Where do I get a pufferfish in Minecraft?

Fish for one in a warm ocean biome, where pufferfish are a regular catch, or scoop a wild one into a bucket. Guardians occasionally drop them, but fishing is far more reliable.

How long does the Potion of Water Breathing last?

Three minutes by default. Brewing redstone dust into it extends the effect to eight minutes. There is no level II version of this potion.

Can I eat a pufferfish instead?

You can, but you should not. Raw pufferfish gives you hunger, nausea and poison. Its real value is as the brewing ingredient for water breathing.

What else helps you breathe underwater?

A turtle shell helmet grants ten seconds of water breathing that resets at the surface, Respiration enchantments slow your air loss, and a powered conduit gives unlimited breathing in its range.

How to Make a Potion of Water Breathing in Minecraft

So much of a Minecraft world sits underwater: monuments full of prismarine, shipwrecks with buried treasure maps, warm-ocean ruins, entire coral reefs. The trouble is the ten little air bubbles that start popping the moment you dive. The Potion of Water Breathing freezes that countdown completely, turning a frantic series of dips into one calm, unhurried expedition.

What the potion does

While the effect is active, your oxygen bar simply does not go down. You can mine, fight and loot at any depth for the full duration. The base potion lasts three minutes, and there is no level II version, so the only upgrade that matters is duration. Three minutes sounds generous until you are halfway through clearing a monument room, which is why most players extend it before a serious dive.

What you need

Awkward Potion, up to three bottles
Pufferfish, the key ingredient
Brewing stand and blaze powder fuel
Optional: redstone for eight minutes, gunpowder for splash

Getting a pufferfish

Pufferfish live in warm oceans, the same bright waters that grow coral. The simplest route is a fishing rod: cast into warm ocean water and a pufferfish is one of the regular fish catches there. You can also scoop one up in a bucket if you find one swimming, though the bucket version is more useful as a pet than an ingredient. Do not eat it to test it. Raw pufferfish inflicts hunger, nausea and a nasty burst of poison, a mistake most players only make once. Elder guardians and guardians very occasionally drop one too, but fishing is far quicker.

How to brew it

Fuel the brewing stand with blaze powder.
Place up to three Awkward Potions in the bottom slots, since one pufferfish brews all three bottles.
Add the pufferfish in the top slot and let it brew into three-minute Potions of Water Breathing.
Brew redstone dust into the finished potions to extend each one to eight minutes.

Diving advice

Eight minutes of water breathing plus a night vision potion is the classic monument kit: the first keeps you down, the second lets you see through the murk. A turtle shell helmet is a useful backup, granting ten seconds of water breathing that refreshes at the surface, and a conduit is the permanent endgame answer once you are established. Keep one splash potion in your hotbar for a drowning friend or a pet that followed you in. And whatever you do, start heading up when the timer gets low rather than when it ends, because the surface is always further away than it looked.

Backup air when the timer runs out

Even with potions brewed, smart divers keep a fallback. Magma blocks on the ocean floor pull you down but refill your air in their bubble column, while soul sand columns push you up and do the same, so a wreck sitting near either is far safer to loot. A Respiration III helmet stretches the time you can survive after an effect ends, often enough to reach the surface. And the oldest trick still works in a pinch: place a door or stand inside a magma-warmed pocket of air against a wreck's wall to catch your breath before the next room.