Guard Wolves

Transform your tamed wolves into guard wolves that patrol and defend your territory

A Denizen script for Minecraft that enables tamed wolves to guard specific locations without following you, complete with smart AI and combat behavior.

Features

Core Functionality

• 🛡️ Guard Mode Toggle - Right-click with a stick to enable/disable guard mode
• 🎯 Smart AI - Wolves patrol within a 15-block radius and automatically return to their guard point
• ⚔️ Combat System - Detects and attacks hostile mobs within range
• 🔄 Automatic Recovery - Teleports stuck wolves back to their guard point with invulnerability
• 📋 Wolf Management - List all your wolves with status, health, location, and armor indicators

Combat Behavior

• ✅ Attacks hostile mobs within 15 blocks
• ❌ Never attacks players
• ❌ Never attacks creepers (prevents explosions)
• ❌ Never attacks passive animals

Installation

Requirements

• Minecraft 1.20.5 or higher
• Denizen plugin installed on your server

Setup

1. Download guard_wolves.dsc
2. Place it in your server's plugins/Denizen/scripts/ folder
3. Restart your server or run /denizen reload scripts
4. Verify installation with /denizen scripts - you should see guard_wolves_command, guard_wolf_startup, guard_wolf_toggle, guard_wolf_combat, and guard_wolf_wander

Usage

Enabling Guard Mode

1. Tame a wolf
2. Position the wolf where you want it to guard
3. Right-click the wolf with a stick
4. The wolf will guard a 15-block radius around that location

Disabling Guard Mode

1. Right-click the guarding wolf with a stick
2. The wolf becomes tamed again and will follow you

Commands

Command	Aliases	Description
/guard_wolves list	/gw ls	List all your wolves with status, health, location, and armor 🛡️
/guard_wolves toggle_logs	/gw tl	Enable/disable debug logs for troubleshooting

Example output:

========== Your Wolves (5) ==========
• Fang 🛡️ (Pale) ❤ 32/40 GUARDING at -487,78,-18,world
• Rex (Ashen) ❤ 20/20 Following at 123,65,456,world
• Scout (Woods) ❤ 8/8 Sitting at -200,70,300,world

How It Works

Guard Mode Mechanics

When a wolf enters guard mode:

• Owner is removed (prevents following/teleporting)
• Max health set to 40 HP (tamed wolf stats)
• Current health is preserved
• Wolf becomes persistent (won't despawn)
• Movement speed remains natural
• Guard point saved at current location

AI Behavior

The AI runs every 8 seconds for each guard wolf:

1. Distance Check - Monitors distance from guard point
2. Return Logic - Walks back slowly if >15 blocks away
3. Stuck Detection - Teleports wolf home if stuck for 1+ minute
4. Home Check - Every 2 minutes, teleports if >3 blocks away for 4+ minutes
5. Combat Scan - Every 2 seconds, detects nearby hostile mobs

Teleport Safety

All teleports include:

• 3 seconds of invulnerability
• Protection from fall damage
• Protection from suffocation
• Protection from mob attacks

Health System

• Guard wolves cannot be healed with meat (shows warning message)
• Must disable guard mode to heal

Death Notifications

When a guard wolf dies, you receive:

⚠ Guard wolf died: Fang (Pale) at -487,78,-18,world - killed by Zombie

Configuration & Customization

Adjusting Guard Radius

Edit the 15 value in these lines:

- define nearby_mobs <[wolf].location.find_entities[monster].within[15]>
- if <[distance]> > 15:

Changing Return Speed

Edit line 468:

- walk <[wolf]> <[safe_center]> speed:0.3

Lower = slower (0.1-1.0 range)

Customizing Visual Effects

Guard Mode Enable: Edit particle effects and glowing duration around line 241 Guard Mode Disable: Edit particle effects around line 194

Changing Health Values

Edit the max health (default 40):

- adjust <[wolf]> max_health:40

Adjusting Timers

# Combat scan frequency (line 294)
on delta time secondly every:2

# AI loop frequency (line 305)
on delta time secondly every:8

# Stuck timeout (line 442)
- if <[time_stuck]> > 60:  # 60 seconds

# Home check timeout (line 410)
- if <[time_away]> > 120:  # 120 seconds

Troubleshooting

Wolf isn't attacking mobs

• Enable debug logs: /gw tl
• Check if wolf is in combat mode in logs
• Verify mob is hostile and not a creeper
• Ensure mob is within 15 blocks

Wolf keeps teleporting

• Check debug logs for stuck/home check messages
• Wolf may be in an area with poor pathfinding
• Consider placing guard point in more open area

Wolf health not saving

• Check that server restarts cleanly (not crashed)
• Verify Denizen is saving flags properly
• Health saves every 8 seconds during AI cycles

Can't heal guard wolf

• This is intentional! Disable guard mode first with a stick
• Then feed the wolf meat to heal
• Re-enable guard mode after healing

Wolf moving too fast/slow

• The script doesn't modify base movement speed
• Combat and natural movement use vanilla speeds

Technical Details

• AI Frequency: Every 8 seconds
• Combat Scan Frequency: Every 2 seconds
• Guard Radius: 15 blocks
• Home Radius: 3 blocks (for stuck detection)
• Return Walk Speed: 0.3
• Stuck Timeout: 60 seconds
• Home Check Timeout: 240 seconds
• Invulnerability Duration: 3 seconds (after teleport)

Credits

Created by Robbe Verhelst

Built with Denizen Script

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details

Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Ideas for Future Enhancements

• Custom guard messages/alerts
• Wolf formations/groups
• Territory claiming integration
• Experience/leveling system
• Different guard behaviors (aggressive/passive/defensive)
• Integration with other protection plugins

Support

Found a bug? Have a suggestion? Open an issue!