pickaxe (which is very important), you can buy pickaxes from other players on the auction house with /ah. More on the auction house later in this guide.
Mines, Ranking Up and Prestige
The basics of making money
Complex Prison has a total of 38 mines: 26 rank mines from A to Z and 12 prestige mines! Use /mines to see which blocks are in each mine. The higher the mine, the better the blocks.
To rank up, type /rankup in chat once you have the required amount of money. You can also use /rankupmax to rank up as many times as your current money allows.
Once you reach rank Z and have the required amount of money, you can prestige! Type /prestige to see the rewards and boosts for each prestige.
Note: Prestiging does not reset your tokens or pickaxe.
Note: Your money does not wipe when you prestige, only the prestige cost is deducted. Prestiging resets your letter rank but unlocks a new mine for the prestige you reached! (Ex: Prestige 1 unlocks the Prestige 1 Mine).
The better your pickaxe, the more money you make while mining. To upgrade your pickaxe, type /upgrade while holding it. Upgrades cost tokens, and you can disable almost any upgrade when you don't need it. Make sure to stick with the pickaxe you claim at the beginning, since using another player's pickaxe cuts its upgrades to half their level while you use it.
There is also an event called Flash Mine, where the top three players (or gangs) with the most blocks mined during the event are awarded keys!
Tokens
Tokens are one of the most important currencies on Complex Prison. They are mainly used to upgrade pickaxes and armor. You can also sell your tokens to other players, and the price changes over time since the economy is entirely player-driven. To sell tokens, first withdraw them with /tokens withdraw (amount).
You can earn tokens by mining (with the Lucky Mining enchant), opening crates, buying them from other players, killing mobs on Skull Island, or opening lucky blocks. Lucky blocks come from the second perk of Lucky Mining (Lucky Spin 1). For more on Skull Island, check out the Skull Island section of this guide!
Bidwars and Auction House
Bidwars is a fast and efficient way to sell your items. You choose the currency (GC or in-game money) and the starting bid, and the community drives the final price. To get started, type /bidwars or choose "Bidwars" in the /market GUI. Click the chest, then click the emerald block to create an auction.
The Auction House is a vital part of the Prison economy. You can buy and sell items that aren't available in the regular /shop, like upgraded pickaxes, shards, or tokens for upgrading your pickaxe. Trading valuable items here is a great way to make money. Open the Auction House with /ah, or run /market and click "Auction House".
To list an item on the auction house, hold it and use /ah sell <Price>.
Runes
Runes are custom enchants with special effects that you can apply to your armor and tools on Complex Prison.
There are 5 types of runes: common, rare, legendary, mythic and seasonal. Common, rare, legendary and mythic runes can be obtained at /warp infuser, where you trade experience for rune tomes.
Right-click one of the tomes to view all of the runes in that tier. Click the crown to see a list of every seasonal rune released on Prison. Seasonal runes cannot be obtained from tomes. These unique runes with custom abilities only come on seasonal tools and gear won from seasonal crates, and they cannot be transferred to another item.
Once you buy a tome with experience at the infuser, right-click it to receive a random rune. Each rune has a success rate, a fail rate and a critical fail rate. If the rune fails, it vanishes completely and is not applied. If it critically fails, the rune vanishes and your armor is destroyed completely. To prevent fails and critical fails, buy lucky gems (the clover at /warp infuser), which can raise the success rate up to 100 percent.
If you have runes you don't want, convert them into experience with the rune incinerator at the infuser (the bomb). To remove a rune or vanilla enchant from armor or a tool, buy a cleansing wand at the infuser (the wand). This is handy for upgrading a specific rune or getting rid of one you don't like!
Kingpin rank and higher can claim free random tomes every three days with /freerunes. Higher store ranks get more free runes each time.
Milestones
There are three types of milestones: personal milestones, block break milestones and gang milestones (also known as gang levels). Type /milestones to view all of yours. You get rewarded every time you complete one!
Crates, Boosters, Dynamite and Cosmetics
Open your crate keys at /warp crates for a wide range of rewards. One of these rewards is Envoy Flares, which come from Prisoner, Escapist and Seasonal crates. Envoy flares are redeemed at /warp pvp and can be opened once the timer hits 0. They give great rewards, but PvP is enabled and other players can steal your contraband loot.
Money boosters also come from Prisoner and Escapist crates, and from milestones! They boost your sell price, which makes them one of the best ways to make a lot of money while mining. However, money boosters cannot be used at plots!
Dynamite can also be won from crates! It comes in 3 forms: Small Dynamite, Large Dynamite and Nukes. To use them, go to a mine and right-click to throw. Dynamite gives money but does not give tokens or experience.
Note: Dynamite cannot "proc" Seasonal Backpack runes.
Mystery boxes give you different cosmetics. You'll get them randomly as you play, or you can craft them with mystery dust in the Mystery Box GUI! To open your mystery boxes, use /warp cosmetics.
