POTION HARMFUL Present since 1.14 or earlier

Potion of Weakness how to brew it in Minecraft

A Potion of Weakness cuts melee damage by 4 per hit. In combat it is a nuisance to throw at enemies, but its real job is elsewhere: a splash of Weakness plus a Golden Apple is how you cure a Zombie Villager.

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 + → Potion of WeaknessFermented Spider Eye + Water Bottle
+ + → OptionalPotion of Weakness (+)Redstone Dust · Extends the duration · 4:00
+ + → OptionalSplash PotionGunpowder · Throwable
+ + → OptionalLingering PotionDragon's Breath · Leaves a cloud, base for Tipped Arrows

// Fuel: Blaze Powder

At a glance

Effect: Weakness
Duration: 1:30
With Redstone: 4:00
Level II: Doesn’t exist
Key ingredient: Fermented Spider Eye

All variants and durations

Variant	Normal	With Redstone	Level II
Potion	1:30	4:00	—
Splash Potion	1:30	4:00	—
Lingering Potion	0:23	1:00	—
Tipped Arrow	0:11	0:30	—

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

What Weakness does

HarmfulWeakness

Reduces melee damage by 4 per level. Also needed to cure a zombie villager, with a Golden Apple.

Other ways to get Weakness

UseOrange Tulip

Suspicious Stew · 7 s

UsePink Tulip

Suspicious Stew · 7 s

UseRed Tulip

Suspicious Stew · 7 s

UseWhite Tulip

Suspicious Stew · 7 s

Commands

Potion/give →

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

Splash Potion/give →

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

Lingering Potion/give →

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

Curing a Zombie Villager

This is the reason most players brew Weakness. The cure takes two steps:

Give the Zombie Villager the Weakness effect. A splash potion is the simplest way, but any source works, including an Arrow of Weakness.
While the effect is active, use a Golden Apple on it. It starts shaking and turns back into a Villager after a few minutes.

Keep it in a shaded, closed spot while it converts: it is still a zombie and burns in daylight. The cured villager offers you much better prices, which makes curing a classic way to get cheap trades.

An easy first brew

Weakness is the only potion that skips the Awkward Potion. Add a Fermented Spider Eye straight to a water bottle, with Blaze Powder as fuel. Then add Gunpowder for the splash version. There is no level II, only a longer version with Redstone.

Free Weakness, no brewing

An igloo with a basement has a brewing stand holding a splash Potion of Weakness, a Zombie Villager in a cell and a chest that always holds a Golden Apple. Everything for a cure in one place.
The Parched, the desert skeleton, shoots Arrows of Weakness and sometimes drops them.

Pitfalls

The drinkable version will not cure anything. You cannot make a zombie villager drink it: throw it or shoot it.
It cancels your Strength. Witches throw Weakness at you. Against a Potion of Strength it more than cancels the bonus. A Milk Bucket removes it, but also your other effects.
Splash range. Throwing it at a zombie villager right next to you also weakens you.

✓ Checked in Java Edition 26.3 · updated 1 November 2026