Ultimate Guide to Conduit Minecraft: Crafting, Uses, and Activation
Have you ever wanted to be the undisputed master of the ocean in Minecraft? Forget those clumsy potions and cumbersome helmets. There is a way to breathe freely, see clearly, and mine lightning-fast deep beneath the waves.
The secret to ultimate underwater dominance lies in a mysterious block called the conduit, a powerful utility item added in version 1.13. Building one unlocks a whole new world of exploration and lets you create incredible, functional, and stylish aquatic bases.
Let us dive into the depths and learn exactly how you can craft, activate, and master the incredible power of a Minecraft conduit in your world today.
What Is a Conduit in Minecraft
The conduit is a beacon-like block entity conduit that looks like a small, shimmering heart floating inside a glass cage. It is a powerful active block for those who dare to venture into the game’s massive oceans.
Its primary role is to greatly simplify underwater exploration and base building, turning the challenging ocean environment into a safe, efficient home. This block entity is rightly considered a rare and powerful utility block due to the fantastic advantages it grants the player.
What Does a Conduit Do in Minecraft
An activated conduit provides a highly beneficial status effect known as Conduit Power. This power grants players three vital benefits as long as they are within range and submerged in water.
The passive effects of Conduit Power are water breathing, night vision, and a significant increase in mining speed, enhancing your efficiency by 16.7%. These effects enhance your underwater gameplay tremendously, making it easier to navigate, build, and collect resources like sea lanterns.
When fully activated, the conduit also serves as an automated defense system, as it attacks hostile mobs within an 8-block range that are in contact with water or rain. This offensive capability is known as conduit attacking, where the conduit can target and damage drowned and other underwater hostile mobs when properly activated and positioned.
Contents & Requirements for Building a Conduit
To begin your journey into underwater mastery, you first need to gather the crucial components. This preparation is key, as the required items are rare and will require a bit of dedicated searching in your world.
What You Need to Craft a Conduit
To craft a Minecraft conduit, you will need two very specific and hard-to-find components. The crafting recipe requires a total item count of nine separate items.
- Heart of the Sea: This item is the core of the conduit, a highly rare drop found exclusively in buried treasure chests. You must first find a treasure map from a shipwreck or ocean ruin to locate it.
- Nautilus Shells: You will need eight nautilus shells to complete the recipe. These can be farmed by fishing, trading with Wandering Traders, or as a rare drop from Drowned mobs.
Make sure to have your nine required items ready and accounted for before proceeding to the crafting step.
Crafting Recipe: How to Make a Minecraft Conduit
Crafting the conduit is straightforward once you have gathered the required materials. You will need a crafting table to combine the items.
The crafting layout is as follows:
- Place the Heart of the Sea in the exact center slot of the 3×3 grid.
- Surround the central Heart of the Sea completely by placing one nautilus shell in each of the remaining eight outer slots.
The resulting item will be the conduit block. Remember, obtaining the parts is the hard part; the actual crafting is simple for beginners.
How to Activate a Conduit in Minecraft
A conduit is not immediately useful upon crafting; it is simply a transparent block. To truly unlock its potential, you must create a specific frame structure around it made from prismarine blocks and ensure it is fully submerged. The basic arrangements require placing the conduit within a frame of prismarine or similar blocks, following a defined pattern to activate it. At least seven blocks of prismarine or related materials are needed for the conduit to begin functioning, though a full activation and maximum range require exactly 16 blocks placed in the correct configuration.
Building the Prismarine Frame
The activation of a conduit requires it to be surrounded by a frame made of specific frame blocks. This frame must be constructed from prismarine bricks, dark prismarine, or sea lanterns. Note that slabs, stairs, and walls of these materials will not work. Double slabs are also not valid for the activation frame.
- Minimum Activation: A valid setup requires a minimum of 16 blocks in the frame to function, providing the minimum range for conduit activation.
- Maximum Power: To achieve the maximum range and strongest defense, you will need a maximum of 42 blocks in the activation frame. The complete structure consists of three 5×5 open squares around the central conduit, one for each axis, like a cage surrounding the block. A complete frame of 42 blocks is required for the maximum range and to enable all conduit effects, including damaging hostile mobs.
The number of blocks in the frame contribute to the conduit’s effective range and abilities.
The open squares and cage-like structure mean that empty spaces within the frame do not affect activation, as only the correct placement of required blocks matters.
How to Activate a Conduit
- The central conduit block must be entirely underwater. A conduit will only work if submerged, so it must not be exposed directly to air.
- The frame blocks must be placed around the conduit in the required shape.
When activated, the conduit displays a distinct iris-like shape opening up, and you will see the Conduit Power status effect icon appear on your screen. This visual cue confirms you have an active conduit.
Remember, if you remove any frame blocks after activation, the conduit will become a broken block and deactivate.
What Is Conduit Power in Minecraft
Conduit Power is the powerful status effect granted to players by an activated conduit. It combines three major effects into one powerful utility for underwater builds and combat efficiency.
- Effects: It grants constant water breathing, clear night vision, and increases your mining speed dramatically, which is essential for tasks like clearing an ocean monument.
