Minecraft potions: the complete brewing guide

Brewing basics: how the Brewing Stand works

Potion brewing has been part of Minecraft since 2011 and remains one of the key parts of Survival gameplay. To start brewing you need three things: a Brewing Stand, fuel (Blaze Powder) and Water Bottles.

Brewing Stand

You craft a Brewing Stand at a crafting table from 1 Blaze Rod (middle slot) and 3 Cobblestone (bottom row). You get a Blaze Rod by defeating Blazes in a Nether Fortress, which means brewing requires access to the Nether.

The Brewing Stand interface has the following slots:

• Top slot (ingredient) - this is where you put the ingredient you want to add to the potion
• 3 bottom slots (bottles) - space for Water Bottles or potions; all 3 are processed at the same time
• Left slot (fuel) - space for Blaze Powder, which powers the stand

Each brewing cycle takes exactly 20 seconds. The ingredient in the top slot is used up, but its effect is applied to all 3 bottles at once, so it's always worth brewing 3 potions at a time to save ingredients.

Fuel: Blaze Powder

Since version 1.9 the Brewing Stand needs Blaze Powder as fuel. One Blaze Powder is enough for 20 brewing cycles. Since one Blaze Rod makes 2 Blaze Powder (at a crafting table), a single Blaze Rod gives you as many as 40 brews. The fuel gauge is on the left side of the interface.

Water Bottles

You craft Glass Bottles from 3 blocks of Glass in a V shape at a crafting table (this makes 3 bottles). To fill them with water, right-click a water source or a Cauldron while holding an empty bottle. Water Bottles are the starting point of every potion.

Base ingredients and modifiers

Brewing in Minecraft has three stages: the base (what you add to water), the effect (what gives the potion its properties) and the modifiers (what changes the parameters of a finished potion). Understanding these stages is the key to brewing efficiently.

Stage 1: Base ingredients

You add a base ingredient to a Water Bottle to create one of three bases:

Nether Wart is the most important ingredient in the brewing system. You find it growing on Soul Sand in a Nether Fortress. Be sure to bring a few back and plant them on Soul Sand in your Overworld garden: it grows without light or water, so the farm is very simple. Details are in our step-by-step brewing guide.

Stage 2: Effect ingredients

After making an Awkward Potion, you add the ingredient that gives the potion a specific effect. Here is the full list of effect ingredients:

Stage 3: Modifiers

Modifiers change the parameters of a finished potion. You add them in the Brewing Stand like a normal ingredient:

Positive potions: the full list

Positive potions give the player beneficial effects such as healing, speed or invisibility. They are the core of the brewing system and essential in the later stages of the game.

1. Potion of Regeneration

Ingredient: Awkward Potion + Ghast Tear
Effect: Restores 1 HP every 2.5 seconds (every 1.2 seconds at level II)
Duration: 0:45 (I) | 1:30 (I+) | 0:22 (II)
One of the most important potions in the game. Regeneration II heals fast, which makes it ideal for boss fights. Details: Potion of Regeneration.

2. Potion of Swiftness

Ingredient: Awkward Potion + Sugar
Effect: +20% movement speed (+40% at level II)
Duration: 3:00 (I) | 8:00 (I+) | 1:30 (II)
Sugar is one of the cheapest ingredients. Swiftness is indispensable in PvP and for exploration. Details: Potion of Swiftness.

3. Potion of Strength

Ingredient: Awkward Potion + Blaze Powder
Effect: +3 melee damage (+6 at level II)
Duration: 3:00 (I) | 8:00 (I+) | 1:30 (II)
Strength II paired with a netherite sword (enchanted with Sharpness V) hits hard enough to take down most mobs in a blow or two. Details: Potion of Strength.

4. Potion of Healing

Ingredient: Awkward Potion + Glistering Melon Slice
Effect: Instantly restores 4 HP (8 HP at level II)
Duration: Instant (no duration)
The only potion with an instant healing effect. The splash version is ideal for throwing at your feet in a fight. Healing II restores 8 HP (4 hearts), which is more than a Golden Apple heals. Details: Potion of Healing.

5. Potion of Fire Resistance

Ingredient: Awkward Potion + Magma Cream
Effect: Full immunity to fire and lava damage
Duration: 3:00 (I) | 8:00 (I+) | No level II
An absolute must-have in the Nether. It lets you swim in lava like water and shrug off the fire damage from Blaze fireballs. There is no level II, only the extended variant (8 minutes). Details: Potion of Fire Resistance.

