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Potions & Brewing

Complete Minecraft Potion Brewing Guide

Full guide to every brewable potion in Minecraft Java Edition 1.21+. Covers the brewing stand, all ingredients, base potions, positive and negative effects, durations, splash and lingering variants, and tipped arrows.

12 min read14 sectionsJava & Bedrock1.21

Brewing Stand Basics

Every potion in Minecraft starts at the Brewing Stand. You craft one from three Cobblestone and one Blaze Rod. The stand has three bottle slots at the bottom, an ingredient slot at the top, and a fuel slot on the left that accepts Blaze Powder. Each piece of Blaze Powder fuels 20 brewing operations.

The general brewing workflow is: fill up to three Glass Bottles with water at any water source, place them in the stand, add Nether Wart to brew Awkward Potions, then add the effect ingredient. Most useful potions follow this Water Bottle to Awkward Potion to final potion chain. A few exceptions exist: the Potion of Weakness brews directly from a Water Bottle plus a Fermented Spider Eye, and Mundane and Thick potions are made with standalone ingredients but have no practical use on their own.

Base Potions

PotionIngredientUse
Water BottleGlass Bottle + water sourceStarting material for all potions
Awkward PotionNether WartBase for almost every effect potion
Mundane PotionVarious (Redstone Dust, Sugar, etc.)No direct use
Thick PotionGlowstone DustNo direct use

Positive Effect Potions

These potions grant beneficial effects to the player or any mob they hit in splash form.

PotionIngredientEffectDurationExtendedEnhanced
Night VisionGolden CarrotFull brightness vision3:008:00-
InvisibilityFermented Spider Eye on Night VisionInvisible to mobs (armor still shows)3:008:00-
LeapingRabbit's FootJump Boost3:008:00Jump Boost II (1:30)
Fire ResistanceMagma CreamImmune to fire and lava3:008:00-
SwiftnessSugarSpeed3:008:00Speed II (1:30)
Water BreathingPufferfishBreathe underwater3:008:00-
HealingGlistering Melon SliceInstant HealthInstant-Instant Health II
RegenerationGhast TearRegeneration0:451:30Regeneration II (0:22)
StrengthBlaze Powder+3 melee damage3:008:00Strength II, +6 damage (1:30)
Slow FallingPhantom MembraneFall slowly, no fall damage1:304:00-

Negative Effect Potions

PotionIngredientEffectDurationExtendedEnhanced
PoisonSpider EyePoison (drains HP, can't kill)0:451:30Poison II (0:21)
WeaknessFermented Spider Eye on Water Bottle-4 melee damage1:304:00-
SlownessFermented Spider Eye on Swiftness/LeapingSlowness1:304:00Slowness IV (0:20)
HarmingFermented Spider Eye on Healing/PoisonInstant DamageInstant-Instant Damage II

Mixed Effect Potions

PotionIngredientEffectDurationExtendedEnhanced
Turtle MasterTurtle ShellSlowness IV + Resistance III0:200:40Slowness VI + Resistance IV (0:20)

Modifiers

After brewing the base effect potion, you can modify it further:

  • Redstone Dust -- extends the duration of most timed potions. Does not work on instant potions (Healing, Harming).
  • Glowstone Dust -- increases the potency (e.g. Speed to Speed II) but usually halves the duration. Mutually exclusive with Redstone on the same potion.
  • Gunpowder -- converts the potion into a throwable Splash Potion.
  • Dragon's Breath -- converts a Splash Potion into a Lingering Potion with an area cloud effect.

How to Get Brewing Ingredients

Most brewing ingredients come from the Nether. Nether Wart grows in Nether Fortress stairwells and can be farmed on Soul Sand in any dimension. Blaze Rods drop from Blazes found in Nether Fortresses. Ghast Tears drop from Ghasts. Magma Cream drops from Magma Cubes or can be crafted from Blaze Powder and a Slimeball. Overworld ingredients include Sugar from Sugar Cane, Spider Eye from Spiders, Rabbit's Foot from Rabbits, Pufferfish from fishing, and Phantom Membrane from Phantoms that spawn when you skip sleep for three or more in-game days.