- Range: The effective range of Conduit Power is between 32 to 96 blocks in a spherical range, depending on the number of frame blocks used in your structure. The more blocks you use (up to 42), the greater the range.
- Stacking: Conduit Power is a unique effect and does not stack with the standard Water Breathing, Night Vision, or Haste effects from other sources.
Conduit as a Light Source
A bonus feature of the active conduit is its ability to emit light. The conduit emits a light level of 15, making it the brightest light level in the game.
This high light level means conduits can be used to create stunning and functional lighting systems in your underwater bases, often outshining other light sources like sea lanterns or Glowstone.
Obtaining the Heart of the Sea and Nautilus Shells
How to Find the Heart of the Sea
- Buried Treasure Maps: You must first find a treasure map, which can spawn in loot chests located in shipwrecks or ocean ruins.
- Exploration Tips: Once you have a map, follow the red ‘X’ to a buried chest. Digging in the area where the red ‘X’ meets the chunk boundary is the most reliable way to find the chest, which holds a high chance of containing the Heart of the Sea.
How to Get Nautilus Shells
- Fishing: You have a chance to catch a Nautilus Shell as a “Junk” item while fishing.
- Mob Drops: Drowned mobs, the zombie variants found in the ocean, have a small chance to drop a Nautilus Shell upon defeat.
- Trading Options: Wandering Traders sometimes offer to sell you Nautilus Shells for Emeralds, which is often the quickest way to get a few.
Best Practices for Conduit Placement
- Ideal Biomes: Conduits can operate in any biome, height, or depth, but they are most useful in deep ocean biomes where underwater exploration and building are challenging.
- Maximizing Range: Always use the full 42 blocks in your activation frame to achieve the maximum 96-block range. This creates a massive safe zone around your build, essential for clearing and transforming ocean monuments.
- Design Ideas: Incorporate the conduit into the architecture of your base. Since conduits emit a bright light, place them where they can illuminate both functional and aesthetic areas.
Advanced Tips: Expanding Your Conduit Network
- Overlapping Zones: You can place multiple conduits near each other, allowing their power ranges to overlap. This creates a vast, continuous safe zone for major projects like covering a large section of the ocean floor.
- PvP Applications: The conduit’s attacking ability can be used strategically in underwater PvP arenas or adventure maps to create hazards for hostile players or mobs.
- Redstone Synergy: While the conduit itself is not Redstone-powered, you can use Redstone to automate systems around your conduit, such as door openings into your pressurized underwater base.
Minecraft Conduit Commands
If you are playing in Creative mode or simply testing a design, using commands can instantly place the items and blocks you need, saving you a lot of time. This is especially helpful for beginners testing out frame structures.
- /give @p conduit: Instantly adds one conduit to your inventory.
- /give @p heart_of_the_sea and /give @p nautilus_shell: Gives you the exact items you need for the crafting recipe.
- /setblock ~ ~ ~ conduit: This will place a conduit block directly at your current location, useful for quick placement and testing.
- /effect @p conduit_power: Applies the conduit power effect directly to you, great for testing range without having to build the frame.
Additional Resources
For players eager to unlock the full potential of conduit power in Minecraft, a wealth of additional resources is available to help you master every aspect of this unique block. The official Minecraft wiki is an excellent starting point, offering in-depth guides on everything from the crafting recipe to the technical details of the block entity conduit. Here, you can explore advanced information about how conduits store additional data, interact with frame blocks, and the mechanics behind conduit activation.
When building your activation frame, the wiki and community guides provide detailed diagrams and tips for using prismarine bricks, dark prismarine, and sea lanterns in the optimal 5x5x5 formation. These resources clarify valid block placements, how unused frame blocks can affect your setup, and the best ways to ensure your conduit is fully submerged for activation. Understanding these nuances can help you create more efficient and visually stunning underwater structures.
Beyond the basics, conduits offer powerful benefits like night vision, water breathing, and increased mining speed, making them essential for underwater exploration and base building. With a properly constructed activation frame, your conduit will not only grant these effects but also defend your base by attacking hostile mobs within range. Many players use conduits to build elaborate underwater farms, hidden bases, or to safely explore ocean monuments and the ocean floor.
To stay up-to-date and get inspired, consider joining the vibrant Minecraft community online. The official Minecraft website, the Minecraft subreddit, and numerous YouTube channels are filled with tutorials, showcase videos, and discussions about conduit builds and strategies. These platforms are perfect for sharing your own creations, troubleshooting tricky setups, and discovering new ways to use frame blocks and activation frames in your designs.
By tapping into these additional resources, you can deepen your understanding of conduits, experiment with advanced builds, and connect with other players who share your passion for underwater adventures. Whether you’re perfecting your first activation frame or designing a network of fully powered conduits, there’s always more to learn and explore in the ever-evolving world of Minecraft.
Conclusion
The Minecraft conduit is a game-changer for any player who wants to truly dominate the ocean. By mastering the crafting recipe and the activation frame structure, you unlock a powerful block that provides water breathing, night vision, and faster mining.
These benefits make it easier to clear ocean monuments, establish beautiful underwater bases, and farm aquatic resources efficiently. Do not be afraid to experiment with your frame designs and placement for a stylish, functional setup. I invite you to share your unique activated conduit builds and tips with other players.
