How to make a Fermented Spider in Minecraft: Step by Step Guide

In order to craft a Fermented Spider Eye, you will need:

1. Crafting Table
2. Spider Eye
3. Sugar
4. Brown Mushroom

The Fermented Spider Eye is a strange item with some appropriately strange ingredients. Obviously, you will need a Spider Eye but you will also have to forage for some mushrooms and sugar.

The only way to get a Spider Eye in Minecraft is to get hunting. All varieties of Spiders have a one in three chance of dropping a Spider Eye when they are killed by the player or their dog. Spiders spawn above ground as the sun goes down, and Cave Spiders spawn in any dark enough space underground. Witches can also drop Spider Eyes upon death but are much more challenging foes. Be careful!

A Spider found in the Overworld at dusk.

Getting the next ingredient, Sugar, is simple enough. Sugar Cane can be found in the Overworld near water. Look for a River or a sugar farm in a Village, where you are sure to find some. Put the harvested cane in your Crafting Table for one sugar per Sugar Cane.

The last thing you will need is some Brown Mushrooms. Mushrooms generate on blocks with low light in Swamp biomes and the Nether. They can also be harvested from brown Huge Mushrooms or by using shears on a brown Mooshroom. Note: Red Mushrooms do not work for this recipe.

Brown Mushrooms growing in a cave.

If you are struggling to find any Brown Mushrooms, check out this article.

In a Nutshell:

With the eye, sugar, and mushroom in hand, go to a crafting table to ferment your Spider Eye. With it, get to brewing!

Step 1: Open the 3x3 Crafting Table grid.

Step 2: Place the ingredients in this exact configuration.

In order to make full use of Fermented Spider Eyes, you will want a Brewing Stand and some throwable bottles. Here is a guide on how to make and use a Brewing Stand, and here is a guide on how to create Splash Potions that can be thrown.

Once you have your stand and bottles, you can use a fermented eye to craft four different varieties of potion. Below will be a description of each and how to craft them.

First and simplest, the Potion of Weakness can be brewed using a Fermented Spider Eye and a Water Bottle. Anything afflicted with a Potion of Weakness will do reduced melee damage to anything they attack.

Secondly, a Potion of Harming can be crafted with a Fermented Spider Egg and either a Potion of Poison or a Potion of Healing. This one is especially useful as a Splash Potion, since it inflicts damage to whatever consumes or is struck by it.

Next, combine a Potion of Swiftness or a Potion of Leaping with a Fermented Spider Eye to get a Potion of Slowness. As the name implies, a Potion of Slowness slows down those it afflicts by 15% at the first three levels of potency and by 60% at its fourth level of potency. Another great potion for a Splash bottle.

A Splash Potion being thrown, with the splash from a broken potion below.

And finally, we have a potion that you will actually want to drink yourself. By mixing a Potion of Night Vision with a Fermented Spider Eye, you will brew a Potion of Invisibility. After drinking this potion, you will disappear, making it harder for mobs to spot you. If you are wearing armor or closeby, they will still be able to discover you, so be careful!

Can Fermented Spider Eyes be eaten to restore hunger?

No, Fermented Spider Eyes are only useful for brewing potions. Regular Spider Eyes, however, can be eaten and will restore the hunger meter.

Are Spiders always hostile?

No, actually, Spiders are only hostile in lower light levels. If you happen to find a Spider in the Overworld during the day, you will be able to get the jump on them—a much easier method of harvesting Spider Eyes.

For Witches and pitchers alike, the Fermented Spider Eye is a crucial component in brewing some of the most dangerous Splash Potions in Minecraft. And if you have ever wanted to be sneaky like a Spider yourself, try out the Potion of Invisibility to avoid enemies’ sightlines. Try it out with a bow for the powerful stealth archer build!