Tutorial:Best enchantments guide

This guide will give an explanation and walk-through of the best enchantments that can be applied to all enchantable items.

This page assumes that the world is created and played in the latest game version.

Enchantments with an anvil sign means that the enchantment cannot be obtained via the enchanting table and must be added through an anvil.

While there are several mutually exclusive enchantments, some will be the preferred choice meaning others can be ignored, while others have both distinct and useful applications, requiring multiples of the same gear with a mutually exclusive enchantment each.

Armor

Unbreaking is not as necessary on armor as on tools and weapons. Unbreaking III on a piece of armor only makes it last about 43% longer, but for a tool or a weapon, its durability is effectively quadrupled.

Helmet

Mending
Protection IV ^[a]
Unbreaking III
Respiration III
Aqua Affinity
Thorns III
- Optional
- Consumes extra durability
- May be inconvenient for mob transport as mobs may die to the effect.

There are multiple enchantment orders with the same cost in levels. At the same total costs in levels the cost in XP can still be different. For example two steps costing 2 and 4 levels require more XP than two steps costing 3 levels each.

The optimal enchantment order with Thorns III is:

Helmet
- Thorns III 12XP
- Respiration III 11XP
  - Unbreaking III 3XP
- Protection IV 14XP
  - Mending 2XP
  - Aqua Affinity 3XP

with a cost of 12 + 3 + 11 + 2 + 3 + 14 = 45 levels.

The optimal enchantment order without Thorns III is:

Helmet
- Respiration III 6XP
- Protection IV 8XP
  - Mending 2XP
- Unbreaking III 9XP
  - Aqua Affinity 2XP

with a cost of 6 + 2 + 8 + 2 + 9 = 27 levels.

Chestplate

Mending
Protection IV ^[a]
Unbreaking III
Thorns III
- Optional
- Consumes extra durability
- May be inconvenient for mob transport as mobs may die to the effect.

The optimal enchantment order with Thorns III is:

Chestplate
- Thorns III 12XP
- Unbreaking III 7XP
  - Mending 2XP
- Protection IV 7XP

with a cost of 12 + 2 + 7 + 7 = 28 levels.

The optimal enchantment order without Thorns III is:

Chestplate
- Protection IV 4XP
- Unbreaking III 7XP
  - Mending 2XP

with a cost of 4 + 2 + 7 = 13 levels.

Leggings

Mending
Protection IV ^[a]
Unbreaking III
Thorns III
- Optional
- Consumes extra durability
- May be inconvenient for mob transport as mobs may die to the effect.
Swift Sneak III

The optimal enchantment order with Thorns III is:

Leggings
- Swift Sneak III 12XP
- Thorns III 16XP
  - Mending 2XP
- Protection IV 11XP
  - Unbreaking III 3XP

with a cost of 12 + 2 + 16 + 3 + 11 = 44 levels.

The optimal enchantment order without Thorns III is:

Leggings
- Swift Sneak III 12XP
- Unbreaking III 7XP
  - Mending 2XP
- Protection IV 7XP

with a cost of 12 + 2 + 7 + 7 = 28 levels.

Swift Sneak

Swift Sneak can be obtained only from loot chests in ancient cities. The chests can contain enchanted books with any level of Swift Sneak (up to 3).

Boots

Mending
Protection IV ^[a]
Feather Falling IV
Unbreaking III
Depth Strider III or Frost Walker II
- Depth Strider is typically preferred, as it is used in more circumstances. Frost Walker can be an inconvenience sometimes.
Soul Speed III
- Optional
- Consumes extra durability
Thorns III
- Optional
- Consumes extra durability
- May be inconvenient for mob transport as mobs may die to the effect. Also gives mobs 0.5 seconds of invincibility

There are multiple enchantment orders with the same cost in levels. At the same total costs in levels the cost in XP can still be different. For example two steps costing 2 and 4 levels require more XP than two steps costing 3 levels each.

The optimal enchantment order with Thorns III is:

Boots
- Soul Speed III 12XP
- Thorns III 16XP
  - Mending 2XP
- Depth Strider III 14XP
  - Feather Falling IV 4XP
- Protection IV 15XP
  - Unbreaking III 3XP

with a cost of 12 + 2 + 16 + 4 + 14 + 3 + 15 = 66 levels.

