Tiers, Heartbeat Curve, and Health Tuning

The tier list is the real heart of CriticalHealthFX. This is where you decide how the low-health loop escalates from "slightly hurt" to "about to drop."

How tier selection works

Each tier has a max_hp. The active tier is the first one whose max_hp is at or above the player's current health after the plugin sorts the list into low-health order internally.

In practice, think about the curve like this:

• higher max_hp tiers are your earlier warning steps
• lower max_hp tiers are the panic end of the curve

The shipped MCWAR default curve

The default public curve is:

tiers:
  - name: Light
    max_hp: 10.0
    diameter: 46.0
    interval_ticks: 60
    pitch: 1.00
 
  - name: Injured
    max_hp: 8.0
    diameter: 36.0
    interval_ticks: 52
    pitch: 1.05
 
  - name: Wounded
    max_hp: 6.0
    diameter: 28.0
    interval_ticks: 44
    pitch: 1.10
 
  - name: Critical
    max_hp: 4.0
    diameter: 22.0
    interval_ticks: 36
    pitch: 1.16
 
  - name: NearDeath
    max_hp: 2.0
    diameter: 10.0
    warning_blocks: 64
    interval_ticks: 22
    pitch: 1.28
 
  - name: Blackout
    max_hp: 1.0
    diameter: 8.0
    warning_blocks: 64
    interval_ticks: 18
    pitch: 1.34

That gives you:

• light red at 5 hearts
• very strong red at 1 heart
• blackout only at half a heart through the separate blackout overlay block

What each tier field does

name

Human-readable label used mainly for organization in the GUI and config.

max_hp

The health ceiling for that tier.

diameter

Main red-intensity control. Smaller values make the border warning feel much stronger.

interval_ticks

Heartbeat timing for that tier. Smaller values mean a faster loop.

pitch

Heartbeat pitch for that tier. Higher values feel more urgent.

warning_blocks and warning_time

Optional per-tier overrides for the global border settings. Use these when only the lowest tiers need a much stronger warning range.

heartbeat_sound and heartbeat_volume

Optional per-tier audio overrides. Use these only when the low-end tiers need a noticeably different sound identity instead of just a faster or higher global heartbeat.

potion_effects

Optional potion list for that tier.

particles

Optional particle list for that tier.

Best way to tune the curve

Step 1: get the start point right

Decide where the plugin activates. For the public default, that is 10.0 HP.

Step 2: get the end point right

Make 2.0 HP feel clearly extreme before you even add blackout.

Step 3: reserve blackout for the final threshold

Keep blackout at 1.0 HP if you want the red curve to do the heavy lifting and the blackout to feel like a final escalation instead of a constant nuisance.

Step 4: only then add extras

Once the base curve already works, add:

• per-tier heartbeat overrides
• potion effects
• particles

Good tuning recipes

If the high tiers are too noisy

• increase their diameter
• lengthen their interval_ticks
• keep warning_blocks global instead of overriding them

If the last two tiers still feel too similar

• sharply reduce diameter on the bottom tier
• cut interval_ticks harder
• raise pitch slightly
• add a stronger warning_blocks override to the lowest tier only

If the plugin feels dramatic too early

• lower critical_threshold_hp
• remove early-tier warning_blocks overrides
• widen the first tier diameter

When to use tier overrides instead of global settings

Use tier overrides when the experience should stay subtle at 5 hearts but become much harsher at 2 hearts and 1 heart. That is exactly how the shipped MCWAR curve is designed.

Keep this mental model while editing

CriticalHealthFX works best when the escalation order is clear:

1. red vignette starts
2. heartbeat tightens
3. red becomes much stronger in the bottom tiers
4. blackout only fires at the final threshold

That keeps the plugin readable and avoids turning every hurt state into the same visual wall.

Next pages

• gui Main Pages, Chat Prompts, and Save Flow
• tier Potions, Particles, and Dust Options