The Potion of Freezing is one of the more interesting additions to Minecraft coming from the winter update. Rather than healing you or boosting your stats, it flips the script entirely by targeting your enemies, slowing them down and draining their health over time. Getting it brewed takes a bit of preparation since the key ingredient only drops from a specific new mob. Here's everything you need to know.
What ingredients do you need to make a Potion of Freezing?
The full ingredient list is short, but one item requires some legwork. You need an Awkward Potion as the base and an Ice Ball as the active ingredient. The Awkward Potion is standard brewing prep, made by combining Water Bottles with Nether Wart in a Brewing Stand. The Ice Ball is the tricky part.
Blaze Powder fuels the Brewing Stand itself, so make sure you have some before you start. Blazes drop it when defeated in Nether Fortresses. Bring a shield when you go farming them since their fire attacks deal damage over time.
Where to find Ice Balls
Ice Balls drop exclusively from the Frostbite, a zombie variant introduced in the winter update. Frostbites spawn in cold biomes including Snowy Plains, Ice Spikes, and the new Ice Caves area. You won't find them anywhere warmer, so head to the coldest parts of your world and start hunting.
Once you defeat a Frostbite, it drops an Ice Ball. Stock up on a few if you plan to brew multiple potions or want to make splash and lingering variants right away.
Minecraft Guide: How to Craft Potion of Freezing
How to brew the Potion of Freezing
Step 1: Craft the Awkward Potion
- Place Blaze Powder in the fuel slot of the Brewing Stand.
- Fill up to three Glass Bottles with water and put them in the bottom slots.
- Add Nether Wart to the top ingredient slot and wait for brewing to finish.
- The Water Bottles become Awkward Potions, which serve as the base for the Potion of Freezing.
Minecraft Guide: How to Craft Potion of Freezing
Step 2: Add the Ice Ball
- Keep the Awkward Potions in the bottom slots.
- Place an Ice Ball in the top ingredient slot.
- Wait for the brewing process to complete.
- The result is a Potion of Freezing with a base duration of 45 seconds.
All Potion of Freezing variants
| Potion Type | Ingredients | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Potion of Freezing | Awkward Potion + Ice Ball | 45 seconds |
| Extended Potion of Freezing | Potion of Freezing + Redstone Dust | 1 minute 30 seconds |
| Splash Potion of Freezing | Potion of Freezing + Gunpowder | 45 seconds |
| Lingering Potion of Freezing | Splash Potion of Freezing + Dragon's Breath | 11 seconds |
How do you extend the duration of the Potion of Freezing?
45 seconds goes fast in a chaotic fight. Adding Redstone Dust to the Brewing Stand with a Potion of Freezing in the bottom slot pushes the duration to 1 minute and 30 seconds, which is a significant improvement. The extended version also becomes the base for a longer-lasting Splash or Lingering variant, so it's worth doing before you convert to throwable form.
Minecraft Guide: How to Craft Potion of Freezing
How to make a Splash Potion of Freezing
The regular Potion of Freezing only works if you drink it yourself, which applies the Freezing effect to you rather than your enemies. The Splash Potion of Freezing is the version you actually want for combat since you throw it at targets.
- Place a Potion of Freezing in the bottom slots of the Brewing Stand.
- Add Gunpowder to the top ingredient slot.
- Wait for brewing to finish and collect the Splash Potion of Freezing.
How to make a Lingering Potion of Freezing
The Lingering version creates a cloud on impact that applies the Freezing effect to any mob that walks through it. The duration drops to 11 seconds, but the area coverage makes it useful for crowds or chokepoints.
- Place the Splash Potion of Freezing in the bottom slots.
- Add a bottle of Dragon's Breath to the top slot.
- Collect the resulting Lingering Potion of Freezing.
What are the best uses for the Potion of Freezing?
The Freezing effect does three things to affected entities: it slows movement, reduces jump height, and deals damage over time. That combination makes it genuinely useful in specific scenarios rather than just a novelty.
Slowing dangerous mobs: Throwing a Splash Potion at the Warden buys you time to escape. The Warden's threat comes from its speed and relentless pursuit, so even a brief slow can be the difference between getting away and dying. Baby zombies are another good target since their speed makes them annoying to deal with in melee.
Tipped Arrows of Freezing: Dip arrows into a Lingering Potion of Freezing to create Arrows of Freezing. These let you apply the Freezing effect from range using a bow or crossbow, which keeps you out of danger while still controlling mob movement.
For players building out their combat toolkit, the Potion of Freezing pairs well with other preparation steps. Check out our full Minecraft guides for more brewing, crafting, and survival strategies, including how to make a Geyser using Potent Sulfur and how to get the Potent Sulfur Block from the Chaos Cubed update. If you want a broader take on what makes Minecraft worth playing after all these years, the Minecraft review covers it well.
