10 best Minecraft 1.18 shaders for realistic water

Shaders are a great way to improve the visuals of a Minecraft player's world. They enhance the lighting and specularity of the game's engine.

There are a number of shaders for Minecraft version 1.18 that display water a little differently. Though these shaders vary in how they present water, the visuals themselves are a huge upgrade over the standard blue water of the vanilla game.

Picking a shader to make your water really pop can be difficult. Fortunately, there are some shaders that are a great place to start when customizing water in Minecraft.

Note: This article reflects the opinions of the writer

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Awesome shaders for improving water in Minecraft

1) Vanilla Plus Shaders

Vanilla Plus Shaders keep things relatively simple (Image via RRe36/CurseForge)

Vanilla Minecraft's water requires a facelift, and Vanilla Plus Shaders provides one in a way that keeps the core visuals of the game intact. The water still has a lovely shade of blue to it but interacts better with the light and has a little bit of transparency to it.

This is already a huge step up from the opaque water texture of vanilla Minecraft, but it doesn't try too hard to be realistic or impressive. It simply improves the default water while creating lovely lighting effects across a player's world.

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2) Nostalgia Shader Pack

Nostalgia Shaders make some lovely blue-tinged waters (Image via Mojang)

The Nostalgia Shader Pack is a great option for Minecraft players that appreciate subtlety. The lighting effects are subtle here but still very present. The lightweight feeling these effects present is quite pleasing without making a huge difference in visuals.

The water, in particular, looks great. It is nicely transparent but still carries plenty of blue coloration. It admittedly isn't the most customizable modpack, but it looks pleasing even in its default state.

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3) Chocapic13's Shaders

Chocapic13's Shaders provide quite kinetic water textures (Image via KnightGamerMC/Youtube)

This pack by Chocapic13 is a sight to behold. Containing both standard and extreme versions (for beefier computers), it creates very pleasing water effects.

Water ripples in a tide-like pattern in this pack. It is transparent on the surface while still being opaque as the light level lowers.

These shaders are great for both surface-level activities like fishing as well as diving into ocean monuments and ruins.

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4) ProjectLuma Shaders

ProjectLuma keeps the water's surface nice and thin (Image via Mojang)

Similar in water quality to Chocapic13's Shaders, ProjectLuma is well-renowned as a shader pack and has very thin surface water textures.

Despite this, the deeper a player goes, the more opaque ProjectLuma's water becomes. The water still has a wonderful blue coloration to it and distorts the reflections to some degree when large structures loom over the water.

ProjectLuma's other shader effects suit this water nicely, creating an overall quality shader pack for Minecraft players.

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5) Sora Shaders

The shimmer off of Sora Shader's waters is gorgeous (Image via Mojang)

A shader pack deriving from ProjectLuma, Sora Shaders makes enough adjustments to its lighting in Minecraft to warrant its own unique style.

The soft lighting practically shimmers off the water to the point where players can see the light reflected off small ripples. The transparency is excellent, allowing players to see the surface effectively at a close distance. It becomes more opaque with either depth or distance.

This means players will need to travel to a distinct point in the water to take a look at what's below it.

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6) Sildur's Vibrant Shaders

Sildur's Vibrant Shaders create some of the most reflective water to date (Image via Mojang)

Sildur's Vibrant Shaders in Minecraft certainly live up to their name. The lighting is considerably stark compared to vanilla light or even the light effects of other shaders.

This leads to the water being some of the most reflective among the most well-known shader packs. The lighting can admittedly be a bit harsh for certain players, but it creates great reflections off the gently rippling waters of a player's world.

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7) Complementary Shaders

Complementary Shaders sports considerably transparent water (Image via Mojang)

An offshoot of BSL's beloved shaders, Complementary Shaders are one of the best performance-driven shader packs Minecraft players can download.

Although it's meant for maximum FPS, this pack is still exceptional visually and sports one of the more transparent water effects out there.

Player visibility should go quite a long way when viewing water with this pack, ensuring that there's minimal clutter for players to deal with when searching under the tides.

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8) Continuum Shaders

Continuum Shaders exhibit incredibly realistic-looking water (Image via Mojang)

One of the more visually-striking shader packs for Minecraft, Continuum Shaders take what BSL does well and ramp it up considerably. This is extended to the water, which looks incredibly fluid and realistic.

The water in this pack is considerably opaque, but considering most bodies of water are opaque, this pack is excellent for recreating that feeling. It won't be ideal for players who like sight lines in the water, but the ripples and reflections showcased in this pack are gorgeous.

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9) BSL Shaders

BSL Shaders' water carries light spectacularly (Image via Mojang)

Long considered one of the best Minecraft shaders on the market, BSL has excellent water effects to pair with its lighting.

The lighting shimmers off the water's surface so eloquently that players may forget this is Minecraft water at all. The movements of the water are incredibly subtle, and every ripple catches the light in a sublime sense when enough light strikes it.

For a very relaxing (albeit resource-heavy) shader pack, BSL may be the best pick for great-looking water.

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10) Oceano Shaders

Oceano's water is incredibly vivid compared to other shaders (Image via Mojang)

For a truly transformative experience when it comes to water, Oceano Shaders are the frontrunner.

Sporting higher contrasting than most shader packs, Oceano's Shaders feature incredibly vivid, crystalline blue water. It can be tough to see through this water due to its opacity and high contrast. However, the surface is painted with a delightful inky shade of blue, making it an excellent pick for vivid screenshots or videos.