Best Minecraft Enchantments for Everything

Most armor, weapons, and tools in Minecraft can be enchanted. To do this, you will need to gather enough XP and build an enchanting table surrounded by many bookshelves. If you do not have enough bookshelves, the number of enchants available will be reduced. Note that some enchantments can only be applied by combining a piece of equipment and an enchantment book in an anvil.

Adding enchantments to your armor, tools, and weapons in Minecraft will improve your gear significantly in terms of survivability, utility, speed, and durability. It’s common for players to build a library or dedicated room for enchanting.

Although certain enchantments may be better for certain situations, you can follow our list here for a general guide of the best enchantments for each type of equipment in Minecraft.

Best Armor Enchantments

The following enchantments can be used on all types of armor (Helmets, Chestplates, Leggings, and Boots):

• Protection IV – We recommend that all armor pieces have this enchant. Each level of this enchant adds a 4% reduction in damage. For example, Protection II adds 8% (Level 2 * 4%) damage reduction, and Protection IV adds 16% (Level 4 * 4%) damage reduction. If all four of your armor pieces have Protection IV, you will take 64% less damage.
• Mending – Automatically repairs your armor as you pick up XP orbs. For example, slaying a mob would drop XP orbs and automatically repair your armor (at a rate of 2 durability per 1 xp). This enchant can only be obtained after finding a mending enchantment book. You can’t enchant mending using an enchanting table, you must use an anvil.
• Unbreaking III – Armor lasts longer before breaking from durability. At level III unbreaking, each armor piece will last about 40% longer before breaking or needing repairs. highly recommended for all pieces.

Notes on other enchants:

• It is possible to replace Protection IV with other damage reducing enchants, but they are only helpful in specific situations whereas Protection IV is helpful in all situations.
• Thorns III is an enchant that damages attackers. It makes your armor break more quickly, so it is not recommended for most situations.

Helmets

• Protection IV, Mending, and Unbreaking III are all recommended.
• Aqua Affinity – Allows you to mine and dig underwater at normal speeds. Without this enchant, you mine 5x slower while swimming.
• Respiration III – Extends your underwater breathing time by 45 seconds. You will be able to swim underwater for longer periods of time when using this enchant.

Chestplates

• Protection IV, Mending, and Unbreaking III are all recommended.
• No other enchants are necessary, though others may be beneficial in some situations.

Leggings

• Protection IV, Mending, and Unbreaking III are all recommended.
• No other enchants are necessary, though others may be beneficial in some situations.

Boots

• Protection IV, Mending, and Unbreaking III are all recommended.
• Feather Falling IV – Reduces fall damage by 50%. When combined with Protection IV on at least two pieces of armor, a maximum fall damage reduction of 80% can be achieved.
• Depth Strider III OR Frost Walker II – Only one of these can be on your boots, select one depending on your play style. Depth Strider III increases your swimming speed to the same speed as walking on land. Frost Walker II turns water into ice, allowing you to walk on water. As an additional benefit, Frost Walker II also removes damage when walking on magma blocks and campfires.

Shields

• Unbreaking III and Mending
• No other additional enchants can be added, other than Mending and Unbreaking III.

Best Weapon Enchantments

As with armor, Unbreaking III and Mending are recommended for your weapons. One exception is the bow, as you cannot combine the Infinity enchant with mending (see bow section).

Swords

• Unbreaking III and Mending are both recommended.
• Sharpness V – Increases damage done by 3 (Java Edition) or 6.25 (Bedrock Edition). Very useful enchant for increasing melee damage.
• Smite V – Increases damage done to undead mobs, but cannot be combined with Sharpness V. It’s typically recommended to apply Sharpness V because it increases damage against all enemies.
• Sweeping Edge III – Increases sweeping damage done by 75% (Java Edition only).
• Looting III – Increases item drops from mobs (does not increase XP drops). Very useful enchant for some activities, such as wither skeleton skull farming.

