Darkness

Overview

Darkness pulses the light level around you down towards nothing, fading in and out rather than holding steady, and the rhythm is what makes it so unpleasant. You are not simply blind — you can see, then you cannot, then you can, and the moments of vision are too short to plan with. It exists to serve one place. Sculk shriekers in the deep dark apply it the moment they shriek, which is also the moment the warning counter towards a warden ticks up, so the effect functions as an alarm you cannot ignore: three shrieks are the warning, and the fourth summons the thing that kills you. The warden itself applies it too, at close range, so a fight you did not run from happens in the dark. Milk clears it and leaves you standing next to a warden with no buffs, which is rarely an improvement. The correct response is never chemical. Sneak so shriekers do not detect you, use wool to muffle sculk sensors, place a torch trail behind you so the pulses do not cost you your route, and above all leave — the deep dark rewards a quick raid on an ancient city chest and punishes everything slower.

Nothing you can use — it is the deep dark's warning system, and reading it correctly means leaving before the fourth shriek rather than fighting what arrives.

Pulses the screen to near-total black. The Warden and the sculk shrieker inflict it to disorient you in the Deep Dark.

As a status effect, Darkness counts as harmful. No potion produces it, so it lasts however long the source keeps applying it.

While it is active the icon sits in the top-right of the inventory screen with the time remaining under it, and particles in the effect's own colour trail off you, fainter when the source is ambient — a beacon or a conduit. No beacon offers it, so every application has a fixed duration.

How to get it

Step on or near a sculk shrieker in the deep dark and let it shriek; each shriek applies Darkness for about 12 seconds and raises the warden warning level. A warden within a few blocks applies it continuously.

Tips

• Wool blocks placed over sculk sensors stop them triggering shriekers, which is the real answer to the effect.
• Sneaking prevents shriekers detecting you; Swift Sneak III makes that survivable rather than agonising.
• It is not Blindness — the pulsing rhythm is the tell, and milk is rarely worth drinking mid-escape.
• Ancient city chests hold the only Swift Sneak books in the game; plan the route in and out before you trip a single shrieker.

What each level does

What the inventory calls level II is amplifier 1, because the amplifier counts from zero. Level by level:

Survival stops at I; commands do not, and will accept an amplifier up to 255.

Properties

Darkness has no potion form; it comes from Warden and Sculk shrieker and lasts as long as its source keeps applying it. Drinking milk clears it, along with every other effect you are carrying.

Where it comes from

Darkness comes from Warden and Sculk shrieker.

• Warden
• Sculk shrieker

Command

With cheats enabled it hands you Darkness I for thirty seconds; raise the last number to raise the level, since 1 is II.

Guides and tools that cover this

• GuidesHow to Brew Every Potion in Minecraft→
• ToolsPotion Brewing Planner→

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

Night VisionBad OmenGlowingInfestedLevitationMining FatigueNauseaOozing