Overview
Hunger drains the food bar far faster than activity alone ever could, and the danger it poses is entirely indirect. An empty food bar stops natural health regeneration, and once regeneration stops, the ordinary chip damage of a cave — a zombie hit, a two-block fall, a moment in a cactus — has nothing undoing it. Players rarely die of the effect and often die during it. The commonest source is the food most likely to be in a starving player's inventory: rotten flesh, which zombies drop by the stack and which carries an 80% chance of the effect for half a minute. That is the trap the item is built around. Eating one piece is almost always fine, eating six in a row is a spiral where each piece costs you more bar than it restores. Husks apply it on hit too, which is what makes a desert night unpleasant rather than merely dangerous. Both milk and a honey bottle clear it, and the honey bottle is the better choice because it also restores food while it works. If you have neither, the answer is simply to eat something proper and stop moving until the timer runs out.
Nothing you would choose — its only practical value is as a reminder that rotten flesh is emergency food and not a diet, and that a full bar is what keeps you healing.
Drains the hunger bar far faster than normal. Rotten flesh is the usual culprit.
As a status effect, Hunger 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
Eat rotten flesh, which inflicts Hunger for 30 seconds about 80% of the time, or take a hit from a husk, which applies several seconds of it with every blow. A raw chicken carries a 30% chance of it as well.
Tips
- A honey bottle clears it and feeds you at the same time, which milk does not do.
- Stop sprinting and jumping while it runs; exhaustion from movement stacks on top of the effect's own drain.
- Rotten flesh is safe for taming wolves and feeding them, since dogs suffer no ill effect from it.
- Compare real food properly in the food comparison tool rather than eating whatever is nearest.
What each level does
The number in a command is one lower than the level you see: Hunger II is amplifier 1. Here is each level:
You cannot reach past I legitimately, though a command will set it as high as 255.
| Level | Effect |
|---|---|
| I | exhaustion rises by 0.005 per tick, draining the hunger bar |
Properties
Hunger has no brewed form. It comes from Rotten Flesh and Husk attack, and it runs for as long as the source does. Honey is the targeted cure: it clears the poison-type effects only. Milk also works but wipes your buffs with it.
- Category
- Negative
- Highest level in survival
- I
- Particle colour
- #587653
- Removed by
- Milk or honey
Where it comes from
Hunger comes from Rotten Flesh and Husk attack.
- Rotten Flesh
- Husk attack
Command
With cheats on, this gives you Hunger I for thirty seconds. The last number is the amplifier, so 1 is level II.
Give the effect
/effect give @s minecraft:hunger 30 0Clear it
/effect clear @s minecraft:hungerGuides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
How long does Hunger last?
Hunger has no potion form, so whatever applied it sets how long it lasts.
How do I get rid of Hunger?
A honey bottle is the clean answer; milk works as well but takes your buffs with it.
Is Hunger good or bad?
Harmful. The game groups it with the negative statuses.
