How to Make a Conduit in Minecraft
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How to Make a Conduit in Minecraft
Conduit TipsThe Conduit is Minecraft’s solution to underwater gameplay frustration — the combination of permanent Water Breathing, Night Vision, and Haste in a single passive item transforms ocean biomes from hostile, visibility-limited drowning hazards into fully accessible building and exploration zones. Once a Conduit is active, underwater construction becomes as comfortable as surface building, making ambitious underwater base projects genuinely practical. The acquisition chain (Shipwreck → Treasure Map → Buried Treasure → Heart of the Sea, plus 8 Nautilus Shells and enough Prismarine for a frame) is one of the longer item crafting journeys in vanilla Minecraft, but the reward is a permanently active quality-of-life upgrade that requires no ongoing maintenance. For players planning Ocean Monument raids, setting up a Conduit nearby before the assault transforms the entire fight — no Mining Fatigue from the Elder Guardian matters much less when you already have Haste from the Conduit, and unlimited breathing gives you all the time you need to clear the Monument methodically.FAQ
⚡ Quick Answer
How to Craft and Activate a ConduitTo make a Conduit craft 8 Nautilus Shells around 1 Heart of the Sea in a crafting table. The Heart of the Sea is found in Buried Treasure chests — locate them using a Treasure Map from Shipwreck chests. To activate the Conduit, surround it with a frame of 16–42 Prismarine blocks in water. An active Conduit grants Conduit Power — underwater breathing, night vision, and faster mining — within 32–96 blocks depending on frame size.
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Get a Heart of the Sea — from Buried Treasure. The Heart of the Sea is a unique item found exclusively in Buried Treasure chests — underground chests buried on beaches and underwater. To find Buried Treasure: loot a Shipwreck (found on ocean floors and beaches) and search its chests for a Treasure Map. The map shows a red X marking the Buried Treasure location — follow it and dig at the X mark (usually 1–3 blocks beneath the sand or gravel surface). Every Buried Treasure chest contains exactly one Heart of the Sea. You only need one per Conduit — plan your Shipwreck exploration accordingly.
2
Collect 8 Nautilus Shells — from Drowned or fishing. Nautilus Shells are the second ingredient. Two sources: Drowned mobs — the underwater zombie variant that spawns in oceans and rivers — have a 3% chance of dropping a Nautilus Shell when killed, and a higher chance if holding one. Kill Drowned during ocean exploration and the shells accumulate over time. Fishing — Nautilus Shells are a rare treasure catch (about 0.5% chance per fish while fishing in open water with an Unenchanted rod, improving with Luck of the Sea). Wandering Traders sometimes sell Nautilus Shells for 5 Emeralds each — the fastest but most expensive option if you have Emeralds to spare. Collect all 8 before crafting.
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Craft the Conduit at a crafting table. Open a crafting table and fill all 8 outer slots with Nautilus Shells, placing the Heart of the Sea in the centre slot. This produces 1 Conduit — a glowing orb-like block. The Conduit itself does nothing when simply placed — it requires an activation frame of Prismarine blocks surrounding it in water to function. The Conduit block looks like a glowing eye inside a spiral shell and is one of the most visually striking blocks in the game even before activation.
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Build the activation frame — Prismarine blocks in water. Place the Conduit in the centre of a body of water (it must be submerged) and surround it with a frame of Prismarine, Prismarine Bricks, Dark Prismarine, or Sea Lanterns. The minimum frame is 16 blocks — this activates the Conduit with a 32-block range. The maximum frame is 42 blocks — this gives the Conduit its full 96-block range. The frame must form a 3D ring pattern: the simplest minimum frame is a 5×5 square ring (with the corners removed) on one plane around the Conduit. Get Prismarine from Ocean Monuments — they contain large quantities of all Prismarine variants.
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Conduit Power: what the active Conduit does. An active Conduit grants Conduit Power to all players within range who are in water or rain. Conduit Power combines three effects: Water Breathing — indefinite underwater breathing, no oxygen bar; Night Vision — full visibility underwater; Haste — 16.7% faster mining speed underwater. These three effects together make underwater building, resource collection, and combat dramatically more practical. The effect applies automatically when you’re in the Conduit’s radius — no potions needed. An active Conduit also attacks hostile mobs within 8 blocks of it, dealing 4 damage every 2 seconds — a passive defence system for underwater builds.
