How to use potions effectively in Minecraft PvP

Minecraft PvP focuses heavily on weapon, armor, and enchantment loadouts, but using the right potions can turn the tide in your favor. Not every in-game potion will be ideal for PvP, but the right picks can go a long way toward securing victory. This is especially true if you keep a few things in mind when using your potions in just about any PvP setting there is that allows them.

While you're free to use potions in Minecraft PvP any way you choose, keeping a few straightforward rules of thumb in mind can ensure you don't waste precious potions while taking on your adversaries. This will also help you potentially net more wins.

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How to use potions wisely and efficiently in Minecraft PvP

Pick the Right Potions

The right potions can make a huge difference in Minecraft PvP (Image via Mojang_

When it comes to Minecraft PvP, splash potions reign supreme, largely because they can be quickly thrown to bestow their effects whereas other potions take time to consume. Moreover, splash potions that bestow negative effects will want to be thrown as far away from you as possible so you don't accidentally get caught in their area of effect.

You'll need to pick the right splash potions in Minecraft depending on your arena and your opponents. Namely, these potions are likely worth your time:

• Splash Potions of Regeneration: Allows you to regain health over time while still actively fighting your opponent.
• Splash Potions of Healing: Thrown to instantly restore your health when you don't have the time to be healed by Regeneration.
• Splash Potions of Strength: Empowers your melee weapon attacks.
• Splash Potions of Swiftness: Increases your movement speed, which can be particularly effective for PvP maps where movement or platforming is especially key.
• Splash Potions of Slowness: The inverse of Potions of Speed, slows afflicted targets' movement speed down, making them easier to chase down and outmaneuver.
• Splash Potions of Weakness: The inverse of Potions of Strength, weakening a target's melee attack damage and making the attacks they land on you significantly less damaging.
• Splash Potions of Poison: Deals damage over time which can complement the damage you're already dealing with while bypassing the damage reduction from armor.

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Throw Your Positive Splash Potions Directly Upward or Into Walls

Throwing potions correctly will bestow their positive effects nicely in Minecraft (Image via Mojang)

While simply throwing a beneficial splash potion on the ground to gain its effects is one thing, this isn't exactly the most effective use of them. Instead, throwing a splash potion directly up and letting it hit you will ensure you get the maximum effect duration. This can also be applied by standing flush to a wall and throwing the splash potion directly into it to get the same long-lasting effect.

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Practice Your Splash Potion Throws

Throwing potions well takes time to master, but there are ways to practice (Image via Mojang)

Splash Potion throwing has a defined arc, but aiming is difficult particularly when you're moving. With that in mind, it doesn't hurt to practice potion throwing as much as you can when you're not in the heat of Minecraft PvP. A particularly solid way of doing so is using blocks, slabs, and stairs to create small targets with holes in them, then practicing throwing through the holes while strafing.

You can also practice distance throwing with this method, either moving or while stationary, to get a feel for how the arc of potion throwing works in Minecraft.