Enchantments are special effects that Minecraft players can add to their tools and items allowing them to be more efficient and effective. There are a variety of enchantments, each suited for a unique purpose. Items and armor can be enchanted via the enchanting table, which can be simply built by 4 obsidian, two diamonds, and one book. To enchant an item, players need lapis lazuli and EXP points.
Enchanting in Minecraft is a game mechanism that players can utilize to their advantage in order to apply powerful effects not normally found on specific tools by default, these effects are called “enchantments”.
There are a variety of different enchantments, which leverage different abilities. Some enchantments are generally considered more desirable than others. Enchantments are typically applied on items through the usage of a special block called an enchantment table.
Below is a list of all Minecraft enchantments, detailing their effects, the tools they can be applied on and the maximum level the specific enchantment can reach.
Enchantment Name | Applied Item | Max level | Description |
Aqua Affinity | Helmet | 3 | Allows players to mine faster underwater. |
Bane of Arthropods | Sword and Axe | 5 | Increases damage dealt to spiders. |
Blast Protection | All Armor | 5 | Decreases damage taken from explosions. |
Channeling | Trident | 1 | Spawns lightning bolt when thrown at a mob. Only works when there is a thunderstorm. |
Curse of Binding | Everything | 1 | When worn, it cannot be taken off until the player dies or the item breaks. |
Curse of Vanishing | Everything | 1 | Item disappears forever upon death. |
Depth Strider | Boots | 5 | Allows the player to swim faster. |
Efficiency | All tools | 5 | Tools do their job faster. |
Feather Falling | Boots | 5 | Player takes reduced damage from a fall. |
Fire Aspect | Sword | 2 | Lights the target on fire when hit. |
Flame | Bow | 1 | Lights the target on fire when shot. |
Fortune | Pickaxe, Shovel and Axe | 3 | Increases the item drops of blocks broken with the tool. |
Fire Protection | All Armor | 5 | Player takes less fire damage while wearing. |
Frost Walker | Boots | 2 | Turns water beneath the player into ice. |
Impaling | Trident | 5 | Ocean based mobs are dealt more damage. |
Infinity | Bow | 1 | Allows infinite arrows to be used, no arrows are consumed when the bow is fired. |
Knockback | Sword | 5 | Knocks the target back further when hit. |
Looting | Sword | 3 | Loot drops from mobs are increased. |
Loyalty | Trident | 3 | Trident returns to the player after being thrown. |
Luck of the Sea | Fishing rod | 3 | Better fishing luck. Meaning more chance to catch fish. |
Lure | Fishing rod | 3 | Fishing is sped up. Less waiting is required to catch something. |
Mending | Everything | 1 | Experience gained is automatically spent on repairing the item with the mending enchantment. |
Multishot | Crossbow | 3 | Fire three arrows at once. |
Piercing | Crossbow | 5 | Arrows can pass through more than one target. |
Power | Bow | 5 | Bow shot deals more damage to the target. |
Projectile Protection | Armor | 5 | Player takes less damage when hit by projectiles. |
Protection | Armor | 5 | Most types of damage are reduced. |
Punch | Bow | 5 | Bow shots knock targets back to a greater extent. |
Quick Charge | Crossbow | 5 | Crossbow is reloaded faster. |
Respiration | Helmet | 3 | Player can swim underwater for longer without needing air. |
Riptide | Trident | 1 | Player travels with their trident when thrown. Only works in rain or underwater. |
Sharpness | Sword and Axe | 5 | Extra damage is dealt to targets on impact. |
Silk Touch | Pickaxe, Shovel and Axe | 1 | Upon breaking blocks, the mined block itself drops instead of its regular dropped item. |
Smite | Sword | 5 | More damage is dealt to undead mobs when hit. |
Sweeping Edge | Sword | 5 | Sweeping attacks deal more damage. |
Thorns | All Armor | 3 | Those hitting the player directly are also damaged. Also reduces durability of the armor piece that it’s applied on. |
Unbreaking | Everything | 3 | Increases item durability. |
In a Nutshell: Place the item you want to enchant alongside 3 lapis lazuli in an enchanting table to access level 1, 2, or 3 enchantments. The higher the level requirement, the better enchantments you can get overall.
Enchanting in Minecraft is typically done through the usage of an enchantment table or an anvil. For simplicity in this section, only the enchantment table method will be discussed as it’s the most commonly used.
