Potion of Water Breathing: Pufferfish Recipe and Uses

A Potion of Water Breathing stops your air bar from running out for 3 minutes, or 8 minutes with redstone. Brew it by adding a pufferfish to an Awkward Potion. There is no level II.

Potion of Water Breathing recipe

Step	Add	Result
1	Nether wart to water bottles	Awkward Potion
2	Pufferfish	Water Breathing (3:00)
3	Redstone	Water Breathing (8:00)

Get pufferfish by fishing (they’re one of the four fish you can reel in) or by scooping one into a water bucket in a warm or lukewarm ocean. Don’t eat them; raw pufferfish gives you Poison, Hunger and Nausea.

How it compares with other ways to breathe

• Respiration on a helmet only extends your air. The Respiration enchantment is great for casual diving but runs out eventually.
• A turtle shell helmet gives 10 seconds of Water Breathing whenever you go under. It’s nice for short dives, not long building sessions.
• A conduit gives Conduit Power (water breathing, night vision underwater, faster mining) in a big radius around it, forever. It’s the best option, but you need a heart of the sea and nautilus shells first, and you have to stay in range.

So the potion is the go-to option before you have a conduit, and for anywhere a conduit doesn’t reach.

Ocean monument runs

This is the main reason people brew it. An ocean monument is huge, underwater and full of guardians, and you’ll spend long stretches inside. Take:

• Water Breathing (8:00), two or three bottles.
• Night Vision (8:00), because the inside is dark and Water Breathing does nothing for visibility.
• Milk, for the Mining Fatigue the elder guardians put on you. Note that milk removes your potions too, so drink it before the next round of potions.
• Depth Strider boots for speed.

Water Breathing also helps when draining a monument, building underwater bases, digging out shipwrecks and searching for buried treasure. See our brewing guide for making a full stand of these at once.