The following enchants are optional, depending on your preferences and playstyle: Fire Aspect II (sets enemies on fire), Knockback II (pushes enemies away when you hit them – can be helpful or annoying).

Axes

• Unbreaking III and Mending are both recommended.
• Sharpness V – As with swords, increases melee damage done significantly.
• Axes can also have the Smite V enchantment to increase damage against undead mobs, but it can’t be combined with Sharpness V.
• Efficiency V – Significantly increases woodcutting speed, an absolute must if you are using the axe for chopping down trees as opposed to just for combat.
• Silk Touch or Fortune III – Select one of these two depending on your situation. Silk touch harvests blocks in their original form, for example breaking leaves will drop leaf blocks. Fortune III increases item drops only and not block drops (with trees, this means more saplings but not more wood).

Bows

• Unbreaking III is recommended.
• Power V – Increases arrow damage from a bow. Recommended for slaying mobs more quickly.
• Infinity – A great enchantment for bows and strongly recommended. Allows you to shoot infinite arrows, without needing any arrows in your inventory. Note that you must still have at least one arrow in your inventory and mending cannot be combined with infinity.
• Flame – Sets your arrows on fire, causing additional damage to targets and setting them on fire. Flame arrows cannot set blocks on fire and targets are not set on fire when it is raining.
• Punch II – Knocks targets away when they are hit by an arrow. Optional enchantment.

Crossbows

• Unbreaking III and Mending are recommended.
• Quick Charge III – Speeds up crossbow reloading time.
• Piercing IV or Multishot – Select one of these two enchantments as they cannot be combined. Multishot shoots 3 arrows while only consuming one arrow, whereas Piercing IV allows arrows to go through mobs and shoot multiple targets. In general, piercing is recommended over Multishot.

Tridents

• Unbreaking III and Mending are recommended
• Impaling V – Increases damage and recommended for all tridents.
• Loyalty III and Channeling, OR Riptide III only – Loyalty III automatically returns your trident after throwing it and channeling strikes lighting during thunderstorms. Riptide III teleports your character to the location that you throw it. Select Loyalty III and channeling for combat, and riptide for transportation.

Best Tool Enchantments

Pickaxes

• Unbreaking III and Mending are recommended.
• Fortune III or Silk Touch – These enchantments cannot be combined and only one can be selected. Fortune III is generally recommended because it increases mining drops such as diamonds, redstone dust, lapis lazuli, and emeralds. Silk Touch will allow you to harvest original blocks, for example mining stone instead of cobblestone, which can be useful for building castles.
• Efficiency V – Increases mining speed and blocks break more quickly. Highly recommended for all pickaxes.

Shovels

• Unbreaking III and Mending are recommended.
• Efficiency V – Strongly recommended. Increases digging speed and dirt blocks break nearly instantly.
• Silk Touch – Will allow you to harvest original blocks such as grass blocks, snow, and ice. Only recommended if you have a need these blocks, otherwise this enchantment can be skipped.

Hoes

• Unbreaking III and Mending are recommended.
• Since a hoe is mainly used for tilling dirt into farmland, additional enchants are not entirely necessary.
• It is possible to apply Efficiency V, Silk Touch, or Fortune III to a hoe if desired.

Fishing Rods

• Unbreaking III and Mending are recommended.
• Luck of the Sea III – Reduces the chance of finding “junk” in Minecraft while fishing and increases the chance of finding treasure. Improves overall loot while fishing.
• Lure III – Increases the speed of attracting fish to your bobber.

Shears

• Unbreaking III and Mending are recommended.
• Efficiency V – Greatly increases speed at which the shears break blocks.
• Silk Touch – Allows harvesting of leaf blocks from trees. Useful if you need leaves for building gardens or hedge mazes.

Other Enchantments

Some enchantments are possible, however do not have useful applications.

Flint and Steel

• Unbreaking III and Mending
• No other additional enchants can be added.

Elytra

• Unbreaking III and Mending
• No other additional enchants can be added.

Carrot on a Stick

• Unbreaking III and Mending
• No other additional enchants can be added.