Players can craft enchantment tables themselves with a crafting table and place them down normally for usage like any other block. The enchantment table menu is accessed in a similar fashion to a regular crafting table or any other interactive block in the game.
The enchantment table menu consists of two slots, one slot is for the player to place the desired tool or armor piece they would like to use for enchantment and the other slot is for lapis lazuli. A piece of lapis lazuli is required to be used up for enchanting anything in Minecraft.
After the player has input lapis lazuli and their desired tool or armor piece to be enchanted; the menu will update and three enchantments will show up on the right-hand side. These vary in quality with the bottom enchantment typically being the best.
Every enchantment will cost the player EXP levels, the exact cost can be seen on the right-hand side of the enchantment label. The bottom enchantment in the list of the three will typically be the most expensive, but most powerful enchantment.
More powerful enchantments can be obtained by surrounding the enchantment table with bookshelves. A total of 15 bookshelves are needed to be placed around the enchantment table in order for the player to have a chance to be granted maximum level enchantments.
Also Read: Complete Guide on Minecraft Enderman
An enchanting table can be assembled very easily. All that is required is 4 obsidian, two diamonds and one book. The image below shows the exact recipe.
To use the enchantment table, simply craft it following the guide shown above then place the block down on the ground. The enchantment menu can be accessed via interacting with the enchantment table block. Steps to understand how this enchantment menu functions can be found in the above section.
An interesting and somewhat useless lore fact in Minecraft is that the enchantment texts in the enchantment menu are actually real words ciphered in a language called “standard galactic language”. The words are randomized and mean nothing related to the actual enchantment, but an interesting and humorous fact nonetheless. Below is an image detailing the translation of the language.
This is a topic in which all comes down to personal preference and the tool in question. It can be hotly debated what enchantments in the game are better than others. It’s like comparing apples and oranges due to the fact most have strong situational advantages in their own right.
In general, however, it’s agreed the most powerful and sought-after enchantments in the game include Protection IV, Unbreaking III, Sharpness V, Fire Aspect II, Power I, Infinity I and Fortune III.
As mentioned, however, this is not a conclusive list and it’s simply impossible to state the definitive absolute “best” enchantments as they all have their own uses. The above list just highlights some of the most commonly preferred enchantments in a general sense.
Specific enchantments for Tridents in Minecraft include Channeling, Impaling, Loyalty, and Riptide.
More detail on the specific effects of these enchantments can be found in the table listed above.
Image via AA12
Specific enchantments for Swords in Minecraft include Fire Aspect, Sharpness, Bane of Arthropods, Smite, Knockback, Sweeping Edge, and Looting.
More detail on the specific effects of these enchantments can be found in the table listed above.
Image via Reddit
Specific enchantments for Bows in Minecraft include Power, Punch, Flame, and Infinity.
More detail on the specific effects of these enchantments can be found in the table listed above.
Image via Reddit
Specific enchantments for Pickaxes in Minecraft include Silk Touch, Efficiency, and Fortune.
More detail on the specific effects of these enchantments can be found in the table listed above.
Image via Reddit
Items can be disenchanted in Minecraft, meaning all their current enchantments will be removed. This can be done via the usage of a grindstone. All the player needs to do is place the enchanted item inside the grindstone menu and the item will become disenchanted automatically.
A. This completely depends on the item type and the type of enchantments in question. Some enchantments are incompatible with each other, such as silk touch and fortune on a pickaxe. Currently, however, all compatible enchantments can be placed on any item without any limit through the use of an anvil, provided the player has enough EXP to do so of course.
A. Again, this depends on what the purpose is. In general, however, the best enchantments for a sword would be sharpness V, fire aspect II, knockback II, looting III, and smite V. Most players would agree with this, however, some might have a different personal preference.
A. Better enchantments can be obtained by surrounding an enchantment table with bookshelves. The more bookshelves the enchantment table is surrounded by, the better the enchantments it will offer the player. This effect goes on until the enchantment table has a maximum of 15 books placed around it, in which maximum level enchantments will be awarded.
A. None. Bookshelves only increase the power of the enchantments the table will offer. Players can use enchantment tables perfectly fine with 0 bookshelves surrounding it, although the enchantments awarded will be weak. In order to ensure maximum level enchantments, a minimum of 15 bookshelves must surround the enchantment table.
A. Enchantment books can be applied to an item through the usage of an anvil. Simply place the enchanted book and the item desired to be enchanted inside the anvil menu and press combine. This will cost EXP points to do and will slightly damage the anvil upon usage.