Overview
Harming is Minecraft's one true burst-damage consumable, and it is also the effect most likely to kill the player who brought it. A splash bottle detonates for its full damage the instant it lands, ignoring the attack cooldown entirely, which means two thrown in quick succession land more damage in a second than any sword can. Armour reduces it, but no armour makes it harmless. The problem is the blast radius: your own bottle catches you if you throw it short, and Harming II takes six hearts off an unarmoured target — including yours. Then there is the undead inversion, which turns the effect into a liability against exactly the mobs you meet most. Zombies, skeletons, drowned, husks, strays, phantoms, wither skeletons and the Wither are all healed by Harming — throwing it at a skeleton is worse than throwing nothing. Where it genuinely shines is against players and against living mobs with high health and no ranged answer: ravagers, hoglins, iron golems and the Ender Dragon's crystals-down phase. Brewing it needs one extra step, since it is a corruption of Healing or Poison rather than a base recipe, and that step is a fermented spider eye.
Deleting a single dangerous living target fast — a ravager, a hoglin, an iron golem or another player — with damage that ignores the melee cooldown entirely.
Deals damage immediately. Undead mobs are healed by it instead, which makes it useless against skeletons and zombies.
The game files Instant Damage as a harmful status effect. It resolves instantly on contact rather than running for a time.
While it is on you, the top-right of the inventory shows the icon and the time left, and you give off particles in the effect's colour, dimmer when the source is ambient. No beacon carries it, so each dose is finite.
How to get it
Ferment a Potion of Healing or Poison with 1 fermented spider eye, then add gunpowder to make it a splash bottle. Redstone does nothing to an instant potion, but glowstone dust doubles the damage by upgrading it to Harming II.
Tips
- Never throw it at undead mobs; zombies, skeletons and the Wither are healed by it rather than hurt.
- Throw at the ground behind a target, not at your own feet — the cloud reaches you just as readily as it reaches them.
- Two bottles thrown back to back land far more damage per second than any sword, because splash potions ignore the attack cooldown.
- The full corrupted brewing branch is laid out in the brewing guide, including the Poison route to Harming.
What each level does
The level shown in the inventory is the amplifier plus one, which is why Instant Damage II is amplifier 1 in a command. Each level does the following:
Survival stops at II; commands do not, and will accept an amplifier up to 255.
| Level | Effect |
|---|---|
| I | deals 6 damage (3 hearts) at once |
| II | deals 12 damage (6 hearts) at once |
Properties
Instant Damage has no potion form; it comes from Potion of Harming and Arrow of Harming and lasts as long as its source keeps applying it. It resolves in a single tick, so removal never comes up. Undead mobs are healed by it.
- Category
- Negative
- Highest level in survival
- II
- Particle colour
- #430A09
- Removed by
- Instant effect
Where it comes from
Instant Damage comes from Potion of Harming and Arrow of Harming.
- Potion of Harming
- Arrow of Harming
Command
With cheats on, this gives you Instant Damage I for thirty seconds. The last number is the amplifier, so 1 is level II.
Give the effect
/effect give @s minecraft:instant_damage 30 0Clear it
/effect clear @s minecraft:instant_damageGuides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
How long does Instant Damage last?
There is no potion of Instant Damage: its duration comes from whatever source applied it.
How do I get rid of Instant Damage?
It is over the moment it lands, so removal does not apply.
Is Instant Damage good or bad?
It is a harmful effect: the game classes it with the negative statuses, and a fermented spider eye in the brewing chain is what turns Instant Health into it.
What does Instant Damage II do?
Instant Damage II gives deals 12 damage (6 hearts) at once.
