Minecraft Potion Recipes & Brewing Chart — Complete 2026 Guide

Brewing looks intimidating because the wiki dumps 30+ recipes on you at once, but every Minecraft potion follows the same three-stage pattern: base → effect → modifier. Once you see the pattern, the whole chart fits in your head. This guide is the printable brewing reference — every recipe, every duration, and the exact stand layout. Once you've brewed a few, pair this with our enchantments guide so your gear lasts long enough to use them.

What you need before you brew

1. Brewing Stand — craft with 1 Blaze Rod + 3 Cobblestone (Blackstone on Bedrock works too).
2. Blaze Powder — fuel slot. 1 powder = 20 brewing operations.
3. Glass Bottles — craft 3 from 3 Glass blocks. Fill at any water source.
4. Nether Wart — grow on Soul Sand. Found in Nether Fortresses and Bastions.
5. A water source nearby (a single water block works) for refilling bottles.

The three-stage brewing pattern

Every positive potion in the game is built like this:

1. Stage 1 — Base: Water Bottle + Nether Wart → Awkward Potion. This is the foundation for every useful potion. (Water Bottle + Glowstone = Thick Potion, + Redstone = Mundane Potion, + Fermented Spider Eye = Weakness Potion. These three skip the Awkward step but only Weakness is widely used.)
2. Stage 2 — Effect: Awkward Potion + Effect Ingredient → base potion (e.g. + Sugar = Swiftness 3:00, + Magma Cream = Fire Resistance 3:00).
3. Stage 3 — Modifier: add Redstone Dust to extend duration to 8:00, OR Glowstone Dust to upgrade to level II (shorter duration, stronger effect). Add Gunpowder to convert to a Splash Potion, then Dragon's Breath to convert to a Lingering Potion.

Glowstone and Redstone are mutually exclusive on the same potion — you can have a long potion OR a strong potion, not both.

Complete Minecraft potion recipes chart

Positive potions (from Awkward Potion)

• **Potion of Swiftness** — Sugar — 3:00 (+20% speed). Redstone → 8:00. Glowstone → 1:30 II (+40%).
• **Potion of Healing** — Glistering Melon Slice — instant +4 HP. Glowstone → instant +8 HP.
• **Potion of Fire Resistance** — Magma Cream — 3:00 immune to fire and lava. Redstone → 8:00.
• **Potion of Night Vision** — Golden Carrot — 3:00 full brightness. Redstone → 8:00.
• **Potion of Water Breathing** — Pufferfish — 3:00 underwater oxygen. Redstone → 8:00.
• **Potion of Strength** — Blaze Powder — 3:00 +3 melee damage. Redstone → 8:00. Glowstone → 1:30 II (+6 damage).
• **Potion of Regeneration** — Ghast Tear — 0:45 +1 HP/2.4s. Redstone → 1:30. Glowstone → 0:22 II (+1 HP/1.2s).
• **Potion of Leaping** — Rabbit's Foot — 3:00 higher jump. Redstone → 8:00. Glowstone → 1:30 II.
• **Potion of Slow Falling** — Phantom Membrane — 1:30 slow descent, no fall damage. Redstone → 4:00.
• **Potion of Turtle Master** — Turtle Shell — 0:20 Slowness IV + Resistance III (massive damage reduction). Redstone → 0:40. Glowstone → 0:20 II.

Negative potions (use Fermented Spider Eye)

Fermented Spider Eye corrupts a potion into its negative counterpart. The most useful inversions:

• **Potion of Weakness** — Water Bottle + Fermented Spider Eye — 1:30 -4 melee damage. Used to cure Zombie Villagers.
• **Potion of Harming** — Potion of Healing OR Poison + Fermented Spider Eye — instant 6 damage. Glowstone → 12 damage.
• **Potion of Slowness** — Potion of Swiftness OR Leaping + Fermented Spider Eye — 1:30. Glowstone → 0:20 IV (almost frozen).
• **Potion of Invisibility** — Potion of Night Vision + Fermented Spider Eye — 3:00 invisible (armor still shows). Redstone → 8:00.
• **Potion of Poison** — Spider Eye + Awkward Potion — 0:45 -1 HP/1.25s. Redstone → 1:30. Glowstone → 0:22 II.

