Minecraft potion tier list: Best potions in Minecraft

Minecraft potions are an interesting range of items. While some of them can be found naturally in the game world, such as the weakness potion found in basement igloos, most of them need to be brewed by the player using a brewing stand powered by blaze powder. With more than 20 different potions, it can be hard to remember which ones are worth spending resources to craft.

Detailed below is a full tier list of all the different Minecraft potions up to and including the four added in the experimental versions of Tricky Trials.

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Minecraft potion tier list guide

The full Minecraft potion tier list (Image via TierMaker)

S-tier potions

Awkward potions are amazing as they make almost every other potion possible (Image via Mojang)

The first S-tier potion to be discussed is the instant healing potion. This potion is made using glistering melons, which is a great reason to hunt for Minecraft melon seeds at the start of a new world. By default, it instantly restores two hearts, which doubles to four hearts when powered up.

The next S-tier entry is the strength potion. This potion type is brewed using blaze powder and increases melee damage significantly. On Java Edition, the damage bonus is 1.5 hearts for the base potion and three hearts for the upgraded one. On Bedrock, this damage bonus is 30% plus a half heart at base and 69% plus 0.65 hearts when upgraded.

Potions of instant harm are the corrupted version of health and poison potions, obtainable only by brewing one of these potions with a fermented spider eye. They instantly deal three hearts of damage to afflicted mobs, with this damage increasing to six hearts when upgraded. This makes them quite useful for dishing out damage, especially when made into spash or lingering potions.

Awkward potions are only technically a type of potion. They have no effect, but they are the base for almost every potion type in the entire game, making them essential to alchemy, hence their S-tier rating.

Regeneration potions restore nine hearts over 45 seconds. When powered up, regeneration potions restore the same amount of health, but over only 22.5 seconds instead. This is constant healing that can help counterbalance the constant chip damage that occurs when taking on large groups of enemies, such as those found in Minecraft's new trial chabmers.

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A-tier potions

A field of mobs at night as seen with the night vision effect (Image via Mojang)

Fire resistance potions are almost worthy of being in the S tier but are held back due to only being super useful in the Nether. These potions make players immune to fire damage. This includes lava, fire entities, and even the shots from the Nether's dangerous blaze mob. This makes fire resistance potions almost essential for exploring this hostile dimension.

Night vision potions are another amazing utility potion. They allow players to see as if the entire world were at light level 15. This makes exploring caves, especially underwater caves, much easier. This should help reduce the amount of time spent mining and increase the amount of time spent actually playing the game.

Potions of poison are the third A-tier entry. They are a second damaging potion type that can stack with instant-harming potions. By default, poison potions will deal 18 hearts of damage over 45 seconds, though they cannot reduce an entity to less than half a heart. When extended, this is increased to 36 hearts over 1.5 minutes on Java and 48 hearts over 1.5 minutes on Bedrock.

The final A-tier entry is the slow-falling potion. This potion is brewed using phantom membranes, the only drop from phantoms, one of Minecraft's most annoying mobs. The effect makes entities fall much slower, removing all fall damage, making longer jumps possible, and removing the ability to trample farmland by falling onto it.

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B-tier potions

Ocean monuments can be hard to see at all without night vision potions (Image via Mojang)

The first of the B-tier potions is the swiftness potion, brewed using a rabbit's foot. It will make players 20% faster by default, while the upgraded effect increases this to 40%. Not a bad ability by any means, but not super useful outside of speedrunning, either.

Water-breathing potions are the next B-tier entry. These potions, as the name suggests, allow players to breathe underwater. This makes them amazing for exploring underwater caves, similar to night vision potions, or taking on ocean monuments, which can eventually be converted into Minecraft guardian farms.

Oozing potions are the third B-tier entry. They are made using slime blocks and cause affected mobs to spawn medium slimes when killed. This effect may seem bad, but as medium slimes, they can drop slime balls. This means that splash oozing potions make for amazing Minecraft slime farms, giving them their B-tier status.

The final B-tier entry is the weakness potion. This potion reduces melee damage by two hearts on Java, or 20% plus a quarter heart on Bedrock. This is a handy ability, but most hostile mobs will die before it matters. However, weakness potions are needed to cure Minecraft zombie villagers. This makes them essential for villager trading, one of the most powerful systems in the game.

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C-tier potions

A mob exploding into cobwebs after dying (Image via Mojang)

Slowness potions reduce a target's move speed by 15% by default, though this increases to 60% when upgraded. While a handy effect, it doesn't last long enough to really make a difference most of the time. It's similar to the weakness potion but without any of the extra utility to make up for the lukewarm base effect.

The other C-tier entry is the weaving potion. This potion causes affected mobs to explode out into two to three cobwebs on death. This is actually the first time that cobwebs have been a renewable resource, making them handy for certain Minecraft challenge runs that might otherwise not have access to string or wool.

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D-tier potions

Invisibility potions are so close to being useful (Image via Mojang)

There are four D-tier potions. The first is the leaping potion. This is similar to the swiftness potion, in that it makes players better at moving. At base, players can jump half a block higher, but this is increased to a massive 2.5 blocks higher when the potion is upgraded. This is a powerful effect, but only useful in niche situations, such as when playing parkour Minecraft minigames.

The next D-tier potion is the turtle master potion. This is an interesting potion, having both good and bad effects. By default, entities are slowed by 60%, but get a 60% damage reduction to balance it. When upgraded, the slowing effect is increased to 90%, and the damage reduction is increased to 80%. This defensive benefit is huge, but the duration is way too short for it to really matter.

Invisibility potions are the next D-tier potion. These potions make the entity vanish from view. However, rather than making players undetectable by Minecraft's many mobs, the detection range is merely reduced. And what's worse, wearing armor makes players easier to spot, even when invisible. This could be a cool potion, but as is, it isn't worth brewing.

The final D-tier entry is the new wind-charged potion. This potion will cause affected mobs to explode into a burst of wind when killed, similar to how wind charges act. This is a cool effect but tends to make fighting large groups annoying since the mobs are flying around, hence the D-tier ranking.

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F-tier potions

Infestation potions are nothing but a hinderance in larger group fights (Image via Mojang)

The first F-tier entry to mention is the infestation potion. This is the last of the new Tricky Trials potions and is brewed with awkward potions and stone blocks. It causes affected mobs to rarely spawn silverfish when hit. This effect is an annoyance at best and an active hinderance at worst, as it only adds more hostile Minecraft mobs to a fight.

The other F-tier entries are barely potions. They are mundane and thick potions. They are in the F tier due to their uselessness.

The first of these entries is the thick potion, which genuinely has no use. The other is the mundane potion. On Java Edition, this potion is literally useless, but Bedrock players can technically use it as a replacement for water bottles when brewing weakness potions.