The Potion of Weakness is an often overlooked option when brewing potions at a brewing stand. Drink it yourself, and your melee attacks will do less damage. Which isn’t very appealing for sure.
But throw it on your enemies in the form of a Splash Potion, and it suddenly becomes a powerful debuff. Not just that, but it’s a required step in the process of curing zombie villagers! It’s safe to say that it’s a good potion to know how to make. So, to make it easier for you, we’ve broken down the entire recipe, step-by-step.
And in case you just can’t get enough of the potion system, we’ve also included some of the most popular Minecraft mods that expand on potion crafting further, adding more recipes and effects. Check them out below!
How to Craft Your First Potion of Weakness
First things first – you need to collect your ingredients. Make sure you have enough of the following items:
- 1-3 glass bottles;
- 1 spider eye;
- 1 sugar;
- 1 brown mushroom;
- A brewing stand.
- (OPTIONAL): 1 gunpowder, 1 redstone dust, 1 bottle of Dragon’s Breath.
Next, prepare your brewing stand. It should be placed down and have a charge. You can charge your stand by feeding it blaze powder on the leftmost slot.
Once you’re set and ready, follow these exact steps:
- Combine the spider eye, brown mushroom, and sugar to make a fermented spider eye.
- Fill the glass bottle(s) with water by using them while facing a water source. Then, place them in the brewing stand.
- Add the fermented spider eye to the brewing stand to brew a Potion of Weakness.
Want to be impervious to fire instead? Check out our guide on how to make a fire resistance potion in Minecraft.
Modifying a Potion of Weakness
By adding in a select few items, you can modify how the potion works.
- Add the gunpowder to the brewing stand to make it a Splash Potion of Weakness, allowing you to throw it and create a Weakness effect over an area.
- Add the redstone dust to the brewing stand to more than double the length of time that Weakness will be in effect.
- Add the Dragon’s Breath to the Splash Potion of Weakness to make it a Lingering Potion of Weakness. This is thrown like a Splash Potion that will create a lingering cloud that applies Weakness to anything inside.
Lingering Potions of Weakness can be modified even further by placing them in the center slot of a crafting table and surrounding them with arrows to create 8 arrows tipped with Weakness. These will then apply the effect on any target you shoot.
Minecraft Mods that Expand Potion-Brewing Further
The vanilla brewing system is a fun mechanic that really lets you amplify your potential with each magical effect. It’d be great to see that concept expanded further – which, luckily, you can.
Without further ado, we’d like to present a few community-made Minecraft mods that build on that idea to a whole new level.
1. [Let’s Do] Vinery
![[Let’s Do] Vinery Mod](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9f/8d/9f8d5b30-70cc-4195-b81c-9da992a9b9dc/content/images/2026/10/lets-do-vinery.png)
The “[Let’s Do] Vinery” mod is a fascinating blend between potion-making and brewing wine. It allows you to follow the actual process of wine making, from crushing grapes, to fermenting, to bottling and aging. We have to admit that it’s an engaging process by itself, but what really takes the cake here are the special effects each wine type offers.
Different grapes (or even apples!) can result in different magical effects in the final brew. The older the wine, the stronger and longer-lasting those effects become. Like real wine, you’re rewarded for patience with a one-of-a-kind brew.
If wine isn’t quite your thing, the creator also has “[Let’s Do] HerbalBrews” and “[Let’s Do] Brewery”, where you can follow the unique process for making tea and beer, respectively.
2. RPG Potions - 8 New Potions
Don’t let the name fool you – the “RPG Potions” mod adds in a handful of interesting PvP-focused potions to the roster. Each new potion effect introduces a new tactical opportunity when competing against other players, like creating decoys, tracking targets, and even inflicting paralysis.
All in all, they're designed to change the flow of gameplay rather than just increase damage or resistance stats. That’s not to say they don’t hold up when playing solo or in a cooperative world. In fact, many of the potion effects will still work against NPC mobs.
3. Potions Master
At a first glance, the “Potions Master” mod adds in a complicated process to make a single kind of potion. By grinding ore with a mortar and pestle, you can brew Ore Sight Potions, which provide an X-ray vision type of effect for that specific ore type. It’s a cool effect that we feel any miner will enjoy.
But that’s not where the real magic of this mod lies as it also introduces a potion mixing mechanic. By combining any two potions in a cauldron over a campfire, you can simmer it down into a combo potion, where both effects are granted from a single bottle. And yes, you can combine combo potions again and again!
How to Install Minecraft Mods
You can install the above mods automatically using the CurseForge app or manually by placing the mod files within your game’s mods folder. Both methods allow you to easily add custom features and enhancements into your vanilla Minecraft experience.
If you want to learn more, you can read our detailed guide on how to install Minecraft mods.
Common Issues and Quick Fixes
The potion won’t take the fermented spider eye
Make sure the bottles are filled with water. Since Awkward Potions are the basis for almost all other potions, it’s common to try and make a Potion of Weakness from one of those instead. This won’t work in Java Edition, however.
Instead, we recommend trying again with bottles that only contain water.
The Potion of Weakness won’t take the lingering effect
Unlike the other two modifiers, the lingering effect can only be applied to Splash Potions. Make sure all potions in the brewing stand already have the splash effect before mixing them with Dragon’s Breath though.
A mob with Weakness is still dealing their full damage
Weakness doesn’t reduce all damage types, only melee. So, while this will affect most mob attacks, any ranged attacks, like arrows, fireballs, and sonic waves, will remain completely unaffected.
There is no potion yet that can reduce the damage of ranged attacks in the base game, so be sure to still bring a shield for such encounters.