The optimal enchantment order without Thorns III and Soul Speed III is:

Boots
- Depth Strider III 6XP
- Protection IV 9XP
  - Unbreaking III 3XP
- Feather Falling IV 10XP
  - Mending 2XP

with a cost of 6 + 3 + 2 + 9 + 10 = 30 levels.

Feather Falling

When obtaining Feather Falling from an enchanting table, the player should not enchant at level 30, but reduce to levels 22, 24 or 26. At level 30, there is only about a 3% chance to obtain Feather Falling on a pair of diamond boots; but using level 24 and 26, the chance is a much-higher 30%; at level 22, the chance is as high as 44%. The enchantment level can be reduced by placing torches or most other blocks between the enchanting table and bookshelves, preventing the enchanting table from detecting the bookshelves.

Weapons

Sword

Unbreaking III
Mending
Sharpness V (for general use)
- or Smite V
  - For fighting undead mobs, such as the wither and wither skeletons.
  - Allows one-hit killing of most common undead mobs.
Sweeping Edge III ‌^{[Java Edition only]}
- Deals more damage to multiple mobs while standing still, useful for XP farms.
- May deal high amounts of damage to friendly mobs if they're too close to the target.
Looting III
- Massively increases the amount of loot from fighting mobs, very useful for farming.
Fire Aspect II
- Optional
- Makes endermen more difficult to fight because they constantly teleport as a result of the fire.
- Zombies and their variants ignite the player if aflame when they hit their target.
- Cooks the meat dropped by all mobs, even if they're underwater.
- Useful against players because of the obscuring effects of fire.
Knockback II
- Optional
- Makes ranged targets more difficult to fight.
- Makes chaining hits together much harder without a wall.
- May push targets into environmental hazards such as lava.
- Effective against pressuring melee attackers such as creepers and piglin brutes.

To reduce the various negative effects of Knockback, it may be wise to enchant a sword with Knockback I or to forgo it altogether.

The optimal enchantment order is:

Sword
- Looting III 6XP
- Sweeping Edge III 11XP
  - Unbreaking III 3XP
- Sharpness V 11XP
  - Knockback II 2XP
- Fire Aspect II 14XP
  - Mending 2XP

with a cost of 6 + 3 + 11 + 2 + 11 + 2 + 14 = 49 levels.

Axe

Unbreaking III
Mending
Efficiency V
Sharpness V
- or Smite V
  - Allows killing most undead mobs (e.g., zombies, wither skeletons, and phantoms) with one hit
  - Allows killing a Zombified Piglin with one hit and without a critical strike, preventing others from attacking.
  - The combination of a smite axe with a sharpness sword is a versatile setup for dealing with both undead and other mobs with minimal inventory clutter.
- or Cleaving III ^{[upcoming JE Edition Combat Tests]}
  - Increases damage and extends shield stun duration.
  - Useful for PVP.
Silk Touch
- Incompatible with Fortune.
- Useful for getting melons, bookshelves, beehives, and mushroom blocks.
- Allows collection of leaves, which may be unintentional when harvesting trees for wood.
Fortune III
- Incompatible with Silk Touch.
- Has less versatility because most blocks mined with axes are better harvested by Silk Touch.

The optimal enchantment order is:

Axe
- Sharpness V 5XP
- Efficiency V 10XP
  - Unbreaking III 3XP
- Silk Touch 10XP
  - Mending 2XP

with a cost of 5 + 3 + 10 + 2 + 10 = 30 levels

Bow

Power V
Unbreaking III
Infinity
- Mutually exclusive with Mending.
- Allows for infinite usage of normal arrows.
  - Incompatible with tipped arrows and spectral arrows.
- Will require replacing the bow after some time.
or Mending
- Mutually exclusive with Infinity.
- Allows for infinite durability at the cost of finite arrows.
Flame
Punch II

There are multiple enchantment orders with the same cost in levels. At the same total costs in levels the cost in XP can still be different. For example two steps costing 2 and 4 levels require more XP than two steps costing 3 levels each.

