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. Trying to survive against hostile enemies during the night can be very challenging, especially when you are trying to strategically run away! Having some armor on and a few potions on hand are both great ways to help you live through the harsh night. Thankfully, some items help you accomplish both, including turtle shells! 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.

How to Get Turtle Shells in Minecraft

To get a turtle shell, you need to obtain five scutes. Once you get the scute, you will need to put them in an “n” shape using a crafting table. This is similar to how you would craft a helmet. Once you craft the turtle shell using the scute, you can equip it on your character as a helmet. It gives the same defense points as a golden, chainmail, or iron helmet. A turtle shell helmet also gives 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 expense of being slowed down.

To get scutes, you will need to find some baby turtles. You can either search for a beach biome in your world or hatch them with turtle eggs if you already have some. When a baby turtle grows up to an adult, it will drop one scute. You will need a total of five baby turtles to get the scute needed to make your turtle shell. 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.

Minecraft is available on PC, Android, iOS, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation platforms.