Crystal Heart

Crystal Heart

Crystal Heart

Type	Health item
Rarity	Rare
Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Effects	Prevents death when held, like a Totem of Undying
Resource location	matcha:heart_container
Base item	minecraft:poisonous_potato
Defined in	crystal_heart.json

A crystal heart is a rare item that permanently raises the player's maximum health by 1 heart, up to 30 hearts. It is the only way to regain hearts lost to death, and while held it also saves the player from dying, like a totem of undying.

Obtaining

Crafting

Name	Ingredients	Recipe
Crystal Heart	8 × Diamond + Pith	PithCrystal Heart

The recipe needs  Pith, so every crafted heart competes with the other uses of pith, such as bedrock busters and alloys.

Advancements

Four advancements in the tutorial tab reward crystal hearts:

Advancement	Requirement	Reward
Canto I	Obtain an  Opal	1 crystal heart
Canto II	Obtain a  Ruby	1 crystal heart
Canto III	Obtain an  Amber	1 crystal heart
Canto IV	Obtain a  Topaz	2 crystal hearts

Chest loot, fishing and trading

Chance is the probability that a single chest, mob or catch yields at least one, assuming no Looting, Luck or Fortune.

Chest loot

Source	Stack size	Chance	Notes
Abandoned mineshaft	1	25.0%
Abbey / barracks	1	33.3%
Abbey / tower	1	50.0%
Ancient city	1	18.2%
Simple dungeon	1	25.0%
Stronghold corridor	1	50.0%
Trial chambers / reward	1	5.56%

Fishing

Source	Stack size	Chance	Notes
Fishing	1	0.175%	open water

Trading

Villager	Level	Offer	Price	Quantity
Archaeologist	Master	Clay FetishCrystal Heart	Clay Fetish (Rejoice)	1
Archaeologist	Master	Clay FetishCrystal Heart	Clay Fetish (Lament)	1
Mouthpiece	Novice	Paradise Lostby John MiltonCrystal Heart	Paradise Lost	1
Mouthpiece	Novice	The Divine Comedyby Dante AlighieriCrystal Heart	The Divine Comedy	1

Abbey

Crystal hearts also lie as dropped items in an Abbey: one in the entrance shaft and one in the heart boon room. Since 1.12.8-beta they never despawn; before, they vanished within a few minutes of the area loading.

Usage

Raising maximum health

Using a crystal heart (pressing use while holding it) consumes it and raises maximum health by 1 heart (2 ( × 1)). The heart takes effect on the first tick of use, even though the item's use time is 60 seconds and it plays the spyglass animation. Internally, the pack deals the player 999 magic damage and lets the heart's own death protection absorb it, which consumes the heart and plays the totem animation. The player is then given:

•  Regeneration XI for 3 seconds
•  Resistance V for 1 second

Because the player is left at 1 health before the Regeneration heals them, a crystal heart also works as a strong emergency heal when below maximum health.

Using a crystal heart does nothing if:

• the player is already at 30 hearts;
• the player used one less than 1 second (20 ticks) ago;
• the player is holding a totem of undying in the main hand, which would otherwise be used up instead of the heart.

In all three cases the heart is not consumed.

Totem of undying

A crystal heart held in either hand saves the player from any death a totem of undying would prevent, even at 30 hearts. It is consumed, and the player gets Regeneration XI for 3 ticks and Resistance V for 1 tick. Used this way, it does not add a heart. The 1.12.2 release notes describe hearts as "cheap totems (at max hearts)".

Trading

Trading

Villager	Level	Offer	Wants	Gives
Mouthpiece	Apprentice	The AvestaCrystal HeartOfudaPrayer of The God-King	The Avesta +  Crystal Heart	Ofuda Efficiency II, Unbreaking I
Mouthpiece	Apprentice	The QuranالقرآنCrystal HeartOfudaPrayer of The God-King	The Quran +  Crystal Heart	Ofuda Protection II
Mouthpiece	Apprentice	The TanakhהתנךCrystal HeartOfudaPrayer of The God-King	The Tanakh +  Crystal Heart	Ofuda Loyalty III, Trailblaze III, Power II
Mouthpiece	Journeyman	The Book of Enochספר חנוךCrystal HeartOfudaPrayer of The God-King	The Book of Enoch +  Crystal Heart	Ofuda Sharpness III
Mouthpiece	Expert	The Lesser Key of Solomonby King SolomonCrystal Heart2OfudaPrayer of The God-King	The Lesser Key of Solomon + 2 ×  Crystal Heart	Ofuda Mending
Mouthpiece	Master	Crystal Heart2Echo ShardPith	2 ×  Crystal Heart +  Echo Shard	Pith

Advancements

Obtaining a crystal heart for the first time grants Crystal Heart!, which rewards 3  obols. In 1.12.2 the advancement could not be earned, because it looked for the model heart_container, which the game reads as minecraft:heart_container, while crystal hearts use matcha:heart_container.

History

0.3-alpha	Heart containers renamed to crystal hearts. They can be crafted, no longer drop from zombies, and are found in chests.
0.5-alpha	Added to fishing loot.
1.10	Recipe made cheaper, from 27 diamonds to 8. Added to mineshaft loot. Fixed crystal hearts in multiplayer.
1.12	Crystal hearts bought from villagers can no longer be eaten. Fixed a typo that stopped hearts being removed properly.
1.12.1-alpha	Can be traded to the Mouthpiece, with an echo shard, for a divine fragment. Advancements now reward crystal hearts.
1.12.2	Crystal hearts are now used by the player instead of being applied as soon as they are picked up, and work as totems of undying. Ofuda trades now require crystal hearts.
1.12.3	The "Crystal Heart!" advancement can be earned.
1.12.6-alpha	Crystal hearts, crafted or from chests, fishing and advancement rewards, no longer keep the poisonous potato's food component; those from the Archaeologist's clay fetish trades still do.
1.12.8-beta October 23, 2026	The crystal hearts lying in Abbeys no longer despawn.

Trivia

• The item is a poisonous potato with a custom model, which is why its model is still called heart_container, from its original name.
• Before 1.12.2, hearts were applied the moment they entered the inventory. The developer explained that this was so players "feel the pressure to make it out of whatever dungeon/cave alive". In 1.12.2 they were changed to be used, "since the new death system provides enough incentive".
• The advancement description reads: "Crystal Hearts impart a piece of divinity onto Gods who devour them. Though mortals were only able to use their Undying properties."
• The developer lowered the recipe from 27 to 8 diamonds after a critic said they had no interest in engaging with the heart system. The developer did not adopt the critic's proposal of dropping items on death, but concluded that the system "was a little bit too expensive" and that a cheaper heart would get more players to engage with it.

See also

• Death
• Health