- There are a total of 43 enchantments in Minecraft for all the armor and tools.
- Enchantments can be applied using an Enchanting table or with an Anvil in the game.
- While players have a variety of options, a few enchantments in Minecraft are muttually exclusive and cannot be applied to the same item at the same time.
Enchantments are one of the most important aspects of Minecraft that can apply some impressive buffs to your armor and tools. This can help you become the most powerful among all others in the game as well. So, in this comprehensive guide, we have compiled a complete list of all Minecraft enchantments, explaining what they do, how to find them, and the best ways to unleash their full potential. So, let’s not waste any more time and jump straight in!
What are Enchantments in Minecraft?
Enchantments are special modifiers that enhance your weapons, armor, and tools in Minecraft. These enchantments can even grant your tools some special abilities, helping you progress faster. The enchantments were introduced to Minecraft version 1.0.0, and since then, the list has been increasing with exclusive weapon enchants.
All Minecraft Enchantments
To help you understand easily, we have created tables of all Minecraft enchantments separated into different categories. You can use the tables below to learn what each enchantment does and its maximum levels. However, if you don’t want to read about each of them, use our list of the best Minecraft enchantments for some of the coolest upgrades and abilities.
Armor Enchantments
| Enchantment | Max Levels | Effect | Applicable to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aqua Affinity | 1 | Increases underwater mining speed | Helmets |
| Blast Protection | 4 | Decreases projectile-based attack damage | Any |
| Curse of Binding | 1 | Disables the ability to remove equipped armor | Any |
| Depth Strider | 3 | Increases underwater movement speed | Boots |
| Feather Falling | 4 | Decreases fall damage | Boots |
| Fire Protection | 4 | Decreases fire-based damage | Any |
| Frost Walker | 2 | Converts water into ice when walked on top of a source block | Boots |
| Projectile Protection | 4 | Decreases projectile-based attack damage | Any |
| Protection | 4 | Decreases all types of damage | Any |
| Respiration | 3 | Increases underwater breathing time | Helmets |
| Soul Speed | 3 | Increases walking speed when used on soul soil or soul sand | Boots |
| Thorns | 3 | Gives back damage to the attacker | Any |
| Swift Sneak | 3 | Increases player’s movement speed while sneaking | Leggings |
Weapons Enchantments (For Swords, Axes, and Bows)
| Enchantment | Max Level | Effect | Applicable to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flame | 1 | Sets enemy on fire | Bows |
| Infinity | 1 | Stops bow from consuming arrows | Bows |
| Multishot | 1 | Shoots 3 arrows using only 1 arrow | Bows |
| Piercing | 4 | Allows arrow to pass through multiple entities | Bows |
| Power | 5 | Increases attack damage | Bows |
| Punch | 2 | Increases attack knockback | Bows |
| Quick Charge | 3 | Decreases waiting time to reuse weapon | Crossbows |
| Sweeping Edge* | 3 | Increases secondary/sweeping damage | Swords |
| Smite | 3 | Does additional damage to undead mobs | Swords and Axes |
| Sharpness | 5 | Increases attack damage | Swords and Axes |
| Knockback | 2 | Increases attack knockback | Swords |
| Looting | 2 | Makes dropped loot quantity higher and rarer | Swords |
| Fire Aspect | 2 | Sets enemy on fire | Swords |
| Efficiency | 5 | Increases attack damage | Axes |
| Bane of Arthropods | 5 | Increases damage caused to arthropod mobs while slowing them down | Swords and Axes |
Weapon Enchantments Exclusive for Mace
| Enchantment | Max Level | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Density | 5 | Increases damage per level per block fallen |
| Breach | 4 | Ignores some percentage of the enemy’s armor value |
| Wind Burst | 3 | Launches player in the air upon landing a smash attack |
Weapon Enchantments Exclusive for Trident
| Enchantment | Max Level | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Channeling | 1 | Hits enemy with lightning bolt during a thunderstorm |
| Impaling | 5 | Deals additional damage to ocean mobs |
| Loyalty | 3 | Returns trident back to the player after the attack |
| Riptide | 3 | Throws the player alongside trident |
Tools Enchantments
| Enchantment | Max Levels | Effect | Applicable to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Efficiency | 5 | Increases mining speed | Pickaxes and Shovels |
| Fortune | 3 | Increases drop quantity of some items | Pickaxes, Axes, Sickles, and Shovels |
| Luck of the Sea | 3 | Increases looting rate and rarity during fishing | Fishing Rods |
| Lure | 3 | Decreases wait time during fishing | Fishing Rods |
| Silk Touch | 1 | Makes mine blocks drop as blocks instead of items | Pickaxes, Axes, Sickles, Shovels, and Shears |
General & Curse Enchantments
| Enchantment | Max Levels | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Mending | 1 | Repairs items using experience points |
| Unbreaking | 3 | Increases the durability of any item |
| Curse of Vanishing | 1 | Despawns item upon player’s death |
| Curse of Binding | 1 | Sticks a particular item with the player |
Minecraft Enchantment Conflicts & Incompatibility
You will find a wide range of options to combine enchantments in Minecraft. We have listed every enchantment that exists in the game above, but some of them have contradicting effects. This means you cannot use many of them together on an item.