The optimal enchantment order is:

Bow
- Power V 5XP
- Infinity or Mending 9XP
  - Unbreaking III 3XP
- Punch II 10XP
  - Flame 2XP

with a cost of 5 + 3 + 2 + 9 + 10 = 29 levels.

Crossbow

Quick Charge III
Multishot
- Incompatible with Piercing.
- May unintentionally hit other mobs.
- Cannot hit the same target multiple times in one shot.
- Uses 3 durability per shot.
Piercing IV
- Incompatible with Multishot.
- May hit other mobs if they're in the path of the arrow.
- Arrows can be retrieved, including tipped arrows.
Unbreaking III
Mending

Crossbows can only receive up to Quick Charge II through an enchanting table. Quick Charge III must be obtained via other means: either by combining two crossbows in an anvil, using enchanted books, or via mob drops.

Trident

Mending (Highly recommended as tridents can otherwise only be repaired with other tridents.)
Unbreaking III
Loyalty III
Channeling
- Large crowd control while a thunderstorm is occurring.
  - May unintentionally lead to some mobs transforming into more powerful versions of themselves.
Riptide III
- Incompatible with Loyalty and Channeling.
- Replaces the throw attack with a dash that allows rapid transport while touching water.
  - Rain counts as water for these purposes, allowing incredibly fast transport while using an elytra.
  - Snow does not count as water for these purposes.
Impaling V
- On Java Edition, Impaling makes the trident deal increased damage to marine mobs (not including Drowned). On Bedrock Edition, Impaling makes the trident deal increased damage to any entities that are touching water or rain.

Mace

Unbreaking III
Density V
- or Smite V
  - For fighting undead mobs, such as wither and wither skeleton farms.
  - Allows for the one-hit killing of most common undead mobs.
- or Breach IV
  - Reduces the effectiveness of armor by 60%
  - For fighting other players, as most other entities do not have strong enough armor for it to make a difference compared to the other damage enchantments
Mending
Wind Burst III
- Optional
- Very difficult to obtain.
- Creates a wind charge when a mob is hit by the player after falling from a great height

Fire Aspect II
- Optional
- Causes immunity to be applied to the mob, which may cause the Wind Burst enchantment not to activate.

Tools

Pickaxe

Unbreaking III
Mending
Fortune III
- Incompatible with Silk Touch.
- Multiplies block drops, increases the chances for rare drops.
  - Massively increases yield from ores.
Silk Touch
- Incompatible with Fortune.
- Useful for collecting the base form of blocks rather than what they drop, such as ice, stone or ender chests.
- Since both Fortune III and Silk Touch pickaxes are useful, many players make both pickaxes
Efficiency V
- Allows instant mining of many blocks depending on the level.
  - Efficiency V combined with Haste II allows the instant mining of stone.
- Efficiency V pickaxes can be too powerful for delicate tasks, especially when working with netherrack. A weaker pickaxe can come in handy depending on the situation.

Shovel

Unbreaking III
Mending
Efficiency V
- Optional
- Most materials mined using shovels are soft. Efficiency V shovels can be too powerful for delicate tasks.
- Efficiency IV is already enough to instant-mine every block whose preferred tool is the shovel as long as the shovel is stone or better.
Silk Touch
- Incompatible with Fortune.
- Allows the collection of gravel without the chance of flint.
Fortune III
- Incompatible with Silk Touch.
- Useful for getting flint.

Hoe

Unbreaking III
Mending
Efficiency V
- Allows instant mining of all blocks mineable with a hoe except sculk catalysts, sensors, and shriekers.
Silk Touch
- Incompatible with Fortune
- Useful for obtaining leaves or blocks in the sculk family
Fortune III
- Incompatible with Silk Touch
- Useful for obtaining apples and saplings from leaves, or obtaining more Potato or Carrot from Crops

Fishing Rod

If a fishing rod is used only for fishing, the Unbreaking enchantment can be skipped in favor of only including Mending, as a damaged fishing rod with Mending will repair itself with the experience gained from fishing at a faster rate than it is damaged by fishing even without any Unbreaking enchantment.

