Minecraft enchantments improve an item’s existing ability or add a new one. The right combination depends on the item, your target, your edition (Java or Bedrock), and whether you accept a trade-off such as losing Fortune when you choose Silk Touch. This reference explains every enchantment in the current Java/Bedrock set, its maximum level, supported equipment, important conditions, incompatibilities, and practical loadouts.
How do Minecraft enchantments work?
An enchantment is an item property that strengthens an ability or adds one. Each enchantment has a supported item or slot, a maximum level, an effect, and exclusivity rules that prevent certain combinations.
In Survival, you can obtain enchantments in four documented ways:
- Use an enchanting table with experience levels and lapis lazuli.
- Trade emeralds with librarian villagers for enchanted books.
- Combine an item with an enchanted book, or combine compatible items, in an anvil.
- Use the
/enchantcommand when commands are enabled.
Java 1.21 made enchantment properties data-driven, so datapacks and later version changes can alter compatibility. Check the edition and version before treating a rule as universal. A grindstone removes ordinary enchantments, but it does not remove Curse of Binding or Curse of Vanishing.
What does every Minecraft enchantment do?
The table covers the shared enchantments and the edition-specific entries identified in the current reference. Maximum levels are the normal survival caps.
| Enchantment (max) | Effect | Supported item or slot | Conditions and conflicts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aqua Affinity (I) | Removes the underwater mining-speed penalty. | Helmet or turtle shell | |
| Bane of Arthropods (V) | Increases damage to arthropod mobs and slows them. | Sword or axe | Conflicts with Sharpness, Smite, Breach and Density. |
| Blast Protection (IV) | Reduces explosion damage and explosion knockback. | Armor or turtle shell | Conflicts with Protection, Fire Protection and Projectile Protection. |
| Breach (IV) | Reduces the protection supplied by the target’s armor. | Mace | Conflicts with Sharpness, Smite, Bane of Arthropods and Density. |
| Channeling (I) | Calls lightning on a trident’s hit target during a thunderstorm. | Trident | Conflicts with Riptide. |
| Curse of Binding (I) | An equipped cursed item cannot be removed until it breaks or the wearer dies. | Wearable items | A grindstone does not remove it. |
| Curse of Vanishing (I) | The item disappears when its holder dies. | Applicable items | A grindstone does not remove it. |
| Depth Strider (III) | Increases underwater movement speed. | Boots | Conflicts with Frost Walker. |
| Density (V) | Adds mace smash damage based on blocks fallen before the attack. | Mace | Conflicts with Sharpness, Smite, Bane of Arthropods and Breach. |
| Efficiency (V) | Speeds block breaking when using the correct tool. | Pickaxe, shovel, axe or hoe | |
| Feather Falling (IV) | Reduces fall damage. | Boots | |
| Fire Aspect (II) | Sets a melee target on fire. | Sword or axe | On a spear charge, a one-hit animal kill can produce cooked food in Bedrock’s Mounts of Mayhem notes. |
| Fire Protection (IV) | Reduces fire damage and burning duration. | Armor or turtle shell | Conflicts with Protection, Blast Protection and Projectile Protection. |
| Flame (I) | Ignites arrows and adds fire damage. | Bow | |
| Fortune (III) | Increases block drops. | Pickaxe, shovel, axe or hoe | Conflicts with Silk Touch. |
| Frost Walker (II) | Freezes water beneath the player while walking. | Boots | Conflicts with Depth Strider. |
| Impaling (V) | Increases damage to water-related targets. | Trident | Exact target behavior differs between Java and Bedrock. |
| Infinity (I) | Normal arrows are not consumed when fired. | Bow | Conflicts with Mending in normal Java item rules; verify edition behavior. |
| Knockback (II) | Increases melee knockback. | Sword | |
| Looting (III) | Improves mob-drop quantity or drop chances. | Sword | |
| Loyality (III) | Makes a thrown trident return. | Trident | Conflicts with Riptide. |
| Luck of the Sea (III) | Improves fishing-loot odds. | Fishing rod | |
| Lure (III) | Reduces the time before a fish bites. | Fishing rod | |
| Mending (I) | Uses collected experience to repair the item. | Compatible repairable items | Java release notes record compatibility with Lunge. |
| Multishot (I) | Fires three projectiles for one crossbow shot. | Crossbow | Conflicts with Piercing. |
