Efficiency

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Efficiency is an enchantment that increases the tool’s working speed (it speeds up the mining or the breaking of blocks). It can be applied to all tools but is mostly used on diamond pickaxes to mine blocks such as Obsidian which take a longer time to break. Efficiency is also useful for cutting down trees quickly with an ax.

A diamond pickaxe with Efficiency V (via screenshot)

What are the uses of Efficiency?

Efficiency is useful for mining blocks that take time to mine, such as obsidian. The speed benefit will only kick in if the proper tool is being used for the respective block, for example - when using a shovel for sand, or an ax for wood blocks. In Java Edition efficiency on an ax has a base chance of 25% to stun a shield with the rate increasing by 5% for every level. The highest level of efficiency is V (5).

How to get the Efficiency enchantment?

To enchant your tools with efficiency you can use either an enchanting table or an anvil. Enchanting tables will give a random list of enchantments that can be applied to the armor, but their strength can be increased by placing bookshelves around the enchantment table.

An enchantment table giving Efficiency I (via screenshot)

The other way is to find an enchanted book with the efficiency enchantment on it. With the help of an anvil, players can apply the enchantment to their desired piece of equipment. Both processes require the player to have a high enough experience level.

Using an anvil to apply efficiency V to a diamond pickaxe (via screenshot)

Conclusion

Efficiency is a helpful enchantment for mining resources such as diamonds, obsidian blocks, etc. It isn't recommended to use tools with the efficiency enchantment for mining blocks that break quickly like netherrack, sand, and dirt, as these are fragile against any tools and do not necessarily need the efficiency enchantment.