To personalize your gameplay even more, run /prefs to enable or disable specific settings.
If you want to try your luck, you can coinflip items, money, tokens, experience or GC! To coinflip money, tokens, experience or GC, run /cf <amount> and confirm in the menu. To coinflip the item you're holding, run /cf hand. You can also accept other players' coinflips by running /cf and clicking one.
Finally, if you're tired of the standard look of your pickaxe, you can get a pickaxe skin! Every seasonal crate has one, and you can also get them from the Time Traveler or buy them from other players. To equip a pickaxe skin, you first need to convert your pickaxe to netherite: craft a smithing table, buy a smithing template from /shop, get a netherite ingot (from lucky blocks, crates or the Z mine), place the smithing table at your plot, and convert your diamond pickaxe to netherite. Once your pickaxe is netherite, run /skins and click a skin you own to apply it.
Some pickaxes from kits are already netherite, so keep this in mind!
Mid and Late Game
Plots
Plots are another good way to make money. Players set up chest shops on their plots to buy and sell items while they mine. To learn how to set up your own chest shop, check out our Chest Shop Guide.
To get a plot, type /plot while in spawn, and when the GUI appears, click the emerald block to create your plot.
To return to your plot, run /plots and click the plot you want to teleport to.
If you have issues creating a plot, first double-check that you are in spawn. If you still aren't teleported to an available plot, wait for a reboot and try again once spawn has restarted.
To browse other players' plots, run /pw. This is a good way to find popular chest shops to sell your items.
To get a featured plot, buy a featured slot for tokens in /pw whenever one is available.
To make a plot warp, run /plot, right-click your plot, click Plot Warps, and press Create a New Warp. You can then right-click the warp to adjust its settings. To make your plot public, click show on public warps under Warp Settings.
Hot Streaks
Hot streaks are enabled in /upgrades by right-clicking an upgrade and clicking the flint and steel. You can have up to 3 hot streaks enabled at any time.
When enabled, there is a small chance a hot streak will activate, boosting that specific upgrade.
An active hot streak lasts until your Mana runs out (shown on the right side of your screen). You start with 100 Mana storage, which can be upgraded with +Max Mana Increase Vouchers. To make hot streaks last longer, use Mana Refill Vouchers while a hot streak is active. Mana regenerates at 0.5 per minute (30 per hour) while you're online and 0.16 per minute (10 per hour) while you're offline, so choose your hot streaks wisely.
Momentum
The Momentum upgrade is an alternative way of mining. Instead of breaking blocks as fast as possible, you need to be precise. Unlock and activate Momentum with /upgrade while holding your pickaxe.
With Momentum, you break blocks by hitting the green particles shown on them.
As you build momentum, you gain a Fortune bonus, a Sell bonus and a Haste boost. How big the bonus is depends on your Momentum upgrade level and your streak. Your streak drops a little every few seconds, and the higher it gets, the faster it drops, so keep up the pace. Don't go too fast though, because one misclick can cost you your streak.
Backpacks
Everyone starts with a special item called a backpack! Your backpack is extra storage for sellable blocks, and it starts filling once your inventory is full. Equip it by placing it in your offhand (from your inventory, or press 'F' while holding it).
Every backpack starts with a capacity of 500 blocks, and you can upgrade it by shift + left-clicking while it's equipped. Upgrades cost Golden Shards. See how many shards each level needs here: Backpack Guide | Complex Gaming Wiki.
You can get Golden Shards from the pickaxe enchant Scavenged Shards, or by killing mobs and escaping on Skull Island (/skull).
Seasonal backpacks are special backpacks with a unique custom enchantment. You can trade for them with other players using GC or in-game money, or win them from seasonal crates (Celestial, Imperial, Cupid, etc).
Upgrading
Make your tools and armor stronger
Use /upgrade to upgrade your tools and armor with tokens and make them more efficient! This opens a menu where you can choose which upgrades to add to your pickaxe.
Skill Tree
The skill tree gives you many options to upgrade your tools. Once you complete one perk, you can move on to the next. Perks get exponentially stronger as you progress, and some require a specific prestige or level.
Best Upgrade Order
If you don't know what to upgrade first, follow the starter path shown on the pickaxe. Hover over the pickaxe logo at the top of the menu for a list of recommendations!
After finishing the starter path, you can choose from a variety of upgrades. Read their descriptions and prioritize whatever fits your playstyle.
Note: It is recommended that you max out each starter path upgrade before moving to the next one.
Time Traveler
Every Saturday, you can bid on two old seasonal items at /warp timetraveler. Bidding lasts 24 hours, and bid amounts are hidden from other players. You can raise your bid at any time during those 24 hours, but you can't lower or cancel it. If your bid doesn't win, it is refunded. The tiers of the seasonal items are randomized. Bids can only be placed with GC (/gc). If an item has multiple quantities, one is given to each of the top bidders. Once you win an item, claim it in the top right of the Time Traveler GUI. Every Week 1 item is a Guaranteed Max Tier item with only 1 given out (the item with the Nether Star).
