Status effects are various conditions that affect an entity, which can be either helpful or harmful. Status effects can be inflicted in various ways throughout the game, most commonly from use of food, potions and beacons.
The /effectcommand allows players to inflict effects upon themselves and other players and entities.
Behavior
Any entities inflicted by a status effect will be affected in various ways for an amount of time. During the effect, swirly particles emanate from the position of the inflicted entity. Players can open their inventory to see any current status effects afflicted upon them, as well as its strength and duration. The level of the effect determines its power. The higher the level, the stronger the effect is.
Internally, and in the /effectcommand and potion Amplifier NBT tags, the game stores an "amplifier" value rather than the level. The amplifier is one less than the level, for example Strength II has an amplifier of 1.
Due to the way this amplifier is stored in NBT, amplifiers of 128 to 255 (levels 129 to 256) in NBT tags (e.g. on potions) are treated as if they were −128 to −1 (levels −127 to 0) respectively. The /effectcommand initially applies such amplifiers in their positive-valued sense but this is later converted to the negative-valued interpretation, leading to inconsistent results.
Any number of different status effects can be simultaneously active on a player, even in the case of opposing effects, such as Strength and Weakness. However, it is not possible to apply the same effect multiple times, even if the effects are of different levels (e.g. Strength and Strength II cannot both be active at the same time). In the event of applying an effect already active on the player, the new version of the effect overwrites the old effect, giving a new level and full duration, if the new effect is of equal or greater level.
Note that even with commands, effects cannot be made to last forever. If an effect is set to an excessively large amount of time, such as 182 hours [655200 seconds], it will display as "**:**", but will still continue ticking down and eventually expire.
All of these status effects can be removed by drinking milk. Singleplayer users with cheats enabled and operators in Multiplayer servers can use command /effect with the time of the effect set to 0 or /effect <playername> clear to achieve the same goal.
Blocks, items, and mobs which can produce the effect legitimately in Survival mode. The /effect command can produce all status effects so is not repeated below.
Particle
Color of status effect particle in RGB hexadecimal notation, with a common color name.
ID
Status effect identifying number, used in commands and third-party tools.
Name ID
Status effect identifying name, used in commands and third-party tools.
Absorption
Effect/infobox
Absorbs damage.
Effect
Adds 4 × level "absorption health". Absorption health cannot be replenished by natural regeneration or other effects, and vanishes when the effect ends.
Negative levels do nothing initially, but give 4 × |−level| (that do not vanish) when the effect ends.
Notes
Absorption hearts of a mounted mob can be seen while riding it.
Subtracts 1 × level from attributegeneric.luck, making loot table entries with a high quality score less likely, and entries with negative quality more likely. Currently, only fishing uses quality. The new weight of each entry is floor(base_weight + quality * generic.luck).
Impairs vision as if a thick black fog were surrounding the player. Also prevents sprinting and critical hits.
Notes
The Sun and Moon can be seen as normal. Also, liquids do not fade into the fog perfectly. If combined with Night Vision, the screen will be covered by fog. The radius of the fog around the player is 4.5 blocks.
Most Nether mobs (excluding chickens and skeletons) are naturally resistant to fire and lava without requiring the Fire Resistance status effect. However, Nether mobs can still be damaged by the direct impact from a blaze fireball, while Fire Resistance grants immunity to that.
Increases maximum health by 4 × level. Added hearts will initially appear as damaged until healed.
Negative levels reduce base health, however the entity's actual health is not decreased to the new maximum until damaged or healed.
Notes
Actual health may be above the base value after the effect ends and will not be capped, unless the entity is healed. Extra hearts of a mounted mob can be seen while riding it.
Undead mobs (including the wither) are healed as if with Instant Health instead. Death is reported as "<player> was killed by magic". If the effect is forced to last longer than 1 tick, it will damage entities every tick. Levels 30–32 provide no damage. Amplifiers outside the range 0–31 (corresponding to levels 1–32) are used modulo 32.
Undead mobs (including the wither) are damaged as if with Instant Damage instead. If the effect is forced to last longer than one tick, it will heal entities every tick. Levels 30–32 provide no healing. Amplifiers outside the range 0–31 (corresponding to levels 1–32) are used modulo 32.
Mobs will not attack/sense the player until the player is much closer than normal. A player with no armor will be detected at 7% of the usual detection distance. Any one piece of armor increases this to 17.5% of the usual distance, and each additional piece increases this by another 17.5 percentage points. After detecting the player, a mob will continue to follow as it does when the player is not invisible.
Additional methods of reducing detection by mobs include:
Sneaking reduces the detection range to 80% of usual, and stacks with Invisibility.
Wearing the corresponding mob head reduces the detection range of skeletons, zombies, and creepers to half of usual, and stacks with Invisibility.
Players in Spectator mode see invisible entities as translucent instead.
