How to Make a Weakness Potion in Minecraft

Ingredients

Item	Quantity	Source
Fermented Spider Eye	1	Crafted from Spider Eye + Brown Mushroom + Sugar
Blaze Powder	fuel	Crafted from Blaze Rods
Glass Bottle	1-3	Crafted from Glass

Note: Weakness is unique because it does not require an Awkward Potion base. You brew it directly from a Water Bottle. No Nether Wart is needed.

Brewing Chain

1. Fill Glass Bottles with water to get the Water Bottles a batch of Weakness starts from.
2. Add Fermented Spider Eye directly to produce Potion of Weakness (1:30).

Variants

Variant	Modifier	Effect	Duration
Potion of Weakness	-	-4 melee attack damage	1:30
Potion of Weakness (Extended)	Redstone Dust	-4 melee attack damage	4:00
Splash Potion of Weakness	Gunpowder	-4 damage (throwable)	1:07
Lingering Potion of Weakness	Dragon's Breath on Splash	-4 damage (area cloud)	0:22

Weakness has no enhanced (level II) variant.

Splash and Lingering Weakness

Add Gunpowder to a finished Weakness potion to create a Splash Potion of Weakness you can throw. A splash Weakness affects every entity within a small radius on impact, and the Weakness it applies is at full strength where the bottle lands, dropping away with distance until it is nothing four blocks out. Add Dragon's Breath to a Splash Potion of Weakness to create a Lingering Potion of Weakness, which leaves an area-of-effect cloud of Weakness on the ground. A lingering Weakness cloud applies a quarter of the drinkable duration each time it touches you, and it keeps applying that Weakness for as long as the cloud sits there.

Best Uses

• Curing Zombie Villagers: This is the primary use case. Throw a Splash Potion of Weakness at a Zombie Villager, then feed it a Golden Apple to start the curing process. The villager converts back in 3-5 minutes and offers discounted trades afterward. This is the foundation of most efficient trading hall designs.
• PvP: Splash Weakness reduces an opponent's melee damage by 4 points, which can make a significant difference in sword fights.
• Early game brewing: Weakness is one of the easiest potions to brew because it skips the Awkward Potion step entirely, requiring no Nether Wart.

Weakness in exact numbers

Weakness is the only common potion that skips the Awkward step entirely: a Fermented Spider Eye on a plain Water Bottle gives it directly, with no Nether Wart involved anywhere. Its attribute is a flat minus four attack damage per level, which on a fist or a wooden sword takes you below the point where you can meaningfully hit anything at all.

Weakness: what was checked	Value in Java 26.2
What Weakness applies	Weakness, counted as a harmful effect
Weakness base duration	1800 ticks (1:30)
What Weakness changes	attack damage by -4 as a flat value, per level
Weakness particle colour	#484D48, stored as 4738376
Extended Weakness with Redstone Dust	4800 ticks (4:00)
Splash Weakness at the point of impact	1800 ticks (1:30), the whole drinkable clock
Splash Weakness one block away	1351 ticks (1:07.5); distance eats the rest, down to nothing at four blocks
Lingering Weakness cloud	451 ticks (0:22.6), one quarter, re-applied while the cloud sits there
Tipped arrow of Weakness	226 ticks (0:11.3), one eighth, spread across the eight arrows you craft
Brewing Weakness	a Fermented Spider Eye on a Water Bottle

Weakness as a cure, not a weapon

Weakness is brewed straight from a water bottle, and Weakness is the one potion most players make before they own any Nether Wart. Weakness takes four flat damage off an attack per level, which against a player with a netherite sword is half the swing, and against a zombie villager is not the point at all: Weakness plus a golden apple is the cure, and that is what nearly every Weakness bottle in the game is used for. Weakness lasts 90 seconds at base and four minutes extended, and Weakness has no second level.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I cure Zombie Villagers without a brewing stand?

Yes. Witches sometimes throw Splash Potions of Weakness, and you can find them in some loot chests. However, brewing your own is far more reliable.

Does Weakness affect ranged attacks?

No. Weakness only reduces melee attack damage. Bow, crossbow, and trident ranged attacks are unaffected.

Why does the Weakness recipe skip Awkward Potion?

Fermented Spider Eye has a unique interaction with Water Bottles specifically. This is the only case where a Water Bottle produces a useful potion without Nether Wart as a base step.

Why does Weakness not need Nether Wart?

Because it is the only common potion brewed straight from a Water Bottle. A Fermented Spider Eye on plain water gives Weakness directly, with no Awkward Potion in between, which is why it is the one potion you can make before you have ever been to the Nether.

How much damage does Weakness actually take away?

Four attack damage per level, applied as a flat subtraction rather than a percentage. On a fist or a wooden sword that takes you below the point of doing meaningful damage at all, which is exactly why it is the potion used to cure a zombie villager rather than to win a fight.

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Questions about Make a Weakness Potion

What does Make a Weakness Potion come down to?

Note: Weakness is unique because it does not require an Awkward Potion base.

What are the numbers behind Make a Weakness Potion?

The villager converts back in 3-5 minutes and offers discounted trades afterward.

How do you begin Make a Weakness Potion?

Fill Glass Bottles with water to get the Water Bottles a batch of Weakness starts from.

How do the choices in Make a Weakness Potion compare?

For Fermented Spider Eye, the table on this page lists Quantity: 1, Source: Crafted from Spider Eye + Brown Mushroom + Sugar.