Have you ever wondered how to craft and effectively use a Minecraft brewing stand? Potions in Minecraft are invaluable tools designed to assist you through challenging situations, grant powerful status effects, or hinder your enemies. For instance, the Potion of Weakness is famously used not only to debuff hostile mobs but, more importantly, to cure zombie villagers. To create these potent concoctions, you first need to understand the brewing stand recipe and how to harness its capabilities.
While Minecraft enchantments are excellent for upgrading your tools, weapons, and armor, combining them with the right potions provides the best possible preparation for any adventure. Whether you’re venturing across the expansive overworld, journeying through a Nether Portal, or bravely facing The End, this comprehensive guide will equip you with all the knowledge you need about using Minecraft potions to ensure your survival.
Crafting Your Minecraft Brewing Stand
To craft a Minecraft brewing stand, you’ll need one Blaze Rod and any three stone blocks. Arrange the three stone blocks along the bottom or middle row of your 3×3 crafting table grid, then place the Blaze Rod in the central slot of the row directly above the stone. That’s it! You’ve successfully created a brewing stand. The recipe itself is quite straightforward; the real challenge lies in obtaining a Blaze Rod, which drops from Blazes found in Nether Fortresses.
Alternatively, if you wish to avoid the dangers of the Nether early on, you can sometimes find and acquire a brewing stand from a Minecraft village. Look for a tall, church-like structure, often the home of a Minecraft cleric, and you might find a brewing stand inside. Remember to use a pickaxe to break it, or it won’t drop! Brewing stands can also be discovered in End City ships, but if you’ve progressed that far without one, you’re likely already quite formidable!
How to Use a Minecraft Brewing Stand
- Fill 1-3 glass bottles with water from either a cauldron or any water source.
- Place the water bottle(s) into the bottom three slots of the brewing stand interface.
- Place your base ingredient into the top slot.
- Ensure you have Blaze Powder in the designated fuel slot to power the brewing process.
- Repeat these steps, adding modifiers as needed, until you have your desired potion.
The Best Minecraft Potions for Survival
With a wide array of potions offering distinct effects, the ‘best’ choice often depends on your current situation and planned adventure. However, some potions consistently prove more valuable for general survival and common challenges:
- Splash Potion of Weakness: Incredibly useful for curing zombie villagers when combined with a golden apple.
- Extended Potion of Water Breathing: Perfect for easily exploring underwater ruins and monuments, granting up to eight minutes of aquatic freedom.
- Extended Potion of Night Vision: Pairs well with water breathing for deep-sea dives, and is essential for navigating the Deep Dark to avoid the terrifying Wardens.
- Extended Potion of Fire Resistance: An absolute must-have for mining in the Nether, exploring dangerous Y-levels in the overworld, or battling Blazes. Provides immunity to fire, lava, and magma damage.
- Enhanced Potion of Healing: Crucial for major boss battles, offering instant health restoration to significantly boost your chances of survival.
All Minecraft Potion Recipes Explained
Minecraft potion recipes demand a variety of ingredients, ranging from everyday farm produce and mob drops to rare items found only in the fiery Nether. Below is a comprehensive list of all Minecraft potions currently available in the game:
- Awkward potion
- Mundane potion
- Thick potion
- Splash potions
- Lingering potions
- Enhanced potions
- Extended potions
- Potion of Fire Resistance
- Potion of Invisibility
- Potion of Harming (+)
- Potion of Healing (+)
- Potion of Leaping (+)
- Potion of Night Vision
- Potion of Poison (+)
- Potion of Regeneration (+)
- Potion of Slow Falling
- Potion of Slowness (+)
- Potion of Strength (+)
- Potion of Swiftness (+)
- Potion of the Turtle Master (+)
- Potion of Water Breathing
- Potion of Weakness
Don’t be overwhelmed by the list! Many are foundational or situational. For top picks for general survival, refer back to our ‘Best Minecraft Potions’ section. Remember to always start with the brewing stand recipe and understand how to brew effectively!
Awkward Potion
Ingredients: Nether wart, water bottle.
The Awkward Potion is the cornerstone of all advanced potion-making. It serves as the base for almost every useful potion. Instead of combining your desired ingredient directly with a water bottle (which often results in useless mundane or thick potions), you must first brew an Awkward Potion, and then add your primary ingredient to it. By itself, the Awkward Potion provides no effect – living up to its name!
Mundane Potion
Ingredients: Blaze powder, ghast tear, Redstone dust, rabbit’s foot, glistering melon slice, sugar, spider eye, or magma cream, and a water bottle.
The Mundane Potion has no practical use in Minecraft. Brewing these items with a water bottle directly serves as a warning – it’s a waste of valuable ingredients. These items are meant to be added to an Awkward Potion to create beneficial effects. Always ensure you’ve brewed an Awkward Potion first!
Thick Potion
Ingredients: Glowstone dust, water bottle.
