How to Swim in Minecraft: PC, PS4/ PS5, Xbox, PE (Lava & Water)

Who doesn’t like Swimming? It’s fun, exciting, and exercising.

In Minecraft, you need to learn to swim to survive in the water biome and find Underwater chests/treasures in shipwrecks submerged underwater without drowning.

You get to experience the awesome underwater view and have a great adventure.

Swimming is also a fun and great mode of transportation.

To Swim in Minecraft – Press Spacebar to Jump in the water. Once submerged, Press the “W” forward button to start swimming. Double tap “W” to swim faster. Click S – Swim Backward, Click A – Swim Left, Click D – Swim Right, Click SpaceBar – To Float, and SHIFT – to Submerged faster.

In this tutorial, I will guide you on how to learn to swim in Minecraft with step-by-step instructions.

How To Swim In Minecraft on PC

• Jump in the water
• Once submerged underwater
• Press the “W” forward button to start swimming.
• Double tap “W” to swim faster and activate sprint.

If you wanna float while in water, press the Jump button (spacebar on pc) and SHIFT to go down faster.

Minecraft PC Swimming Controls

• Click W – Swim Forward.
• Double Tap W – Activate sprint.
• Click S – Swim Backward
• Click A – Swim Left.
• Click D – Swim Right.
• Click SpaceBar – To Float
• SHIFT – to Submerged faster

If you just jump in the water and don’t use any control, you will slowly go down.

How To Swim In Minecraft on Xbox

• Face the Water Biome (Lake/ Pond/ Ocean)
• Jump into the water.
• Push the analog stick forward with the controller.
• This will swim your character.
• Double push the stick in quick succession to Sprint swim.

Sprint swimming will make you move faster.

Minecraft Xbox Swimming Controls

• For Emerging: A key
• For Diving: Button B

How To Swim In Minecraft on PS4/PS5

Swimming on Playstation and Xbox consoles isn’t that different and doesn’t require much effort when it comes to controlling.

• Jump into a Water Body
• Push the left analog stick forward to start swimming.
• Double Push the analog stick forward to move swiftly underwater.

Minecraft PS Swimming Control

• For Emerging: X key
• For Diving: Square Button

How to swim in Minecraft PE

The Onscreen controls on the Mobile/ iPad/ Tablet version are similar to those on consoles.

• Jump and Submerge in the water,
• Press the ↑ button to swim forward.
• Double Press the ↑ button twice in a row for sprint swim.
• Press the ↓ button to Swim backward.

Minecraft PE Swimming Controls

• ←: Swim Left.
• ↑: Swim Forward.
• →: Swim Right
• ↓ : Swim Backward.

How to Swim Down in Minecraft

To Swim down in Minecraft, Press the SHIFT button on the Keyboard for faster submersion. For Regular Swim down, Jump inside the water body and don’t use any control for a few seconds.

You will naturally drift down slowly and swim down underwater.

How to Swim Faster in Minecraft by Controls

To swim faster in Minecraft, you’ll need to activate Sprint Swim to make you swim in a horizontal position and be able to swim through one-block holes increasing your movement speed by 30% faster than walking on the surface.

Sprint swimming allows you to approximately move faster at 5.612 meters a second from walking speeds of about 4.317 m/s.

To sprint swim you need to use controls depending on your devices:

• For PC – Double tap the (W) forward button
• For Xbox – Double push the stick in quick succession
• For PE – Double Press the ↑ button twice in a row
• For PS – Double Push the analog stick forward

How to Swim Faster by Dolphin

If the Sprint swimming by controls isn’t fast enough for you, doesn’t do it for you, use the Dolphin’s Grace effect to increase the player’s swimming speed and lose speed at a slower rate.

Note: This feature is available only to Java Edition.

Here’s how the Dolphin’s Grace effect works:

• Jump underwater
• Look for a dolphin mob
• Swim closer to the dolphin. T
• It will give you a boost in speed making you swim faster.

Mind you the boost lasts only for 5 seconds. Nonetheless, it still covers a lot of distance even in a few seconds.

Can you Swim in Lava in Minecraft?

Yes, you can swim in Lava in Minecraft during a Nether trip. However, you must put on an enchanted armor with Fire Protection to swim safely in Lava without burn damage.

One thing to note down is that swimming in Lava, will do more harm and deal damage your character when swimming.

Unless there is a need to swim in Lava to get much-needed resources i.e diamonds present across the lava, I wouldn’t recommend it if you are doing it for the fun of it without the resistance effect.

Lava Swimming Control for PCs

• W– swim Forward.
• S – swim Backward
• A – swim Left.
• D – swim Right.

Lava Swimming Control for PE (Mobile Version)

• ←: Swim Left.
• ↑: Swim Forward.
• →: Swim Right
• ↓ : Swim Backward.

Lava Swimming Controls for Xbox and PS4/ PS5

• For Emerging: A key
• For Diving: Button B
• For Emerging: X key
• For Diving: Square Button

How to Craft Fire Resistance Effect for Swimming in Lava?

To protect yourself from the flaming hazards of Lava, all you need is a potion in a handy glass bottle.

Materials to make Fire Resistance

• Magma Cream
• Nether Wart
• A potion bottle with water
• Blaze powder

Here’s a step-by-step guide to making the Fire resistance effect.

• Open the Brewing Stand menu
• Add Blaze Powder in the far left box to Activate the Brewing Stand
• Add the Water Bottle to one of the bottom grid
• Add the Nether Wart to the top box
• Crafting a recipe for a potion of fire resistance
• Add the magma cream to the top box

Once the brewing process is complete, The Potion of Fire Resistance is successfully brewed.

Carry on your inventory the resistance potion for your next excursions i.e swimming in the Lava.

How to swim above water in Minecraft?

To swim above water, continue front crawl swim stroking on a rhythm to move forward and keeps your head above the water.

How to Breathe Underwater in Minecraft?

While swimming underwater, you can breathe by using –

• Drink Potions for 3/8 minutes
• Turtle shell that grants underwater breathing
• Conduit to breathe underwater indefinitely if you are within range.

Minecraft’s world has different biomes – Jungles, Plains, Mountains, Deserts, Snowy Tundra to Water Biomes.

Moving into the Minecraft Water realms can be quite an experience. Encounter Ocean Monument, old wreckages, hidden treasures under Water, and Ocean Ruins Loot among many others.

Looking for more Minecraft content? Check out our other sections of the blog for more guides.

Also Read: How to Make a Lava Door in Minecraft: Step-by-Step (with Pictures)