Potions are brewable items that imbue the consumer with specific, time limited effects in Minecraft.
Obtaining
Potion brewing chart (most efficient recipes, excludes splash potions).
Witches
Witches drop Potions of Healing, Fire Resistance, Swiftness and Water Breathing, but only when they die while drinking that potion.
Fishing
Water bottles may be caught as junk when fishing.
Filling bottles
Using a glass bottle on water source block or a cauldron that has water will turn it into a water bottle. Using a glass bottle on a cauldron that contains potion will turn it into a bottle of that potion.[Pocket Edition only] Using a glass bottle on a cauldron also removes 1⁄3 of that cauldron's contents.
Brewing
Almost all potions can be obtained by brewing, starting with the water bottle as the base.
The Potion of Luck[Computer Edition only] and the Potion of Decay[Pocket Edition only] cannot be brewed, and can only be obtained by commands such as /give @p minecraft:potion 1 0 {Potion:luck}, or through the creative inventory.
Natural generation
Two Instant Health II potions can be found in a brewing stand on ships in end cities, and one Potion of Weakness can be found in a brewing stand in igloo basements.
Usage
Potions have a different effect according to their damage value, with the exception of reverted potions being identical to their base potions.
Potions can be used by pressing and holding use, similarly to eating food. Upon using, they will apply the corresponding status effect to the player.
Tiers
Potions have four tiers, those being base, extended, level II, and reverted. On most potions, extended is obtained by adding a piece of redstone to the potion in the brewing stand, while level II requires a glowstone dust. If an extended potion receives a glowstone dust, or a level II potion receives a piece of redstone, it will change to the other effect if available, or become a reverted potion.
Most potions can also be "corrupted" using a fermented spider eyes, which usually inverts the effect (for example: Swiftness to Slowness). Corrupted potions have the same four tiers as normal potions, and tiers are usually kept after corruption.
In the Console Edition, there are bars underneath each potion. One means it is weak, the second means glowstone added, the third means redstone added, and the fourth means both (creative only).
Base potions
Base potions are potions that are created first to brew into other potions. Base potions have no effect when you drink them.
| Icon | Name | DV | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water Bottle | 0 | The starting point for every potion. | |
| Awkward Potion | 16 | The base for all potions except for the Potion of Weakness (this potion can be made by only fermented spider eyes). | |
| Thick Potion | 32 | No use. | |
| Mundane Potion | 64 | No use. |
Primary potions
Note, that the duration of tier II potion is always half the duration of its base potion, and the duration of extended tier I potion is 8/3 the duration of base.
Potions with positive effects
| Icon | Name | Duration | DV | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potion of Regeneration | 0:45 | 8193 | Restores 18 | |
| Potion of Regeneration | 1:30 2:00[Legacy Console and Pocket editions only] |
8257 | Restores 36 | |
| Potion of Regeneration II | 0:22.5 | 8225 | Restores 18 | |
| Potion of Swiftness | 3:00 | 8194 | Increased speed by 20% and increased FOV (6.6 meters per second sprinting). | |
| Potion of Swiftness | 8:00 | 8258 | ||
| Potion of Swiftness II | 1:30 | 8226 | Increased speed by 40% and increased FOV (8 meters per second sprinting). | |
| Potion of Fire Resistance | 3:00 | 8195 | Gives immunity to damage from all heat-related damage | |
| Potion of Fire Resistance | 8:00 | 8259 | ||
| Potion of Healing | Instant | 8197 | Restores 4 | |
| Potion of Healing II | Instant | 8229 | Restores 8 | |
| Potion of Night Vision | 3:00 | 8198 | Visually brightens everything to a light level of 15, brightens up water with a blue shine, brightens up lava with an orange shine (other players cannot see the enhanced lighting without this effect). | |
| Potion of Night Vision | 8:00 | 8262 | ||
| Potion of Strength | 3:00 | 8201 | Increases melee damage by 3 Increased melee damage by 130%.[Legacy Console and Pocket editions only] | |
| Potion of Strength | 8:00 | 8265 | ||
| Potion of Strength II | 1:30 | 8233 | Increases melee damage by 6 Increased melee damage by 260%. (+130 percentage points every tier)[Legacy Console and Pocket editions only] | |
| Potion of Leaping | 3:00 | 8203 | Allows the player to jump higher and reduces fall damage. | |
| Potion of Leaping | 8:00 | 8267 | ||
| Potion of Leaping II | 1:30 | 8235 | Further increases jump height (over 2 blocks) and reduces fall damage | |
| Potion of Water Breathing | 3:00 | 8205 | Prevents the oxygen bar from decreasing and slightly increases visibility while underwater. | |
| Potion of Water Breathing | 8:00 | 8269 | ||
| Potion of Invisibility | 3:00 | 8206 | Makes player model disappear. Mobs will act neutral towards the player, unless the player is wearing armor (See status effects for specifics on armor). In splash form it is able to make mobs or other players invisible. Armor, items held in hand, arrows stuck into the player, a pig's saddle, a llama's carpet pattern, a shulker's yellow head and the eyes of spiders and enderman are not affected and are still visible. | |
