Glowstone Dust

Overview

Glowstone Dust makes a potion stronger and shorter. Added to a brewed potion it upgrades the effect to level II — Strength II, Regeneration II, Swiftness II, Healing II — at the cost of most of the duration, and it cannot be combined with the redstone dust that extends duration, so every potion is a choice between power and length. As a rule, combat potions take glowstone and travel or utility potions take redstone. It is also the ingredient in Spectral Arrows, which mark a target through walls, and it crafts back into a glowstone block for building — a light source that, unlike a torch, cannot be washed away by water. Supply is a Nether trip: glowstone clusters hang from the ceiling in every biome there, and each block broken drops 2 to 4 dust unless you use Silk Touch, which returns the block whole. Four dust re-craft into one block, so a Fortune III pickaxe on glowstone is effectively a duplication machine. A single ceiling cluster in the Nether supplies more dust than most brewing chests ever get through, so gather it whenever you pass one.

Upgrading potions to level II, crafting spectral arrows, and making glowstone blocks — a waterproof light source that works underwater where torches will not. One item, three unrelated systems.

Glowstone Dust is a brewing item in Minecraft Java Edition 1.21.4. Sixty-four fit in one inventory slot. You get it by killing Witch.

It is used to craft Glowstone and Spectral Arrow.

How to get it

Break glowstone in the Nether for 2 to 4 dust per block, or use Silk Touch to keep the block whole. 4 dust craft back into 1 glowstone block, so Fortune III yields more than you started with.

Tips

Glowstone and redstone cannot both go into one potion: pick strength or duration, never both.
Fortune III on glowstone yields up to 4 dust per block, which re-crafts into more blocks than you mined.
Use glowstone for combat potions and redstone for travel potions; that rule covers almost every brew.
Glowstone lights underwater builds where torches break, which makes it worth hauling home by the stack.