| Piercing (IV) | Lets a crossbow projectile pass through multiple entities. | Crossbow | Conflicts with Multishot. |
| Power (V) | Increases arrow damage. | Bow | |
| Projectile Protection (IV) | Reduces projectile damage. | Armor or turtle shell | Conflicts with Protection, Blast Protection and Fire Protection. |
| Protection (IV) | Reduces general damage. | Armor or turtle shell | Conflicts with the specialized protection enchantments. |
| Punch (II) | Increases arrow knockback. | Bow | |
| Quick Charge (III) | Reduces crossbow loading time. | Crossbow | |
| Respiration (III) | Increases underwater breathing time. | Helmet or turtle shell | |
| Riptide (III) | Launches the trident user in water or rain. | Trident | Conflicts with Channeling and Loyalty. |
| Sharpness (V) | Increases melee damage. | Sword or axe | Conflicts with Smite, Bane of Arthropods, Breach and Density. |
| Silk Touch (I) | Mined blocks drop themselves when possible. | Pickaxe, shovel, axe or hoe | Conflicts with Fortune. |
| Smite (V) | Increases damage to undead mobs. | Sword or axe | Conflicts with Sharpness, Bane of Arthropods, Breach and Density. |
| Soul Speed (III) | Increases movement speed on soul sand and soul soil. | Boots | |
| Sweeping Edge (III) | Increases damage from a fully charged sword sweep to nearby targets. | Sword (Java) | Java-only in this reference; Java 1.21.11 excludes it from spear enchantments. |
| Swift Sneak (III) | Increases sneaking speed. | Leggings | |
| Thorns (III) | Damages an attacker when the wearer is hit. | Armor; official Bedrock documentation especially lists the chestplate | |
| Unbreaking (III) | Reduces durability damage. | Most armor, tools, weapons, fishing rods, bows, crossbows, tridents and turtle shells | |
| Wind Burst (III) | Launches the player upward after a mace smash. | Mace | |
| Cleaving | Increases melee damage and lengthens the time shields are disabled after an axe attack. | Bedrock creator-documentation entry | Not presented as a standard Java Survival enchantment in the cited Java notes. |
| Lunge (III) | Propels the player horizontally in the view direction during a spear jab. | Spear | Spear-exclusive; higher levels travel farther. Java 1.21.11 notes specify hunger exhaustion by level, a minimum of six hunger points, one durability point per use, and no use in water or while flying with an elytra. |
What are the best enchantments for each item?
“Best” means the strongest fit for a job, not one universal list. Choose the target and activity first, then avoid the mutually exclusive families.
Swords and axes
Choose Sharpness for general melee damage, Smite for undead-heavy areas, or Bane of Arthropods for arthropod targets. Looting improves drops, Unbreaking extends durability, and Fire Aspect adds burning damage. Knockback is useful for spacing but can push enemies out of reach. Bedrock’s Cleaving entry is aimed at axe damage and shield disruption.
Pickaxes, shovels, axes and hoes
Efficiency speeds correct-tool mining. Fortune improves drops, while Silk Touch preserves blocks; they cannot occupy the same tool. Unbreaking and Mending are the durability choices. A practical setup is one Fortune tool and a separate Silk Touch tool.
Armor
Protection is the broad defensive choice. Swap to Blast Protection, Fire Protection or Projectile Protection when explosions, fire or projectiles dominate, because those specialized protections conflict with one another and with Protection. Boots commonly pair Feather Falling with either Depth Strider or Frost Walker; Depth Strider favors swimming, while Frost Walker freezes water. Add Soul Speed for soul sand and soul soil, and Swift Sneak to leggings for faster crouching. Thorns returns damage but belongs on armor only when that retaliation is worth the extra durability pressure.
Bows and crossbows
Power raises bow damage, Flame adds fire, and Punch adds knockback. Infinity saves normal arrows but conflicts with Mending under normal Java rules. Crossbows use Quick Charge for faster loading, then choose Multishot or Piercing: Multishot fires three projectiles, while Piercing passes through multiple entities.
Tridents
Loyalty returns a thrown trident. Channeling adds lightning during thunderstorms, while Riptide launches you in rain or water; Riptide conflicts with both Channeling and Loyalty. Impaling raises damage to water-related targets, with target rules differing by edition.
