PACKED ICE

Packed ice is one of three types of ice block generated naturally in the Minecraft world. You’ll find it in icebergs in Frozen Ocean Biomes, in the Ice Spikes Biome, in villages in the Snowy Tundra Biomes, and as windows in igloos. You can only harvest packed ice with a Silk Touch pickaxe, but you can craft nine ice into a block of packed ice. It does not melt if light sources are near it, and it is a bit more slippery than regular ice. As a solid block, mobs can spawn on packed ice.

See also: Ice, Blue Ice.

Packed Ice? Really?

Is it at all realistic that Minecraft has different types of ice, with some more condensed than others? A little. In the real world, scientists have so far found (or predicted) about eighteen types of ice that differ in their crystalline shape. These differ from each other in the ways that the molecules of water join with each other into crystals, and this structure changes depending on factors like temperature and pressure. These types of ice are numbered with Roman numerals, from Ice I to Ice II to Ice III and up. On the other hand, pretty much all of the ice on Earth is Ice I. There’s no specially slippery blue ice for us to run super fast on.

PARROTFISH

The parrotfish is one of Minecraft’s tropical fish named for a real-life fish. In Minecraft’s color and pattern scheme, it is a teal-rose dasher. In real life, parrotfish are a family of brightly colored tropical fish known for being able to change sex and coloration throughout their lives. Some parrotfish species are also known for wrapping themselves in a cocoon to help them sleep safely at night. They are named for the shape of their mouth, which looks like the beak of a parrot.

See also: Yellowtail Parrotfish, Tropical Fish.

POTION OF THE TURTLE MASTER

The potion of the Turtle Master is currently the only potion that gives you both a buff (helpful effect) and a debuff (negative effect): Slowness and Resistance. The Resistance effect reduces the amount of damage you can take by 20 percent per level. The Slowness effect slows your walking speed by 15 percent per level.

To brew the potion of the Turtle Master, brew an Awkward potion with a turtle shell. This will give you Slowness IV and Resistance III for twenty seconds. You can then brew this potion with a redstone dust to extend the effect’s length to forty seconds. Or, brew the initial potion with one glowstone dust to increase the effects to Slowness VI and Resistance IV.

POTIONS, AQUATIC

There are two potions that will help you manage an underwater trip or existence.

Potion of Water Breathing: This potion allows you to breathe underwater for three minutes (eight minutes for the extended potion) and makes the underwater environment a bit brighter. You make it with a pufferfish brewed with Awkward potion. For the extended potion effects, brew the finished potion again with one redstone dust.

Potion of Night Vision: The potion of Night Vision gives your environment a light level of fifteen, everywhere. Brew it from Awkward potion and a golden carrot for three minutes of light. For eight minutes of light, brew your potion again with one redstone dust.

Brewing a Batch

To brew potions, you’ll need a brewing stand, blaze powder, Nether wart, water bottles, and the special ingredients that make up a particular potion, like a magma cream for a potion of Fire Resistance. The brewing stand will make up to three potions at a time, and take blaze powder as energy. You first brew an Awkward potion using Nether wart, then brew the Awkward potion with your potion’s special ingredients.

PRISMARINE

Prismarine is a truly aquatic block found only underwater as part of the rare ocean monuments and in underwater ruins. It is unique because it is a decorative block that has an animated texture, with veins changing slowly from turquoise to purple and back. Prismarine is also one of the four blocks that can be used to build the activation frame for a conduit. Prismarine is also craftable into prismarine slabs, stairs, and walls, and you can craft a prismarine block itself from four prismarine shards.

Shimmerock?

Jeb Bergensten, lead developer and chief creative officer at Mojang, tweeted for help in naming this aquatic block. Suggestions included shimmerock, shale, seashale, shimmershale, neptone, and flowstone. Ultimately, the name coined by a Reddit user, u/AjaxGb, prismarine—a mashup of prism and marine—was chosen.

See also: Prismarine Bricks, Dark Prismarine, Prismarine Shards.

PRISMARINE BRICK

Prismarine bricks are a decorative block, a variety of prismarine, used to create ocean monuments. This is the only place you will find them naturally, although you can craft them from shards. Both prismarine bricks and dark prismarine have patterns that are reminiscent of tiles rather than bricks, which would be appropriate for their watery use.

See also: Prismarine, Prismarine Shards.

PRISMARINE CRYSTAL

Prismarine crystals are items dropped often by guardians or elder guardians when killed. They are also dropped when you break a sea lantern without using a Silk Touch pick, and you can find them sometimes in buried treasure. You can use prismarine crystals to create sea lanterns.

PRISMARINE SHARDS

Prismarine shards are an item dropped only by guardians or elder guardians when they are killed. Shard is a word that refers to a broken, sharp piece of a hard material like glass or rock, so presumably the guardians have been crunching up prismarine blocks in their spare time! You can use prismarine shards to craft the three varieties of prismarine block and sea lanterns, although you will also need prismarine crystals to create the lanterns.

PUFFERFISH

The pufferfish is one of the four main kinds of fish in Minecraft. You will find them in the warmer ocean biomes: Lukewarm, Deep Lukewarm, and Warm Oceans, often swimming alone, unlike the other fish.

In real life, pufferfish are also called blowfish, known for being highly poisonous and for inflating into a round, inedible shape. Their Minecraft counterparts are the same: they’ll blow up to twice their size and give a Poison effect when they are in danger, such as when you or another mob swims too close or when they are damaged. (They will also puff up if you put an armor stand near them.) Skeletons will fight the pufferfish back!

You can get pufferfish from fishing and by catching them live with a water bucket. Pufferfish are also occasionally dropped by guardians and elder guardians when they are killed. Like salmon, pufferfish can swim up a stream of water flowing down.

You can eat a pufferfish, although this will give you three debuffs, or harmful status effects: Hunger III, Nausea II, and Poison IV. You will be hurting for a full minute. The damage you’ll get is more than any hunger restored, so don’t be right-clicking with a pufferfish in your hand. On the plus side, you can use a pufferfish to tame an ocelot and breed cats, and to brew the very aquatically handy potion of Water Breathing.

The three stages of pufferfish inflation, from top (normal) to bottom (fully inflated).

Fugu About It

Some pufferfish species, like porcupinefish, are seen as a delicacy in Japan and eaten raw. This dish, called fugu, is one of the most dangerous foods in the world: the tetrodotoxin poison from a single fish is enough to kill thirty people. Fugu can only be prepared by qualified chefs with years of training who can extract the pufferfish flesh without including the deadly poison in its liver, eyes, skin, and other organs.