In terms of alchemy, Minecraft sparks good curiosity. The game has plenty of different potions we can make with all sorts of exciting effects. But, to make such potions, players must know a thing or two about brewing in Minecraft.
Brewing is the primary process of crafting potions in Minecraft. Although the brewing mechanism of the game works pretty simple, most of the players only catch up to it on a mid to late-game status.
As you’re evolving on the early game, there is no real need for any extra buff for combat and exploration, which is the major purpose of potions in Minecraft. But, potions can come in handy in the late game when planning to take on challenging PvE missions or facing PvP matches.
Potions are also pretty valuable for exploring and increasing productivity in the game. In total, there are about 28 potion effects in Minecraft.
Let’s explore a bit more about potions in the game, their main benefits, categories, and the best potion in Minecraft.
Minecraft Brewing Stand Recipe
- 1 Blaze Rod
- 3 Cobblestone Blocks
Brewing potions require a brewing stand, which you can get on villages, igloos, or by crafting. To craft a brewing stand you’ll need to follow the setting below:
Potions
Deciding the ideal potion for you heavily depends on your play style. As we’ve seen before, Minecraft has 28 different effect potions, and they all fit different gameplay situations. For example, a few are great for combat, while others focus more on productivity.
So, suppose your play style revolves around gathering resources, farming, building, and crafting. In that case, the best potion won’t be the same as for a player who only does PvP matches: different purposes, different potions.
Now, let’s divide potions into categories.
Potions For Combat
In Minecraft, combat depends on a few parameters: the armor’s defensive bonus, the player’s health, damage, and weapon.
Some consumables fit into the combat category of Minecraft, passively enhancing the skills we’ve listed above; these consumables can be food or potions.
In addition, Minecraft has a few combat potions that work more actively, such as poisons and attribute-nerfing throwable potions.
Passive Potions
In the passive category, we’ll have potions that enhance attributes such as health, defensive resistance, and damage. The specific potions and their effects in this category are:
- Potion of Regeneration – Restores 18 health points over time for 45 seconds
- Potion of Regeneration II – Restores 18 health points over time for 22 seconds
- Potion of Regeneration Plus – Can restore up to 48 health points in two minutes
- Potion of Fire Resistance – Immunity over heat-related damage
- Potion of Swiftness – Increases the player’s walking speed and FOV
- Potion of Healing – Instant health recovery. Can restore up to eight HP
- Potion of Strength – Can increase damage by 3 HP per hit
- Potion of Strength II – Increase damage by 6 HP per hit
The potions above are excellent companions in fights. As their name suggests, you can use them for different scenarios. For example, the potion of fire resistance should be highly handy on the Nether, especially when fighting against ghasts or blazes.
Best For PvP
For general PvP situations, the best potion is the potion of swiftness. After consuming this potion, you will have a movement speed advantage of 20% against other players. Consequently, you’ll excel in ranged combat by avoiding most arrows.
Your melee advantage with the potion of swiftness is also highly valuable; you’ll be able to evade blades and strike significantly quicker.
You can brew a potion of swiftness by placing a “sugar” unit on the ingredient’s panel on a brewing stand’s GUI and an “awkward potion” on one of the three bottom panels.
Best For PvE
For PvE, the potion of strength is the best alternative; it’ll make your strikes count a bit more, and with the right weapon, you might kill some mobs with a single hit.
Health potions such as the potion of healing and regeneration are valuable when dealing with specific bosses but aren’t necessary. Alternatively, you can exchange these potions for particular food types that can heal and buff your character.
You can brew a potion of strength by adding blaze powder on the Brewing Stand’s ingredient panel and an “awkward potion” on one of the three bottom panels.
Active Potions
There are a few different potions that you can actively use in combat to either damage or tone down other players. Let’s read a bit more about them:
- Potion of Poison – Causes up to 36 poison damage for 45 seconds. It doesn’t kill the player.
- Potion of Poison II – Causes 38 poison damage for 21 seconds. It doesn’t kill the player.
- Potion of Poison Plus – Causes up to 72 poison damage for 1:30 or 2:00 minutes. It doesn’t kill the player.
- Potion of Weakness – Reduces melee damage by up to 4 health points, lasting for up to 1:30 minutes. The plus version extends to 4 minutes.
- Potion of Slowness – Can reduce movement speed by 15% for one to two minutes. Higher versions of this potion can slow players and mobs by 60% for twenty seconds.
- Potion of Harming – Instantly cuts six health points from players and mobs. Higher versions of this potion can cause up to 12 health damage.
- Potion of Decay – Causes 1 point of decay damage every second for forty seconds. It can kill players.
