You can brew 19 kinds of potions in Minecraft: 11 helpful ones and 8 harmful ones. Almost all of them start the same way, with a Water Bottle and Nether Wart. Below you will find what to add in the Brewing Stand, how long each potion lasts, how to extend or strengthen it, and how to turn it into a splash or lingering version. The tables apply to Java 26.3 and Bedrock 26.50+ (Wilderness Bound drop, September 2026), and the differences between the editions are listed separately.
What you need to brew potions
The core of it all is the Brewing Stand. You craft it from one Blaze Rod in the top middle and three Cobblestone in the bottom row. Blackstone or Cobbled Deepslate work in place of Cobblestone. You can find the shapes of other blocks in our crafting recipes guide.
- Blaze Rod drops from Blazes in a Nether Fortress. One rod gives you 2 Blaze Powder.
- Blaze Powder is the fuel for the stand. One piece lasts for 20 batches.
- Glass Bottle: 3 Glass in a V shape make 3 Glass Bottles.
- Water Bottle: fill a Glass Bottle from a water source or from a Cauldron.
- Nether Wart also grows in Nether Fortresses.
The routine is always the same. Put Blaze Powder into the fuel slot, one to three bottles into the bottom slots and the ingredient into the top slot. One batch takes 20 seconds. You can happily put three different potions into the three bottom slots, because one ingredient modifies each of them separately.
Awkward Potion: the base of almost everything
When you add Nether Wart to a Water Bottle, you get an Awkward Potion. It does nothing on its own, but it is the starting point for almost every potion with an effect.
Watch out for dead ends. If you add an effect ingredient straight to a Water Bottle, for example Redstone Dust, Sugar, a Ghast Tear or Blaze Powder, you get a Mundane Potion. Glowstone Dust gives you a Thick Potion instead. In Java you cannot brew anything further from either of them. Gunpowder turns a Water Bottle into a Splash Water Bottle.
The only exception is the Potion of Weakness. It is brewed without Nether Wart: a Water Bottle plus a Fermented Spider Eye.
Recipes for helpful potions
You always add the ingredient to an Awkward Potion unless the table says otherwise. Durations are from Java 26.3 in the format minutes:seconds. The Redstone column is the extended version, the Glowstone column is the strengthened level II version.
| Potion | Ingredient | Base | + Redstone | + Glowstone | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potion of Healing | Glistering Melon Slice | instant | – | instant II | +4 health (2 hearts), II: +8 |
| Potion of Fire Resistance | Magma Cream | 3:00 | 8:00 | – | immunity to fire, lava, magma blocks and Blaze fireballs |
| Potion of Regeneration | Ghast Tear | 0:45 | 1:30 | 0:22 | 1 health every 2.5 s, II: every 1.25 s |
| Potion of Strength | Blaze Powder | 3:00 | 8:00 | 1:30 | +3 melee damage, II: +6 |
| Potion of Swiftness | Sugar | 3:00 | 8:00 | 1:30 | speed +20%, II: +40% |
| Potion of Night Vision | Golden Carrot | 3:00 | 8:00 | – | you see as if in full light, even underwater |
| Potion of Invisibility | Fermented Spider Eye added to a Potion of Night Vision | 3:00 | 8:00 | – | you are invisible, but your gear is still visible |
| Potion of Water Breathing | Pufferfish | 3:00 | 8:00 | – | your air supply does not run down |
| Potion of Leaping | Rabbit’s Foot | 3:00 | 8:00 | 1:30 | jump +50%, II: +150% |
| Potion of Slow Falling | Phantom Membrane | 1:30 | 4:00 | – | you fall slowly and take no fall damage |
| Potion of the Turtle Master | Turtle Shell (the helmet) | 0:20 | 0:40 | 0:20 | Slowness IV + Resistance III (−60% speed, −60% damage); II: Slowness VI + Resistance IV (−90% / −80%) |
You craft a Glistering Melon Slice from 8 Gold Nuggets around a Melon Slice, a Golden Carrot from 8 Gold Nuggets around a Carrot and Magma Cream from Blaze Powder and a Slimeball.
Harmful potions and newer additions
Harmful potions are mostly useful as splash potions, because you want to hit an enemy, not yourself. The last four rows of the table are newer potions (oozing, weaving, infestation and wind charging) that you will not find in older guides.
| Potion | Recipe | Base | + Redstone | + Glowstone | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potion of Poison | Awkward Potion + Spider Eye | 0:45 | 1:30 | 0:21 | takes 1 health every 1.25 s, II: every 0.6 s; it cannot kill, it stops at 1 health |
| Potion of Weakness | Water Bottle + Fermented Spider Eye | 1:30 | 4:00 | – | −4 melee damage |
| Potion of Harming | Fermented Spider Eye added to a Potion of Healing or Poison | instant | – | instant II | 6 damage (3 hearts), II: 12 |
| Potion of Slowness | Fermented Spider Eye added to a Potion of Swiftness or Leaping | 1:30 | 4:00 | 0:20 (Slowness IV) | speed −15%, IV: −60% |
| Potion of Oozing | Awkward Potion + Slime Block | 3:00 | – | – | when you die, 2 medium Slimes spawn from you |
| Potion of Weaving | Awkward Potion + Cobweb | 3:00 | – | – | when you die, 2–3 Cobwebs spawn, and you move faster through Cobwebs |
| Potion of Infestation | Awkward Potion + Stone | 3:00 | – | – | when you take damage, a 10% chance that 1–2 Silverfish spawn |
| Potion of Wind Charging | Awkward Potion + Breeze Rod | 3:00 | – | – | when you die, a gust of wind bursts out |
The Potion of Weakness has one more use: combined with a Golden Apple, it cures a Zombie Villager back into a Villager. You craft a Golden Apple from 8 Gold Ingots around an Apple.
