Factions Darkzone and Lightzone Guide: Tiers, Mobs, Loot and Outposts (2026)

Short answer: The Darkzone and Lightzone are the PvE areas on Complex Factions (hub.mc-complex.com). You fight custom mobs there for spawners, rune tomes, pouches, Gold Shards and rare netherite gear. The Lightzone has 3 tiers: Tier 1 is open to everyone, Tier 2 unlocks at 20,000 Lightzone kills and Tier 3 at 30,000, and your kills reset every map. Lightzone Tiers 1 and 2 are PvE only, while Lightzone Tier 3 and the Darkzone have PvP. Enter the Lightzone with /lightzone and the Darkzone through the Darkzone Entrance portals in the Warzone. Keep inventory is off everywhere in the Darkzone and Lightzone, including Lightzone Tiers 1 and 2, so you lose everything when you die.

Darkzone vs Lightzone​

Both zones are full of custom mobs, and every kill rolls for loot. The Lightzone is the safer place to start and the best way to work toward a Godlike set, while the Darkzone is a full PvP zone with one loot pool that gets better every week of the map.

How to enter and leave the zones​

• Lightzone: type /lightzone (or /lz) or click the Lightzone NPC at spawn, then pick a tier. After a 4-second warmup you're sent in. Tier 3 shows a PvP warning that you have to confirm first. You can't use /lightzone while you're combat tagged.
• Darkzone: find a Darkzone Entrance portal in the Warzone around spawn and right-click it. There are up to 3 at a time in random spots, and each one disappears a few seconds after someone uses it. You can't enter while Last Man Standing is running.
• Exit Portals: to leave, find a glowing Darkzone Exit or Lightzone Exit crystal and click it from within 2 blocks. Each zone keeps 3 exit portals up at random spots, and a bar at the top of your screen shows how far away the nearest one is. You're slowed while you're within 10 blocks of one, so expect fights around them. Darkzone exits drop you in the Warzone, and Lightzone exits send you to spawn.
• Escape Tickets: right-click one in the Darkzone or Lightzone Tier 3 to open a portal right where you're standing, then click it to escape: Darkzone to the Warzone, Lightzone Tier 3 to spawn. They work even while you're combat tagged, but not while that zone's Outpost is up for capture. Anyone can click the portal it opens, so use it fast. Escape Tickets drop from Lightzone Tier 2 and Tier 3 mobs.

Inside the zones you can't use commands like /spawn, /home, /warp, /back, /fly, /tpa, /trade, /ah, /dailies, /collect, /duel or /lightzone, so leave through an exit to switch tiers. /f home and /f warp don't work in the Darkzone. Ender pearls, elytras and flying don't work, and chests can't be opened. There's no fall damage in the Lightzone. If you log out in the Lightzone, you'll log back in at spawn.
The Darkzone stays closed for the first few hours of each new map. Type /grace to see the timer.

Lightzone tiers and how to unlock them​

• Kills only count in your highest unlocked tier. Once Tier 2 opens, your Tier 1 kills stop counting, so Tier 3 takes 10,000 Tier 2 kills on top of your first 20,000.
• Lightzone kills reset every map, so you unlock Tier 2 and Tier 3 again each map.
• The /lightzone menu shows your kill count and how many more you need.
• Golden Merchant: an NPC in Tier 3 (around X: -152, Z: -62) that sells for Gold Shards: a Stacker Wand with 1,000 uses (320), a Darkzone Backpack (1,472), a Tumeric Tag (2,048) and a Hidden Treasure (2,048).

PvP rules in each zone​

• Lightzone Tiers 1 and 2: no PvP. You can only die to mobs, but keep inventory is still off, so a mob death costs you everything you're carrying.
• Lightzone Tier 3: PvP is on everywhere, including around the Lightzone Outpost.
• Darkzone: PvP is on everywhere. Your own faction members can't hurt you, except during a solo Last Man Standing (see below).
• Loot protection: when another player kills you, only they can pick up your items for the first 15 seconds.

How zone loot works​

Every item in a zone's loot table rolls on its own each kill, so one mob can drop several things at once. The rates in the tables below are base chances per kill. A few things change your real odds:

• Mob level: each mob shows its level over its head. A mob at the top of its level range rolls at 1.5x the base chance, and low-level mobs roll lower.
• Outposts: owning the Darkzone Outpost gives your faction +40% drop chances in the Darkzone, and the Lightzone Outpost does the same in every Lightzone tier.
• Backpacks: wear a backpack for a chance at an extra loot roll each kill: 3% per backpack level for a Darkzone Backpack and 3.75% per level for other backpacks (half that for Angelic Backpacks). Past 100%, you get a guaranteed extra roll. Backpacks also pick up zone drops for you.
• Insatiable Greed: this rune adds 0.5% drop luck per level.
• Darkzone weeks: the Darkzone loot table gets better every week of the map, with more spawners, Dark Tomes, Gold Shards and rare gear.

Type /darkzone and left-click the Darkzone icon, or right-click a tier in /lightzone, to see the full live loot table. Every zone kill also drops 200 base EXP, and owning that zone's Outpost raises it by 60%.

Darkzone drops by week​

The Darkzone also drops 5-minute Money Boosters (+20% and +50%) and EXP Boosters (+30% and +40%) at 0.22% to 0.89% each, depending on the week. Ancient Acid is a splash potion that makes every zone mob within 32 blocks target the player it hits for 60 seconds. Dark Tomes open into a random Dark Rune, and Dark Runes can't be bought from the Infuser.