6. Potion of Night Vision

Ingredient: Awkward Potion + Golden Carrot
Effect: Full visibility in the dark and underwater
Duration: 3:00 (I) | 8:00 (I+) | No level II
Removes the darkness in caves and underwater. Saves loads of torches while exploring. Combined with a Potion of Water Breathing it makes a perfect underwater combo. Details: Potion of Night Vision.

7. Potion of Water Breathing

Ingredient: Awkward Potion + Pufferfish
Effect: Breathe underwater with no time limit
Duration: 3:00 (I) | 8:00 (I+) | No level II
Essential for exploring ocean monuments, underwater ruins and treasure hunting. Always bring the extended version (8 min). Details: Potion of Water Breathing.

8. Potion of Invisibility

Ingredient: Potion of Night Vision + Fermented Spider Eye
Effect: Full player invisibility
Duration: 3:00 (I) | 8:00 (I+) | No level II
Note: this potion is made by inverting a Potion of Night Vision with a Fermented Spider Eye. Mobs have a harder time noticing an invisible player (the armor you wear makes you easier to spot). Details: Potion of Invisibility.

9. Potion of Leaping

Ingredient: Awkward Potion + Rabbit's Foot
Effect: +0.5 block of jump height (+1.25 blocks at level II)
Duration: 3:00 (I) | 8:00 (I+) | 1:30 (II)
Leaping II lets you jump over 2.5-block obstacles without building stairs. Useful for parkour and PvP. Details: Potion of Leaping.

10. Potion of Slow Falling

Ingredient: Awkward Potion + Phantom Membrane
Effect: Slow descent, no fall damage
Duration: 1:30 (I) | 4:00 (I+) | No level II
Indispensable in the fight against the Ender Dragon: it protects you from fall damage if the Dragon knocks you off an obsidian pillar. Also handy when exploring End Cities. Details: Potion of Slow Falling.

Bonus: Potion of Luck (Java Edition only)

Availability: Only through commands (/give); there is no brewing recipe
Effect: Increases the chance of better loot from fishing and treasure chests
The Potion of Luck isn't available in normal Survival gameplay; you can only get it with commands in Java Edition. This potion doesn't exist in Bedrock Edition.

Bonus: Potion of the Turtle Master

Ingredient: Awkward Potion + Turtle Shell
Effect: Slowness IV + Resistance III (60% damage reduction)
Duration: 0:20 (I) | 0:40 (I+) | 0:20 (II - Resistance IV = 80% reduction)
A powerful defensive potion that turns you into a "walking tank": it drastically slows your movement but gives a huge damage reduction. At level II it gives 80% reduction, which makes you almost invulnerable for a short time. Details: Potion of the Turtle Master.

Negative potions

Negative potions deal damage or apply harmful effects. As splash and lingering potions they are used against mobs and players (PvP). Some are made by inverting positive potions with a Fermented Spider Eye.

1. Potion of Poison

Ingredient: Awkward Potion + Spider Eye
Effect: Poisoning: drains HP every 1.25 seconds (never kills, leaves you at 1 HP)
Duration: 0:45 (I) | 1:30 (I+) | 0:21 (II)
A splash Poison II is a powerful PvP weapon that quickly drains the opponent's HP down to 1. It doesn't kill, so you have to finish them off with a sword. Details: Potion of Poison.

2. Potion of Weakness

Ingredient: Water Bottle + Fermented Spider Eye (the only potion without an Awkward Potion!)
Effect: -4 melee damage
Duration: 1:30 (I) | 4:00 (I+) | No level II
Key use: throw a splash Weakness at a Zombie Villager and feed it a Golden Apple to cure it back into a normal villager (with reduced trade prices!). Details: Potion of Weakness.

3. Potion of Slowness

Ingredient: Potion of Swiftness or Potion of Leaping + Fermented Spider Eye
Effect: -15% movement speed (-60% at Slowness IV from the Potion of the Turtle Master)
Duration: 1:30 (I) | 4:00 (I+) | No level II
A splash Slowness is great against fast mobs: it slows down Endermen, spiders and players in PvP. Details: Potion of Slowness.

4. Potion of Harming

Ingredient: Potion of Healing or Potion of Poison + Fermented Spider Eye
Effect: Instant -6 HP (-12 HP at level II)
Duration: Instant
A powerful weapon in splash form: Harming II deals 12 HP (6 hearts) of instant damage. To an unarmored player that's more than half the health bar. Fun fact: it heals undead mobs (zombies, skeletons). Details: Potion of Harming.

Potion table

The table below lists the brewable potions covered in this guide, with their ingredients, effects, durations and available variants. Green rows are positive potions, red ones are negative.

