What is the Spoon Icon in Minecraft?

If you’ve been playing Minecraft for a while, you have most likely come across various in-game icons. Each one has a meaning behind it.

Knowing what the icons mean will help you survive in the huge world of Minecraft. However, there are too many icons to keep count, so no matter how long you’ve been playing this game, there will always be a few you’re unfamiliar with or just can’t remember.

One of the icons that confused most players is the Spoon icon. In this article, we’ll explain everything about it and help you understand what it means.

The Meaning Behind the Spoon Icon in Minecraft

Simply put, if you notice the Spoon Icon while playing Minecraft, it means that you have the so-called Mining Fatigue effect.

The Mining Fatigue effect is essentially a status effect that slows down the process of breaking blocks. In other words, if you’re affected by the Mining Fatigue, it will seem like you’re breaking blocks in slow-motion.

There are several levels of this effect, including Mining Fatigue II, Mining Fatigue III, Mining Fatigue IV, and so on. The higher the level, the slower you’ll mine. To be more specific, the character’s ability to mine or attack decreases by 10 percent per level of fatigue.

Although this effect won’t slow down your overall movement speed and other abilities, it will slow down your attack speed. Therefore, you should be cautious while you’re under the Spoon icon, especially if you’re playing in the Survival mode.

So, how can you get the Mining Fatigue effect in the first place? Where will you see the Spoon icon that’s associated with it? We’ve answered that and other related questions in the following sections.

How Can You Get Affected by the Mining Fatigue Effect?

The Mining Fatigue effect is caused by the pufferfish-like mobs, called Elder Guardians. These one-eyed fish creatures are only spawned in oceans and around ocean monuments. As you’ve probably guessed, they require water to be spawned. Actually, both the spawning block and the block below it have to be water. The block above the spawning block needs to be transparent (water, ice, air, etc.) to spawn this giant aquatic mob.

The Elder Guardians are more often found in oceans that aren’t open to the sky. That means that you’re most likely going to find an Elder Guardian inside a monument. They shouldn’t be mistaken for their less powerful counterparts, which are simply called Guardians. They tend to swim around the underwater monuments and attack nearby players.

While the Elder Guardians can inflict the Mining Fatigue effect, the normal Guardians cannot. Elder Guardians are gray, much bigger than their less powerful siblings, and very rarely found outside the monuments.

According to the developers, all types of Guardians fail to spawn 95% of the time if their spawning block is above sea level and has a view of the sky. The sea level is set to 63 by default. On the other hand, a spawn is likely to have the same failure percentage if its spawning block is located below sea level.

In most cases, three Elder Guardians are spawned during the generation of each monument. There’s usually one Elder Guardian at the top and two at the monument’s wing sections.

How do Elder Guardians Behave?

Elder Guardians swim around their spawning areas and burst into abrupt charges when a player gets in their line of sight. However, they don’t swim as much as regular Guardians.

When they’re in battle mode, they start moving their tails rapidly and retracting their spikes. They have three methods of attack:

a) The defensive thorn-like attack

b) Inflicting the Mining Fatigue effect

c) Firing a laser that changes colors

You’ll know that an Elder Guardian hasn’t seen you if they’re swimming slowly and their spikes extend. Although they’re water mobs, they can live on the surface without suffocating. If they’re without water, their spikes will be fully extended.

Where Will You See the Spoon Icon?

As we’ve already mentioned, if an Elder Guardian affects you with its Mining Fatigue effect, the Spoon icon will appear on your screen.

In newer Minecraft versions, the Spoon icon appears in the top-right corner of your screen. If you have an older version of this game, you’ll see the Spoon icon only in your inventory. Besides the Spoon icon, you’ll know that you’ve got the Mining Fatigue effect if particles start floating around you. To be sure, try mining a block and see if your mining speed is decreased.

The duration of this effect isn’t always the same. It depends on how you’ve got it and which level is inflicted upon you.

To know how long your mining speed will be decreased, open your inventory and check the timer under the Spoon Icon.

Platforms that Support the Mining Fatigue Effect

Only the following platforms support the Mining Fatigue effect:

a)Windows 10 Edition

b) Education Edition

c) Nintendo Switch

d) PS3

e) PS4

f) Wii U

g) Xbox One

h) Xbox 360

i)Pocket Edition

j) Java Edition (update 1.14)

How to Get Rid of Mining Fatigue

Once you have the mining fatigue it can be quite frustrating. You may want to adventure in an underwater temple, but instead, you’re left without the ability to defend yourself or collect precious materials.

Before you go into the temple there are two things you should collect; milk, and an underwater breathing potion.

Milk removes active effects so take plenty of it. Just beware, milk is unable to differentiate between good effects and the bad ones. This means that when you drink milk, any effects from potions you’re counting on to help you make it through the temple will also disappear.

Take plenty of underwater potions with you so that if you do get mining fatigue you can drink the milk to eliminate it, then drink a potion to get your good effects back.

There are other ways to get rid of the fatigue, but they aren’t always as simple. You can either wait for the effects to wear off (which may take around five minutes) or kill all of the Guardians in the temple. The latter may be quite difficult because you’re already moving slowly, but once they’re all gone you will recover without ever having to drink milk to take another potion. Just remember, there are usually at least three guardians but sometimes more. If the effects don’t wear off, keep going because there are probably more Guardians in the temple.

How Do I Avoid Mining Fatigue?

There really isn’t any way to avoid the fatigue if you’re being attacked by a Guardian. Using a shield, hiding behind objects, and or even hiding under blocks will not help you. The best chance you have is dealing with the fatigue once you have it rather than to spend your time fruitlessly trying to avoid it.

Good Luck with Your Mining Adventures

That is all there is to know about the Spoon icon in Minecraft. To sum it up, the Spoon icon means that you’ve been affected by the Mining Fatigue effect. This effect slows your mining speed and can only be caused by the Elder Guardian mob.

With that in mind, be careful while exploring Minecraft’s huge underwater world.

Have you already been affected by the Mining Fatigue effect? Did you encounter an Elder Guardian? Tell us in the comments section below.