The undead (Zombies, Skeletons and others) work the other way round. A Potion of Healing hurts them and a Potion of Harming heals them. They are immune to poison and regeneration. So you hit a Skeleton with a splash Potion of Healing, not Harming.
How to extend, strengthen or reverse a potion
You can keep modifying a finished potion in the stand. Leave it in the bottom slot and put one of these ingredients in the top slot:
| Ingredient | What it does |
|---|---|
| Redstone Dust | extends the duration; does not work on an already strengthened potion |
| Glowstone Dust | strengthens it to level II and shortens the duration; does not work on an extended potion |
| Fermented Spider Eye | reverses the potion: it changes the effect, usually to the opposite or a harmful one |
| Gunpowder | turns the potion into a splash potion |
| Dragon’s Breath | turns a splash potion into a lingering potion |
Extending and strengthening exclude each other, so you have to choose. For instant potions (healing, harming) strengthening costs you nothing, because they have no duration. For potions without levels, such as Fire Resistance, extending costs you nothing either.
You craft a Fermented Spider Eye from a Spider Eye, a Brown Mushroom and Sugar, and the layout does not matter. A typical chain looks like this: Awkward Potion + Golden Carrot = Potion of Night Vision. Add a Fermented Spider Eye and you have a Potion of Invisibility for 3:00. Redstone Dust extends it to 8:00.
One trap: in Java you cannot reverse strengthened Potions of Leaping and Swiftness. If you want a Potion of Slowness, add the Fermented Spider Eye to the normal or extended version.
Splash and lingering potions, tipped arrows
A Splash Potion is made by adding Gunpowder. You do not drink it, you throw it. The duration is the same as for the drinkable version. Older guides, including an article on minecraft.net from 2018, claim that splash potions last for a shorter time. That is no longer true: in Java since version 1.9 and in Bedrock since 1.21.0 the duration is the same.
A Lingering Potion is made from a splash potion by adding Dragon’s Breath. After it lands, a cloud stays on the ground. The effect lasts only a quarter of the drinkable duration though, so 8:00 becomes 2:00. You collect Dragon’s Breath in a Glass Bottle from the breath of the Ender Dragon.
A lingering potion is also what you need for Tipped Arrows. Put it on a Crafting Table together with 8 Arrows and you get 8 Tipped Arrows with the same effect.
Differences between Java and Bedrock
The recipes in Bedrock are a superset of Java, so everything in the tables above works there too. A few details differ:
- The extended Potion of Regeneration and the extended Potion of Poison last 2:00 in Bedrock instead of 1:30. The strengthened poison lasts 0:22 in Bedrock instead of 0:21.
- In Bedrock you can make a Potion of Weakness from a Potion of Strength with a Fermented Spider Eye. In Java this combination creates nothing.
- In Bedrock you can also brew a Potion of Weakness from a Mundane and a Thick Potion by adding a Fermented Spider Eye.
- The Potion of Luck exists only in Java and the Potion of Decay only in Bedrock. Neither can be brewed. You only get them in Creative or through Minecraft commands.
There is no recipe book for brewing, so save the tables from this article. Mojang covers the basics in its articles on the Brewing Stand and on making potions. For more guides, head to our Minecraft guides. And if you want to change your character’s look, check out Minecraft skins.
Join our Discord GamersTogether to swap brewing setups, ask about potions and find people to play with.
FAQ
Put a Water Bottle into a bottom slot of the Brewing Stand, Nether Wart in the top slot and Blaze Powder as fuel. After 20 seconds you have an Awkward Potion, which almost all other potions are brewed from.
First brew a Potion of Night Vision: an Awkward Potion and a Golden Carrot. Then add a Fermented Spider Eye to it. You get a Potion of Invisibility lasting 3 minutes, and Redstone Dust extends it to 8 minutes.
Blaze Powder, which you make from a Blaze Rod. One piece of Blaze Powder is enough for 20 batches.
Add Gunpowder to a finished potion. If you then add Dragon’s Breath to the splash potion, you get a lingering potion that leaves a cloud on the ground after it lands.
Because these upgrades exclude each other. Redstone Dust cannot be added to a strengthened potion and Glowstone Dust cannot be added to an extended one. You have to choose between a stronger or a longer effect.
Information verified on 19 October 2026. The recipes are valid for Java 26.3 and Bedrock 26.52. More in our Minecraft guides.