The Ultimate Guide to Goety – Dark Arts in Modded Minecraft

Goety is a dark arts mod for Modded Minecraft that puts the power of Soul Magic — the same magic wielded by Illagers — directly into your hands. From summoning loyal servants and brewing twisted potions, to building soul-powered networks and unlocking Lichdom, this guide covers everything you need to master Goety from the ground up. No Black Book required — you’ve got this guide instead.

Getting Started – Ectoplasm and the Totem of Roots

At night, you’ll begin to notice Wraiths spawning in the world. They aren’t particularly dangerous, but you’ll want to kill every one you see. Wraiths have a chance to drop Ectoplasm — it’s not a 100% drop rate, so be patient.

Once you have some Ectoplasm, your first crafting goal is the Totem of Roots. Combine some Lapis Lazuli and one piece of Ectoplasm to craft it. This totem is the foundation of everything in Goety.

Open your inventory and click the Charms slot button to place the Totem of Roots into your Charms slot. Once equipped, you’ll see it displays 100 out of 100 Soul Energy. To fill this Soul Energy, simply kill mobs. Illagers will grant more Soul Energy per kill than standard mobs, but any mob will do.

Crafting Your First Wand

With your Totem of Roots in hand, it’s time to craft your first wand. You’ll need three components: Haunted Planks, an Empty Focus, and some Magic Fabric.

Haunted Planks

Combine any four Saplings with your Totem of Roots to craft a Haunted Sapling. Plant it, then use Bone Meal on it to grow a Haunted Tree. Cut its logs and craft them into planks — these are your Haunted Planks.

Empty Focus

Place four Amethyst Shards around your Totem of Roots in a crafting grid to produce an Empty Focus.

Magic Fabric

Craft Magic Fabric using the recipe shown in JEI (Just Enough Items). Combine all three components — Haunted Planks, Empty Focus, and Magic Fabric — in a crafting table to produce your Dark Wand.

Using Focuses with Your Wand

A wand without a focus does nothing. Focuses are the spells your wand casts. Your first focus to make should be the Soul Light Focus, crafted from an Empty Focus and some Coal or Charcoal.

To slot a focus into your wand, hold the wand and press Z to bring up the Focus Slot. Click your Soul Light Focus into the slot. When you hover over your wand, you’ll see the blue focus icon. Right-clicking will now fire a light source that creates a light wherever it lands — that’s the Soul Light Focus in action.

You can also press X to open the Soul Wheel, which lets you quickly select and load a focus into your wand directly from this radial menu.

Managing Your Focuses with a Focus Bag

As you craft more focuses, storage becomes important. Craft a Focus Bag and place it in your Belt slot (via the Curios interface). The Soul Wheel (press X) can read focuses directly from the Focus Bag, so you don’t need to hold them in your hand or have them in your wand slot to access them. This makes switching between focuses in the field very efficient.

Upgrading to the Totem of Souls

Before moving on to more advanced content, upgrade your Totem of Roots to the Totem of Souls as soon as possible.

First, craft Awakened Emeralds by combining Lapis Lazuli, Emeralds, and your charged Totem of Roots. These Awakened Emeralds unlock more advanced crafting recipes — for example, the Burrowing Focus, which fires a mining laser.

More importantly, use a Soul Lantern and your Awakened Emeralds to craft the Totem of Souls. While the Totem of Roots caps out at 100 Soul Energy, the Totem of Souls holds 10,000 Soul Energy — a massive upgrade. Killing a Pillager, for example, grants 50 Soul Energy, so this new totem will fill up much faster than it drains. Switch to it immediately.

The Cast Infuser – Easier Transmutation

Crafting individual components one at a time can be resource-intensive. The Cast Infuser dramatically reduces those costs by harnessing the power of a Monster Spawner.

Once crafted and placed on top of an active Monster Spawner, the Cast Infuser enables cheap transmutation recipes:

1 Amethyst Shard → 1 Empty Focus (previously required 4 Shards + Totem)

1 Sapling → 1 Haunted Sapling

1 Iron Ingot → 1 Cast Metal Ingot

1 Block of Iron → 1 Block of Cast Metal

Diorite → Shade Stone

To use it, simply right-click the input item onto the Cast Infuser. After a few seconds, the output item will pop out.

Moving a Spawner with the Fire Spawn Cage and Cast Cage

Running back and forth to a distant spawner gets old fast. Instead, craft a Fire Spawn Cage (using Cast Metal Ingots and an Empty Focus). Right-click it onto a Monster Spawner to capture the spawner inside the cage, breaking the spawner block.

Next, craft a Cast Cage from Cast Metal Bars (crafted from Cast Metal Ingots). Right-click the Fire Spawn Cage onto the Cast Cage to transfer the captured spawner into it. You can now place the Cast Cage wherever you like — and put your Cast Infuser on top of it.

You’ll know the Cast Infuser is active and powered by the spawner because its appearance changes visibly when working correctly.

Rituals – Enchanting, Animation, and More

Rituals are one of the most powerful systems in Goety. They allow you to enchant items, transform mobs, create advanced focuses, and much more — all powered by Soul Energy.

Setting Up Your Ritual Space

To perform rituals, you need the following setup:

A Cast Cage (with a spawner inside, but no Fire Spawn Cage used on it for this purpose)

A Dark Altar placed directly above the Cast Cage

Up to 8 Pedestals placed within 16 blocks of the altar

Right-click your Totem of Souls onto the Cast Cage to provide Soul Energy to the altar. You’ll see the Dark Altar light up, confirming it is powered.

You can run multiple rituals simultaneously in the same space, as long as all required environmental blocks fit within the 16-block radius of the altar. This means you can set up several ritual types at once without rebuilding your space.

The Magic Ritual – Enchanting

The Magic Ritual (enchanting) requires the following within 16 blocks of the altar:

16 Bookshelves

1 Enchanting Table

1 Lectern with a Book

To see all available recipes for the Dark Altar, open JEI and press U on the Dark Altar item, then use the arrow to navigate to the Magic Ritual category.

As an example, to create an Efficiency I enchanted book, place 3 Iron Ingots and 1 Lapis Lazuli on the pedestals, then right-click a plain Book onto the Dark Altar. The altar will absorb the items and Soul Energy, producing an Efficiency I book. To upgrade to Efficiency II, simply repeat the process with the Efficiency I book as the catalyst item on the altar.

Be aware: higher enchantment levels consume significantly more Soul Energy. Keep your Cast Cage well-supplied.

The Animation Ritual – Mob Conversion

The Animation Ritual requires the following within 16 blocks of the altar:

15 Ladders

15 Rails

1 Carved Pumpkin

This ritual converts nearby living mobs into different variants. For example, to convert a Cow into a Mooshroom, place 4 Red Mushrooms and 1 Mycelium on the pedestals, with a Cow’s Spawn Egg as the catalyst item on the Dark Altar, and ensure a Cow is physically nearby. It’s a good idea to wall off an area near the altar so the target mob doesn’t escape mid-ritual.

After a few seconds, the cow will transform into a Mooshroom.

Other Ritual Types

Goety includes many other ritual categories, each with unique environmental requirements:

Necroturgy – Requires wooden slabs; must be performed at night

Forge – Requires specific items placed on pedestals

Frost – Must be performed in a snowing biome, or use 16 Ice blocks of a specific type, 8 Snow Blocks, and Freezing Lamps

Geoturgy – Altar must be at or below Y=32, or use specified items

Sky – Altar must be at or above a specified height, or use specified items

Storm – Check the Black Book’s Rituals chapter for full requirements

Browse all ritual recipes by pressing U on the Dark Altar in JEI and navigating through the categories.

