Whether it's a mana potion in Diablo or a quick espresso in real life, sometimes the right potion makes all the difference. Minecraft is no different – ​​there are some incredibly useful potions you can use to save the day or progress. This guide will walk you through the creation of a brew station, the basics of creating and modifying potions, and a rundown of potions to chase and avoid in Minecraft.
This guide pertains to the Bedrock edition of Minecraft version 1.18, available on Windows 10, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices. Specifications may differ in the Java version of the game.
Make your way to the Nether
To start brewing, you'll need to at least have reached the Nether, which means having a Diamond Pickaxe to mine Obsidian, which is used to make a Nether Portal, and then flint and bait to ignite the portal.
There are a few different Nether-specific ingredients crucial to potion brewing, including Blaze Rods and Nether Wart. Mobs like Magma Cubes and Ghasts also drop materials that can be used to brew specific potions.
To start collecting Blaze Rods, you'll first want to find a Stronghold. This is where enemies called Blazes appear. These floating chandelier-looking mobs will shoot you down. They are very annoying. But killing them will net you a Blaze Rod, a crucial ingredient in brewing. If you really want to make beer potions, you can even craft a Blaze Farm like this one from YouTuber JC Playz:
Nether Wart is also found in Stronghold, though with some Nether Wart and a pile of Soul Sand blocks, you can start your own simple Nether Wart farm to avoid multiple Nether journeys.
Building a Beer Station
Before doing anything else, you'll want to build a brew station. You can find them in a cleric's house in many inhabited villages, or you can make one yourself. The recipe is very simple.
You only need three cobblestone blocks – cobblestone, deep cobblestone slab or black cobblestone stone – and a single Blaze Rod.
This will give you one of these bad boys:
As with real-life brew, you want to prepare all of your ingredients in advance:
- A water fountain – this can be a cauldron filled with water or a water fountain block. A source block can fill unlimited potions, but a cauldron will need to be replenished.
- Lots of Blaze Powder - This is created by bringing Blaze Rods to your crafting table and will be used in all potions you create as fuel.
- Nether Wart - This is the first ingredient used in creating most potions, so you'll want to have plenty on hand.
- Bottles - you can find them in many places, of course, like in inventories of witches you've killed, but it's much easier to do; three glass blocks will yield three potion bottles.
Brewing your first potion
First times are always awkward, and your first potions will be too. Literally. The starting point for all potions except the Potion of Weakness is a Strange Potion, which you'll get with a Bottle of Water and Nether Wart:
This stage is easier if you build a bunch of bottles and fill them in advance. Requiring only glass, water and Nether Wort, they are very cheap in terms of materials; there is no harm in building many.
With a bunch of embarrassing potions on hand, you're ready to start brewing some proper potions. Strange potions act as the basis for effect potions. All first stage Effect Potions have positive effects, except Potions of Weakness. These first stage potions can be enhanced or corrupted to make them more effective or to reverse their effects. We'll delve into actual recipes later in the article, but first let's talk about how to improve and corrupt potions.
Modification: Enhancement and Corruption Potions
To improve a potion, you will add one of two ingredients: Glowstone or Redstone Powder. Redstone dust will extend the duration of a position – for example, fire resistance extends from 3:00 to 8:00. Glowstone Powder will increase the level of a potion. A Healing Potion is Tier I by default and heals four hearts. Glowstone Dust will cause the potion to restore eight hearts. Some potions can only be enhanced for duration, while others can be enhanced for duration or level. A Potion of Healing or Damage can only be increased per level.
To corrupt a potion, which reverses its effect, you will need Fermented Spider Eyes. As you've probably noticed if you've spent at least one night outside your radical Minecraft base, Spider Eyes aren't hard to find, although the Spiders they're attached to are very reluctant to abandon them.
To ferment a spider's eye, combine it with sugar and a brown mushroom:
You will then combine them with the potions from the first stage to tap them: a Potion of Swiftness becomes a Potion of Slowness. Most effects are negative, although one corrupted is the Invisibility Potion, which comes from corrupting a Night Vision Potion.
We now have enough information to go through the list of potions. Here are all the potions you can brew in Minecraft:
Fire Resistance Potion
- Ingredient: magma cream, strange potion
- Effect: Immunity to damage from lava, magma blocks, bonfires, flame attacks.
- Duration: 3:00
- Improved: n/a
- Extended: 8:00
damage potion
- Ingredient(s): Potion of Healing or Poison, Fermented Spider Eye
- Effect: 6 damage (3 hearts), instant
- Duration: n/a
- Enhanced: 12 damage (6 hearts)
- Extended: n/a
Cure Potion
- Ingredient: Shiny Melon Slice, Strange Potion
- Effect: Restore 4 Health (2 Hearts), instant
- Duration: n/a
- Improved: Restore 8 Health (4 Hearts), instant
- Extended: n/a
Invisibility Potion
- Ingredient: Potion of Night Vision, Fermented Spider Eye
- Effect: Makes the player invisible, decreasing the distance at which mobs can detect the player. Armor somehow negates the effects of this potion.
