Overview
A Nautilus Shell is one of the eight pieces of the Conduit frame, and the conduit is the reason to collect them: activated underwater inside a prismarine frame, it gives Conduit Power to every player nearby — water breathing, night vision underwater, and normal mining speed in water — across a radius of up to 96 blocks. That turns an ocean monument raid or an underwater build from a potion-managed ordeal into ordinary work. Eight shells plus one Heart of the Sea make one conduit, and the shells are the slow half. They come from fishing as treasure, from drowned that spawn holding one, and from wandering traders, who sell them for around 5 emeralds each and are by far the least painful source. An AFK fishing farm with Luck of the Sea III will produce them steadily over an evening. Shells stack to 64 and have no other use, so collect exactly eight per conduit you intend to build and stop. A conduit in an ocean base is the single upgrade that makes underwater building enjoyable rather than merely possible, so the collection is worth doing properly.
Building a conduit — 8 shells and a heart of the sea — which grants water breathing, underwater night vision and full mining speed across a wide underwater area.
In Minecraft, Nautilus Shell is a crafting material item. A full stack holds 64. It drops from Drowned.
It goes into exactly one recipe: Conduit.
How to get it
Fish them as treasure with a Fishing Rod, buy them from a wandering trader for around 5 emeralds, or kill drowned holding one, which drop it at roughly a 3% chance.
Tips
- Wandering traders sell shells for emeralds, which is far faster than fishing for all eight.
- Luck of the Sea III on the rod raises the treasure rate substantially if you are fishing for them.
- A conduit needs 16 prismarine frame blocks minimum for a 32-block range and 42 for the full 96.
- Shells have no use except conduits, so there is no reason to gather more than 8 per conduit planned.
Properties
One inventory slot holds 64, so a double chest holds 3,456.
- Stack size
- 64
- Renewable
- Yes
- Category
- Materials
Dropped by
1 mobs drop Nautilus Shell: Drowned. Looting raises the maximum on most of them.
Used to craft
Nautilus Shell is an ingredient in 1 recipes, producing Conduit.
Guides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
How do you make Nautilus Shell in Minecraft?
Nautilus Shell has no crafting recipe — it drops from Drowned.
What is the stack size of Nautilus Shell?
Nautilus Shell stacks to 64.
