ShadOre

Umbracite grows deep below Y 0, and it hates light. Mine the glowing crystals in total darkness, then forge them into Umbral Hearts that temper your iron, gold, diamond and netherite gear into four shadow sets with three times the durability and perks of their own.

Umbracite glows to the eye but gives off no light at all: monsters still spawn right next to it.

Umbracite forms in the deepslate layer, from Y 0 down to the bottom of the world, and about twice as often in the Deep Dark. The crystals are built from tiny voxel cubes, slightly see-through, and pulse slowly. They glow, but they emit no light, so the cave around them stays dark enough for mobs.

Any light above level 7 breaks them: a torch, a lantern, lava, daylight through a hole you dug, a burning mob, a glow squid or a player holding a torch nearby. The crystal crackles for a second as a warning, then bursts with a glassy crash into a cloud of black smoke that blinds everyone around for 3 seconds. Sculk sensors hear the burst.

The usual miner's habit, torch first and pickaxe second, ruins the find. Dig in the dark instead: listen for the low hum of the crystals and follow their faint glow. Night Vision potions finally have a job. A cluster mined with any pickaxe drops two shards (Fortune adds more); Silk Touch takes the crystal itself, which you can place again, in the dark.

Shadow Tempering is a long road on purpose. Four shards around an amethyst shard make an Umbracite Crystal; six crystals, two ink sacs and an ender pearl make an Umbral Heart. Then build the Umbral Altar: the heart goes in the centre of its hexagram, a shard on each of the six points and an iron, golden, diamond or netherite piece in the offering socket. In darkness the ritual runs by itself, and the gear comes out as shadow gear with its enchantments and three times the durability: tools get violet crystal glass heads edged with their metal and a glowing rune, armor becomes shadow armor. Light above level 7 stops it. Hoppers can run the altar too: one above or at a side fills the sockets, one below takes out only the tempered piece, and a comparator beside the altar follows the ritual and gives a full signal when the piece is ready. Each piece costs 30 shards and a full armor set 120, so a crystal farm pays off.

The ritual screen: the shards ignite, the heart charges, the light pours into the tempered piece.

All four armor sets are shadow armor: semi-transparent violet crystal glass, edged with the metal it was tempered from. In the dark the glass disappears and only its runes glow: two eye slits, a heart-shaped gem on the chest, gems on the knees and rings round the ankles.

Each metal becomes a set for a different job. "In darkness" means light level 7 or less where you stand.

• Shadow-Plated Iron, for the silent miner: tools dig 25% faster in darkness and break blocks without a vibration; swords, axes and spears deal 40% more to mobs that are not hunting you; armor hides you from mobs in darkness, and the full set silences your steps for sculk sensors and the Warden.
• Gloom-Gilded gold, against fire and light: +50% damage to blazes, magma cubes, ghasts, striders, glow squids and anything burning; each armor piece takes 15% off fire damage; every piece slowly mends itself in darkness; piglins stay calm.
• Void Diamond, late-game utility: drops and experience from what you mine or kill go straight into your inventory, which is handy when you bridge over lava; the armor makes hostile mobs near you glow while you stand in darkness.
• Abyssal Netherite, for the boss of the depths: tools dig 50% faster in darkness and clusters drop an extra shard; weapons hit 30% harder in darkness and slow the target; armor takes up to 20% off damage in darkness, and the full set makes you immune to Blindness and Darkness while the Warden lets you be.

On Minecraft 26.x the spears can be tempered too.

A normal anvil takes no material for tempered gear. Build the Umbral Anvil from an anvil, three shards and three polished deepslate, load it with up to eight shards, then use your gear on it: every shard restores a quarter of the durability, with no experience cost. It only works in darkness. Hoppers and droppers can keep it loaded, and a comparator reads how many shards it holds.

Craft Budding Umbracite from four shards, four cobbled deepslate and an echo shard from an Ancient City. Placed below Y 0 in total darkness it grows buds that ripen into new clusters, like budding amethyst. Sixteen advancements mark the way into the dark.

1. Install NeoForge for your Minecraft version and put the ShadOre jar into the mods folder of the client and the server.
2. Go below Y 0, put the torches away and look for a violet glow.
3. Mine the clusters, craft crystals and an Umbral Heart, and build the Umbral Altar in a dark room.

• One jar for Minecraft 1.21.1, 26.1.2, 26.2 and 26.3 on NeoForge. Spears exist on 26.x only.
• In English and Russian.
• Server config: the light limit, the warning time, blindness, light bearers, growth height and light, repair per shard.

License: MDFL 1.0 · ✅ Modpacks · ✅ Videos & streams · ✅ Compatibility addons · ❌ Reuploads · ❌ Modified copies

All the creative work and in-game testing are done by the mod's creator. AI is just a handy tool working in the background to help generate code and support the project.