Totem of Undying in Minecraft

Totems of Undying are one of the most valuable items that Minecraft players can get their hands on. They are the only way to cheat death in the game and can be used in regular worlds as well as PVP worlds.

They're difficult to find and have to be used in a certain way in order to work, but they're more than worth the struggle. Here's how to find them and use them.

Finding and using totems of undying in Minecraft

There are two different methods of obtaining a Totem of Undying in Minecraft. One of them requires surviving the fifth wave of a Village raid, the other requires you to find a Woodland Mansion for the rare “Evoker” mob.

Evokers will always drop one Totem of Undying when killed. Image via Minecraft Evokers will always drop one Totem of Undying when killed. Image via Minecraft

Ferengi Crimes @ Elim Garak

@ScuzBrains

I GOT RGE TOTEM OF UNDYING

Totem of Undying will only work while it is equipped in the main slot or in the off-hand. This makes Totem of Undying one of the most useful items in Hardcore Minecraft worlds. In regular survival worlds, preventing death is mainly to prevent yourself from losing your levels. Of course it can also prevent your entire inventory from being scattered across the floor.

There's only one way to properly use a Totem of Undying. It won't work from any inventory slot, so players can't just have one on their person and expect it to work. It has to be in their hand or off-hand to trigger correctly.

If the player takes lethal damage, instead the Totem of Undying in their hand will be consumed, a visual effect plays over the player’s screen, and three buffs and half a heart of health.

Only one Totem of Undying can be used at a time. One Totem of Undying will protect the user from death and provide them with the following status effects for a short amount of time after it is used:

Absorption II (5 seconds)
Regeneration II (45 seconds for Java Edition) (40 seconds for Bedrock Edition)
Fire Resistance I (40 seconds)

Interestingly, the Totem of Undying does not save a player targeted with the /kill command.

Having it in the main inventory row is helpful, but death often comes too quick for players to switch to the Totem of Undying in time to prevent it. Placing it in the off hand is the best way for Minecraft players to ensure they won't die

This will take the place of torches or the map that players usually have in this slot, but the tradeoff is probably worth it. After it's used, it goes away, so players will need to equip another one.

Totem of Undying Trivia

Totem of Undying was first introduced into the game with the 1.11 update of the Java edition of Minecraft in November 2016.
A mob holding a Totem of Undying will still work regularly. If a zombie happens to pick up the Totem of Undying, it will consume the totem and receive the three buffs.
Having a Totem of Undying trigger successfully will award the Postmortal Advancement.