While you can get the Strength effect from different sources, applying it via potions is the easiest. To make a Potion of Strength in Minecraft, you only need some basic alchemy supplies.
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What You Need to Make a Potion of Strength
Conveniently, Potions of Strength don’t need a fancy resource like Glistening Melon Slices or Golden Apples. All you need are some Awkward Potions, a bunch of Blaze Powder, and a Brewing Stand. After you place a Brewing Stand, put Awkward Potions on the bottom slots and 1 Blaze Powder on the slot above them. Be sure to put some Blaze Powder on the top-left slot as fuel. With this method, you’ll get the same number of Potions of Strength as Awkward Potions you used.
How to Make Awkward Potions
These simple potions, which don’t do anything by themselves, can be made with Water Bottles and Nether Wart. Using a Brewing Stand, place Water Bottles on the bottom slots and 1 Nether Wart on the top slot. Furthermore, make sure to have some Blaze Powder on the top-left slot as fuel.
Water Bottles are pretty easy to make: scoop up some water with a Glass Bottle. Nether Wart will be a bit trickier, as you’ll have to head into a Nether Fortress to track some down. Nether Wart rooms in such fortresses are usually on the lower levels.
How to Get Blaze Powder
The best way to get Blaze Powder is to break down Blaze Rods. Each Blaze Rod converted this way will give you 2 Blaze Powder. Blazes, the fiery yellow mob that spawns in Nether Fortresses, have a chance to drop 1 Blaze Rod each upon death. You can find Blaze Spawners on the top levels of a Nether Fortress—the bridge-like high areas.
How to Make a Brewing Stand
You’ll need 3 stone blocks of any kind (Cobblestone works) as well as 1 Blaze Rod to craft a Brewing Stand. On a Crafting Table, place the 3 stone blocks on the bottom row and then put the Blaze Rod on the centermost slot. This crafting recipe will give you 1 Brewing Stand, which will be ready to make you some potions the moment you place it.
What a Potion of Strength Does
When you have the Strength effect active, your melee attacks will do more damage. Every one of your hits will take 1.5 Hearts more from your enemies than normal. You will get the Strength effect when you drink a Potion of Strength, however, splash potion variants will affect you as well. The effects of a Potion of Strength in any form will last 3 minutes in real-world time.
How to Upgrade Your Potion of Strength
In addition to making these potions, you can further enhance them to be better. To extend the duration of some Potions of Strength to 8 minutes, brew them with 1 Redstone Dust on a Brewing Stand. After the Redstone Dust has been infused into the potions, each will become a Potion of Strength+. Redstone Dust can be obtained from mining blocks of Redstone Ore with an Iron Pickaxe (or better). These ore blocks spawn between layers 1 to 16 in the overworld.
Alternatively, you can increase the potency of Potions of Strength (but not Potions of Strength+) with Glowstone Dust, though this will shorten the duration of the effect. Brewing Potions of Strength with Glowstone Dust will turn each into a Potion of Strength 2. This upgraded version will increase your melee damage by 3 full Hearts per attack, however, the duration of this effect is only 90 seconds. You can get Glowstone Dust by breaking Glowstone blocks with anything—even your bare hands. However, Glowstone blocks are only found in the Nether, albeit abundantly.