To tackle that, Minecraft has a set of conflicting enchantments. You can apply only one of them to the item. Let’s go over some common conflicts in this enchantment’s guide:
| Enchantment A | Cannot Go With Enchantment B |
|---|---|
| Sharpness | Smite, Bane of Arthropods |
| Protection | Fire, Blast, Projectile Protection |
| Fortune | Silk Touch |
| Infinity | Mending |
| Riptide | Channeling |
| Riptide | Loyalty |
| Depth Strider | Frost Walker |
| Multishot | Pierching |
How to Enchant: Enchanting Table vs Anvil vs Villagers
Understanding the enchanting system in Minecraft is crucial to getting the best build for surviving difficult structures. Here is a brief breakdown of the enchanting table and the anvil features:
| Features | Enchanting Table | Anvil |
|---|---|---|
| Control of Enchants | Random | Controlled |
| Can apply the treasure enchants | No | Yes |
| Combine Books | Not applicable | Yes |
| XP Cost | Cheap | Expensive |
| Best For | Early game | Late game |
Anvils can apply a prior work penalty if you keep enchanting the same tool repeatedly. So, make sure that you combine the enchanted books before applying them to the weapon or tool.
Setting up the perfect Level 30 Enchanting Table
The best way to get the higher-level enchants on your items is to upgrade the enchanting table. By upgrading, we mean that you must place bookshelves around the table to boost its power. This is how you can do so:
- Place 15 bookshelves around the enchanting table with 1 block gap between them.
- Do note that the bookshelves that lie adjacent to the enchanting table will only get counted.
Why Villagers are the best source of Mending
The librarian villagers are the most reliable sources of obtaining the Mending enchantment. So, consider placing a lectern in front of an unemployed villager to make them a librarian. You can also break and replace the block until the Mending enchanted book appears.
Mending cannot be obtained from the enchanting tables, instead it’s a treasure enchantment. You can get it through fishing or through loot chests. But, the librarian villager is your best bet.
How to Get Treasure Enchantments
The other two treasure enchantments in Minecraft, Swift Sneak and Wind Burst, can be found in the following ways:
- Swift Sneak is found in the Ancient City chests with a 23.2% chance.
- Wind Burst is found in the Ominous Vaults inside the Trial Chambers with a 5.5% chance.
With this knowledge, you can now experiment with all enchantments in the sandbox game. I hope our Minecraft enchantments guide helps you learn about each enchantment one at a time. You can bookmark it and keep coming back to dig deeper. That said, don’t waste a moment more and start enchanting your items!
The greatest Minecraft enchantment is the mending enchantment. Although it doesn’t provide you with OP buffs or abilities, it allows you to repair your armor, tools, and weapons with XP. This way, it saves a whole ton of resources that would have been used to craft new gear.
Treasure enchantments in Minecraft are the hardest to get since you cannot obtain them from the enchanting table. Those include – wind burst, mending, Frost Walker, Soul Speed, Swift Sneak, and curse enchantments. Out of these, the hardest ones to get are Swift Sneak and Wind Burst because of the dangerous structures and low odds.
You’ll need 15 bookshelves around the enchanting table to get the highest tier of Minecraft enchantments.
Enchanting was added to the game all the way back in Minecraft 1.0.0.
Some Minecraft items, like the shield, shears, and a brush, cannot be enchanted in the enchanting table, but they can be combined with enchanted books in an anvil. However, those enchantments include general enchantments like mending, unbreaking, and the curse of vanishing.
