Crystal PvP

Crystal PVP is a unique combat meta on 2b2t and other anarchy servers in which players use end crystals to fight their opponents. As crystals do heavy damage to both health and armor, it has become more efficient than the standard sword and bow combat. This form of combat has since evolved from the suicide bombing meta of the Rusher War, in which end crystals were first used as actual weapons in combat. Hacked Clients have introduced Crystal Autoplace Crystal Aura to fit this method of combat in which the player will automatically place and detonate nearby Crystals, as well as a hack that shows safe spots to stand when crystaling.

Initial form (suicide bombing)
As previously stated, suicide bombing was an early form of crystal combat and was less refined than the typical form used today. The method became popular when the Minecraft 1.9 update (Combat Update), released in February 2016, added the ability to craft end crystals. This method was more effective than actually fighting someone, but was also considered as a cheap tactic. Players would use either crystals or beds (if in the Nether) to blow themselves up along with their opponent and later run back to the place of death to recover the dropped items. This method became highly popular for poorfags as they could easily kill a fully protected victim with a single well placed crystal or bed. However, depending on the conditions, players could survive the blast, therefore not guaranteeing instant death. Eventually, this form became the norm for combat on 2b2t for several months post-Rusher War as TPS on the server caused long and boring fights with standard weapons.

Types

 * Bed Bombing – This method uses beds in the nether or end to kill other players. Bed Bombing takes advantage of the game mechanic in which beds will explode in the Nether and the End to prevent players from setting their spawn there. The explosion produced is extremely powerful and can even one hit kill a player in full Protection 4 diamond armor. However, crystals soon became dominant over beds as they can be stacked and suicide bombing began to decline.
 * End Crystal Bombing – This method uses End Crystals to kill other players. Since the End Crystal can only be placed on Obsidian or Bedrock, the bomber needs to bring obsidian with him. This has become the most popular way to kill players. It was initially the more "expensive" way of bombing as end crystals are difficult to craft and obsidian can be hard to obtain, however dupes soon fixed this issue.

Usage in The Rusher War
Suicide bombing had been used in previous conflicts on 2b2t, but those were mainly isolated cases. However, during The Rusher War, it became a new mainstream method of war.

Initially, individual players deployed this tactic, with notable users including Babbaj and Parthicus, but it was The 4th Reich that truly introduced the tactic into full use. Opposing factions were initially stunned by the new, brutal tactic, were utterly slaughtered by suicide bombers detonating End Crystals at point-blank range. Combat, which used to be a test of skill, equipment, and (sometimes) luck, degenerated into chaotic, suicidal bombfests in which players were blown to pieces in droves.

Suicide bombing would be adopted by most factions during the Rusher War.

Modern Form
The modern form soon stemmed from the introduction of Totems of Undying in the Minecraft 1.11 update, making suicide bombing no longer effective as multiple crystals would be needed to kill opponents. Totems evened out the playing field, allowing unsuspecting opponents to have a chance to fight back the attacker. Players were forced to devise a new form in which crystals could still be used for combat to account for totems. This evolved into players running out in full god gear and rapidly placing stacks of obsidian and crystals to make adversaries use up all their totems, while also using tactics to gain the upper hand in the fight.

Basic Survival and Tactics
The end crystal and previous bed explosion can kill a player with full Protection 4 diamond armor (if placed right), but can be survived if the player eats an Enchanted Golden Apple or wears Blast Protection 4 armor. The explosions can also be survived if the player is hiding behind some blocks or is a single block below the crystal or bed as the game has a strange mechanic where the player cannot be hit on the top of their body by an explosion but only the bottom. Therefore, combat became a strategy game of gaining the lower ground.

Notable users

 * Babbaj – Babbaj was the first user of these types of bombings as he showed a video of himself blowing up several fully armored players with a single crystal at the end of a 4th Incursion raid in 2016. This video made the tactic popular.
 * Parthicus – Parthicus was an early user of the suicide bombing tactic, famously using a crystal to get kill four members of the Resistance to start off a fight alongside the members of the 4th Incursion.
 * 4th Reich – The 4th Reich was known to have used this tactic in many encounters during its early conceptions, making multiple montages. Many groups and players followed suit.
 * Suicide bombers – Suicide bombers were players that lurked around spawn who looked for an unsuspecting victim to bomb, blowing themselves up in the process. These players would usually pose as harmless naked players, luring their victims to a rapid demise. Once this was achieved, the bomber would run back to collect any loot they may have received from the fallen player. They were the reason that spawn was highly avoided for a long time during and after the Rusher War. This tactic died out soon after the introduction of Totems as suicide bombing was no longer able to instantly kill players.
 * Torogadude – Torogadude was one of the players who discussed the different tips and tactics of crystal usage in combat
 * Flyinqq – Flyinqq was one of the most experienced Suicide Bombers, without the Suicide part, he used to bomb many armored opponents and live to tell the tale. In his Wiki you can see all of the well known players he has killed.
 * Spawnfags – Many spawnfags are known for their strong skill and heavy use of crystal combat as all they do is fight others at spawn. Due to dupes, spawnfags have close stashes in which they can re-gear quick enough to continue their endless barrage of explosions.
 * IHackedWalmart – Well-known Crystal PvPer who was active in 2017-2018. As a Co Leader of Armorsmith's Followers, IHackedWalmart was known as one of the main activists against the 6th Incursion, and was able to reclaim 0,0 whenever he was online (unless he had to participate in 1v20 fights). He was also noted for killing many Incursioneers and participating in the griefing of Incursion work on the server, as well as gearing new players. IHackedWalmart was also the last leader of the Peacekeepers and one of the leaders of Infrared, both groups had high Crystal PvP reputation.
 * Mc_Ren – Was very active in 2018, terrorized ants and other spawnfags. Discovered that arrows of weakness make your opponents unable to punch Crystals.
 * Mcruk – Active in 2019, was very hated for attacking and (most of the time) killing anyone trying to move through spawn, if they didn't log out.
 * Xdolf – Well known PvPer who was active from 2018 to 2020, Emperium PvPer, one of the best PvPers on 2b2t
 * TheNaughtyList/864 – Active from 2019 to 2020, Emperium PvPer, good friends with Xdolf
 * 5nt – Active from 2019 to 2021, has been in Team WAO, Emperium, and the Infinity Incursion.
 * WomenAreObjects - Active from 2017-2021, founder of Team WAO and is one of the most popular Crystal PvP youtubers.

Trivia

 * This combat form was first created on 2b2t and is unique to anarchy servers as other anarchy servers soon took hold of this meta. It is unknown, but highly unluckily, that other servers use this type of combat.
 * Coincidentally enough, crystals were made craftable during the 1.9 update, in which also changed sword combat from the old spam clicking to the new cool down system, which works terribly with low TPS. With much of the general Minecraft community outraged by the change, crystal combat was an unintentional bypass and viable replacement to this combat introduced in the same update on the server.