Skull Island
Skull Island is the Complex Prison PvE and PvP zone, and one of the best ways to earn tokens, golden shards, experience and tomes. You can fight mobs, open treasure chests, join events, and trade your golden shards for loot at the merchant. Skull Island is very challenging, so make sure your armor is runed up before you go!
Note: To leave Skull Island, you must find one of the exit beacons located around the map. Use the in-game directional indicator to find the nearest one!
To enter Skull Island, pay the 5,000 token entry fee at /warp skullisland.
When you enter, you'll be placed on a Phantom. To start your journey, press shift (sneak) and you'll glide down to the ground.
Once you land, start grinding mobs for golden shards, experience and tokens! Skull Island has several tiers with different difficulty, limiters and loot. Use /skull to view all tiers!
To earn golden shards, use /upgrade on your sword and focus on Swindled Shards. To earn experience, use /upgrade on your sword and focus on Seafarer's Bounty. Every mob kill gives you tokens. You must leave Skull Island through an exit beacon to keep the tokens and shards you earned.
Note: It is crucial to /upgrade at least ONE level of Seafarer's Bounty and to upgrade MENDING on all of your armor. This keeps your armor from breaking while fighting mobs.
You can trade your golden shards at the Shard Merchant. Find him on the map to open his secret shop, which sells:
Sea Biscuit - Upon use, gain Absorption IV, Strength IV and Regeneration II for 30 seconds.
Price: 16 Golden Shards
Pirate's Grog - Upon use, gain Slowness IV and Resistance IV for 30 seconds.
Price: 16 Golden Shards
Lodestone - Upon use, reveals the coordinates of the Treasure Chest on Skull Island.
Price: 32 Golden Shards
Ancient Acid - Throw this acid to force all Skull Island monsters within 32 blocks to target the splashed player for 1 minute.
Price: 64 Golden Shards
PvP Beacon - Place this beacon on Skull Island to enable PvP in an area around it.
Price: 160 Golden Shards
Gold Coin - Increases the chance of receiving Golden Shards from the Swindled Shards upgrade by +25% for 1 hour.
Price: 160 Golden Shards
2x Elevator Blocks - Place them at your plot to easily go up or down!
Price: 128 Golden Shards
Silver Ticket - When redeemed on Skull Island, instantly teleports you back to spawn. Cannot be used in combat.
Price: 256 Golden Shards
Mending Glyph - Trade this glyph at The Blacksmith to repair your damaged items.
Price: 512 Golden Shards
Reforge Glyph - Trade this glyph at The Blacksmith to repair your Shattered items. There is a chance the restoration fails and you lose a random rune.
Price: 512 Golden Shards
Stacker Wand - Right-click the side of a block to place 12 blocks of the same type from your inventory onto that side.
Price: 512 Golden Shards
Private Mine Voucher - Grants you your own private mine for 1 hour. Requires Prestige 1 to redeem.
Price: 1,028 Golden Shards
Special Tag Voucher - A unique tag you can redeem.
Price: 2,048 Golden Shards
Hidden Treasure - Apply to an upgradeable item to increase the max level of one upgrade by 1. Maximum of 5 increases per upgrade.
Price: 2,048 Golden Shards
Skull Backpack - A backpack worn in your offhand that boosts item drops from mobs you kill. Upgrade it with Golden Shards to drop even more items.
Price: 2,048 Golden Shards
Island PvP
Skull Island is mostly PvE, but a PvP Beacon enables player combat for 15 minutes within a 50-block radius. This lets players kill others for their contraband items (items marked as contraband, like golden shards, drop on death).
Note: If you die to a player or a mob, you lose all contraband items and tokens you earned.
Random events happen on Skull Island, including Last Man Standing, Boss Events and envoys! Winning them gets you rewards like golden shards and runes.
You and your gang can claim a pond on Skull Island, which boosts mob drops by +25% and experience gain by +50%. Run /ponds to see which gang controls it and whether it's claimable.
Treasure Chests spawn on Skull Island every hour in different locations, and can be opened with a Treasure Key before they disappear. You get Treasure Keys by mining with the Confidential Contraband upgrade on your pickaxe. Rewards include Mana vouchers, shards, a temporarily upgraded pickaxe and more! See when the next treasure chest spawns with /treasurechest.
Hidden deep in the caves are Skull Ores. Mine them with a pickaxe to earn Gang Points for /gangtop. There are 5 types of ores, worth 1 to 5 points depending on rarity.