Servants – Summoning and Managing Familiars

Goety lets you summon a wide variety of loyal servants to fight alongside you. These can be summoned via ritual (permanent lifespan) or via a Focus spell cast from your wand (limited lifespan).

How Servants Work

Servants attack all hostile mobs automatically

Servants sharing the same summoner will not attack each other

Servants summoned through ritual have no lifespan limit

Servants summoned via Focus have a limited lifespan

There is a cap on how many servants you can have active at once

Servants can teleport to you if you crouch-cast the summoning spell while they are equipped in the wand

Hit a servant (that isn’t a Vex) with a wand or staff to toggle between Follow, Wander, and Stay modes

Example: The Bear Servant

The Bear Servant is a great early companion — loyal, aggressive, and even rideable (no saddle required, though it is slow). To summon a Bear via Focus, you need the Mauling Focus, which requires a Hunting Focus, which itself requires a Hunger Call crafted via the Animation Ritual.

The Mauling Focus is a Wild spell type. When you press Shift while hovering over it, it confirms: “Summons a Bear Servant.” Crouching while casting will summon the bear in front of you rather than behind.

To heal a Bear Servant, right-click it with a Fish. If you summon a Bear in a cold biome, or while wielding a Frost Staff, you’ll instead call a Polar Bear Servant. You can also transform a regular Polar Bear using the Animation Ritual near the altar.

Crowns and Robes

Wearing the right gear dramatically improves your servant’s effectiveness. Crowns are tied to servant spell types:

Wild Crown – Wild servants persist indefinitely; halves casting time for Wild spells

Frost Crown – Frost servants persist indefinitely

Abyss Crown – Water servants persist indefinitely

Nameless Crown – Undead servants persist; halves casting time for all spells

Necro Crown – Necro servants persist indefinitely

Some crowns require Forbidden Pieces, which are crafted through rituals. Robes also provide important passive bonuses:

Dark Robe – Reduces Soul Cost of all spells by 15%

Grand Robe – Harvests incoming attacks when casting; reduces spell costs

Wind Robe – Provides full damage at the cost of Soul Energy

Witch Hat – Speeds up brewing; slowly grants fuel in moonlight; 10% chance of not consuming a potion after drinking

Brewing – The Witch’s Cauldron System

Goety adds a deep custom brewing system that allows you to create potions with a vast range of effects — far beyond vanilla Minecraft.

Setting Up Your Brewing Station

Place a Witch’s Cauldron above a heat source (campfire, magma block, or fire) and fill it with water — it will begin bubbling. The cauldron draws Soul Energy from nearby Cast Cages via Candlesticks. Place Candlesticks near both the cauldron and your Cast Cage (with a Transfer Gem, covered later) so the cauldron can access your Soul Network. Place up to 3 Witch’s Poles nearby to reduce the Soul Energy cost per brew.

Step 1 – Capacity

Capacity determines how many effects your potion can hold. Throw a Nether Wart into the cauldron first — this sets the base capacity to 4. Sneak while looking at the cauldron to see the current capacity and Soul Cost display.

To increase capacity beyond 4, add any of the following:

Crimson Fungus

Snap Warts (+2 capacity each)

Awakened Emerald

Concentrated Emerald

Ruby of Souls (highest capacity boost; drops from the Vizier boss)

Step 2 – Catalysts (Effects)

Catalysts are the actual potion effects. Each one uses 1 or more capacity slots and costs Soul Energy. Here are some notable examples:

Absorption – Throw in a Golden Apple (Soul Cost: 50, Duration: 1 min 30 sec)

Aromantic – Throw in a Target Block; nearby fired arrows veer toward the affected entity

Nyctophobia – Inflicts damage when the entity is in complete darkness

Sun Allergy – Entity catches fire in sunlight

Wither – Applies the Wither effect

Wild Rage – Causes the target to attack everyone, friend or foe; ingredient drops from Zoglins

Webbing – Applies a webbing slow effect; ingredient from spider nests/Broodmothers