Fermented Spider Eye

The Fermented Spider Eye is crafted from a Spider Eye, Brown Mushroom, and Sugar. It is the key corruption ingredient that inverts or negates potion effects: Night Vision becomes Invisibility, Healing becomes Harming, Swiftness/Leaping becomes Slowness, Poison becomes Harming, and a Water Bottle becomes Weakness.

Splash and Lingering Potions

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.

You can also craft Tipped Arrows by surrounding a Lingering Potion with eight Arrows in a crafting table, producing eight tipped arrows per craft.

Brewing Tips

  • Always brew in batches of three. The brewing stand processes all three bottle slots at once with one ingredient.
  • Keep a chest of Nether Wart and Blaze Powder near your stand so you never run out mid-session.
  • Label your potions with item frames or signs. Potion colours are easy to mix up.
  • For PvP, prioritise Strength II, Speed II, and Instant Health II. For PvE exploration, Fire Resistance and Night Vision are the most universally useful.
  • Lingering Potions are the only way to craft Tipped Arrows, so save your Dragon's Breath for arrows you actually need.

The four trial chamber potions

Four potions arrived with the trial chambers and none of them behaves like anything older in the stand: they do nothing while they run, or almost nothing, and pay out when the carrier dies. Each has its own page with the exact figures: the Wind Charging potion leaves a three block wind burst, the Oozing potion leaves two small slimes, the Weaving potion leaves two to three cobwebs and doubles your speed through them, and the Infestation potion throws out silverfish on one hit in ten. All four brew from an Awkward Potion, all four run for 3600 ticks, and none of them accepts Redstone Dust or Glowstone Dust.

Every brewing step in the game, in one list

This is the complete set of brewing conversions, including the ones almost nobody uses. It shows something the usual chain diagrams leave out: nearly every effect ingredient has a second recipe where the same item on a plain Water Bottle produces a Mundane Potion instead. Sugar on water is not a mistake that does nothing, it is a Mundane Potion, and that is why a misplaced ingredient costs you a bottle rather than warning you.

IngredientGoes onGives
Glowstone Dusta Water Bottlea Thick Potion
Redstone Dusta Water Bottlea Mundane Potion
Nether Warta Water Bottlean Awkward Potion
a Breeze Roda Water Bottlea Mundane Potion
a Breeze Rodan Awkward Potionthe Wind charged potion
a Slime Blocka Water Bottlea Mundane Potion
a Slime Blockan Awkward Potionthe Oozing potion
Stonea Water Bottlea Mundane Potion
Stonean Awkward Potionthe Infested potion
a Cobweba Water Bottlea Mundane Potion
a Cobweban Awkward Potionthe Weaving potion
a Golden Carrotan Awkward Potionthe Night vision potion
Redstone Dustthe Night vision potionthe extended Night vision potion
a Fermented Spider Eyethe Night vision potionthe Invisibility potion
a Fermented Spider Eyethe extended Night vision potionthe extended Invisibility potion
Redstone Dustthe Invisibility potionthe extended Invisibility potion
Magma Creama Water Bottlea Mundane Potion
Magma Creaman Awkward Potionthe Fire resistance potion
Redstone Dustthe Fire resistance potionthe extended Fire resistance potion
a Rabbit's Foota Water Bottlea Mundane Potion
a Rabbit's Footan Awkward Potionthe Leaping potion
Redstone Dustthe Leaping potionthe extended Leaping potion
Glowstone Dustthe Leaping potionthe Leaping II potion
a Fermented Spider Eyethe Leaping potionthe Slowness potion
a Fermented Spider Eyethe extended Leaping potionthe extended Slowness potion
Redstone Dustthe Slowness potionthe extended Slowness potion
Glowstone Dustthe Slowness potionthe Slowness II potion
a Turtle Shellan Awkward Potionthe Turtle master potion
Redstone Dustthe Turtle master potionthe extended Turtle master potion
Glowstone Dustthe Turtle master potionthe Turtle master II potion
a Fermented Spider Eyethe Swiftness potionthe Slowness potion
a Fermented Spider Eyethe extended Swiftness potionthe extended Slowness potion
Sugara Water Bottlea Mundane Potion
Sugaran Awkward Potionthe Swiftness potion
Redstone Dustthe Swiftness potionthe extended Swiftness potion
Glowstone Dustthe Swiftness potionthe Swiftness II potion
a Pufferfishan Awkward Potionthe Water breathing potion
Redstone Dustthe Water breathing potionthe extended Water breathing potion
a Glistering Melon Slicea Water Bottlea Mundane Potion
a Glistering Melon Slicean Awkward Potionthe Healing potion
Glowstone Dustthe Healing potionthe Healing II potion
a Fermented Spider Eyethe Healing potionthe Harming potion
a Fermented Spider Eyethe Healing II potionthe Harming II potion
Glowstone Dustthe Harming potionthe Harming II potion
a Fermented Spider Eyethe Poison potionthe Harming potion
a Fermented Spider Eyethe extended Poison potionthe Harming potion
a Fermented Spider Eyethe Poison II potionthe Harming II potion
a Spider Eyea Water Bottlea Mundane Potion
a Spider Eyean Awkward Potionthe Poison potion
Redstone Dustthe Poison potionthe extended Poison potion
Glowstone Dustthe Poison potionthe Poison II potion
a Ghast Teara Water Bottlea Mundane Potion
a Ghast Tearan Awkward Potionthe Regeneration potion
Redstone Dustthe Regeneration potionthe extended Regeneration potion
Glowstone Dustthe Regeneration potionthe Regeneration II potion
Blaze Powdera Water Bottlea Mundane Potion
Blaze Powderan Awkward Potionthe Strength potion
Redstone Dustthe Strength potionthe extended Strength potion
Glowstone Dustthe Strength potionthe Strength II potion
a Fermented Spider Eyea Water Bottlethe Weakness potion
Redstone Dustthe Weakness potionthe extended Weakness potion
a Phantom Membranean Awkward Potionthe Slow falling potion
Redstone Dustthe Slow falling potionthe extended Slow falling potion