Similar to the Mundane Potion, the Thick Potion also has no functional use. Glowstone is a powerful modifier, as you’ll learn below, used to enhance existing potions. If added directly to a water bottle, it simply creates a useless Thick Potion. Timing and order are crucial in brewing!
Splash Potions
Ingredients: Gunpowder, any brewed potion.
To transform any standard potion into a splash potion, simply place the brewed potion back into the brewing stand and add gunpowder. Unlike drinkable potions, splash potions are thrown – either at your own feet for instant self-application or at another entity. This method is much faster for activation but carries the risk of misaiming or affecting the wrong target. However, it’s the only way to apply potion effects to other players or mobs.
Lingering Potions
Ingredients: Dragon’s breath, any splash potion.
By combining the rare Dragon’s Breath (obtained from the Ender Dragon) with any splash potion in a brewing stand, you can create a lingering potion. When thrown, a lingering potion leaves a cloud of particles on the ground for a short duration, applying its status effect to any entity that passes through it. Note that lingering potions have only a quarter of the duration of their standard counterparts.
Enhanced Potions
Ingredients: Glowstone dust, any potion with a (+) listed above.
Adding Glowstone dust to a potion after its initial brewing can enhance its power. Not all potions can be enhanced, so always check the recipes or experiment cautiously in-game. Enhanced potions provide a stronger effect but often come with a reduced duration.
Extended Potions
Ingredients: Redstone dust, any potion (except Harming or Healing).
Adding Redstone dust to a potion after brewing significantly extends its duration, offering a more cost-effective and hotbar-friendly solution than carrying multiple potions. However, you cannot both extend and enhance a potion, so choose your priority wisely!
Potion of Fire Resistance
Ingredients: Magma cream, Awkward Potion.
Essential for any trip into the Nether or encounters with fiery Blazes, the Potion of Fire Resistance is also incredibly useful when mining deep in the overworld. This powerful potion grants immunity to damage from blazes, campfires, fire, lava, and magma blocks for three minutes. Accidentally mined into lava? Chug a fire resistance potion! Facing a Blaze spawner? Drink up before the battle begins!
You can extend this potion’s duration from three to eight minutes by placing one to three fire resistance potions back into the brewing stand with fuel and Redstone dust. You also have a chance of acquiring a Potion of Fire Resistance when trading with Piglins.
Potion of Invisibility
Ingredients: Fermented spider eye, Potion of Night Vision.
Combine a fermented spider eye with a Potion of Night Vision to make the user invisible for three minutes. Be aware that this only affects your character; items, equipment, and effect particles will still be visible. In multiplayer, remember to crouch to hide your nametag, as it too can give you away!
You cannot enhance the Invisibility Potion, but you can extend its duration to eight minutes by adding Redstone dust after brewing.
Potion of Harming
Ingredients: Fermented spider eye, Potion of Healing, or Potion of Poison.
The Potion of Harming is one of the few potions intended for offensive use. When applied to an enemy, it inflicts instant damage equal to three hearts. Since you can’t force-feed enemies, it’s best to convert this into a splash potion for combat. You can also craft it by combining a fermented spider eye with either a Potion of Healing or a Potion of Poison.
You can enhance this potion with Glowstone dust to deal a massive 12 health points of damage.
Potion of Healing
Ingredients: Glistering melon slice, Awkward Potion.
This potion provides the Instant Health effect, restoring eight health points (four hearts) instantly upon consumption.
Enhancing this potion with Glowstone dust creates Instant Health II, which instantly restores 16 health points (eight hearts).
Potion of Leaping
Ingredients: Rabbit’s foot, Awkward Potion.
Granting the jump boost effect for three minutes, this potion increases your jump height by half a block. While not always critical in standard survival, it becomes more useful when enhanced.
Enhancing this potion allows you to jump over an additional full block, making traversing vertical terrain much easier. Alternatively, you could extend the effects to eight minutes, though this isn’t usually as beneficial in a typical single-player world.
Potion of Night Vision
Ingredients: Golden carrot, Awkward Potion.
This potion illuminates your surroundings to maximum light levels, even underwater. It’s incredibly useful for exploring ocean ruins, monuments, or any dark areas.
The Night Vision Potion cannot be enhanced with Glowstone dust, as it won’t yield any additional effect. However, you can extend its duration to eight minutes by adding Redstone dust.
Potion of Poison
Ingredients: Spider eye, Awkward Potion.
As its name suggests, the Potion of Poison inflicts the poison status effect, similar to eating raw chicken. This gradually reduces the affected entity’s health by half a heart every 1.25 seconds, down to a minimum of half a heart (it won’t kill them outright). The effect typically lasts 45 seconds, meaning if you reach half a heart, any health regenerated will still be lost during the remaining duration.
By adding Redstone dust, you can extend the poison effect to two minutes. Alternatively, you can enhance it with Glowstone dust to create Poison II, which depletes health by half a heart every 0.4 seconds for 22 seconds.
