How to use infested potions to find diamonds in Minecraft

Minecraft's Potions of Infestation, or infested potions, were introduced in the 1.21 Tricky Trials update. While situational, they still have their applications in Mojang's sandbox title. Interestingly enough, with the right apparatus built and enough infested potions, players can even mine for diamond ore using the Infested status effect, though the setup required can take some time and resources.

Whatever the case, it doesn't hurt to examine how to use Potions of Infestation to effectively "mine" through stone blocks using the silverfish mobs spawned from their effect. The process can take on many forms or designs in Minecraft, but it's best to start small and proceed from there.

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How to use Potions of Infestation to mine for diamonds in Minecraft

A Potion of Infestation tunnel bore in Minecraft (Image via Mojang)

Thanks to Potions of Infestation in Minecraft 1.21, you can create a machine that allows silverfish to spawn repeatedly. You can then cause some slight pain to the silverfish to force them to burrow into nearby stone blocks, clearing the stone away and leaving ore blocks like diamonds in place. However, you'll need a few materials to set up this mining method, which can be found below:

• At Least One Allay Mob - Spawn in cages in pillager outposts and cells in woodland mansions. At least one will be needed, but more are preferred. You can move these mobs around pretty easily with a lead.
• Splash Potions of Infestation - Brewed by adding stone blocks to an awkward potion in a brewing stand, then adding gunpowder to convert the Potion of Infestation into a Splash Potion of Infestation.
• Splash Potions of Regeneration - Brewed by adding ghast tears to awkward potions in a brewing stand, then augmented with gunpowder to create the splash potion.
• Slabs - Grab at least half a stack of slabs, as you'll need them to contain the allays. Keep in mind these slabs should not be flammable. These can be crafted by combining three blocks of the same kind in a horizontal row on a crafting grid.
• Campfire - Crafted with three logs, three sticks, and one piece of coal or charcoal.
• Amethyst Shards - While these aren't a requirement, they can be incredibly useful for duplicating allays, and can be found in amethyst clusters underground from around Y=-60 and Y=40.
• Multiple Stacks of Building Blocks - Any building blocks of your choice will work here, as long as they're not made of stone. Otherwise, the silverfish may break them.

Silverfish eating through deepslate to reveal diamond ore underneath in Minecraft (Image via Mojang)

Once you've got your resources on hand, you can build a basic silverfish miner with these steps:

1. Take your Minecraft building blocks and build a square wall that is at least two to three blocks high. For this example, we'll use a 10x10 wall that's six blocks tall using glass blocks. Be sure to place this wall in an area where the floor has stone blocks. You can build this wall above ground, but you'll want to dig down and find stone blocks before continuing with the build. This build can also be constructed underground where stone blocks are easier for silverfish to reach.
2. With your barrier wall created, place two blocks on top of each other and then a campfire. Extinguish this campfire for the time being by using a shovel, but you can reignite it later.
3. One half-block distance above the campfire, place four slabs around the campfire so that the top of it isn't covered.

The slabs should be placed around your Minecraft campfire like so, but without the fire active (Image via Mojang)

Next up, you'll need to bring the allay you procured, quickly trap it above the campfire, and finish this Minecraft build.

The easiest way to make the allay move toward the farm and get trapped in Minecraft is to give it an item or block of your choosing. You can then throw another one of those items/blocks on top of the unlit campfire.

The allay will move to pick up the item/block that matches what it's holding. When it does, you can quickly place a slab above the campfire and slabs you placed earlier to trap the mob.

An allay trapped in a campfire with slabs in Minecraft (Image via Mojang)

Since the allay heals faster than the fire can damage it in Minecraft, it will continuously take damage. From here, you can splash the allay with your Splash Potion of Infestation, which will cause it to spawn silverfish that will eventually make their way to the bottom of the chamber you constructed. You can also play a nearby jukebox and give the allay amethyst shards to duplicate it in its trap.

Whatever the case, once you've filled your chamber with plenty of silverfish, you can begin throwing additional Splash Potions of Infestation on the silverfish below. Splash Potions of Regeneration should follow this to ensure that your silverfish don't die. Then, you can throw your Splash Potions of Poison. This will cause the silverfish to begin burrowing and breaking nearby stone blocks.

Since silverfish don't break ore blocks in Minecraft, this is an excellent way to clear out stone blocks underground and tunnel bore underground to find ore blocks for resources like iron, gold, emeralds, and most importantly, diamonds. If you build the above apparatus deep underground, you should have even better chances of finding diamond ore.