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I brew potions in Bedrock Edition with the same recipes?

Yes. All potion recipes listed here work identically in Bedrock Edition. The only minor differences are in how the UI displays brewing progress and some tooltip text.

Do potions stack in my inventory?

No. Each potion occupies one inventory slot. Splash and Lingering variants also do not stack. Plan your inventory space before heading into a fight.

What is the fastest way to farm Blaze Powder?

Build a Blaze farm at a Nether Fortress spawner. A simple platform with a funnel to a killing chamber can produce hundreds of Blaze Rods per hour, giving you more than enough Blaze Powder for both fuelling the stand and crafting ingredients like Magma Cream and Strength potions.

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Questions about Complete Minecraft Potion Brewing

What does Complete Minecraft Potion Brewing come down to?

The stand has three bottle slots at the bottom, an ingredient slot at the top, and a fuel slot on the left that accepts Blaze Powder.

How do the choices in Complete Minecraft Potion Brewing compare?

For Water Bottle, the table on this page lists Ingredient: Glass Bottle + water source, Use: Starting material for all potions.

What goes wrong with Complete Minecraft Potion Brewing?

Keep a chest of Nether Wart and Blaze Powder near your stand so you never run out mid-session.

Complete Minecraft Potion Brewing: what does base potions mean here?

The general brewing workflow is: fill up to three Glass Bottles with water at any water source, place them in the stand, add Nether Wart to brew Awkward Potions, then add the effect ingredient.

Complete Minecraft Potion Brewing Guide: Full guide to every brewable potion in Minecraft Java Edition 1.21+. Covers the brewing stand, all ingredients, base potions, positive and negative effects, durations, splash and lingering variants, and tipped arrows.
Complete Minecraft Potion Brewing Guide, from the Potions & Brewing guides on Astroworld.

Blocks and items in this guide

Glistering Melon Slice in MinecraftGlistering Melon SlicePhantom Membrane in MinecraftPhantom MembraneBrown Mushroom in MinecraftBrown MushroomCrafting Table in MinecraftCrafting TableGlowstone Dust in MinecraftGlowstone DustBrewing Stand in MinecraftBrewing StandGolden Carrot in MinecraftGolden CarrotRedstone Dust in MinecraftRedstone Dust

All 8 of these are named in the Complete Minecraft Potion Brewing guide above, starting with Glistering Melon Slice. Look them up in the item database.

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