Poison

Poison is an effect that inflicts damage over time. It is similar to Wither, but it drains health faster and it cannot kill (it will, however, reduce the player's health all the way to 1 ()).

It can be cured by drinking milk, honey or antidote.‌^{[BE & edu only]}

Effect[]

The amount of damage inflicted to the affected entity is shown in the table below:

Level	Ticks per	per second
1	25	0.8 × 0.4
2	12	1.66 × 0.83
3[note 1]	6	3.32 × 1.66
4[note 1]	3	6.66 × 3.33
5+[note 2]	1	20 × 10

The player's hearts turn yellow-green ()( on hardcore mode).

The damage stops when the affected entity is at 1 () health, but can resume if healing occurs and the affected entity is at more than 1 () health before the effect expires.

Amplifiers outside the range 0–31 (corresponding to levels 1–32) are treated modulo 32 (as though reduced by 32 until they are within the range, or alternatively as the remainder from the division by 32, i.e. 33 or 65 is treated as 1).

The effect can be removed by drinking milk or honey. In Minecraft Education and Bedrock Edition when education options are enabled, drinking antidote also removes poison.

Causes[]

Cause	Potency	Length	Lifetime damage	Notes
Potion of Poison	I	0:45	36 × 18
Potion of Poison (extended)	I	1:30‌[JE only] 2:00‌[BE only]	72 × 36‌[JE only] 96 × 48‌[BE only]
Potion of Poison II	II	0:21‌[JE only] 0:22‌[BE only]	35 × 17.5‌[JE only] 36 × 18‌[BE only]
Splash Potion of Poison	I	0:45‌[JE only] 0:33‌[BE only]	36 × 18‌[JE only] 26 × 13‌[BE only]	Witches throw this splash potion if their target has 8 or more health.
Splash Potion of Poison (extended)	I	1:30	72 × 36
Splash Potion of Poison II	II	0:21‌[JE only] 0:16‌[BE only]	35 × 17.5‌[JE only] 26 × 13‌[BE only]
Lingering Potion of Poison	I	0:11	8
Lingering Potion of Poison (extended)	I	0:22‌[JE only] 0:30‌[BE only]	17 × 8.5‌[JE only] 24 × 12‌[BE only]
Lingering Potion of Poison II	II	0:05	8
Arrow of Poison	I	0:05	4
Arrow of Poison (extended)	I	0:11‌[JE only] 0:15‌[BE only]	8‌[JE only] 12 × 6‌[BE only]
Arrow of Poison II	II	0:02	3
Cookie	I	0:45	36 × 18	Affects only parrots.‌[JE only] Has no effect other than the particles as the parrot is killed instantly.
Poisonous Potato	I	0:05	4	60% chance
Pufferfish	II	1:00	48 × 24
Suspicious Stew	I	0:12	9	Must be crafted from a Lily of the Valley
Suspicious Stew	I	0:14	11 × 5.5	Traded from expert farmer villagers
Spider Eye	I	0:05	2	Dropped from spiders and apply poison when eaten
Cave Spider	I	0:07 (normal difficulty) 0:15 (hard difficulty)	5 (normal difficulty) 12 × 6 (hard difficulty)	Given when it attacks an entity
Pufferfish	I	0:03 (partially inflated) 0:06 (fully inflated)	2 (partially inflated) 4 (fully inflated)	Only when touched.
Bee	I	0:10 (normal difficulty) 0:18 (hard difficulty)	8 (normal difficulty) 14 × 7 (hard difficulty)	Given when it attacks an entity

Brewing[]

Potion	Reagent, Base	Extended	Enhanced	Effects
Potion of Poison		Potion of Poison (extended)	Potion of Poison	Poison Damages by 1 every 1.25 seconds. Enhanced: Poison II Damages by 1 every 0.6 seconds.

Immune mobs[]

Undead mobs, spiders, cave spiders, and ender dragons are unaffected by Poison. Witches are 85% resistant to damage from Poison in Java Edition and fully immune in Bedrock Edition.

