Make and Use a Conduit in Minecraft (2022)
You need a variety of items to make and then activate a conduit, so we have divided the guide into separate sections for your ease. Use the table below to explore everything about the conduit at your convenience.
What Is Conduit in Minecraft
Similar to a beacon in Minecraft, a Conduit is a block that gives special abilities to its user. However, unlike a Beacon, Conduit also attacks other hostile mobs underwater. So, you can use it as a power boost as well as a guard to protect your house in Minecraft.
Now, you must be wondering – how useful is a conduit in Minecraft and what all powers you get when you use it. When you place a conduit and activate it, it gives an area-of-effect status called “Conduit Power”. It combines the effects of Potion of Water Breathing, Potion of Night Vision, and haste to give you immense power underwater.
Once placed, you can easily break the conduit with your hand or use any item. And keep in mind that the conduit causes a small explosion when destroyed, similar to other rare blocks.
How to Get a Conduit Naturally
Unfortunately, unless you are on custom adventure maps in Minecraft, there is no way to naturally obtain a conduit. You have to craft a conduit using some rare items and then activate it to use it. And well, these items aren’t that hard to find if you know where to look. That said, it’s time to look at the items you need to build a conduit.
Items Required to Make a Conduit
To make a conduit, you need the following items:
Heart of the Sea8 Nautilus ShellsCrafting Table
Get Heart of the Sea
The Heart of the Sea is one of the rarest items in Minecraft, and it only spawns in the buried treasure chests. It can’t be crafted or traded. Lucky for you, we already have a guide to help you find buried treasure in Minecraft. You can use the linked guide to easily find a buried treasure.
Irrespective of where you find it, every buried treasure chest has a Heart of the Sea. However, you can’t get more than one of these rare items in a single chest. So, to make multiple conduits in Minecraft, you have to find multiple buried treasure chests.
Find Nautilus Shell
Comparatively, the nautilus shells are much easier to come across. You can get them while fishing, by killing the Drowned, and by trading with wandering traders. To make a conduit, you need a total of 8 nautilus shells. So, such a variety of options to obtain the nautilus shell will certainly come in handy.
Crafting Recipe of Conduit in Minecraft
Once you have all the ingredients, it’s easy to craft a conduit. To do so, open the crafting table and place the Heart of the Sea in the middle cell of the center row. Then, you need to surround it with nautilus shells. So fill the remaining cells of the crafting area with nautilus shells. Once ready, you can pick up the conduit and place it in your inventory.
Now, unlike other utility blocks in Minecraft, you can’t just place and use the conduit. You first have to create a special area dedicated to the conduit and activate it to obtain conduit powers. Let’s see how.
How to Activate a Conduit in Minecraft
To activate a conduit, you need the following items:
9 water blocks (can be source blocks, waterlogged, or flowing water)16-42 blocks of prismarine, dark prismarine, prismarine bricks, or sea lanterns.
You don’t need to collect water to activate the conduit if you are building it underwater. As for prismarine and its alternatives, you can find them in ocean ruins and ocean monuments. Once you come across them, you can easily mine prismarine blocked with any pickaxe.
Types of Conduit Structures
A conduit can be activated in 3 types of structures:
16 blocks structure with a power range of 32 blocks in every direction30 blocks structure with a power range of 63 blocks in every direction42 blocks structure with a power range of 96 blocks in every direction
Other than the extended range, the frame with 42 blocks also has an additional advantage. It’s the only structure that allows conduits to attack hostile mobs. This works only if the mobs are within 8 blocks of the structure and if they are in the water or under the rain.
Make a Conduit Structure in Minecraft
To activate a conduit, you need to make a structure around it. This structure consists of 5 blocks on all axis lines of the conduit and must be done underwater. Here’s how to do that:
- First, find an open underwater area, preferably in the ocean. It should be at least 5 blocks wide in all directions.
- Next, create a straight vertical line of 5 prismarine blocks. You can also use dark prismarine or prismarine bricks.
- Then, create two parallel horizontal lines from the topmost and bottommost blocks of the vertical line.
- Finally, connect the corner of the two new lines to form a vertical line parallel to the first one. The final structure should look like a hollow square. What you have at the moment is a 16-block conduit structure, which has a 32 blocks range in every direction.
- To expand it further, you can repeat the steps above and make an intersecting hollow square (from the middle block) on the other side. It will result in a 30-block conduit structure whose range extends to 63 blocks.
- Finally, to make the best conduit structure, one that also fights mobs for you, connect the middle blocks of adjacent sides of the conduit using 3 blocks. The final structure will have 42 blocks (looks like the screenshot below), and its range extends up to 96 blocks.
Activate the Conduit
Irrespective of the structure you make for the Conduit in Minecraft, the activation process remains the same. Let’s see how it works.
- To activate the conduit, first place any block on top of the middle block of the conduit. Irrespective of the structure, the middle block is always the same.
- Then, place the conduit on top of the newly placed block. It won’t get activated just yet.
- Finally, break the block placed under the Conduit. Doing so will immediately activate the Conduit, and it will start floating and emitting power (as well as light).
Q: How do you fully power Conduit? To make a full-power Conduit, it needs to be surrounded by a 42-block structure of prismarine. It will then function at its full potential, giving you Conduit power and fighting hostile mobs for you underwater. Also, it is important to know that the range of a fully powered Conduit extends up to 92 blocks in every direction.
Q: How much prismarine do you need for a Conduit? You only need 16 blocks to activate a Conduit. However, to push it to the full power, you need 42 blocks of prismarine or its alternatives.
Q: Which blocks do I need for a Conduit structure? You need 16-42 blocks of prismarine, dark prismarine, prismarine bricks, or sea lanterns. While making a structure, you can use them interchangeably. Mixing these blocks doesn’t affect the Conduit or its power.
Q: Which is better in Minecraft – Conduit or Beacon? Conduit’s powers are limited to the water. But a Beacon can provide you power in any dimension – on land or in water. So, in practical terms, Beacon is more powerful than Conduit. However, both of them are used in different circumstances.
Make a Conduit in Your Minecraft World
With that, you are now ready to make and use a Conduit in Minecraft. Whether you want to breathe underwater or discover the next spot for your base, nothing is off the table. In case you’re wondering about places to explore, our list of the best Minecraft seeds could come in handy. But leaving exploration aside, Conduit powers are nothing less than that of a superhero in the game. Now, if you want to complete the experience, use the best Minecraft skins to find one that suits you and matches the underwater theme of your adventure. As for your sidekick, Allay in Minecraft can accompany you and help you gather resources with ease. Even if you don’t take it on long adventures, you can still use Allay in automatic farms to make the most out of this new mob. But that’s for later. For now, it’s time for you to use a treasure map and collect materials to make a Conduit in Minecraft.