Lightzone drops by tier​

Mob Tier Pouches give 25 to 250 Mob Tier kills toward unlocking spawners, depending on their tier. They only drop during the first 10 days of a map. Every Lightzone tier also drops rare Angelic tools and Tier 3 drops Angelic Backpacks (see the next section).

Rare gear from the zones​

Each Angelic tool drops at about 1 in 166,667 in Lightzone Tier 1, 1 in 17,544 in Tier 2 and 1 in 22,222 in Tier 3, and Tier 3 only drops the higher-tier versions. Angelic Backpacks drop at 1 in 83,333 in Tier 3.

Darkzone and Lightzone Outposts​

The Darkzone Outpost sits at the center of the Darkzone (X: 0, Z: 0), and the Lightzone Outpost sits at the center of Lightzone Tier 3. Type /outpost to see who owns each one and when it can be claimed again.

• Capturing: stand within 10 blocks of the center. The bar fills 0.25% per second, so a full capture from zero takes 6 minutes and 40 seconds. If players from two factions are on the point, it's contested and stops moving. If another faction already has progress, you have to drain theirs before yours starts, and progress drains when nobody is on the point.
• Holding it: once captured, the outpost is locked to your faction until the next reset. Outposts reset every 3 hours, and the 600,000 EXP rains down on everyone standing on the point when it's captured.
• No mobs while it's open: when an outpost resets, the mobs in that zone (the Darkzone, or Lightzone Tier 3) despawn and stop spawning until a faction captures it. Expect a fight right after every reset.
• No easy escape: Escape Tickets don't work in a zone while its Outpost is up for capture.
• Invisibility: stepping onto the point removes invisibility.

Darkzone events and Last Man Standing​

A Darkzone event starts every hour at 30 minutes past the hour (except during the PvP grace at the start of a map). Each one is picked at random:
Darkzone bosses: Ironhide, Gravecaller Morrax and Shade Mistress Velka (Tier 1), Dreadlord Kaelith, The Void Mother, Soul Warden Draven and Corruption Engine Nexus (Tier 2), and Abyssal King Vorathis, Devourer of Worlds Khar'zath, Queen of Whispers Malistra, The Shadow Council and Void Emperor Oblivion (Tier 3). Boss rewards come from a pool of diamonds, Money and EXP Pouches, Dark Tomes, Gold Shards, Zombie, Skeleton, Iron Golem and Evoker Spawners (4 to 8 at a time), Sandbots, rune tomes and boosters. Type /bosses to see the pool.
Last Man Standing rules:

• Each round is randomly either faction mode (the last faction alive wins) or solo mode (the last player alive wins). In solo mode, friendly fire turns on so faction members can fight each other, but only once the event starts, not during the countdown.
• At least 2 players or factions have to be in the Darkzone when it starts, or it's cancelled.
• Once it starts, nobody else can enter the Darkzone.
• You get 30 seconds at the start to get inside the border. After that, standing outside it hurts you every second, and staying out for 10 seconds knocks you out of the event. An arrow on your screen points you back inside.
• Rewards: every player still alive at the end gets a roll of the boss reward pool, and the winner's faction gets 15 PvP Top points. If more than one player or faction is still standing when time runs out, nobody wins.

Hunts: every 1 to 3 hours, a 15-minute Hunt picks a mob family (like Void, Corrupted, Solar or Divine mobs) across the Darkzone and Lightzone. Killing those mobs scores points: 1 per kill in Lightzone Tier 1, 3 in Tier 2 and 4 in Tier 3 or the Darkzone. The first player to reach the goal wins. Check the Hunt icon in /darkzone or /lightzone.

PvP Top points from the zones​

A kill only counts when the player you kill drops a full set of netherite armor and a weapon (a bow, crossbow, netherite sword or netherite axe), and you're not on the same IP. The Lightzone Outpost doesn't give PvP Top points.

Zone milestones and jobs​

• Faction milestones: type /f milestones to track them. Lightzone Slayer (30,000 Lightzone kills) gives a full Godlike set and 128 Creeper Spawners. Darkzone Slayer (10,000 Darkzone kills) gives 3 random Angelic pieces and 128 Creeper Spawners. Darkzone Dominance (10 Darkzone Outpost captures) gives 32 Creeper Spawners, and Boss Battles (10 Darkzone bosses) gives a +200% EXP Booster for 20 minutes.
• Jobs: the Slaying job pays $100 for every Lightzone mob.
• Raid Camp Time Trials: some Time Trial buffs boost your Darkzone or Lightzone loot.

Play Factions on Java or Bedrock​

The Darkzone and Lightzone are part of Complex Factions, which you can join on Minecraft Java Edition (1.12.2 to the latest release) or Bedrock Edition with crossplay. Join hub.mc-complex.com (Bedrock port 19132), then use the compass or the Factions NPC at the hub. New to the game mode? Start with our How to Play Factions guide.

Darkzone and Lightzone FAQ​

How do you get to the Darkzone on Complex Factions?​

How do you unlock Lightzone Tier 2 and Tier 3?​

Is there PvP in the Lightzone?​

Do you lose your items when you die in the Darkzone or Lightzone?​

How do you leave the Darkzone?​

What does the Darkzone Outpost do?​

What drops in the Darkzone?​

What is Last Man Standing in the Darkzone?​