Venomous Hands – Melee attacks inflict Poison (10 sec default; 30 sec if Venomous Hands potion effect is active)

Tripping – Causes the target to stumble erratically

Transpose – Magnet-like effect; attracts nearby items and entities

Sap – Increases incoming damage to the target by 20%

Repulsive – Knocks back attackers

Photosynthesis – Heals the entity while in direct sunlight

Insight – Increases experience dropped by mobs

Infest – Makes Stone and Stone Bricks infested with Silverfish

Freezing – Slowly freezes the entity, similar to Powdered Snow

Flame Hands – Melee attacks set the target on fire

Fire Trail – Leaves a fire trail as you move

Stripped Armor – Strips the target’s armor

Strength, Resistance, Regeneration, Weakness, Water Breathing – Standard vanilla effects also available

Step 3 – Augmentation

After adding your catalysts, you can augment the potion to modify its properties. Augments increase Soul Cost but add powerful bonuses:

Redstone Dust – Increases duration

Glowstone Dust – Increases power/amplifier

Prismarine – Increases Soul Energy cost (check JEI for specific effect)

Chorus Flower – Increases Soul Energy cost (check JEI for specific effect)

Higher-tier augments (Blazer, Mystic) increase Area of Effect

Other augments modify lingering duration, drinking speed, or throwing velocity

Bottling Your Brew

Once capacity, catalyst, and augmentation are added, use a Cauldron Ladle by right-clicking the cauldron. It will begin drawing Soul Energy from your nearby network. Then right-click Glass Bottles on the cauldron to fill multiple bottles with your custom potion.

Extra Brewing Tips

Place up to 3 Witch’s Poles nearby to reduce Soul Energy brewing costs

Having a Black Cat near the cauldron grants a 25% chance of an extra brew per batch

Craft a Brew Bag to store throwable brews. Press 8 (default keybind) to open the bag’s inventory, and press J to open the Brew Circle and throw brews directly from the bag

The Arca – Building Your Soul Network

Once you’re deep into Goety, managing individual Totems of Souls for every station becomes tedious. The solution is the Arca — a personal Soul Network hub, one per player.

Crafting and Placing the Arca

The Arca is crafted by upgrading a Cast Cage using the Forge Ritual with the required ingredients. Place your Arca down and right-click it to activate it (you’ll see it turn on visually). Once active, all Soul Energy from mob kills goes directly into the Arca rather than your Totem of Souls.

The Soul Absorber

Craft a Soul Absorber (upgraded from your Cast Infuser via another ritual) and place it on top of the Arca. Right-click any leftover Totems of Souls onto the Soul Absorber to drain their stored energy directly into your Arca. You won’t need individual Totems anymore.

The Soul Absorber also accepts a Hopper, letting you automate Soul Energy generation by feeding in items such as:

Soul Sand – 25 Soul Energy each (easily farmable)

Sculk – 5 Soul Energy each

Sculk Shrieker – 25 Soul Energy each

Ectoplasm – 5 Soul Energy each

Totem of Undying – 200 Soul Energy each

Transfer Gems – Powering Your Stations

Craft a Transfer Gem and right-click it onto your Arca to bind it to your Soul Network. Then place the Transfer Gem inside any Cast Cage (for brewing, rituals, etc.) and that station will draw Soul Energy directly from your Arca. No more placing Totems of Souls manually at each station.

Soul-Powered Artifacts and Machines

With your Soul Network established, you can power a range of useful Goety machines. All of the following use a Cast Cage (with a Transfer Gem) placed above or below them.

Soul Mender

Place an item inside the Soul Mender and it will automatically repair it using Soul Energy from your network. The cost is 1 Soul Energy per 1 Durability restored.

