If you’re playing Minecraft in Survival Mode, potions can come in handy. You can drink a brew that enhances your melee attacks, your speed, or allows you to breathe underwater. This guide shows you how to make potions in Minecraft — even those you can throw at enemies.
Gamers playing in Creative Mode don’t really need potions, however. Still, they’re fun to create, though the road to obtaining every ingredient manually can be quite long. Your journey includes taking a trip into the Nether, fishing, hunting rabbits, and more.
Gather your materials
The list of materials you need is rather long, five of which reside in the Nether. That means you need to build a portal, enter the underworld, defeat monsters, and find a Nether Fortress without getting lost.
Remember, each block traveled in the Nether equals eight blocks traveled in the Overworld. You may want to consider leaving markers, like torches, that lead you back to the portal. Switching to “Peaceful” mode probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either — at least until you return home.
Nether ingredients
- Blaze Rods – Dropped by Blazes in Nether Fortresses that are used to craft Blaze Powder.
- Ghast Tear – Dropped by Ghasts that hover over lava.
- Magma Cream – Dropped by Magma Cubes or crafted from one (1) Blaze Powder and one (1) Slimeball.
- Nether Wart – Located in Nether Fortresses growing in Soul Sand.
- Soul Sand – Used to grow more Nether Wart in the Overworld (optional).
Overworld ingredients
- Dragon’s Breath – Dropped by an Ender Dragon.
- Glistering Melon – Crafted using one (1) Melon and eight (8) Gold Nuggets.
- Golden Carrot – Crafted using one (1) Carrot and eight (8) Gold Nuggets.
- Phantom Membranes – Dropped by Phantoms.
- Pufferfish – Use a Water Bucket or Fishing Rod to catch.
- Rabbit’s Foot – Dropped by slain Rabbits.
- Spider Eye – Dropped by slain Spiders and Witches.
- Sugar – Crafted using one (1) Sugar Cane.
- Turtle shell – Crafted using five (5) Scutes that are dropped by Baby Turtles.
Overworld potion modifiers
- Fermented Spider Eye – Crafted from one (1) Spider Eye, one (1) Brown Mushroom, and one (1) Sugar.
- Glowstone dust – Mined from Glowstones.
- Gunpowder – Dropped by Creepers, Ghasts, and Witches — also found in chests.
- Redstone – Mined from Redstone Ore.
Craft a Brewing Stand
You can’t make a potion without this required contraption.
Step 1: Open your Crafting Table.
Step 2: Place one (1) Cobblestone each in the three bottom squares in the crafting grid.
Step 3: Place one (1) Blaze Rod in the middle square.
Step 4: Drag the Brewing Stand down into your Hotbar.
Step 5: Select the Brewing Stand and perform the following:
- PC – Right-click on the destination.
- Console – Target the destination and press the Left Trigger button.
- Mobile – Tap on the destination.
Craft a Cauldron (optional)
You’ll need water — why not add a little pool next to your Brewing Stand?
Step 1: Open your Crafting Table.
Step 2: Add seven (7) Iron Ingots to the crafting grid in a “U” formation: Three in the left column, one in the middle column’s bottom square, and three in the right column.
Step 3: Drag the resulting Cauldron down into your Hotbar.
Step 4: Select the Cauldron and perform the following:
- PC – Right-click on the destination
- Console – Target the destination and press the Left Trigger button
- Mobile – Tap on the destination
Craft and fill Glass Bottles
You need something to contain your brewed liquids.
Step 1: Open your Crafting Table.
Step 2: On the crafting grid’s middle row, place one (1) Glass block each in the first and third squares.
Step 3: On the crafting grid’s bottom row, place one (1) Glass block in the second square.
Step 4: Drag the resulting three (3) Glass Bottles down into your Hotbar.
Step 5: Equip a Glass Bottle and do the following next to a body of water:
- PC – Right-click on the water.
- Console – Target the water and press the Left Trigger button.
- Mobile – Tap the water.
Craft Blaze Powder
Your Brewing Stand needs fuel!
Step 1: Open your Crafting Table.
Step 2: Place a Blaze Rod into any crafting grid square.
Step 3: Drag the resulting Blaze Powder (two total) down into your inventory.
Brew an awkward potion
First, you need to brew a “foundation” called an Awkward Potion. It’s like the carbonated water in your favorite cola: Without it, you just have a glass of syrup.
Step 1: Open the Brewing Stand.
Step 2: Place one (1) filled Glass Bottle each into the lower three squares designated with a “bottle” icon.
Step 3: Place one (1) Nether Wart into the top square.
Step 4: Place one (1) Blaze Powder in the square in the top left corner designated with a “fire” icon.
This process converts all three Water Bottles into Awkward Potions. Now you need to add other ingredients to make these Awkward Potions usable. After that, you can add modifiers to make the effects last longer and more powerful.
Potion types
With the Awkward Potions in hand, now comes the awkward puzzle of crafting usable potions.
The list is long, however, so we broke them down into three categories: Positive, Negative, and Mixed. Remember, all potions start with the Awkward Potion you just created. Next to each potion type, we list its main ingredients and overall effects. We also list the modifiers you need to enhance or extend its potency.
