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Potions & Brewing · 4 min read

How to Make a Swiftness Potion in Minecraft

Step-by-step recipe for the Potion of Swiftness (Speed potion) in Minecraft 1.21+. Covers Sugar ingredient, Speed II variant, extended duration, and practical travel tips.

Ingredients

ItemQuantitySource
Sugar1Crafted from Sugar Cane (grows near water)
Nether Wart1Nether Fortress stairwells
Blaze PowderfuelCrafted from Blaze Rods
Glass Bottle1-3Crafted from Glass

Brewing Chain

  1. Fill Glass Bottles with water to get Water Bottles.
  2. Add Nether Wart to brew Awkward Potions.
  3. Add Sugar to produce Potion of Swiftness (3:00).

The Potion of Swiftness grants the Speed status effect. "Swiftness" is the potion name; "Speed" is the effect name. They are the same thing.

Variants

VariantModifierEffectDuration
Potion of Swiftness-Speed (+20 % movement speed)3:00
Potion of Swiftness (Extended)Redstone DustSpeed (+20 %)8:00
Potion of Swiftness IIGlowstone DustSpeed II (+40 %)1:30
Splash Potion of SwiftnessGunpowderSpeed (throwable)2:15
Lingering Potion of SwiftnessDragon's Breath on SplashSpeed (area cloud)0:45

Splash and Lingering Variants

Add Gunpowder to any finished potion to create a Splash Potion you can throw. Splash potions affect all entities within a small radius on impact. Durations for splash variants are reduced to 75 % of the drinkable version. Add Dragon's Breath to a Splash Potion to create a Lingering Potion that leaves an area-of-effect cloud on the ground. Lingering potion durations are 25 % of the drinkable version.

Best Uses

  • Long-distance travel: The 8-minute extended version covers huge distances at +20 % speed. If you sprint on top of Speed, your effective speed increase is roughly +56 % compared to walking.
  • PvP chasing and kiting: Speed II gives a decisive advantage in melee fights and lets you disengage from unfavourable encounters.
  • Nether travel: Since one block in the Nether equals eight blocks in the Overworld, Speed potions in the Nether multiply your effective Overworld travel speed dramatically.
  • Corruption to Slowness: Adding a Fermented Spider Eye produces a Potion of Slowness, useful for debuffing enemies in PvP or slowing mobs for trap setups.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Speed affect swimming and climbing?

Speed increases horizontal movement speed including swimming speed. It does not affect vertical climbing on ladders or vines.

Can I stack multiple Speed potions?

No. Drinking a second Speed potion while one is already active resets the duration to the new potion's timer but does not stack the effect levels. Speed II replaces Speed I.

What is the fastest possible player speed?

Speed II + sprinting + soul speed on an ice highway in the Nether is one of the fastest achievable vanilla speeds. For raw running, Speed II with sprinting reaches about 7.14 m/s compared to the base 4.317 m/s walking speed.

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