Sculk Devourer

The Sculk Devourer does not spread Sculk. Instead, when a mob dies near it, it generates Soul Energy and transfers it automatically into your Arca Network. It does not require a Cast Cage. Enchant it with:

Radius I – Doubles the detection radius from 8 to 16 blocks

Radius II – Further increases the radius (approximately 24–32 blocks)

Soul Eater – Increases Soul Energy gained per kill (also a great early-game weapon enchant)

Sculk Converter

The Sculk Converter actively spreads Sculk nearby when powered with a Redstone signal and a Cast Cage above it. Place a Sculk Relay within 32×32 blocks to redirect Sculk spread to the Relay’s location instead. The Converter sends particles toward whichever Relay it’s connected to. Enchant it with Potency to increase the amount of Sculk spread per activation (at double the Soul Energy cost per level).

Sculk Grower

The Sculk Grower speeds up nearby crops. It requires a Cast Cage on top and remains active without a Redstone signal. Place it above your crop level — hoe the ground at the base level, plant crops, then position the Sculk Grower and Cast Cage above them. Enchant with Potency to multiply random tick acceleration applied to crops.

Necrotic Brazier

The Necrotic Brazier is only active in the Deep Dark biome. Entities that are not undead, not immune to fire, and not wearing Frost Walker boots will take fire damage when standing on it. When active in the correct biome, it produces Dark Metal Ingots. Each ingot requires:

1 Ghast Tear

1 Sculk Block

1 Cursed Metal Ingot

1,000 Soul Energy

Right-click these items onto the Brazier or use a Hopper to automate input.

Exploration – Blighted Shacks and Crystal Balls

While exploring the world, you may come across Blighted Shacks. These structures contain a special type of witch called a Crone, spawned by an active Crystal Ball inside.

Crystal Balls can be mined with a pickaxe — but only when inactive. When a Crystal Ball is active, it continuously spawns Crones and can only be removed in Creative Mode. Wait for it to finish a spawn cycle (it will go inactive briefly) before attempting to break it.

Also keep an eye out for the Hook Bell. Unlike the standard village bell, when rung it teleports nearby Raiders directly to the bell’s location — extremely useful during village raids.

Be aware: if your Arca contains more than approximately 2,500 Soul Energy, you may trigger an Illager Assault — a wave of Illagers targeting you specifically. Stay prepared.

Bosses – The Apostle and The Vizier

The Apostle

The Apostle is summoned using the Sabbath Ritual (type: Sabbath, summons Apostle). After a brief cloud of smoke and sound effects, the Apostle will appear. Upon death, it always drops:

1 Unholy Blood (not affected by Looting)

A variable amount of Blaze Rods, Papers, and Books (affected by Looting)

2.5% chance of dropping a unique music disc

If killed in the Nether, the Apostle additionally drops Ancient Debris, Nether Writing, Enchanted Golden Apples, and the Night Beacon (which must be obtained in the Nether). The Night Beacon, when placed on top of an active Nether Portal, sets the world to permanent night — if that config option is enabled on your server. The beacon item is immune to fire and explosions.

Unholy Blood is used as a component in several advanced ritual recipes.

The Vizier

The Vizier is a flying Illager-type boss that must be summoned inside a Woodland Mansion using a crafted Dark Scroll. The Vizier performs multiple attack types including spike attacks, summons Vizages, and has a self-healing ability. Upon death, it always drops a Ruby of Souls — one of the best capacity-boosting ingredients for brewing.

Becoming a Lich

Lichdom is the ultimate endgame transformation in Goety. Warning: you cannot revert to human form without using Creative Mode commands. This is a permanent change.

Requirements

Craft a Forbidden Scroll from Forbidden Fragments (dropped from dungeon chests, the Skull Lord in Crypts, or rarely from Kan Necromancers at 2.5% + 1% per Looting level)

Right-click the Forbidden Scroll to read it, unlocking the Master’s Necroturgy Ritual

Complete the Master’s Necroturgy Ritual to craft the Potion of Transformation

Have an active Arca with sufficient Soul Energy

Drink the potion at night under a full moon

Drinking the potion deals 25 hearts of damage as part of the transformation. If you’re playing on Hardcore mode, hold a Totem of Undying in your offhand before drinking.

