Overview
Infested is the only one of the four ominous effects that triggers on damage rather than on death, and that makes it the one that compounds. Every time the carrier is hurt there is a small chance a silverfish or two burst out — so a long fight against an infested mob steadily fills the room with silverfish while you are still trying to finish the original target. Silverfish are individually trivial and collectively awful: they are small, they swarm, they slip through gaps in your swing arc, and in a trial chamber they arrive alongside everything else the wave brought. The counter is speed. Kill infested mobs in as few hits as possible, which means Sharpness and a full-power swing rather than chip damage, and never poke at one with a bow across a room. Bane of Arthropods is the pointed answer if you expect a whole ominous run of them, since it hits silverfish and the spiders the chamber also produces. Away from ominous chambers the effect does not occur, so it is worth knowing chiefly as a reason to bring a properly enchanted sword rather than whatever was in the chest.
Nothing useful to a player — it exists to punish slow, chip-damage fighting, and it is the clearest argument in the game for finishing a mob in two hits rather than six.
Gives a chance to spawn silverfish when you take damage. Introduced with the ominous trial spawner effects in 1.21.
The game files Infested as a harmful status effect. There is no potion of it; its duration is exactly as long as its source keeps it up.
The icon sits in the top-right of the inventory with its remaining time beneath it, and coloured particles follow you around, drawn faintly when a beacon or a conduit is the source. No beacon projects it, so every application ends on a timer.
How to get it
Only ominous trial spawners apply it, which needs Trial Omen active in a chamber. Each time an infested entity takes damage there is roughly a 10% chance that 1 or 2 silverfish appear beside it.
Tips
- Kill infested mobs fast; every hit that does not finish them is another roll for more silverfish.
- Bane of Arthropods V is worth a book if you plan a full ominous chamber run.
- Silverfish call others nearby when hurt, so clear them one at a time rather than swinging into the group.
- Fight in a corridor where they cannot surround you — an open room is exactly the wrong choice against a swarm.
Version notes
Added in Java 1.21 as an ominous trial spawner effect; unlike Oozing, Weaving and Wind Charged it fires on taking damage rather than on death.
What each level does
What the inventory calls level II is amplifier 1, because the amplifier counts from zero. Level by level:
You cannot reach past I legitimately, though a command will set it as high as 255.
| Level | Effect |
|---|---|
| I | each time you take damage there is a 10% chance one to two silverfish burst out |
Properties
No potion produces Infested. Its sources are Ominous trial spawner mobs, and its duration is whatever they give it. Milk is the only cure, and it clears every effect you are carrying at once.
- Category
- Negative
- Highest level in survival
- I
- Particle colour
- #8FA036
- Removed by
- Milk
Where it comes from
Infested comes from Ominous trial spawner mobs.
- Ominous trial spawner mobs
Command
This gives you thirty seconds of Infested I with cheats on. The trailing number is the amplifier, so 1 means level II.
Give the effect
/effect give @s minecraft:infested 30 0Clear it
/effect clear @s minecraft:infestedGuides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
How long does Infested last?
Infested has no potion form, so whatever applied it sets how long it lasts.
How do I get rid of Infested?
A bucket of milk, which also removes everything else you have on.
Is Infested good or bad?
Harmful. The game groups it with the negative statuses.
