With hundreds of items and blocks in Minecraft, it's quite easy to miss out on a few of them. One such untreated item is scutes that hold the power to the strongest potion in Minecraft and even make your underwater adventure easier. But this item can't be crafted, looted, or found in the game. Instead, you have to be present at the right spot at the right time to obtain it. If you play on the best Minecraft survival servers, other players might even beat you to it. So, with no time to waste, let's learn how to get scutes in Minecraft right away!
How to Get Scutes in Minecraft
Obtaining scutes in Minecraft involves a bunch of complex in-game mechanics. So, make sure to explore all the segments of our guides sequentially to avoid any errors.
What Are Scutes in Minecraft
Scutes are unique items in Minecraft that only the baby turtles drop. They can't be crafted, smelted, or even obtained by killing mobs. This makes these items quite hard to obtain and almost impossible to farm.
In the real world, the term "scutes" refers to the scales that are on the back of turtles. As the turtle grows, the scutes shed themselves and large scutes that are growing under the original ones take over. The game has implemented a similar mechanic for this unique item and even though it feels a bit complex, the benefits make it worth the effort.
Uses of Scutes
You can use scutes in three unique ways within Minecraft:
- Turtle Shells: A special type of helmet that allows you to breathe underwater for 10 seconds longer than usual. You need 5 scutes to make them.
- Potion of the Turtle Master: You can use the turtle shells to create this special potion that protects you from up to 80% damage. So, effectively, the scutes also become a part of this potion's brewing process.
- Trading: Expert-level cleric and leatherworker villagers buy scutes for emeralds.
Other than these uses, you can also rely on scutes to repair the turtle shells when they get damaged. This mechanic works just like all the other armor materials in the game. Though, surprisingly, the scutes don't have any role in the armor trims of Minecraft, not even as a coloring material.
How to Obtain Scutes in Minecraft
In Minecraft survival, scutes only appear when baby turtles grow into adult turtles and drop this item. So, you first need to get baby turtles and then you must protect them until they grow up to get the desired loot.
Find and Breed Turtles
Follow these steps to get breed turtles in Minecraft:
1. First, go to the beaches of Minecraft to look for turtles. They only spawn in the sandy variants of beaches during daytime and they can be in a group of up to 5 turtles at once. You also have a 10% chance of finding baby turtles but we suggest you don't rely on it.
2. Then, you have to find and collect seagrass which spawns on the floor of oceans in Minecraft except for the frozen oceans. You only need two pieces of seagrass for the breeding process.
3. Then, feed the seagrass to two turtles and let them get into "love" mode. Within seconds, one of them will lay 1–4 turtle eggs in a nearby sand block.
Tips to Take Care of Turtle Eggs and Baby Turtles
While the turtle eggs slowly hatch and the baby turtles grow into adults, you just have to patiently wait to get your scutes. However, it isn't as simple as it sounds. Both eggs and baby turtles are prone to attacks by a variety of mobs but they can't protect themselves. So, you have to turn into a parent and protect the turtle family until the egg turns into an adult.
The mobs that attack baby turtles and turtle eggs include:
- Zombies, zombie villagers, husks, and drowned
- Zombified Piglins and Zoglins
- Wither skeletons, skeletons, strays and
- Ocelots, Wolves, Cats, and Foxes (untamed ones)
- Withers
Other than these, even friendly mobs like the Sniffer can accidentally break turtle eggs by stepping on them. But your biggest worry should be the zombie mobs to deal with whom, you must have a diamond sword in Minecraft.
How long does it take for a baby turtle to grow?
It usually takes around 4 to 5 in-game days for the eggs to hatch. Then, it takes another whole Minecraft day to grow into an adult. Moreover, the eggs grow most during the night. So, you might have to stay up multiple days within the game to get scutes in Minecraft.
Unfortunately, not sleeping for three or more days makes the game spawn phantoms which are flying hostile mobs. They can get pretty annoying to kill if you don't have the right equipment. But if you do kill them, you will end up getting phantom membranes in Minecraft. These are vital brewing ingredients that allow you to create a Potion of Slow Falling in Minecraft.
Get and Use Scutes in Minecraft
With that, you are now ready to explore the depths of the oceans. But, before you start your sea journey, don't forget to create a raft with bamboo wood in Minecraft. While you are at it, you should also try the best Minecraft shaders to ensure that the water you are spending time in looks its best. Though, you will have to download OptiFine to get them to work. But, let's not venture too far from the topic at hand and come up with ways to farm scutes in Minecraft. Drop your ideas on our Discord server and they might make it into the next guide.