Lich Abilities and Traits

Permanent Night Vision

Toggle Lich form on/off with the N key

No Hunger Bar (can still eat food)

Immune to drowning

No Insomnia / no Phantom spawning

Heals from Instant Damage; takes damage from Instant Health (reverse of normal)

Immune to Poison, certain Spider effects, Blindness, Nausea, Hunger, Saturation

Heals using Soul Energy instead of food

Takes half damage from freezing effects

Tools, Weapons, and Miscellaneous Items

Philosopher’s Stone and Mace

The Philosopher’s Stone converts Raw Gold into 2× Raw Gold. The Philosopher’s Mace applies an effect to enemies so they drop Gold Nuggets when struck, and doubles as a weapon and mining pick.

Eerie Pickaxe

Increases your mining reach by 3 blocks. Recently broken blocks within 10 block range are auto-collected into your inventory, and nearby XP orbs are immediately absorbed. Holding it may occasionally play ambient Sculk Shrieker or Warden sounds — these are cosmetic only and don’t spawn any mobs.

Rampaging Axe

Functions as a diamond-level axe. Killing a mob or breaking a minable block grants the Rampage effect for 10 seconds, boosting attack speed and damage. Repaired at an anvil with Cast Metal Ingots.

Grave Robber’s Shovel

Diamond-level shovel that breaks two blocks at once when not crouching (the block above also breaks when mining vertically; the adjacent block when mining horizontally). Has a 10% chance to drop zombie/skeleton loot table items when mining sand-type blocks. Food items without effects (like Rotten Flesh) mined from sand are converted into Bone items. Excellent for breaking mob skulls and heads.

Hunter’s Bow

Killing an animal with this bow increases item drops as if the kill used a Looting IV weapon.

Fangs Dagger

Applies 10 seconds of Poison to enemies on hit. If you have the Venomous Hands brewing effect active, Poison duration is extended to 30 seconds. Killing mobs with any dark tool also generates 1.5× more Soul Energy than normal (Fangs Dagger included), and this bonus stacks with Soul Eater.

Grave Glove

Grants 50% increased attack speed when using Scythes.

Wayfarer’s Boots

Increases movement speed, swimming speed, step height, and jump height.

Pendant of Hunger

Automatically absorbs Rotten Flesh from your inventory (up to 1,024 pieces). Applies a constant Hunger effect, but without the usual nausea particles, and automatically feeds you Rotten Flesh whenever your hunger bar drops — keeping you at maximum food without the downsides.

Soul Shield Amulet

Protects against incoming arrows when below half maximum health.

Haunted Armor Stand

Functions like a normal armor stand but can hold items in both arms and is completely fireproof.

Commanding Horn

When used, toggles your active servants between Follow, Wander, and Stay modes — a convenient alternative to hitting them with your wand.

Grimoire of Goodwill and Grimoire of Grudges

Right-click the Grimoire of Goodwill on a mob to mark it as friendly — your summoned servants will not attack that mob. Right-click the Grimoire of Grudges on a mob to mark it as an enemy, causing your servants to actively target it.

Scythes

Scythes have sweeping attacks similar to swords, making them effective crowd-control weapons. Pair them with the Grave Glove for maximum attack speed.

Summary

Goety is one of the deepest magic mods available for Modded Minecraft. Starting from humble Wraith-hunting for Ectoplasm, you’ll progress through crafting wands and focuses, building ritual altars, establishing a Soul Network with the Arca, brewing complex custom potions, summoning powerful servants, defeating bosses like the Apostle and the Vizier, and ultimately transforming yourself into an immortal Lich. Take your time with each system — each one feeds naturally into the next — and use JEI (Just Enough Items) with the U key on the Dark Altar to browse every recipe available to you at any stage of progression.

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