Water Breathing

This article is about the status effect. For the enchantment that provides the ability to breathe underwater, see Respiration. For the effect in Minecraft Dungeons, see Dungeons:Water Breathing.

Water Breathing

Sources	See § Causes
Particle	#98DAC0 (turquoise green)
Type	Positive

Water Breathing is a status effect that allows to breathe underwater. In Bedrock Edition, it additionally allows water-breathing mobs to breathe outside of water and grants immunity from suffocation damage.

Causes

Cause	Potency	Length	Notes
Potion of Water Breathing	I	3:00	Witches drink this potion when underwater.
Potion of Water Breathing (extended)	I	8:00
Splash Potion of Water Breathing	I	3:00
Splash Potion of Water Breathing (extended)	I	8:00
Lingering Potion of Water Breathing	I	0:45
Lingering Potion of Water Breathing (extended)	I	2:00
Arrow of Water Breathing	I	0:22
Arrow of Water Breathing (extended)	I	1:00
Turtle Shell	I	0:10	Only counts down underwater.

Conduit Power also gives the player a similar effect to Water Breathing (among other things).

Effect

The Water Breathing effect causes the oxygen supply of air-breathing entities to be replenished while underwater instead of being depleted. In Bedrock Edition, this also works for mobs that can only breathe water (squid, glow squid, salmon, cod, pufferfish, tropical fish, nautilus, and tadpoles) when they are outside of water.

Waterlogged beds‌^{[BE only]} can be slept on only by entities with the Water Breathing effect.

In Bedrock Edition, players and mobs that are inside of suffocating blocks do not take suffocation damage if they have the Water Breathing effect active.

Immune mobs

Withers and ender dragons are immune to Water Breathing.
Aquatic mobs (except for the dolphin) are unaffected by Water Breathing‌^{[JE only]} and all undead mobs (except husks and zombies thus they convert into zombies and drowned) are unaffected by Water Breathing.

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Notes

Helmets with the Respiration enchantment slow down oxygen depletion, granting on average an extra 16 seconds of time per level before starting to take drowning damage. However, they do not replenish the oxygen supply, unlike the Water Breathing effect.

Data values

ID

This section is about the effect IDs. For the IDs on potions, see Potion § Item data. For the IDs on tipped arrows, see Arrow § Metadata.

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Translation key
Water Breathing	`water_breathing`	`effect.minecraft.water_breathing`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Translation key
Water Breathing	`water_breathing`	`13`	`potion.waterBreathing`

Achievements


Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other	Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
		Free Diver	Stay underwater for 2 minutes	Drink a potion of water breathing that can last for 2 minutes or more, then jump into water; or activate a conduit; or sneak on a magma block underwater for 2 minutes; or ride a nautilus/zombie nautilus underwater for 2 minutes.	20	Silver

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	A Furious Cocktail	Have every potion effect applied at the same time	Have all of these 17^{[until: Fourth Drop 2026]}/18^[upcoming] status effects applied to the player at the same time: Fire Resistance Freezing Infested Invisibility Jump Boost Night Vision Oozing Poison Regeneration Resistance Slow Falling Slowness Speed Strength Water Breathing Weakness Weaving Wind Charged The source of the effects is irrelevant for the purposes of this advancement. Other status effects may be applied to the player, but are ignored for this advancement.
	How Did We Get Here?	Have every effect applied at the same time	Have all of these 34^{[until: Fourth Drop 2026]}/35^[upcoming] status effects applied to the player at the same time: Absorption Bad Omen Blindness Breath of the Nautilus Conduit Power Darkness Dolphin's Grace Fire Resistance Freezing Glowing Haste Hero of the Village Hunger Infested Invisibility Jump Boost Levitation Mining Fatigue Nausea Night Vision Oozing Poison Raid Omen Regeneration Resistance Slow Falling Slowness Speed Strength Trial Omen Water Breathing Weakness Weaving Wind Charged Wither The source of the effects is irrelevant for the purposes of this advancement. Other status effects may be applied to the player, but are ignored for this advancement. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.

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History

Java Edition

Java Edition Beta
1.8	Pre-release	Water Breathing is added along with 18 other status effects but is currently unobtainable in regular gameplay.
Java Edition
1.0.0	Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2	The effect sprite for Water Breathing has been added to `inventory.png`.
		Potions which grant the Water Breathing effect are added.
		Milk now cancels the Water Breathing effect.
	Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3	Water Breathing no longer has any associated potions.
1.7.2	13w36a	Dedicated Water Breathing potions added.
1.9	15w31a	Added the Arrow of Water Breathing.
1.9	15w31a	Potions no longer use damage values to determine their effect, the effects moved to the `Potion` NBT.
1.13	18w08b	The Water Breathing status effect no longer gives the player enhanced underwater vision.
1.14	18w43a	Changed effect icon texture.
1.19.4	Pre-release 3	Potion and effect color changed from #2E5299 to #98DAC0.
1.20.2	23w32a	The game no longer uses numeric values when storing mob effects to world. Prior to the removal of numeric IDs, this effect's numeral ID was 13.
1.21.4	Pre-Release 1	Water breathing effect now increases the oxygen underwater instead of only preventing it from decreasing.^[1]

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.11.0	build 1	Added water breathing, which was unobtainable at the time.
v0.12.1	build 1	Water breathing is now obtainable via Potion of Water Breathing and splash potion of water breathing.
v0.14.0	build 1	Witches can now grant water breathing effect when drinking a potion underwater.
v0.15.0	build 1	Added Arrow of Water Breathing.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0	alpha 0.17.0.1	Added Lingering Potion of Water Breathing.
Bedrock Edition
1.4.0	beta 1.2.20.1	Water breathing no longer gives enhanced underwater vision.
1.5.0	beta 1.5.0.4	Water breathing can now be obtained by wearing turtle shells.
1.11.0	beta 1.11.0.5	Changed effect icon texture.

Legacy Console Edition

Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
?	?	?	?	?	?	?	Added Water Breathing.
TU31	CU19	1.22	1.22	1.22	Patch 3	1.0.1	Dedicated Water Breathing potions added.
TU69		1.76	1.76	1.76	Patch 38		The Water Breathing status effect no longer gives the player enhanced underwater vision.
TU69		1.76	1.76	1.76	Patch 38		Water Breathing effect now increases the oxygen underwater instead of only preventing it from decreasing to match Bedrock Edition but does not hide the oxygen bar.
			1.91				Changed effect icon texture.

Issues

Issues relating to "Water Breathing" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

References

↑ MC-278257