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Maximum frame design for 96-block range. The full 42-block frame consists of three interlocking 5-block rings around the Conduit on the X, Y, and Z axes — each ring needs to be centred on the Conduit with Prismarine blocks. The 3D frame looks like an armillary sphere. Build it by placing: one 5-block ring on the horizontal plane, one on the North-South vertical plane, one on the East-West vertical plane. All rings share the centre point where the Conduit sits. A full 42-block frame covers 96 blocks in all directions — enough to protect a large underwater base or ocean farm without additional Conduits. If 96 blocks isn’t enough, place multiple Conduits with overlapping ranges.
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Raid an Ocean Monument before building the Conduit frame: the Conduit frame requires 16–42 Prismarine blocks — Ocean Monuments contain hundreds of Prismarine blocks in multiple variants. A single Ocean Monument raid yields more than enough for a full 42-block frame. Bring Axes with Efficiency V to mine Prismarine quickly and Axolotls to remove the Elder Guardian’s Mining Fatigue debuff before mining.
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Conduit Power works in rain too — not just underwater: any player in the Conduit’s radius who is touching water OR standing in rain benefits from Conduit Power. This means during thunderstorms, Conduit Power’s unlimited breathing and Haste apply on the surface as well. Not a major practical benefit but worth knowing if you’re building a surface base near an active underwater Conduit.
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Use the 16-block minimum frame for compact underwater outposts: a 16-block frame activating a Conduit with 32-block range is sufficient for most single-room underwater bases and resource collection operations. Save the Prismarine for later expansion — build the minimum frame first, then upgrade to the 42-block maximum once you have enough material from Ocean Monument farming.
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The Treasure Map X mark is one chunk over from its visual position: a common frustration with Buried Treasure hunting is that the X on the Treasure Map doesn’t always align perfectly with the dig spot due to map scaling. If digging at the exact X mark yields nothing, search the surrounding 3×3 block area — the chest is typically within 5 blocks of the marked spot. Dig 2–3 blocks deep since chests are buried under sand or gravel.
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Kill Drowned holding Nautilus Shells for guaranteed drops: Drowned mobs sometimes spawn already holding a Nautilus Shell — visible in their hand as they swim. Killing a Drowned that’s holding a Nautilus Shell has a much higher drop chance (~100% on Java, ~3% base on Bedrock for held item drops). In ocean biomes, scan Drowned hands as they approach — prioritise killing shell-holders to speed up your 8-shell collection significantly.
What does a Conduit do in Minecraft?
An active Conduit grants Conduit Power to all players within range who are in water or rain. Conduit Power combines Water Breathing (indefinite underwater breathing), Night Vision (full underwater visibility), and Haste (16.7% faster mining speed). The Conduit also attacks hostile mobs within 8 blocks of it. Range is 32–96 blocks depending on the frame size (16–42 Prismarine blocks).
How do you get a Heart of the Sea in Minecraft?
Find a Heart of the Sea in a Buried Treasure chest — located using a Treasure Map found in Shipwreck chests. Follow the map’s red X mark and dig on the beach or underwater to find the chest. Every Buried Treasure contains exactly one Heart of the Sea.
How many Prismarine blocks do you need for a Conduit?
The minimum frame is 16 Prismarine blocks, giving the Conduit a 32-block activation range. The maximum frame is 42 blocks, giving a 96-block range. Any combination of Prismarine, Prismarine Bricks, Dark Prismarine, or Sea Lanterns counts toward the frame total. Ocean Monuments are the best source for bulk Prismarine.
Where do you get Nautilus Shells in Minecraft?
Nautilus Shells drop from Drowned mobs (3% chance, higher if they’re holding one), from fishing as a rare treasure catch, and from Wandering Traders who occasionally sell them for 5 Emeralds each. Killing Drowned in ocean biomes is the most reliable free method — check if they’re holding a shell before approaching since those have a higher drop rate.