Shears

Unbreaking III
Mending
Efficiency V
- Allows instant mining of wool.
Silk Touch‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}
- No practical effect.

It is usually not recommended to enchant shears at all as they can only be enchanted through an anvil and are crafted with iron ingots which are very easy to come by in late-game. If shears are to be enchanted, note that despite being enchantable with Silk Touch in Bedrock Edition, this has no practical purpose and can be skipped.

Flint and Steel, Shield, Carrot on a Stick, Warped Fungus on a Stick, Brush, and Elytra

Unbreaking III
Mending

Similar to shears, it is not recommended to enchant the flint and steel, carrot on a stick, warped fungus on a stick, or brush, but it may prove useful at times.

When a pair of elytra does not have Mending, it can only be repaired with phantom membranes or another pair of elytra in an anvil. The XP level cost increases with every anvil operation. Eventually, the repair becomes too expensive to perform. The optimal enchantment order is:

Item
- Unbreaking III 3XP
- Mending 3XP

with a cost of 3 + 3 = 6 levels.

Mutually-Exclusive Enchantments

Mutually-exclusive enchantments are enchantments that cannot be combined on the same armor, weapon or tool without /give‌^{[Java Edition only]} or changing the playerdata.nbt using a NBT editor. The following enchantments cannot be combined:

Protection, Projectile Protection, Blast Protection, and Fire Protection cannot be combined in most versions, however between 19w02a and 1.14.3 Pre-Release 1, they could be combined. Armor with multiple protection enchantments obtained in these versions still functions normally after being upgraded to 1.14.3 Pre-Release 2 and later.
Sharpness, Smite, Bane of Arthropods, and Cleaving^{[upcoming JE Combat Tests]} cannot be combined.
Silk Touch and Fortune cannot be combined.
Infinity and Mending cannot be combined since 16w50a. Bows that had both enchantments obtained prior to that version still function normally after being upgraded to 16w50a and later.
Piercing and Multishot cannot be combined.
Loyalty and Channeling cannot be combined with Riptide, but they can be combined with each other.
Frost Walker and Depth Strider cannot be combined.

Footnotes

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d While putting Protection IV on all armor pieces is generally the best way to enchant your armor, it may be worth it to put Blast Protection IV, Projectile Protection IV, or Fire Protection IV on one armor piece while putting Protection IV on all other armor pieces if you will take frequent damage from explosions (such as in Crystal PVP), projectiles, or fire and lava. In the 19w02a snapshot for Java Edition 1.14, all four enchantments could be combined. In 1.14.3 Pre-Release 2 these enchantments became impossible to combine again and cannot be combined since this version, hence the player could downgrade their world to 19w02a, enchant a full set of diamond armor, upgrade to the latest version, add Swift Sneak and Soul Speed to the leggings and boots, and then upgrade their armor to netherite to get an armor set with all four Protection enchantments. However, it is recommended that the player sets their rendering distance to as lowest as possible after downgrading their versions, because the chunks of the world could potentially get corrupted, and then set it back to normal after adding the enchantments and switching the versions.

Navigation

[Protection-1] While putting Protection IV on all armor pieces is generally the best way to enchant your armor, it may be worth it to put Blast Protection IV, Projectile Protection IV, or Fire Protection IV on one armor piece while putting Protection IV on all other armor pieces if you will take frequent damage from explosions (such as in Crystal PVP), projectiles, or fire and lava. In the 19w02a snapshot for Java Edition 1.14, all four enchantments could be combined. In 1.14.3 Pre-Release 2 these enchantments became impossible to combine again and cannot be combined since this version, hence the player could downgrade their world to 19w02a, enchant a full set of diamond armor, upgrade to the latest version, add Swift Sneak and Soul Speed to the leggings and boots, and then upgrade their armor to netherite to get an armor set with all four Protection enchantments. However, it is recommended that the player sets their rendering distance to as lowest as possible after downgrading their versions, because the chunks of the world could potentially get corrupted, and then set it back to normal after adding the enchantments and switching the versions.

[a]