An “I-Frame” (short for invulnerability frame, in reference to other popular games) refers to a short time window during which an entity becomes invulnerable after being hit. In Minecraft, during this window you are only partially invulnerable as only the highest damage taken will actually be registered and any damage source lower than it will be ignored.

The default duration of an I-Frame is 10 ticks, which is approximately 0.5 seconds.

How do I-Frames impact designing spells?#

If an entity is hit with multiple damage sources at the exact same tick, then only the source with the highest damage will apply. Since a spell resolves all its effects on the same tick, unless delay or other forms of propagation are used, you will have to consider this when using multiple damaging glyphs in succession or using the Enchanter’s Sword.

In the following spell , only the damage from the will apply, and the other two harm glyphs will be wasted.

As another example, let’s assume an Enchanter’s Sword with 7 damage with a simple Harm spell (5 damage by default with no boosts). As you hit a mob, only the sword will actually damage it, as the lower spell damage will be ignored.

How can I bypass I-Frames?#

In Ars Nouveau it’s not possible to bypass I-Frames without an addon or another mod that allows the behaviour, but you can still use to spread over time the damage instance and let all of them fully damage the enemy.

Here are some methods that allow bypassing I-Frames depending on your mod list:

Ars Elemental#

Ars Elemental is an incredibly popular Ars addon that adds a lot of new glyphs and effects themed around the elements. IFrame skip mechanics can be disabled by a config, and are entirely moved to Nullify glyph since 1.21.

Nullify Defense#

This glyph is disabled by default in the configs, and also has a recipe that can be enabled in the configs without the need of a datapack. It straight up resets the I-Frames of the entity hit, allowing you to fully damage it right away. 1.21 Only

Hellfire / Magefire#

Ars Elemental adds a new effect called Hellfire. This effect allows you to trigger Flare even on fire immune entities, but it also causes them to lose the temporary damage “immunity” whenever they are healed (by regen, or other sources). In older versions it reduces healing, in newer versions it boosts healing and reduces earth-related damage taken.

Using this effect alongside a glyph like allows you to half the healing they receive and add more damage on top.

Hellfire can be applied in two ways, equipping a Fire Focus and casting or having a Tier 3 Kindling thread on your armor and casting a damage glyph.

Freeze / Frozen#

When the Water Focus is equipped and hits a mob with enough freezing buildup, it applies a new effect called Frozen for 10 ticks and resets the entity’s immunity frames. While the entity has this effect, it can’t heal and can’t be used to reset iframes again.

Freezing can build up while inside powdered snow, while affected by freezing (Chilling Thread), or by using Freeze with the Water Focus (even faster using ).

Ars Trinkets#

Ars Trinkets is a power fantasy addon that allows you to reach unprecedented levels of mana and spell power.

Air Sword#

For the low cost of 3000 mana, you can cast Ars Trinkets – Air Swordwhich will reset the invulnerability frames of any entity hit after the Ars Trinkets – Air Sword deals damage.

Other ways to bypass I‑Frames#

Certain mods allow players to bypass I-Frames in different ways.

Iron’s RPG Tweaks#

Iron’s RPG Tweaks removes the concept of invulnerability frames entirely.