Building beneath the ocean surface is certainly not a new idea in Minecraft. Since the early versions, many players have taken on the challenge of creating some cool things underwater. However, for many years this wasn’t so easy, as you ran out of air faster than you’d like. But ever since the 1.13 Aquatic Update and some great new features, it’s now no problem to realise your dreams of an underwater city! Today, we’ll look at all the things that make working under the sea easier for you, including the often-forgotten conduit. You should definitely keep it in mind to bring your plans to fruition.
Essential Items for Efficient Underwater Work
Nowadays, you can work underwater undisturbed, without having to surface for air repeatedly. The swimming movement patterns have also improved significantly compared to earlier versions. But what exactly is available to you? These items are essential for sea projects to make the job easier for you.
Potions for Underwater Work:
Water Breathing: This potion is self-explanatory, allowing you to breathe underwater without problems for its duration. To brew it, you need a pufferfish, and with a redstone dust, the duration can be extended to a full 8 minutes. No sea building project should proceed without this potion.
Night Vision: Your visibility will also be limited while building underwater, which isn’t exactly practical. You can use normal light sources to help (Effective Light Sources for Decorative Building Projects in Minecraft) , but that’s not a great solution for the building process. Therefore, we recommend crafting a night vision potion from golden carrots. You can also extend it with redstone to 8 minutes, which should be sufficient for initial excursions.
Enchantments for Underwater Work:
Respiration: You can add extra breathing time to your helmet. While it doesn’t last forever, it gives you significantly more time before the air bubbles are completely gone.
Aqua Affinity: Also for your helmet, this enchantment allows you to mine blocks underwater faster.
Depth Strider: To move faster, you should use Depth Strider. Up to three levels allow your boots to achieve the same speed as on land.
Better Mobility Underwater:
Dolphin’s Grace: Swimming with dolphins will also increase your speed. Moreover, these cute animals can lead you to hidden treasures.
Trident with “Riptide”: The trident is often a forgotten weapon, but especially with the “Riptide” enchantment, it’s an absolute must underwater! It propels you through the waves, allowing you to move extremely quickly.
Effective Use of Sponges in Underwater Building
Sponges are actually one of the oldest blocks in Minecraft, but for a long time, they were only available in creative mode. However, with the ocean monuments, they were added to the survival part of the game and are a block perfectly suited for underwater work. You can find them in “sponge rooms” or when you defeat an elder guardian.
Just like in real life, they absorb water and can therefore be used for larger building projects you want to realise in water. They can be used in an area of 7x7x7 blocks and absorb all the water within this radius. However, surrounding water can still flow back in. Once they are filled with water, you need to dry them. This can be done in a furnace, or you can place them in the Nether, where they will dry out instantly. We recommend having some sponges on hand for your underwater projects.
Using Water Columns as Effective Transport Mechanisms
The use of various elevator mechanisms is also no longer new in Minecraft. However, with the functionality of bubble columns, you can easily reach the water surface or pull yourself down. Use soul sand blocks to shoot yourself upwards with a bubble column, and magma blocks to pull yourself down. Both are super practical, not only for underwater builds but also for regular buildings where a quick elevator is needed.
The Conduit: A Powerful Helper for Underwater Building
Lastly, we’ll look at the conduit, an often forgotten block that can be super practical for your underwater building projects. It functions similarly to a beacon on land, and if you want to learn more about that, then read our post about it (Building a Minecraft Beacon: All Effects & Materials Explained!) .
For a conduit, you need two items. First, you need eight nautilus shells. You can obtain these by fishing, as a drop from drowned, or as a trade with the wandering trader. They are not super rare, but you still need to actively search for them. The second item is a bit harder to acquire: the “Heart of the Sea”. You can only find this in buried treasure chests, which can be located through treasure maps. And these treasure maps can only be found in ocean ruins or shipwrecks. Fortunately, every buried treasure chest contains a Heart of the Sea.
The built conduit needs to be set up underwater and surrounded by a ring of 42 prismarine blocks. Any prismarine block is possible. The form should resemble two vertical rings with dimensions of 5x5, as well as a horizontal outer ring. You have activated the full power of the conduit when its red eye glows. The entire radius of the ensuing effect is 96 blocks in every direction.
But what effects does the conduit give you? The “Conduit Power” provides you with the following within the radius:
increased mining speed, comparable to Haste 1
complete underwater breathing
night vision
damage to monsters within an eight-block radius (e.g., drowned)
These effects make the conduit a must-have for projects you want to complete underwater. It practically gives you all the effects that you can also achieve with potions, but permanently and in an extremely large radius. You won’t have to constantly deal with finding resources for potions. However, some of the enchantments from the first section are still recommended.
Conclusion
Some of the most beautiful building projects in Minecraft are those that require a bit more effort. And since forever, buildings underwater are extremely cool to look at, although their construction was more challenging before the 1.13 update. But with sponges, the conduit, and great enchantments, nothing should stand in your way. Rent your own Minecraft server with us and build a cool underwater city with your friends, like in games such as “BioShock” or “Subnautica”.