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Translation key
Poison	poison	19	effect.minecraft.poison

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Translation key
Poison	poison	19	potion.poison

Achievements[]

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS4)
PS4	Other
		Taste of Your Own Medicine	Poison a witch with a splash potion.	Throw a splash potion of poison at a witch (by facing the witch and pressing the use key).	20G	Silver

Advancements[]

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
	A Furious Cocktail	Have every potion effect applied at the same time	Local Brewery	Have all of these 13 status effects applied to the player at the same time: Fire Resistance Invisibility Jump Boost Night Vision Poison Regeneration Resistance Slow Falling Slowness Speed Strength Water Breathing Weakness 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.	nether/all_potions
	How Did We Get Here?	Have every effect applied at the same time	A Furious Cocktail	Have all of these 27 status effects applied to the player at the same time: Absorption Bad Omen Blindness Conduit Power Darkness Dolphin's Grace Fire Resistance Glowing Haste Hero of the Village Hunger Invisibility Jump Boost Levitation Mining Fatigue Nausea Night Vision Poison Regeneration Resistance Slow Falling Slowness Speed Strength Water Breathing Weakness 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.	nether/all_effects

History[]

Java Edition Beta
1.8		Pre-release			Added Poison.
					Added cave spiders, which inflict Poison upon attacking.
Java Edition
1.0.0		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2			Now has an effect icon.
					Poison potions have been added, but are unobtainable without inventory editing.
					Added spider eyes, which give Poison when eaten.
		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3			Poison potions have been revamped and made obtainable in the inventory through brewing.
		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4			Splash potions have been added, including splash potions of Poison.
1.4.2		12w34a			Added poisonous potatoes, which have a chance to give Poison when eaten.
					Added witches, which may throw splash potions of Poison.
1.7.2		13w36a			Added pufferfish, which give Poison when eaten.
1.9		15w31a			Added tipped arrows, including arrows of Poison, which are currently unobtainable in survival.
		15w33a			Added lingering potions of Poison.
					Extended potions of Poison have had their effect duration reduced from 2:00 to 1:30.
					Strong potions of Poison have had their effect duration reduced from 0:22.5 to 0:21.6.
		15w44b			Arrows of Poison can now be obtained by firing an arrow into a Poison lingering potion cloud.
		16w06a			Arrows of Poison can now be crafted using lingering potions in the crafting table.
					Arrows of Poison can no longer be obtained by firing arrows into a Poison lingering potion cloud.
1.12		pre3			Cookies now give parrots the Poison effect, though this isn't visible as the parrot is instantly killed.
1.13		18w08b			Added pufferfish mobs, which inflict Poison to nearby mobs.
1.14		18w43a			The effect icon texture for Poison has been changed.
					Added suspicious stew, which can give the Poison effect when crafted with a lily of the valley or found in shipwrecks.
		18w43b			Fixed the icon.
1.15		19w34a			Added bees, which can give the player Poison.
		19w35a			Honey bottles now remove the Poison effect when consumed.
1.17		20w46a			The level of Poison given by pufferfish has been reduced from IV to II.[1]
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.11.0		build 1			Added Poison.
					Poison can be obtained by eating rotten flesh, pufferfish or being attacked by a cave spider on normal and hard difficulty.
v0.12.1		build 1			Eating rotten flesh no longer inflicts Poison.
					Poison can be obtained from eating poisonous potatoes, spider eyes, potions of Poison, as well as splash potions of Poison.
v0.14.0		build 1			Added witches, which throw splash potions of Poison. However, the witch, itself, is immune to Poison.
v0.15.0		build 1			Added arrows of Poison, which inflict Poison effect.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0		alpha 0.17.0.1			Poison can now be obtained from lingering potions of Poison.
Bedrock Edition
1.4.0		beta 1.2.14.2			Added pufferfish mobs, which inflict Poison to nearby mobs.
		beta 1.2.20.1			Antidotes now remove the Poison effect when consumed.
1.11.0		beta 1.11.0.5			The effect icon texture for Poison has been changed.
1.13.0		beta 1.13.0.9			Poison can now be obtained from suspicious stew.
1.14.0		beta 1.14.0.1			Added bees, which can give the player Poison.
					Honey bottles now remove the Poison effect when consumed.
1.18.30		beta 1.18.30.20			Poison damage is now reduced by the Protection enchantment to match Java Edition.[2]
1.19.10		beta 1.19.10.23			The strength of the Poison effect given by pufferfish has been decreased.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Poison" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

• According to most medical and zoological terminology, "poison" specifically refers to a toxin that is delivered to an organism via contact or ingestion. As bees, cave spiders, and poison tipped arrows inject the player with toxins rather, they deliver venom, not poison.
• Pufferfish are both venomous and poisonous in-game, while real-life pufferfish are poisonous but not venomous, and their spines are used only for intimidation purposes.

References[]