| Potion of Invisibility | 8:00 | 8270 | ||
| Potion of Luck [Computer Edition only] [upcoming] |
5:00 | — | Increases the luck attribute by 1 point. |
Potions with negative effects
| Icon | Name | Duration | DV | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potion of Poison | 0:45 | 8196 | Causes up to 36 | |
| Potion of Poison | 1:30 2:00[Legacy Console and Pocket editions only] |
8260 | Causes up to 72 | |
| Potion of Poison II | 0:21.6 0:22.5[Legacy Console and Pocket editions only] |
8228 | Causes up to 38 | |
| Potion of Weakness | 1:30 | 8200 | Reduces melee damage by 4 Reduces melee damage by 0.5 (0.25 heart).[Legacy Console and Pocket editions only] | |
| Potion of Weakness | 4:00 | 8264 | ||
| Potion of Slowness | 1:30 | 8202 | Slows players and mobs by 15%. (+ 15 percentage points every tier), (4.75 blocks per second sprinting) | |
| Potion of Slowness | 4:00 | 8266 | ||
| Potion of Harming | Instant | 8204 | Damages 6 | |
| Potion of Harming II | Instant | 8236 | Damages 12 | |
| Potion of Decay [Pocket Edition only] |
0:40 | – | Damages 10 |
Unbrewable potions
This class of potions exist in the game code and are functional, but cannot be brewed. They are extended and empowered versions of existing potions, but the brewing process normally only allows for one of the two to take precedence. Thus, these potions result from custom data values that place both effects on the potion. The data values for these potions are essentially the values of the original potions added by 96 (e.g. the data value for Potion of Strength (8201) + 96 = 8297 (the data value of Potion of Strength II (extended))) See the table below for the complete set of what is included.
| Icon | Name | Duration | DV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Potion of Regeneration II | 1:00 | 8289 | |
| Potion of Swiftness II | 4:00 | 8290 | |
| Potion of Strength II | 4:00 | 8297 | |
| Potion of Poison II | 1:00 | 8292 |
Unused potions
The uncraftable potion is a potion with no effect that is unobtainable in survival. It is also available in splash potion and lingering potion forms, as well as for tipped arrows. Its use is unknown.
It can be obtained using the following command: /give @p minecraft:potion 1 0 {Potion:"minecraft:empty"}. It is also obtained any time a potion has invalid or missing potion effect tags.
| Icon | Name | DV |
|---|---|---|
| Uncraftable Potion | 373 |
Filling cauldrons
Using a potion on a cauldron will add one level of that potion to the cauldron.[Pocket Edition only] Attempting to add a potion to a cauldron with water, dyed water or a non-matching potion will empty the cauldron.
Using a water bottle on a cauldron will add one level of water to the cauldron.[Pocket Edition only] Attempting to add water to a cauldron with potion will empty the cauldron.
Custom effects
Potions can be obtained with any status effect using /give and the tag CustomPotionEffects, which is an array of effects for the potion. See Item format#Potion Effects for more information, and status effect for a list of effects and IDs.
Data values
Potions have a data value of 373, and an ID name of minecraft:potion. They use their item data to determine which potion effect is applied.
Item data
Potions use an NBT "Potion" tag to indicate the potion type. The values of the tag (to be prefixed with minecraft:) are:
| Potion | Regular | Level II | Extended |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uncraftable Potion | empty | – | – |
| Water Bottle | water | – | – |
| Mundane Potion | mundane | – | – |
| Thick Potion | thick | – | – |
| Awkward Potion | awkward | – | – |
| Night Vision | night_vision | – | long_night_vision |
| Invisibility | invisibility | – | long_invisibility |
| Leaping | leaping | strong_leaping | long_leaping |
| Fire Resistance | fire_resistance | – | long_fire_resistance |
| Swiftness | swiftness | strong_swiftness | long_swiftness |
| Slowness | slowness | – | long_slowness |
| Water Breathing | water_breathing | – | long_water_breathing |
| Instant Health | healing | strong_healing | – |
| Harming | harming | strong_harming | – |
| Poison | poison | strong_poison | long_poison |
| Regeneration | regeneration | strong_regeneration | long_regeneration |
| Strength | strength | strong_strength | long_strength |
| Weakness | weakness | – | long_weakness |
| Luck | luck | – | – |
Achievements
| Icon | Achievement | In-game description | Actual requirements (if different) | Gamerscore earned | Trophy type (PS4) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS4 | Other | |||||
| Local Brewery | Brew a potion. | Pick up a potion from a brewing stand potion slot. An already-created potion placed and removed qualifies. | 15G | Bronze | ||
Videos
History
| beta | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 7, 2010 | Alchemy was first hinted by Notch when he explained why redstone ore disintegrates into "dust". He states that dust will be used later in potions. | ||||
| release | |||||