Maces and spears
Density rewards a mace smash after falling, and Wind Burst launches you upward after the hit. Breach is the mace choice against armored targets. These mace damage families are mutually exclusive. Lunge is reserved for spears and modifies the jab rather than a normal melee swing.
Helmets, turtle shells and fishing rods
Aqua Affinity removes underwater mining slowdown and Respiration extends underwater breathing. Turtle shells can take the listed protection effects as well. Fishing rods use Luck of the Sea for better loot odds and Lure for shorter bite times.
Which enchantments are incompatible?
These are the conflict groups you need to check before spending experience or an enchanted book:
| Choose one family | Members |
|---|---|
| Melee damage families | Sharpness, Smite, Bane of Arthropods, Breach and Density |
| Armor protection families | Protection, Blast Protection, Fire Protection and Projectile Protection |
| Boot movement | Depth Strider and Frost Walker |
| Block drops | Fortune and Silk Touch |
| Crossbow payload | Multishot and Piercing |
| Trident movement and return | Riptide conflicts with Channeling and Loyalty; Channeling and Loyalty are therefore alternatives to Riptide |
| Bow ammunition | Infinity and Mending in normal Java item rules |
Java’s data-driven enchantment properties mean datapacks or version updates can change these boundaries. Treat the table as the current normal rules, not a guarantee for a modified server.
What does Lunge do on a spear?
Lunge is a level-I-to-III spear enchantment that gives the jab attack a burst of horizontal speed in the direction you are looking. Higher levels carry you farther. Java 1.21.11 records hunger exhaustion that scales by level, with a minimum cost of six hunger points, and one durability point per use. The jab cannot use Lunge in water or while you are flying with an elytra. Java notes also record that Mending is compatible with Lunge, and that Sweeping Edge is excluded from spear enchantments.
Because the movement, hunger and durability costs are part of the attack, Lunge suits controlled gap-closing rather than constant travel. Keep food available and avoid using it where water or elytra flight would disable the effect.
How do Java and Bedrock enchantments differ?
The name set overlaps heavily, but the editions do not expose exactly the same enchantments or target rules.
- Sweeping Edge is a Java enchantment; Java 1.20.5 standardized its identifier as
minecraft:sweeping_edge, and Java 1.21.11 excludes it from spears. - Cleaving appears in Bedrock creator documentation as an axe enchantment that boosts melee damage and shield-disable time; it is not presented as a standard Java Survival enchantment in the cited Java notes.
- Lunge is spear-exclusive in the current Java notes and Mojang’s Mounts of Mayhem description.
- Impaling’s water-related target behavior differs between Java and Bedrock.
- Infinity and Mending are incompatible under normal Java item rules; check your Bedrock version before assuming the same result.
- Fire Aspect’s spear-charge cooked-food interaction is specifically recorded in Bedrock’s Mounts of Mayhem notes.
When a guide, server or datapack uses a different version, read the edition label beside the enchantment instead of transferring a Java rule to Bedrock or vice versa.
How can you remove or avoid a bad enchantment?
- Inspect the item and book before using an anvil; confirm the target slot and conflict family.
- Use a grindstone to remove ordinary enchantments when you no longer want them.
- Do not expect a grindstone to remove Curse of Binding or Curse of Vanishing.
- Remember that Curse of Binding remains on a wearable item until it breaks or the wearer dies, while Curse of Vanishing makes the item disappear when its holder dies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a grindstone remove Curse of Binding?
No. A grindstone removes ordinary enchantments but leaves Curse of Binding in place. The cursed wearable remains equipped until it breaks or the wearer dies.
Is Sweeping Edge available on Bedrock?
The current reference identifies Sweeping Edge as Java-only. Bedrock creator documentation instead includes Cleaving as an axe-focused entry, so do not substitute one for the other.
Why does Impaling seem different between editions?
Impaling’s exact water-related target behavior is edition-dependent. Check the Java or Bedrock rules for the version running on your world before choosing it for a trident build.
Does Lunge work while swimming or gliding?
No. The current Java notes exclude Lunge when the player is in water or flying with an elytra. Its jab also consumes hunger and durability, so it is not a free movement boost.