Increases jump height by about level/8+.46 (jump height is (level+4.2)^2/16, ignoring drag). Reduces fall damage by 1 each level.
Negative levels decrease jump height and increase fall damage (which also causes the player to start taking damage from short falls that would normally do no damage); extreme negative levels will eliminate all jumping ability and will cause damage even when stepping off a slab.
Notes
When at max level, jumping will not be changed but a player will never take fall damage.
At level 16, the increased height exceeds the damage reduction, causing fall damage on landing.
Levitation
Effect/infobox
Floats entities.
Effect
Causes the affected entity to float upwards at a rate of 0.9×level blocks per second.
Does not affect swimming or flying. Negative levels cause the entity to float downwards, overriding the usual falling due to gravity. Fall damage is not affected.
Notes
Additional methods of moving upwards include: flying with elytra, and jumping on a slime block.
Luck
Effect/infobox
Increases chances of high-quality loot.
Effect
Adds 1 × level to attributegeneric.luck, making loot table entries with a high quality score more likely, and entries with negative quality less likely. Currently, only fishing uses quality. The new weight of each entry is floor(base_weight + quality * generic.luck).
Besides the effect on vision, there are no other effects. The effect on vision builds up over the first two seconds of the effect, and then declines over the last two seconds.
Notes
After a zombie villager is cured, the villager gets Nausea for 10 seconds.
Standing in a nether portal affects vision similarly but doesn't actually grant the status effect.
Allows player to see as if light levels were 15 everywhere. Also, increases ability to see underwater.
Notes
Screen flashes for 10 seconds before the effect wears off. If used in the End everything will appear pink. If combined with Blindness, the screen will be covered by fog. If used in the Void, the player will see nothing other than black.
The amount of damage inflicted to the affected entity is shown in the table below:
Level
Ticks per
per second
1
25
0.4
2
12
0.8
3
6*
1.66*
4
3*
3.33*
5+
1*
10*
* Due to damage immunity, the effective rate is 12 ticks ( × 0.8 per second) at levels 3 and 4 and 10 ticks ( × 1 per second) at level 5.
The player's hearts turn yellow-green ( × 10).
Damage is suppressed while the player or mob is already at health, but can resume if healing occurs before the effect expires. Amplifiers outside the range 0–31 (corresponding to levels 1–32) are used modulo 32.
Instantly replenishes 1 () × level and 2 × level points of saturation. If the effect is forced to last longer than one tick, it will increase hunger and saturation each tick.
At levels 7–127, the player will be unable to move unless they jump while moving or throw an ender pearl.
Alternative methods of reducing travel speed include: walking on soul sand or slime blocks, or through cobwebs; swimming; riding a boat on land; sneaking; eating; drinking milk or a potion (travel speed is reduced while drinking any potion, regardless of the effects of the potion after drinking is finished); aiming a bow; blocking with a shield
Swim in lava while having the Fire Resistance effect.
—
20G
Bronze
Free Diver
Stay underwater for 2 minutes
Drink a potion of water breathing that can last for 2 minutes or more, then jump into the water or activate a conduit or sneak on a magma block underwater for 2 minutes.
20G
Silver
Great View From Up Here
Levitate up 50 blocks from the attacks of a Shulker
—
20G
Bronze
Video
This video is outdated, as 6 status effects have been added between 1.6.1 and 1.9.
Effect/video
Status effects were introduced.[1] No potions were added yet, so the only things that caused them were golden apples, raw chicken, rotten flesh and cave spiders.
Actual potions were added and some effects got an alchemical ingredient that correspond to them. Milk was also given the ability to cure and clear all status effects.
1.3.1
12w21a
An enchanted golden apple made from blocks of gold was added, and induced, among others, the formerly unused Resistance status effect.
12w26a
Monster spawners could be customized using third-party world editors and set to spawn mobs with status effects.
1.4.2
12w32a
Night Vision now functions, and a potion and splash potion of Night Vision was implemented and added to Creative mode.
Beacons were also added (to Creative only) and could be used to give status effects to players around it, and several potion effects without a potion could be induced.
Villager zombies under the effects of a potion of Weakness can be given a golden apple to cure it.
12w34a
Invisibility now functions, and turns mobs invisible. Players under its effect cannot be detected by other players. A potion and splash potion of Invisibility was implemented and added to Creative mode.
The Wither effect was added, and it is inflicted by the wither's wither skulls.
12w39a
Using external programs, potions can be changed to give different or multiple effects for any length.
1.5
13w09b
Using /effect you can now apply potion effects to players, with a maximum value of 4
Regeneration and Instant Health were slightly nerfed, having Regeneration heal twice as slow and Instant Health be 33% less potent.
13w23b
Added Health Boost effect. It is activated after eating the 1st tier of the golden apple. The enchanted tier does not give the effect at all.
