How to Breathe Underwater in Minecraft: With and Without Potions

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Use a potion, turtle shell, or conduit to breathe underwater in Minecraft

Co-authored by Zac Churchill and Kyle Smith

Last Updated: November 13, 2024 Fact Checked

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Potion of Water Breathing

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Turtle Shell

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Conduit Power

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Q&A

Trying to breathe underwater in Minecraft so you can explore the ocean? There are a few ways to do so! You can craft a Potion of Waterbreathing, which allows you to breathe underwater for three minutes. Create a turtle shell helmet for 10 additional seconds of holding your breath. Or, make a conduit for permanent underwater breathing (while near the conduit). This wikiHow guide will show you how to breathe underwater in Minecraft.

Things You Should Know

Craft a Potion of Water Breathing to breathe underwater for 3 minutes.
Craft a turtle shell helmet to gain 10 additional seconds of breathing time underwater.
Craft a conduit to gain the Conduit Power effect, which allows you to breathe underwater indefinitely while nearby.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Potion of Water Breathing

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1
Gather the required materials and equipment. You’ll need a few items to craft a potion of water breathing. The potion itself allows you to breathe underwater for 3 minutes (meaning your breath meter won’t go down). Here’s what you’ll need:^{[1]
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- Brewing Stand
- Glass Bottle
- Water source (a bucket of water, cauldron, or nearby pond will work)
- Nether Wart
- Pufferfish
2
Fill the glass bottle with water. To do so:
- Hold the glass bottle in your hand.
- Right-click on a water source.
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Right-click on the Brewing Stand to access the brewing menu.
This will create an Awkward Potion, the base potion for the Water Breathing potion.
This will create a Potion of Water Breathing. You’re ready to continue playing Minecraft! Drink this potion to breathe underwater for 3 minutes.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Turtle Shell

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1
Feed seagrass to two turtles. This will make them enter love mode. One turtle will create turtle eggs and travel to their spawn point (a beach). To make a Turtle Shell helmet that allows you to breathe underwater for 10 additional seconds, you’ll need to collect five scutes. Scutes are dropped by baby turtles when they turn into adults.^{[3]
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- You can also catch turtles and keep them as pets if you want to!
The turtle will lay the eggs on their spawning beach. There will be between one and four eggs. They’ll take four to five Minecraft days to hatch.
This takes around one day in Minecraft.
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Collect the scutes. The baby turtles will drop a scute when they turn into adults.
- You’ll need five scutes to make the turtle shell helmet. Repeat the breeding process until you have the required scutes.
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Craft the turtle shell helmet. When you have five scutes, you can craft the turtle shell helmet. Place scutes in these five locations in the 3 by 3 crafting menu:^{[4]
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- Bottom left
- Middle left
- Middle
- Middle right
- Bottom right
Place the turtle shell in the helmet slot in the equipment menu. This will allow you to breathe for 10 additional seconds underwater.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Conduit Power

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1
Gather the required materials. Conduits grants nearby players the Conduit Power effect, which includes Water Breathing, Night Vision, and Haste. You’ll need three things to craft a conduit and its activation frame:^{[5]
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- Eight Nautilus Shells: Found as a treasure item during fishing, from Drowned mobs, and wandering traders.^{[6]
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- One Heart of the Sea: Found in buried treasure in ocean ruins and shipwrecks.^{[7]
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- 42 blocks for the frame: This can be prismarine, dark prismarine, prismarine bricks, or sea lantern.
- Water: There needs to be a 3 by 3 by 3 volume of water inside the activation frame. You can build the frame underwater or use a water bucket to fill the inside of the frame.
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Craft the conduit. When you have the eight Nautilus Shells and the Heart of the Sea, place them in the 3 by 3 crafting menu:
- Place the Heart of the Sea in the center slot.
- Place the Nautilus Shells in the remaining slots around the center.
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Create an activation frame. The frame is a 5 by 5 by 5 cube where each side is a plus (+) made of prismarine, dark prismarine, prismarine bricks, or sea lantern.^{[8]
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- You can optionally build the activation frame underwater to fulfill the 3 by 3 by 3 water volume requirement.
- Check out our guide to activating conduits for more details and pictures.
There needs to be a 3 by 3 by 3 volume of water inside the activation frame. You can either use a water bucket to fill the inside, or build the activation frame underwater.
The conduit will activate. You’ll see it open and reveal the blue Heart of the Sea inside. You’re done! The conduit will grant nearby players the Conduit Power effect, allowing them to breathe underwater.

Community Q&A

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Question

How can you make a potion of water breathing?

ZAPAXE

Community Answer

Put a nether ward into a brewing stand along with 3 water bottles. After the bottles are brewed, replace the nether ward with a pufferfish. You may also replace the pufferfish with redstone to increase the duration of the potion.

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Question

How to get the heart of the sea?

ILikeSlugs

Community Answer

Heart of the sea has a 100% chance of spawning in treasure chests on both Java and Bedrock Editions of Minecraft. This means that as long as you find a treasure map and follow it to the X (which is roughly where the chest is located), you will definitely find one. To find a treasure map, you should check sunken ships or ocean ruins. Alternatively, if you have cheats enabled on your world, just type /locate structure buried_treasure, which will tell you where the buried treasure is.

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Question

What other ways are there without using good item like doors? I tried but it didn’t work. Is there something easy?

OnAWindowSill

Community Answer

You can use a door to make an air pocket, but only in Java Edition. In Bedrock Edition, the door will automatically be waterlogged.

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