POTION BENEFICIAL Present since 1.14 or earlier

Potion of Swiftness how to brew it in Minecraft

A Potion of Swiftness makes you walk and sprint faster: 20% per level of Speed, so 40% with level II. It is cheap, since the only ingredient is Sugar, and it pays off on long trips, big building projects and escapes.

Brew it step by step

Put Blaze Powder in the fuel slot and up to 3 bottles at the bottom, then add each ingredient at the top.

01 + → Awkward PotionNether Wart + Water Bottle
02 + → Potion of SwiftnessSugar + Awkward Potion
+ + → OptionalPotion of Swiftness (+)Redstone Dust · Extends the duration · 8:00
+ + → OptionalPotion of Swiftness IIGlowstone Dust · Level II, shorter · 1:30
+ + → OptionalSplash PotionGunpowder · Throwable
+ + → OptionalLingering PotionDragon's Breath · Leaves a cloud, base for Tipped Arrows

// Fuel: Blaze Powder

At a glance

Effect: Speed
Duration: 3:00
With Redstone: 8:00
Level II: 1:30
Key ingredient: Sugar

All variants and durations

Variant	Normal	With Redstone	Level II
Potion	3:00	8:00	1:30
Splash Potion	3:00	8:00	1:30
Lingering Potion	0:45	2:00	0:23
Tipped Arrow	0:23	1:00	0:11

■ Normal · ■ With Redstone · Lingering = ¼ of the duration, Tipped Arrow = ⅛

What Speed does

BeneficialSpeed

Increases walking speed by 20% per level and widens your field of view.

Other ways to get Speed

Given byBeacon

Commands

Potion/give →

/give @s minecraft:potion[potion_contents={potion:"minecraft:long_swiftness"}]

Splash Potion/give →

/give @s minecraft:splash_potion[potion_contents={potion:"minecraft:long_swiftness"}]

Lingering Potion/give →

/give @s minecraft:lingering_potion[potion_contents={potion:"minecraft:long_swiftness"}]

When Swiftness is worth it

Travel on foot. Crossing a continent to reach a village, a stronghold or a biome you need goes much faster. Sprint-jump with a Potion of Leaping for even more ground covered.
Big builds. Running back and forth between your chests and a large build site adds up. A long Swiftness potion saves real time.
Escaping. Outrunning a group of mobs or getting away from a lost fight. A splash version also lets you speed up a whole group of friends at once.

Swiftness or a beacon?

Near your base or a mega-build, a Beacon with the Speed power gives the same effect permanently, without brewing. The potion stays the better choice anywhere a beacon cannot follow you.

Pitfalls

Your view zooms out. Speed widens your field of view, which some players find disorienting. The FOV Effects slider in the accessibility settings reduces it.
Do not add a Fermented Spider Eye. It turns the whole batch into a Potion of Slowness. That is useful if you want splash Slowness for combat, but annoying if it was a mistake.
Glowstone or Redstone, not both. Level II is faster but lasts much less; the long version is usually the better deal for travel.

Getting Sugar

Sugar comes from Sugar Cane, which grows next to water and is easy to farm. A Honey Bottle crafts into three Sugar. The Wandering Trader sometimes sells Sugar Cane if you have none nearby. Witches drink this potion themselves to close the gap when you run.

✓ Checked in Java Edition 26.3 · updated 1 November 2026