- Duration: 3:00
- Improved: n/a
- Extended: 8:00
Potion of Leap
- Ingredient: Rabbit's Foot, Strange Potion
- Effect: Increases jump height by 1/2 block
- Duration: 3:00
- Improved: Height increases to 1 1/4 blocks, duration decreases to 1:30
- Extended: 8:00
Night Vision Potion
- Ingredient: Golden Carrot, Strange Potion
- Effect: Makes everything appear to be fully lit.
- Duration: 3:00
- Improved: n/a
- Extended: 8:00
Poison Potion
- Ingredient: Fermented Spider Eye, Strange Potion
- Effect: Depletes health by 1 damage (1/2 heart) every 1,25 seconds
- Duration: 0:45
- Enhanced: Increases to 1 damage every 0,4 seconds, duration decreases to 0:21 seconds
- Extended: 1:30
Potion of Regeneration
- Ingredient: Ghast Tear, Strange Potion
- Effect: Restores 1 health (1/2 heart) every 2,5 seconds
- Duration: 0:45
- Enhanced: Restores 1 health (1/2 heart) every 1,2 seconds, duration decreases to 0:22 seconds
- Extended: 1:30
Slow Fall Potion
- Ingredient: Phantom Membrane, Strange Potion
- Effect: fall more slowly, avoiding damage when hitting the ground
- Duration: 1:30
- Improved: n/a
- Extended: 4:00
Slowness Potion
- Ingredient: Potion of Swiftness or Leap, Fermented Spider Eye
- Effect: Decreases player speed to 85%
- Duration: 1:30
- Improved: Decreases player speed to 40%, duration decreases to 0:20 seconds
- Extended: 4:00
Potion of Strength
- Ingrediente: Blaze Powder, Awkward Potion
- Effect: Increases player's attack by 3 damage (1,5 hearts)
- Duration: 3:00
- Improved: Increases attack by 6 damage (3 hearts), duration decreases to 1:30
- Extended: 8:00
Potion of Swiftness
- Ingredient: Sugar, Strange Potion
- Effect: Increases movement speed, sprint speed, and jump length by 20%
- Duration: 3:00
- Improved: Increases the above by 40%, duration decreases to 1:30
- Extended: 8:00
Turtle Master's Potion
- Ingredient: Turtle Shell, Strange Potion
- Effect: Slows movement speed by 60%, reduces damage by 60%
- Duration: 0:20
- Improved: Slow movement speed by 90%, damage reduction by 80%, duration remains at 0:20
- Extended: 0:40
Water Breathing Potion
- Ingredient: Pufferfish, Strange Potion
- Effect: Stops oxygen meter from depleting while underwater.
- Duration: 3:00
- Improved: n/a
- Extended: 8:00
Potion of Weakness
- Ingredient: Potion of Healing or Poison, Fermented Spider Eye
- Effect: 6 damage (3 hearts), instant
- Duration: n/a
- Enhanced: 12 damage (6 hearts), instant
- Extended: n/a
Modification: Splash & Lingering
Any potion made above can be made into a weapon to turn it into a Splash Potion or a Lingering Potion.
By taking the existing potion and adding gunpowder, you can turn it into an area effect potion. In Bedrock, Splash Potion duration is reduced by 25%.
When adding Dragon's Breath to an Enhanced Splash Potion, you can turn it into a Persistent Potion, which acts like a Splash Potion, except it leaves a cloud that remains within a 3 block radius around the splash point. The persistent effect lasts for 30 seconds, and in Bedrock Edition, the effect is only a fraction as powerful, with only 25% of its power unmodified.
Brewing various potions
When talking about brewing multiple potions, this can mean one of two things: manually brewing more than one potion at a time, or setting up an automated brewing system.
You can manually brew up to 3 potions at a time by placing them in the 3 potion slots on the Beer Holder. For example, 3 bottles of water and a Nether Wart will make 3 embarrassing potions.
You can start automating your brewing process by feeding a funnel into the Brewing Stand. Ingredients can be placed on top of the rack in the order of ingredients application and then fed from the Brewing rack through a hopper into a treasure chest. Once you've stocked up on tons of the ingredients needed for potions, you can build a much more complex Brewery operation like this one from YouTuber Silentwisperer:
Now that you know how to brew potions, be sure to enchant some armor and weapons – so you can avoid the many horrible ways to die while exploring and building your house in Minecraft, assuming you can survive the first night.
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