When 1,500 ores are mined across the server, it triggers a Skullrush! A Skullrush gives boosted rarity for higher tier ores, 30 second ore regeneration and double points from all ores for 5 minutes! For more info, use /skullmilestones.
Gangs
Form one with your friends
Gangs on Complex Prison let you team up with your friends to compete for "gang top," with rewards given out every month.
Create a gang with /gang create <name>, invite your friends with /gang invite <username>, and join a gang with /gang join <gang name>. You can also use the GUI by running /gang.
Once you're in a gang, run /gang to open the gang menu:
Golden Block: Share money with your gang by depositing into or withdrawing from the gang bank. Open it directly with /gang bank.
End Portal Frame: A Gang Private Mine that runs on Golden Shards, unlocked through Gang Upgrades.
Chest: Store valuables to share with your gang by clicking the chest or running /gang vault.
Crown: See the top 6 gangs by value by clicking the crown or running /gangtop.
At the end of each month, the top 6 gangs by value receive rewards. Run /gangtop and hover over the crown to see them!
Gang value resets every week, and again each month after monthly rewards are given out.
Emerald: Gang upgrades let you spend tokens on things like member limit, gang vault slots, gang bank limit, Skull Island mob resistance and Skull Island mob strength. Click the emerald or run /gang upgrades.
Ladder: Check your Gang Level progress by clicking the ladder or running /gang levels. Every gang level you complete gives multiple rewards.
Compass: Daily gang missions are goals your gang works on together, and completing them rewards Gang Top Points. Weekly Gang Missions give every gang the same mission, and the first 3 gangs to finish earn Gang Top Points, Gang Boosters and a 1.25x Sell Booster (6 hours). Click the compass or run /gang missions.
Paper: Gang logs show who claimed milestones, deposited value crystals, added or took items from the gang vault, deposited or withdrew from the gang bank, contributed to upgrades, changed permissions, invited or kicked members, plus admin logs. Click the paper or run /gang logs.
Command Block: In gang settings, you can change your gang name, gang color and secondary color, and toggle friendly fire.
Barrier Block: In gang permissions, you can control access to functions (like withdrawing from the bank) for each rank: visitor, recruit, member, moderator and admin.
Player Head: The member section lets you manage your gang's members, including changing ranks, setting titles and kicking players. Gangs start with a 3 member cap, which can be upgraded to 5 in gang upgrades.
Door: Disband your gang by clicking the door or running /gang disband.
Note: All items and upgrades in /gang vault and /gang upgrades are lost when you disband!
Leaderboards
Weekly leaderboards on Complex Prison reward players at the end of every week! You earn points by ranking at the top of tasks ranging from Most Ores Mined to Most Bosses Killed.
There are 23 categories in total. The top 10 in each category earn points based on their placement (Ex: #1 in a category gets 10 points, #10 gets 1).
Every week, 3 randomly selected categories are worth Double Points, making some categories more important than others. Leaderboards reward well-rounded players who are good at every part of the game mode.
The top 12 players with the most points at the end of the week receive rewards. See the full rewards with /lb!
Note: You can increase your leaderboard winnings by upgrading Leaderboard Payouts in Gang Upgrades.
Reset Vault
Save your items for next season
Complex Prison runs in seasons. When a season ends, store your valuable items in the Reset Vault so they are transferred over to the next season. We announce on our Discord when the Reset Vault opens. Pickaxe upgrades and armor runes are not saved through the reset, so we suggest vaulting items like backpacks, seasonal armor pieces and tags.
Claimed Tags, Pickaxe Skins and Ranks carry over automatically, along with everything in your Reset Vault.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the IP for Complex Gaming Prison?
The IP is prison.mc-complex.com. It works on Minecraft Java Edition 1.12.2 through the latest release and on Bedrock Edition.
How many mines are on Complex Prison?
There are 38 mines: 26 rank mines from A to Z plus 12 prestige mines.
How do I rank up on Complex Prison?
Use /rankup or /rankupmax. Once you reach rank Z, use /prestige. Prestiging resets your letter rank but keeps your tokens and pickaxe.
How do I get tokens on Complex Prison?
Mine with the Lucky Mining enchant, open crates and lucky blocks, kill mobs on Skull Island, or buy tokens from other players.
What is Skull Island?
Skull Island is the Complex Prison PvE and PvP zone where you fight mobs for tokens, golden shards, experience and tomes. Entry costs 5,000 tokens at /warp skullisland, and you must leave through an exit beacon to keep what you earned.
What carries over when Complex Prison resets?
Ranks, claimed tags, pickaxe skins and everything stored in the Reset Vault carry over. Pickaxe upgrades and armor runes do not.
Is Complex Gaming Prison free to play?
Yes. Complex Prison is free to play. Ranks and crates are optional and available on the store.
We hope this helps you get started on your journey to escape prison! If you have any more questions, ask the staff members online at the time or our helpful community, who can answer most of your questions!
