The Potion of Freezing is a combat potion arriving with Minecraft’s winter update, part of the Fourth Drop 2026 content. Instead of healing or buffing you, it applies the Freezing effect to a target, slowing their movement and dealing damage over time. It is built on an Awkward Potion like most brews, with one new ingredient doing the work: an Ice Ball.
Quick answer: Brew a Nether Wart into water bottles to make Awkward Potions, then add an Ice Ball to turn them into Potions of Freezing (0:45).
Ingredients needed for the Potion of Freezing
Before you touch the brewing stand, gather everything below. The drinkable base only needs water, Nether Wart, and an Ice Ball, but you will want Gunpowder and Dragon’s Breath if you plan to throw the potion or craft arrows.
- Water bottles (up to three per batch), made from glass bottles filled at a water source
- Nether Wart, used to brew the Awkward Potion base
- Ice Ball, the ingredient that applies the Freezing effect
- Blaze Powder to fuel the brewing stand
- Gunpowder for the splash version
- Dragon’s Breath for the lingering version and for Arrows of Freezing
- Redstone Dust if you want to extend the duration
In its plain drinkable form you can only use this potion on yourself, which has little value. The splash version is the one you actually want, since it lets you throw the effect onto enemies.
Where to get Ice Balls, Blaze Powder, and Dragon’s Breath
The three harder ingredients each come from a different part of the world, so plan a short trip for each one.
Ice Ball
Ice Balls drop from the Frostbite, a frozen zombie variant that only spawns in cold, snowy biomes and inside the new Ice Caves. Defeat one carrying an Ice Ball and it falls to the ground as loot. This is the single ingredient that makes freezing possible, so stock up while you are in the snow.
Blaze Powder
Blaze Powder comes from Blaze Rods, dropped by Blazes in Nether fortresses. Carry a shield, because their fire attacks deal damage over time once they connect. Nether Wart also grows in those same fortresses, so one Nether trip can cover both your fuel and your Awkward Potion base.
Dragon’s Breath
Dragon’s Breath requires a trip to the End. Bring empty glass bottles, and while the Ender Dragon spews its purple breath across the ground, scoop up the lingering clouds with the bottles. You only need this for lingering potions and arrows. Gunpowder, by contrast, is easy, since Creepers drop it almost anywhere at night.
Brew the Potion of Freezing
With the ingredients ready, load the brewing stand and work through the slots. You can brew up to three potions at once, which is worth doing since each operation takes the same time either way.
You know it worked when the bottles change to the Freezing icon and the tooltip reads “Freezing (00:45).” Drinking one applies the effect to yourself, shown by floating snowflake particles.
Splash, lingering, and extended versions
Each extra ingredient modifies a Potion of Freezing into a new form. Adding Redstone Dust doubles the duration, Gunpowder makes it throwable, and Dragon’s Breath turns a thrown potion into a cloud. The table shows every recipe and its Freezing duration.
| Potion type | Recipe | Freezing duration |
|---|---|---|
| Potion of Freezing | Awkward Potion + Ice Ball | 0:45 |
| Extended Potion of Freezing | Potion of Freezing + Redstone Dust | 1:30 |
| Splash Potion of Freezing | Potion of Freezing + Gunpowder | 0:45 |
| Lingering Potion of Freezing | Splash Potion of Freezing + Dragon’s Breath | 0:11 |
| Arrow of Freezing | Lingering Potion of Freezing + 8 Arrows | 0:05 |
To extend the duration, put a finished Potion of Freezing in the bottom slot, add Redstone Dust to the top, and collect the 1:30 version. Because the modifier carries through, an extended potion stays extended when you later add Gunpowder or Dragon’s Breath, giving you longer-lasting splash and lingering results.
To brew the splash version, leave Blaze Powder in the fuel slot, put one or more Potions of Freezing in the lower slots, add Gunpowder above them, and let brewing complete. For a lingering version, set a Splash Potion of Freezing in the lower slots and add Dragon’s Breath above it. When thrown, the potion creates a cloud that freezes anything standing inside.
Craft Arrows of Freezing
For ranged use, put the Lingering Potion of Freezing into the central crafting-table square and fill the other eight slots with arrows. This makes tipped arrows that apply the Freezing effect for 5 seconds on impact; they can be fired from a bow or crossbow.
How to use the Freezing effect
Freezing slows a target’s movement and chips away at their health over time, which makes it a control tool rather than a finisher. Throw a Splash Potion of Freezing at a group of mobs to buy a window for your next attack, or against something like the Warden to create space and escape. Arrows of Freezing extend that same slowdown to ranged fights, letting you tag enemies before they close the gap.