- Potion of The Turtle Master – Reduces movement speed by 60% but also increases damage resistance in the same proportion. The tier II slow players by 90%, also increasing their resistance by the same amount.
You can drink the potions above. But, by doing so, you’ll receive their harmful effects. The only way of using them for your advantage is by crafting splash potions instead of regular ones.
To craft a splash potion in Minecraft, go on the brewing stand’s GUI and put “gunpowder” on the ingredient’s panel and a potion on the bottom. Then, a process will begin, resulting in a splash potion.
Best For PvP
The best potion to throw at opponents on PvP is the “potion of the turtle master.” The reason is that players will become 90% slower under the potion’s effect, and even though their damage resistance increases, they’ll be easy targets.
You can brew a potion of the turtle master by using a turtle shell on a brewing stand’s GUI ingredient panel and an “awkward potion” on one of the three bottom panels.
Best For PvE
For PvE, the potion of poison is arguably the best alternative since it gradually provides a good amount of damage, with a chance of minimizing the mob’s health points.
You can brew the potion of poison by placing a normal spider eye on a brewing stand’s GUI and an “awkward potion” on one of the three bottom panels.
Potions For Exploring
Among Minecraft’s different play styles, you can choose to spend your gameplay exploring the world. It’s one of the most fun activities in the game since you might stumble across old ruins, guarded treasures, and even underwater shipwrecks.
I’ve made a short list of potions that can be highly helpful when exploring the game world. Their names and effects are:
- Potion of Swiftness
- Potion of Night Vision – Increases the player’s visibility as if every block receives a light level of 15. It lasts for three minutes but can last for up to eight with the “plus” version.
- Potion of Leaping – Reduces fall damage and allows players to jump higher. The superior tier of this potion makes the jump two blocks higher.
- Potion of Water Breathing – Players don’t lose oxygen while underwater. It can last for three minutes but up to eight with the “plus” version.
- Potion of Invisibility – Makes the player invisible; mobs will only detect you at very close range. It can last for three minutes but up to eight with the “plus” version.
- Potion of Slow Falling – The player will fall significantly slower. It lasts for 1:30 minutes but can go up to 4 minutes on higher-tier versions.
- Potion of Luck – Add an extra point to the player’s luck attribute, lasting for five minutes.
All potions above are handy in a bunch of situations while you’re out there exploring.
The Best Potion
Still, the best potion for exploring should fit most situations. In this sense, the best alternative is the potion of slow falling. The reason is that, in Minecraft, you’ll meet a lot of mountains, ravines, and general dangerous heights.
With the slow falling effect, you’ll be able to “control” yourself while falling, making you quickly hover continuously without needing to stop exploring. Moreover, when jumping while sprinting, you’ll hover a bit forward, making you cover more ground, even on plains.
As a result, you’ll have more safety to heights and a greater sprint speed.
Yet, the night vision potion is still worth mentioning, which is highly useful on abandoned mineshafts, caves, and even underwater.
To brew the potion of night vision, open the brewing stand’s GUI and place a golden carrot on the ingredients panel and an “awkward potion” on one of the three bottom panels.
You can craft golden carrots by using a carrot and eight gold nuggets on a crafting table. Follow this setting:
Potions For Productivity
The main activity on Minecraft is conveniently on its name. “Mine” refers to mining and gathering resources, and “craft” refers to using the resources to build something. Mining and crafting can become arduous as the main activities in the game.
Fortunately, you can use various tools, enchantments, and even potions to assist you in this challenging task. I’ve made a list of the most useful potions that can help your productivity in Minecraft; they are:
- Potion of Night Vision.
- Potion of Water Breathing.
- Potion of Slow Falling.
- Potion of Luck.
The few potions above can make a huge difference in your gameplay.
The Best Potion
The best potion for exploration is the “potion of night vision.” The reason is that this potion will enhance your visibility to 15 light levels anywhere you look.
Having complete visibility in dark places is an immense advantage in Minecraft. With this perk, you can spot mineral ores inside of caves quickly, without the need to spend wood and coal to make torches.
Additionally, you can keep gathering resources and crafting at night in the overworld without the need to sleep and wait for the skylight, especially if you play on the Peaceful difficulty.
The complete underwater visibility is an extra and highly weightful advantage of the night vision potion. If you combine it with water breathing and an aqua affinity enchanted helmet, you’ll be able to conquer underwater resources with no problem.
To brew a potion of invisibility, use a fermented spider eye on the brewing stand’s ingredient panel and a “potion of night vision” on one of the three bottom panels.
To get a fermented spider eye, you’ll need a unit of sugar, a brown mushroom, and a normal spider eye. Then, you’ll combine these three items on a crafting table. Follow this setting:
