Enchantments make your tools faster, your armor stronger and your weapons hit harder. This guide explains how to get them and which ones are worth having.
- Lapis lazuli
- Diamond
- Emerald
- Enchanting table
- Bookshelf
- Anvil
- Grindstone
Three ways to enchant
- Enchanting table: costs experience levels and lapis lazuli. You pick one of three random offers.
- Anvil: combine an item with an enchanted book, or two of the same item, to merge their enchantments.
- Villagers: librarians sell enchanted books, including Mending. See our trading guide.
Get the best offers: 15 bookshelves
Craft an enchanting table with 2 diamonds, 4 obsidian and 1 book. Then place 15 bookshelves around it, one block away, with nothing between them and the table. With 15 bookshelves you can get level 30 enchantments, the best the table offers. Add more and nothing changes.
Best enchantments for each item
Sword
Sharpness V, Unbreaking III, Mending, Looting III, Fire Aspect II, Knockback (optional).
Pickaxe
Efficiency V, Unbreaking III, Mending, and either Fortune III or Silk Touch. Many players keep two pickaxes, one of each.
Axe and shovel
Efficiency V, Unbreaking III, Mending. An axe can also have Sharpness V for fighting.
Helmet
Protection IV, Unbreaking III, Mending, Respiration III, Aqua Affinity.
Chestplate and leggings
Protection IV, Unbreaking III, Mending. Leggings can also get Swift Sneak from ancient cities.
Boots
Protection IV, Feather Falling IV, Unbreaking III, Mending, Depth Strider III, Soul Speed III.
Bow
Power V, Unbreaking III, Flame, Punch II, and either Infinity or Mending.
Trident
Impaling V, Unbreaking III, Mending, and Loyalty III plus Channeling, or Riptide III for flying in the rain.
Enchantments that do not mix
- Sharpness, Smite and Bane of Arthropods: pick one.
- Fortune and Silk Touch.
- Protection, Fire Protection, Blast Protection and Projectile Protection: pick one per piece.
- Depth Strider and Frost Walker.
- Infinity and Mending on a bow.
- Multishot and Piercing on a crossbow.
- Loyalty or Channeling with Riptide.
Why Mending is the best
Mending repairs your item with the experience orbs you pick up. Every point of experience fixes two durability. With Mending and Unbreaking III, your gear can last forever. You cannot get it from the enchanting table. Trade for it with a librarian, or find it while fishing or in chests.
Anvil tips
- Each time an item goes through the anvil, the next use costs more. If it says Too Expensive, you cannot add more.
- Combine books with each other first, then put the finished book on the item. This keeps the cost lower.
- A grindstone removes all enchantments except curses and gives back some experience.