For example, you can create a Potion of Fire Resistance by combining an Awkward Potion with Magma Creme in the Brewing Stand. After that, you can place the Potion of Fire Resistance back into the Brewing Stand and add Redstone Dust, thereby extending its duration from three minutes to eight minutes.
Positive Effects
Potion
Ingredients
Effect and Duration
Fire Resistance
Awkward Potion
Magma Cream
3:00
Extended version (+)
Fire Resistance Potion
Redstone Dust
8:00
Healing
Awkward Potion
Glistering Melon
Four health points
Enhanced version (II)
Healing Potion
Glowstone Dust
Eight health points
Invisibility
Night Vision Potion
Fermented Spider Eye
3:00
Extended version (+)
Invisibility Potion
Redstone Dust
8:00
Leaping
Awkward Potion
Rabbit’s Foot
+0.50 for 3:00
Enhanced version (II)
Leaping Potion
Glowstone Dust
+0.50 for 8:00
Extended version (+)
Leaping Potion
Redstone Dust
+1.25 for 1:30
Night Vision
Awkward Potion
Golden Carrot
3:00
Extended version (+)
Night Vision Potion
Redstone Dust
8:00
Regeneration
Awkward Potion
Ghast Tear
+1 health point per 2.5 seconds
for 0:45
Enhanced version (II)
Regeneration Potion
Glowstone Dust
+1 health point per 2.5 seconds
for 1:30
Extended version (+)
Regeneration Potion
Redstone Dust
1 health point per 1.2 seconds
for 0:22
Slow Falling
Awkward Potion
Phantom Membrane
1:30
Extended version (+)
Slow Falling Potion
Redstone Dust
4:00
Strength
Awkward Potion
Blaze Powder
+3 melee damage for 3:00
Enhanced version (II)
Strength Potion
Glowstone Dust
+3 melee damage for 8:00
Extended version (+)
Strength Potion
Redstone Dust
+6 melee damage for 1:30
Swiftness
Awkward Potion
Sugar
+20% movement speed for 3:00
Enhanced version (II)
Swiftness Potion
Glowstone Dust
40% movement speed for 1:30
Extended version (+)
Swiftness Potion
Redstone Dust
+20% movement speed for 8:00
Water Breathing
Awkward Potion
Pufferfish
3:00
Extended version (+)
Water Breathing Potion
Redstone Dust
8:00
Overall, these potions should be drinkable and not used as throwable potions. However, there are cases, like the Splash Potion of Healing, where a throwable comes in handy. It’s merely the Potion of Healing combined with a filled Splash Water Bottle that, ultimately, you can throw at friends with low health.
We provide instructions on how to create throwables later.
Negative Effects
Potion
Ingredients
Effect and duration
Harming
Healing or Poison Potion
Fermented Spider Eye
Damages six points
Enhanced version (II)
Harming Potion
Glowstone Dust
Damages 12 points
Poison
Awkward Potion
Spider Eye
-1 health point per 2.5 seconds
for 0:45
Enhanced version (II)
Poison Potion
Glowstone Dust
1 health point per 1.2 seconds
for 0:21
Extended version (+)
Poison Potion
Redstone Dust
-1 health point per 2.5 seconds
for 1:30
Slowness
Leaping or Swiftness Potion Fermented Spider Eye
-15% speed for 1:30
Enhanced version (II)
Slowness Potion
Glowstone Dust
-15% speed for 4:00
Extended version (+)
Slowness Potion
Redstone Dust
-60% speed for 0:20
Weakness
Awkward Potion
Fermented Spider Eye
Reduced melee damage by four
for 1:30
Extended version (+)
Weakness Potion
Redstone Dust
Reduced melee damage by four
for 4:00
While you can make these potions drinkable using an Awkward Potion base, many of these may be better suited as throwables. We provide instructions on how to make those after listing the third potion type: Mixed effects.
Mixed Effects
Potion
Ingredients
Effects and duration
Turtle Master
Awkward Potion
Turtle Shell
Slowness IV and Resistance III
for 0:20
Enhanced version (II)
Turtle Master Potion
Glowstone Dust
Slowness IV and Resistance III
for 0:40
Extended version (+)
Turtle Master Potion
Redstone Dust
Slowness IV and Resistance IV
for 0:20
Brew a splash potion
Here you want to create a potion you can throw, like poison or slowness, to damage enemies. However, you can also create throwables with positive effects, like healing and strength.
Step 1: Open the Brewing Stand
Step 2: Place one (1) regular potion each into the three bottom squares. In this example, we use potions of poison.
Step 3: Place one (1) Gunpowder into the top square.
Step 4: Place one (1) Blaze Powder in the square in the top left corner designated with a “fire” icon.
Step 5: Drag the new splash potions down into your inventory.
Brew a lingering splash potion
Here we will add a lingering factor to splash potions. This is good for creating a poison cloud.
Step 1: Open the Brewing Stand
Step 2: Place one (1) Splash Potion in one of the three bottom squares. In this example, we use the Splash Potion of Poison.
Step 3: Place one (1) Dragon’s Breath in the top square.
Step 4: Place one (1) Blaze Powder in the square in the top left corner designated with a “fire” icon.
Step 5: Drag the new lingering splash potion down into your inventory.