Potion of Regeneration
Ingredients: Ghast tear, Awkward Potion.
This potion restores one health point (half a heart) every 2.5 seconds and lasts for 45 seconds. The choice between regeneration and instant healing depends on the situation; regeneration is often preferred for prolonged engagements, such as battles against tough bosses like the Wither.
You can extend the Potion of Regeneration to last two minutes by brewing it with Redstone dust. Or, you can enhance it with Glowstone dust to restore health twice as fast (one health per 1.2 seconds), but this will reduce the potion’s duration to 22 seconds.
Potion of Slow Falling
Ingredients: Phantom Membrane, Awkward Potion.
Phantom Membranes are a rare resource, acquired only by defeating Phantoms, and can also be used to repair damaged elytra. However, if you have a few spares, a Potion of Slow Falling can be a lifesaver, especially when exploring the new vast Minecraft world heights. With this effect, your descent will be slowed, completely preventing fall damage upon landing.
Extend the Slow Falling Potion’s effects with Redstone dust, increasing its duration from one and a half minutes to four, ideal for extended aerial exploration. Slow Falling cannot be enhanced.
Potion of Slowness
Ingredients: Fermented spider eye, Potion of Swiftness, or Potion of Leaping.
If you ever find yourself in a desperate chase, whether from hostile mobs or mischievous multiplayer friends, this potion is your solution. The Potion of Slowness reduces the affected entity’s speed to 85% for one and a half minutes. You can also craft it by combining a fermented spider eye with either a Potion of Swiftness or a Potion of Leaping.
Brew it again with Glowstone dust to enhance the potion, slowing the recipient down to a crawl at just 40% speed for 20 seconds. Alternatively, extend its normal effect to four minutes with Redstone dust.
Potion of Strength
Ingredients: Blaze powder, Awkward Potion.
The Strength effect significantly boosts your melee attacks, increasing damage dealt by three (one-and-a-half hearts) for three minutes. This is incredibly useful when facing powerful opponents.
Extend the potion’s duration by placing it back into the brewing stand with Redstone dust, granting eight minutes of enhanced strength. Alternatively, enhance it with Glowstone dust to increase damage dealt by six (three hearts), but for a shorter duration of only one and a half minutes.
Potion of Swiftness
Ingredients: Sugar, Awkward Potion.
Experience a sugar rush that boosts your movement speed, sprint speed, and jump distance by 20% for three minutes.
The Potion of Swiftness can be extended to eight minutes by adding Redstone dust, or enhanced with Glowstone dust to increase those stats by a significant 40%, reducing the effect’s duration to a minute and a half.
Potion of the Turtle Master
Ingredients: Turtle shell, Awkward Potion.
This unique potion provides a fascinating dual effect: Resistance III, a strong positive effect, is counterbalanced by Slowness IV, reducing your speed by 60%, for 20 seconds. Despite the slowdown, the 60% damage reduction can be incredibly valuable in intense combat situations.
When enhanced, the effects escalate to Resistance IV and Slowness VI, slowing you by a massive 90% but reducing damage by 80%, all while maintaining the 20-second duration. Alternatively, you can extend the duration of the standard effects to 40 seconds.
Potion of Water Breathing
Ingredients: Pufferfish, Awkward Potion.
This potion allows you to explore underwater freely for three minutes, preventing your oxygen bar from depleting. Combine it with a Potion of Night Vision (and perhaps the Aqua Affinity enchantment) for an unparalleled underwater exploration experience.
You can extend the Water Breathing effects to eight minutes by adding Redstone dust, but this potion cannot be otherwise enhanced.
Potion of Weakness
Ingredients: Fermented spider eye, Awkward Potion.
Despite its negative effect, the Potion of Weakness is one of the most widely used potions in the game. Beyond its standard effect of reducing an enemy’s melee attack by four (two hearts) for one and a half minutes, it serves a crucial specific purpose: curing zombie villagers. By using this potion on a zombie villager, combined with a golden apple, you can restore them to their normal villager status.
For its general use against enemies, you can extend the duration of the Potion of Weakness to four minutes, though this isn’t necessary when curing a zombie villager.
Essential Brewing Equipment
- Brewing Stand: The central tool for combining ingredients into water bottles to create potions.
- Cauldron: Can hold one bucket of water, enough to fill three glass bottles, or store three bottles of a single potion.
- Blaze Powder: Acts as the fuel source for the brewing stand, essential for the brewing process to work.
- Glass Bottle: The container for your potions. Fill it with water at a source to create a water bottle, and it returns to a glass bottle once the potion is consumed.
- Water Bottle: The initial base for all potion recipes, created by filling a glass bottle from a water source or cauldron.
Now you’re fully equipped with the knowledge to craft (or cleverly acquire) a brewing stand and create all the Minecraft potions you desire. Beyond curing zombie villagers with potions and apples in the survival game, explore other useful crafting recipes like the Minecraft anvil or blast furnace to perfectly kit out your Minecraft house for any adventure!