Splash potions — how to throw potions at mobs

Add Gunpowder to any potion to convert it into a Splash Potion. Splash potions can be thrown (right-click) and affect any entity in the splash radius — yourself, mobs, other players. Splash potions have ~75% of the duration of the drinkable version (instant potions like Healing and Harming are unaffected). Splash Potions of Harming + Healing are the standard PvP and Wither-fight loadout.

Lingering potions — area-of-effect clouds

Add Dragon's Breath (collected by right-clicking the Ender Dragon's purple breath attack with an empty glass bottle) to any Splash Potion to convert it into a Lingering Potion. Lingering potions create a cloud that stays on the ground for ~30 seconds and applies the effect to anyone standing in it. Duration is reduced to ~25% of the original. Lingering potions are also the only way to craft Tipped Arrows — surround 1 lingering potion with 8 arrows on a crafting table to get 8 Tipped Arrows of that effect.

Tipped arrows quick reference

Tipped arrows are the most efficient way to apply potion effects in combat. Every lingering potion variant becomes an arrow: Tipped Arrow of Slowness IV is one of the strongest crowd-control tools in the game, and Tipped Arrow of Harming II is a one-shot for unarmored mobs. Fire from a Power V bow or a Multishot crossbow — note that Infinity bows do NOT save tipped arrows, so keep a Mending bow for tipped arrow loadouts (see our enchantments guide for the bow setup).

Brewing stand layout (the 3-bottle workflow)

1. Place your brewing stand against a wall, with a water source one block away and a chest above for ingredients.
2. Fill all 3 bottle slots every brew — the brewing time is the same whether you brew 1 or 3 bottles.
3. Brew the base (Nether Wart) in batches of 3 — keep a stack of 20+ Awkward Potions in your chest as a reservoir.
4. Add the effect ingredient to all 3 at once.
5. Decide once whether you're upgrading or extending — never both. Most players brew duplicates of each.
6. Convert to Splash (Gunpowder) and Lingering (Dragon's Breath) last, in 3-stack batches.

Ingredient farming priority

1. Nether Wart — auto-farm in a Nether base on Soul Sand. The single most-used ingredient.
2. Blaze Powder — needs a Blaze farm in a Nether Fortress. Fuels every brew and crafts Magma Cream + Eyes of Ender.
3. Glowstone Dust — Wandering Trader trades or Nether ceilings. Limited supply at first.
4. Redstone Dust — pickaxe + branch mining (Fortune III). One stack lasts ~30 extended potions.
5. Ghast Tears — Soul Sand Valley Ghast farm or Piglin Bartering. Bottleneck for Regeneration.
6. Dragon's Breath — repeatable from the End — re-summon the Dragon with End Crystals to refill.

Common brewing mistakes

• Adding Nether Wart to a Splash or Lingering potion — Nether Wart only converts Water → Awkward. After that step the wart slot does nothing useful.
• Trying to stack Glowstone + Redstone — once you apply one, the other won't apply. The potion 'locks in' as either extended or upgraded.
• Forgetting Blaze Powder fuel — the brewing stand has no visible empty-fuel warning beyond a dim arrow. Always restock fuel first.
• Brewing single bottles — wastes 66% of your brewing time. Always queue 3.
• Drinking your Awkward Potion stash — they look identical to brewed potions in some texture packs. Label your chest.

What to brew first (priority list)

1. Fire Resistance (8:00) — required for the Nether, ancient cities and any blaze farm.
2. Healing II — instant HP, no cooldown, life-saving in any fight.
3. Swiftness (8:00) — daily-driver travel potion.
4. Night Vision (8:00) — cave exploration without torch spam.
5. Strength II — turns any boss fight into a 3-hit kill on most mobs.
6. Slow Falling — required kit for elytra flying.
7. Water Breathing — ocean monuments and shipwreck loot runs.

Brewing is the single biggest power spike in Minecraft survival. A stack of Healing II splash potions trivializes the Wither; an 8:00 Fire Resistance turns a Nether expedition from suicide into a stroll.