How to Breathe Underwater in Minecraft (2023)

Depending on the world you’re in, you could have tons of water to explore, and that means plenty of opportunity to go diving for the Heart of the Sea. However, it’s easy to run into trouble unless you know how to breathe underwater in Minecraft through one of a few methods.

These methods vary in difficulty and time, but with enough effort, you can have at least three ways to negate that bubble meter entirely and swim to your heart’s content. Keep reading through our guide on breathing underwater in Minecraft to get all the information you need.

Minecraft – How to Breathe Underwater

As mentioned, there are three main methods for negating the need for air underwater and they vary in difficulty. The three options are a Turtle Helmet, potions, or a conduit. Each one is viable but will take time and you can find them all explained here.

Using a Turtle Helmet to Breathe Underwater in Minecraft

The easiest of the bunch is to simply get a Turtle Helmet to swim with no issues. For that, you’ll need to start farming your own baby sea turtles. You can lure in adult sea turtles by using Sea Grass and having a farm near the water. Make sure to feed them the sea grass once you’ve tamed them so you can get started on egg hatching.

When the eggs hatch and the baby sea turtle starts to grow, you need to look out for scutes. Any time a baby sea turtle matures, you’ll get a scute on the farm. In total, you need five of these to craft a Turtle Helmet. The process could take a bit, but it can be done early on in the game.

Potions to Breathe Underwater in Minecraft

Next on the list is the tried and true method of brewing a potion to fix a problem. Nearly every mechanic in the game has a potion recipe that can enhance it or fix it to some degree, and the water is no different. If you have a brewing stand and some bottles, then all you need are the ingredients.

Related: How to Make Candles in Minecraft

To brew the potions, you’ll need pufferfish, nether wart, blaze powder, and water bottles. What makes this a mid-tier difficulty method of breathing underwater is the need for items in the Nether. However, once you have access to that side, making these potions won’t take too much time.

Crafting a Conduit to Breathe Underwater in Minecraft

The final method is to craft a Conduit, and this will likely take the most time to pull off. For a conduit, you’ll need a Heart of the Sea which already has a long process. Getting a heart requires you to find shipwrecks that have a chance for a treasure map that leads to lost treasure. Hopefully, you get a lost treasure chest that contains a heart.

Along with the heart, you’ll need at least eight nautilus shells to craft the conduit. Even with the conduit in hand, you’ll need a handful of Prismarine blocks in a 3x3x3 cage to hold our main piece. This conduit in a Prismarine cage will give us the air we need to explore underwater in Minecraft.

And that’s all! For more information about the game, check out How to Make a Chest in Minecraft and How to Make Potatoes in Minecraft.