| 1.0.0 | Beta 1.9-pre2 | Jeb tweeted a screenshot showing potion durations and glass bottles.[1] | |||
| Potions were brewed using cauldrons,[2] by combining ingredients and other potions in cauldrons. Cauldrons, although they were functional and could be used to brew potions, were unavailable in this update. | |||||
| In total there were 161 possible potion combinations, and 2,653 different types of potions.[3] | |||||
| Jeb later tweeted that both he and Notch had come up with a different way to brew potions, which was revealed to be brewing stands.[4] | |||||
| 1.3.1 | 12w22a | Potions are added in the creative inventory. | |||
| 1.4.2 | 12w32a | Added Potion of Night Vision. It is unbrewable. | |||
| 12w34a | Added Potion of Invisibility. | ||||
| Potions of Night Vision are now brewable. | |||||
| 12w38a | Witches cast potions at players and can rarely drop potions upon death. | ||||
| 12w39a | Potions are customizable using NBT editors or MCEdit. | ||||
| 1.6.1 | Potions of weakness now reduce damage by half hearts, instead of 1 heart as it was before | ||||
| 1.7.2 | 13w36a | Added Potion of Water Breathing. | |||
| Water bottles can be obtained as one of the "junk" items by fishing. | |||||
| 1.8 | 14w27a | Added Potions of Leaping. | |||
| 1.8.1 | 1.8.1-pre1 | Potion of Leaping can now be extended. | |||
| 1.9 | 15w31a | Numeric IDs are no longer used. Instead an NBT "Potion" tag is used, e.g. /give <target> minecraft:potion 1 0 {Potion:"minecraft:swiftness"}. See here for the old numeric IDs.
| |||
| Splash potions now have a separate data value and ID name. | |||||
| Added Mundane, Thick and Awkward potions to the creative inventory. | |||||
| Mixed potions' colors now blend. | |||||
| Splash water bottles can be used to extinguish fires. | |||||
| 15w33a | Lingering potions added. | ||||
| Dragon's Breath added. | |||||
| Duration of extended Potion of Poison, extended Potion of Regeneration, and Potion of Poison II reduced. | |||||
| Potion of Strength changed from 130% increase to 3-point increase. | |||||
| Potion of Weakness changed to 4-point decrease, was 0.5-point decrease. | |||||
| 15w44b | Potion of Luck added. | ||||
| Added the uncraftable potion. | |||||
| 1.11 | 16w38a | Uncraftable Potion is now magenta, has no glint, and is obtained anytime a potion is specified with invalid or missing potion effect tags. | |||
| Due to the water bottle without tags being changed to uncraftable potion, the brewing icon is also changed to uncraftable potion in creative inventory. | |||||
| Removed uncraftable potion from creative inventory. | |||||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| 0.12.1 | build 1 | Added potions. | |||
| 0.16.0 | build 4 | As a version exclusive, added Potions of Decay. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU7 | CU1 | 1.0 | Patch 1 | Added potions. | |
| TU14 | 1.04 | Added Potion of Night Vision and Potion of Invisibility. | |||
| TU31 | CU19 | 1.22 | Patch 3 | Added Potion of Leaping and Potion of Water Breathing. | |
Issues
Issues relating to "Potion" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia
- Taking a potion while already under the effects of the same potion does not add onto the effects time, but simply resets it. A potion effect will not "downgrade" if a lower level is activated. For example, if a player has Regeneration II, drinking a regular Potion of Regeneration will not have any effect.
- A potion can reach a maximum tier of 127, but using the
/effectcommand, effect levels can reach 255. - When a player drinks two potions by quickly switching to another potion immediately after drinking one, the second drinking animation will not be shown.
- An Instant Damage IV potion is powerful enough to instantly kill players.
- Potion of Poison II lasts for 22.5 seconds, but it is displayed as 22 seconds because the item hover display only shows rounded-down integer values.
- All potions are renewable. The bottles can be obtained from a witch (as can some potions), Glass can be purchased from Librarian Villagers to craft into bottles, and already filled ones can be fished up. All potion ingredients from then on have renewable ingredients, provided blocks of farmland, water and soul sand exist in the world.
- Potions of Harming will not harm undead mobs (Zombies, Skeletons, etc.) and instead heals them. Likewise, Potions of Healing will damage undead mobs.
- Potions of Poison and Potions of Regeneration will not harm undead mobs, but will not heal them either.
- If you use Night vision potion in the End, the Endermen and Ender portal will appear to be white when far enough away.
Gallery
Thick Potion with status effects of "Mining Fatigue" (duration 4:00) and "Instant Health II" (brewed in Beta 1.9 Pre-release 2, now unavailable without commands).
Invisible sheep. Its wool can still be seen while having an invisibility potion. This is an intended feature.[5]
References
External links



![Invisible sheep. Its wool can still be seen while having an invisibility potion. This is an intended feature.[5]](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/minecraft_gamepedia/images/0/0e/Invisible_sheep.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/120?cb=20120824154136)

