Mining Fatigue

Overview

Mining Fatigue exists to defend one structure, and it does that job so completely that it has become the defining puzzle of ocean monuments. An elder guardian applies it to every player within roughly 50 blocks, on a timer, at a strength that makes breaking a prismarine block by hand a task of minutes rather than a second — and it re-applies long before it expires, so waiting it out is not a plan. That single mechanic is why monument raids are structured the way they are: you either kill all three elder guardians first and mine afterwards, or you bring milk and re-drink it on a cycle, or you tunnel in with TNT, which the effect does not slow at all. Blocks broken by pistons, explosions and other entities ignore it entirely, and so does anything you place. The effect never appears anywhere else in survival, so learning it is really learning the monument. Milk is the clean answer, but milk also strips the Water Breathing and Night Vision you almost certainly want down there — which is why an activated conduit, whose Conduit Power replaces both, is the standard tool for the job.

Nothing you want — this is the game slowing you down. Its practical value is as a warning: the moment the ghostly elder guardian image flashes on screen, something with 80 health is watching you.

Slows mining dramatically — at level III you mine at under 3% of normal speed, so a block that takes a second by hand takes most of a minute. Elder guardians inflict it to protect ocean monuments.

Mining Fatigue is a harmful status effect. Nothing brews it, so it runs for as long as whatever applied it keeps doing so.

You will see it as an inventory icon in the top-right corner with a countdown, plus a trail of particles in the effect's colour — faint rather than absent when a beacon or a conduit applied it. There is no beacon version, so it always runs out.

How to get it

Only an elder guardian inflicts it, at level III for 5 minutes, within about 50 blocks of the mob inside an ocean monument. A monument holds exactly 3 elder guardians, so clearing all three is what ends the effect for good.

Tips

• Kill all three elder guardians before you touch a single prismarine block; mining first wastes far more time than hunting does.
• Milk removes it but also removes Water Breathing, so set up a conduit before the raid rather than relying on potions.
• TNT, pistons and end crystals break blocks at full speed regardless of the effect, which is the standard way to open a monument floor.
• The structure loot guide lists what a monument actually holds, so you can decide whether the trip is worth it.

What each level does

Levels are shown one-based in the inventory and zero-based in commands, so Mining Fatigue II is written amplifier 1. Per level:

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

Properties

No potion produces Mining Fatigue. Its sources are Elder guardian, and its duration is whatever they give it. A bucket of milk removes it, at the cost of every other effect you have running. Blocks broken by pistons, TNT and other mobs are unaffected.

Where it comes from

Mining Fatigue comes from Elder guardian.

• Elder guardian

Command

This gives you thirty seconds of Mining Fatigue I with cheats on. The trailing number is the amplifier, so 1 means level II.

Guides and tools that cover this

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

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

HasteBad OmenDarknessGlowingInfestedLevitationNauseaOozing