* FSE = Fermented Spider Eye. Potions marked "I+" are versions extended with Redstone Dust. The "II" column holds versions strengthened with Glowstone Dust. "-" means that variant doesn't exist.

Brewing chart: the recipe tree

The text diagram below shows the main brewing paths in Minecraft. Each arrow (→) is one brewing cycle (20 seconds). You can find the full interactive chart on the Potion Brewing Chart page.

WATER BOTTLE
    |
    +-- [Nether Wart] --> AWKWARD POTION
    |       |
    |       +-- [Blaze Powder]     --> Strength        --> [Glowstone] Strength II
    |       |                                          --> [Redstone]  Strength I+ (8:00)
    |       |
    |       +-- [Sugar]            --> Swiftness       --> [Glowstone] Swiftness II
    |       |                                          --> [Redstone]  Swiftness I+ (8:00)
    |       |                                          --> [FSE]       Slowness
    |       |
    |       +-- [Glistering Melon] --> Healing         --> [Glowstone] Healing II
    |       |                                          --> [FSE]       Harming
    |       |
    |       +-- [Ghast Tear]       --> Regeneration    --> [Glowstone] Regeneration II
    |       |                                          --> [Redstone]  Regeneration I+ (1:30)
    |       |
    |       +-- [Golden Carrot]    --> Night Vision    --> [Redstone]  Night Vision I+ (8:00)
    |       |                                          --> [FSE]       Invisibility
    |       |
    |       +-- [Magma Cream]      --> Fire Resistance --> [Redstone]  Fire Resistance I+ (8:00)
    |       |
    |       +-- [Pufferfish]       --> Water Breathing --> [Redstone]  Water Breathing I+ (8:00)
    |       |
    |       +-- [Rabbit's Foot]    --> Leaping         --> [Glowstone] Leaping II
    |       |                                          --> [Redstone]  Leaping I+ (8:00)
    |       |                                          --> [FSE]       Slowness
    |       |
    |       +-- [Phantom Membrane] --> Slow Falling    --> [Redstone]  Slow Falling I+ (4:00)
    |       |
    |       +-- [Turtle Shell]     --> Turtle Master   --> [Glowstone] Turtle Master II
    |       |                                          --> [Redstone]  Turtle Master I+ (0:40)
    |       |
    |       +-- [Spider Eye]       --> Poison          --> [Glowstone] Poison II
    |                                                  --> [Redstone]  Poison I+ (1:30)
    |                                                  --> [FSE]       Harming
    |
    +-- [Fermented Spider Eye] --> WEAKNESS (the only one without Awkward!)
            |
            +-- [Redstone] --> Weakness I+ (4:00)

ANY FINISHED POTION:
    +-- [Gunpowder]        --> Splash Potion (thrown)
    +-- [Dragon's Breath]  --> Lingering Potion (cloud; needs a splash potion)
          

Splash, Lingering and Tipped Arrows

Splash Potions: throwable potions

Adding Gunpowder to any finished potion turns it into a splash version. You throw Splash Potions with a right click, and when they hit the ground or a mob they create an effect in a radius of 4 blocks. The effect is strongest at the point of impact and weakens with distance.

• A splash potion's effect lasts 75% as long as the normal potion's
• A splash Healing II at your feet is the fastest way to heal yourself in a fight
• A splash Weakness on a Zombie Villager + a Golden Apple = a cured villager (essential!)
• A splash Harming II deals 12 HP of instant damage, a powerful PvP weapon

Lingering Potions: effect clouds

Adding Dragon's Breath to a splash potion makes a Lingering Potion. When you throw it on the ground it creates an effect cloud that lingers for a while and affects everyone who walks through it. The effect it applies lasts 1/4 as long as a normal potion's.

You get Dragon's Breath by collecting the Ender Dragon's breath (the purple particles) with an empty glass bottle. You need many bottles, because each one collects just a single item. The easiest time to collect it is while re-summoning the Dragon - see the details in the Dragon respawn guide.

Tipped Arrows: arrows with effects

A Lingering Potion + 8 arrows at a crafting table = 8 Tipped Arrows with that effect. It's the only way to craft tipped arrows (other than buying them from fletcher villagers). Tipped arrows are a powerful ranged weapon: an Arrow of Harming II deals the arrow's damage + 12 HP of instant damage from the effect.

In Bedrock Edition you can also make tipped arrows by dipping regular arrows into a cauldron filled with a potion (4 arrows per cauldron). Details: Tipped Arrows.

Automatic brewing stands

Manual brewing is time-consuming: each cycle takes 20 seconds, and many potions need 3-4 cycles. Fortunately, redstone and hoppers let you automate the whole process.

