There are many paths to venture down when playing Minecraft. You can peacefully build a house in survival, use creative mode to make huge structures, or create a hardcore world and fight against monsters at night. Surviving the darkness in Mojang‘s world is a lot easier with some armor and a few potions on hand. That’s where turtle shells come in. Not only can you wear a turtle shell on your head, but you can also use it to brew potions! By the end of this guide, you will learn how to get a turtle shell in Minecraft and what its uses are.
Minecraft Turtle Shell Guide
(Updated on July 26th, 2024 – updated images and crafting instructions)
Before you can fill a chest with potions, you’ll need a turtle shell. To get that, you need to obtain five scutes which you get from baby turtles. Keep your cries of glee to yourself. They’re cute, but you can fuss over them later. Here’s what you need to do:
- Search a beach biome for baby turtles
- Alternatively, hatch baby turtles from turtle eggs
- Raise the baby turtles into adults
- Collect the scutes they drop upon reaching maturity
You will need a total of five baby turtles to get the scute you need. If you obtain seagrass, you can also breed two adult turtles to lay eggs. An adult turtle will lay between 1-4 eggs. Be careful though, the eggs can be trampled and destroyed! Keeping the eggs in an enclosed area will help prevent animals and hostile monsters from breaking them. Master Splinter would be proud.
Once you get the scutes, you will need to put them in an “n” shape using a crafting table, similar to how you would craft a helmet. After you’ve finished crafting the turtle shell, you can equip it as a helmet. It gives the same defense points as a golden, chainmail, or iron helmet. It also grants the Water Breathing status effect, allowing you to stay underwater longer. You can even make a Potion of the Turtle Master with it, which will give you resistance at the cost of slowing you. We get it. Greatness takes time.
