How to Get Nautilus Shells in Minecraft

If you want to build underwater, you could bring with you various Minecraft potions to help you in this challenging mission. However, a better long-term solution would be to get a conduit, a special block that provides players with infinite buffs in an area. To make it though, you’ll need some pretty rare items. One of them is the nautilus shells, which we’ll be focusing on in this Minecraft guide. So with that, let’s get started!

Get Nautilus Shells in Minecraft (3 Ways)

Nautilus shells can be obtained in three different ways, though all of them are unreliable, as they are affected by RNG. We have explained them all below.

1. Fishing

Nautilus shells are one of the rare treasure items you can get while fishing. You have a 16.7% chance to reel it in, but you can increase it slightly with every level of luck of the sea Minecraft enchantment on your fishing rod.

Also, keep in mind that you’ll need to fulfill certain requirements to be able to catch treasure items. There should be at least 2 blocks worth of space above the bobber, 2 blocks of water sources below the bobber, and the water block that the bobber sits in should have at least 2 water source blocks horizontally in all directions.

2. Killing Drowned

One of the hostile Minecraft mobs, namely the drowned, also has a low chance (3% on Java edition and 8% on Bedrock edition) to spawn with a nautilus shell in their off-hand. But once you kill that drowned, the nautilus shell drops 100%.

3. Wandering Trader

Occasionally, you’ll come across a wandering trader that sells nautilus shells for five emeralds each. Though they only sell five shells at a time, so one visit from a very useful wandering trader won’t be enough for a conduit.

What are Nautilus Shells Used for?

Talking about a conduit, let’s see what we can use the nautilus shells for in Minecraft. Their one and only purpose is as a crafting ingredient for the conduit. You need 8 of these shells and also one heart of the sea item, which we covered in a separate guide.

Once you have those ingredients, place the heart of the sea in the middle slot of the 3×3 crafting grid and surround it completely with nautilus shells. The recipe will grant you one conduit per 8 nautilus shells.

So, when you start collecting these items, make sure you at least have 8 of them. As you can tell, this can be quite a time-consuming adventure, but the conduit is definitely worth it.

So, now you know how to obtain and use nautilus shells in Minecraft. You may also use the nautilus shells as a decorative item in an item frame since they are quite unique-looking items. However, do this only if you have tons of them. With that said, how much time did it take you to get the nautilus shells for your first conduit? Tell us in the comments below!