A basic automatic stand

The simplest automatic brewing system uses hoppers to feed in ingredients and take out finished potions:

1. Hopper above the stand (top) - feeds ingredients into the top slot
2. Hopper below the stand (bottom) - collects finished potions into a chest. Hoppers automatically pull out the finished potions
3. Hopper on the side - feeds in Blaze Powder as fuel
4. Redstone timer - a 20-second repeater clock measures the brewing time and switches the hoppers

An advanced multi-stand setup

For mass potion production, build a system with several Brewing Stands in a row. Each stand handles one brewing stage:

• Stand 1: Water Bottle + Nether Wart → Awkward Potion
• Stand 2: Awkward Potion + effect ingredient → finished potion
• Stand 3: Finished potion + modifier (Redstone/Glowstone) → upgraded potion
• Stand 4: Upgraded potion + Gunpowder → splash potion

Hoppers connect the stands into a pipeline, so the finished product from one stand goes straight to the next. With four stands and the right timer, the whole process from water to splash potion takes about 80 seconds, with no input from the player. You can read more about building systems like this in the hopper guide.

Using potions tactically

Knowing which potions to brew is half the battle. The other half is knowing when and how to use them. Below are potion kits for the most important situations in the game.

Ender Dragon kit

• Potion of Slow Falling I+ (4:00) - top priority; if the Dragon knocks you off an obsidian pillar, this potion protects you from the fall damage
• Potion of Regeneration II - heals the damage from the Dragon's breath and from Endermen
• Splash Healing II (3-4) - instant healing at critical moments
• Potion of Strength II - shortens the fight, with more sword damage once the Dragon perches

Wither kit

• Splash Healing II (6-8) - the Wither's attacks apply the Wither effect, which drains your health over time, so instant healing is your best answer
• Potion of Strength II - in the second phase of the fight (below 50% HP) the Wither is immune to arrows, so you have to fight in melee
• Potion of Regeneration II - tops up your healing between splash bottles
• Potion of Swiftness II - lets you run from the Wither's skulls and catch up to it quickly
• Enchanted Golden Apples - an emergency backup; they give Absorption IV + Regeneration II

PvP kit (fighting players)

• Splash Harming II - an instant burst of damage: 12 HP against an unarmored player
• Potion of Strength II + Swiftness II - an offensive combination; you dominate melee and can't be caught
• Splash Poison II - drains the opponent's HP to 1, then finish them with a sword
• Splash Slowness - makes escape impossible
• Potion of Fire Resistance I+ - neutralizes lava casting and Fire Aspect swords
• Arrow of Harming II (Tipped Arrows) - the strongest arrows in the game

Exploration kit

• Night Vision I+ (8:00) - caves without torches
• Water Breathing I+ (8:00) - ocean monuments, underwater ruins
• Fire Resistance I+ (8:00) - the Nether without stress
• Swiftness I+ (8:00) - fast exploration on the surface
• Slow Falling I+ (4:00) - exploring End Cities, mountain biomes

Curing zombie villagers

This is one of the most important uses of potions in the game: curing zombie villagers gets you lower trade prices:

1. Make a Splash Weakness (Water Bottle + Fermented Spider Eye + Gunpowder)
2. Throw the splash potion at the zombie villager
3. Give it a Golden Apple (right-click)
4. Wait 2-5 minutes (it shakes and makes sounds); after the transformation it has reduced prices
5. Repeating the process (infecting and curing again) lowers prices further, down to 1 emerald for many trades

FAQ: common questions about potions

Related pages

Summary

Potion brewing is a system that greatly improves your chances of survival in Minecraft. To sum up the most important rules:

1. Nether Wart is the foundation - almost every potion needs an Awkward Potion as its base. Plant a farm on Soul Sand as early as you can
2. Brew 3 bottles at a time - the ingredient in the top slot works on all 3 bottles at once
3. Redstone vs Glowstone - extending vs strengthening. You can't have both. In PvP strengthening (II) is usually better, in exploration extending (I+)
4. Fermented Spider Eye inverts effects - remember the 4 paths: Night Vision → Invisibility, Healing → Harming, Swiftness/Leaping → Slowness, Poison → Harming
5. Splash → Lingering → Tipped Arrows - that is the order of modifications; you can't skip stages
6. Must-haves for bosses: Slow Falling (Dragon), splash Healing II (Wither), Fire Resistance (Nether)
7. Automation: hoppers + redstone clocks let you build fully automatic production lines

If you're just starting out with potions, read our step-by-step brewing guide, and you'll find the full recipe chart on the brewing chart page. Happy brewing.