Regeneration was increased from level 1 to 2 on the normal golden apple, and increased from level 4 to 5 on the enchanted golden apple.
13w24a
Spiders have a rare chance to spawn with status effects on hard difficulty.
13w24b
Added Absorption effect.
Health Boost no longer is activated after eating a golden apple. The Absorption effect is now triggered after eating either tier of the golden apple, and lasts for 2 minutes.
1.6.1-pre
Added Saturation effect.
1.6.2
Extra health from Absorption effect no longer reappears every 30 seconds.
1.7.2
13w36a
Water Breathing potions added.
1.8
14w06a
Added the ability to disable effect particles.
14w25a
Mining Fatigue mechanics adjusted, no longer a 20 percentage point reduction per level.
14w27a
Potion of Leaping was added.
Jump Boost now has bright green particles.
14w28a
Effects now accept named IDs as well as numerical IDs.
1.9
15w31a
Added Levitation status effect, received when the player is hit by a shulker projectile.
Added Glowing status effect, received when players or mobs are hit by spectral arrows.
Status effects are now displayed on the HUD, instead of just in the inventory.
15w33a
Strength and Weakness effects altered.
15w34b
Haste and Mining Fatigue affect the new attackSpeed attribute.
15w44b
New status effects, Luck and Bad Luck.
Tipped arrows will now display the effect's time, same as potions.
Tipped arrows are now able to be obtained in survival.
Duration for /effect command can no longer exceed 1,639 (27 minutes and 19 seconds). Setting a it to a higher value (maximum input value is 1,000,000) would change it back to 27:19. Before 1.12, using a large value would make the duration timer read "**:**".
Status effects were introduced. No potions were added yet, so the only things that caused them were golden apples, raw chicken, rotten flesh and cave spiders.
Actual potions were added and some effects got an alchemical ingredient that correspond to them. Milk was also given the ability to cure and clear all status effects.
Night Vision now functions, and a potion and splash potion of Night Vision was implemented and added to Creative mode.
Beacons were also added and could be used to give status effects to players around it, and several potion effects without a potion could be induced.
Villager zombies under the effects of a potion of Weakness can be given a golden apple to cure it.
Invisibility now functions, and turns mobs invisible. Players under its effect cannot be detected by other players. A potion and splash potion of Invisibility was implemented and added to Creative mode.
The Wither effect was added, and it is inflicted by the wither's wither skulls.
Added Absorption effect, triggered for 2 minutes when consuming either tier of the golden apple.
Added Levitation status effect, received when the player is hit by a shulker projectile.
Issues
Issues relating to "Effect" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia
After drinking a bucket of milk while under the Nausea effect, the screen will flash purple for a tick as if you were standing in a Nether Portal. This is because the game uses the same effect for Nausea as it does for the nether portal.
If you put Speed and Slowness together, you'll be able to sprint.
If you put Blindness and Night Vision together, the screen will turn black and only the sun and moon will be visible.
The maximum health the player can achieve using Health Boost and Absorption is 2068 (1034 hearts).
If you get max health using the method above, and put regeneration level of 255, while healing to 1034 hearts, your view will jolt, even in Creative mode, as if you are taking damage.
If you have at least Resistance 5, then you are practically invincible. (Apart from the /kill command and the void)
Endermen inflicted with Invisibility can still be seen due to the fact that the eyes still glow and a slight outline can be seen from a distance. Similarly, spider eyes will glow.
The Wither effect is the only negative effect that can negatively affect both living and undead mobs.
If you have Regeneration 7 or higher, the void cannot kill you.
The Jump Boost status effect does not make slimes, magma cubes or guardians jump higher.
Speed allows slimes to jump farther. High levels of speed can take slimes out of view with just one jump.
The Levitation status effect will normally rise you into the air. However, if you go into water, you will just flow along with the water, while not floating.
When having multiple status effects, their timer's seconds will always decrement by 1 each simultaneously regardless when the player takes another potion. This is because they use the same "seconds counter" that "ticks" every 20 game ticks to save memory. For example, if the player takes one potion and another potion (different so that they don't reset the timer) 5.5 (or any non-integer amounts) seconds later, their timers will subtract 1 second from both of them simultaneously.
You can walk/run while having the Levitation effect, especially on level 254.
Although the Wither effect is given to the player by being hit by wither skeletons or the wither boss, the icon shows a normal skeleton head instead of a wither skeleton head.
Using /effect <player> minecraft:levitation (Time In Second) 255 will make you fly in Survival and not jump, when the effect is over in Survival when in midair, hitting the ground will cause you to shoot into the air, then the player will most likely die.
Gallery
Regeneration after eating a golden apple before the official update.
Health Boost and Regeneration II after eating a golden apple in 13w23b.
Weakness after drinking a Potion of Weakness.
The maximum amount of health using Health Boost and Absorption.