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Minecraft Enchanting

Enchanting is a great gaming mechanic that allows you to use your xp to add special bonuses to your weapons, armour and tools. To enchant your weapon you need an enchantment table and a certain amount of bookshelves, depending on how many xp levels you want to use on an enchantment.

The enchants you get are chosen randomly, which means there’s no way you can find out what enchantment you get. You can only enchant your items once, though it is possible that one enchantment gives you several bonuses.

Basics

To start enchanting your weapons you first need an enchantment table, which can be crafted with a book, 2 diamonds and 4 pieces of obsidian.

Once you’ve made and placed your enchantment table, simply right click it to open the enchantment interface and drag your item into the empty grid slot. You will then see 3 different enchantments with each a level of their own. The foreign language (standard galactic alphabet) they’re written in can be translated, but the translation has nothing to do with the actual enchantments.

If you wish to get an enchantment of a different level, you can simply take your item out of the grid and place it back in again, repeat untill you get your prefered enchantment level. The highest enchantment level you can get without any bookshelves around it is 5, but this mechanic is explained in more detail below.

After choosing your enchantment, your item will glow and it now has 1 or several bonuses on them. You’ve also lost a number of experience levels equal to the level of the enchantment. The only way to get rid of the enchantment is by repairing the item, which requires you to place 2 of the same items in a diagonal line on a crafting grid. Repairing an item will always undo the enchantment, so there’s no way to keep your enchantment forever.

Bookshelves

Placing bookshelves will allows you to use higher level enchantments, up to level 50, which means up to 30 bookshelves can be placed around your table.

For a bookshelf to have effect it has to be placed exactly 2 blocks next to it, but only on the same level of the enchantment table and 1 level above it. Once you’ve placed a bookshelf, you’ll notice letters start to fly from the bookshelf to the table.

Note that the blocks between the bookshelves and the enchantment table have to be empty, this includes transparent blocks like torches and glass. This does allow you to deactivate those bookshelves in case you need a lower enchantment. You can place up to 32 bookshelves around an enchantment table, but those last 2 won’t have any effect, so it’s better to leave them out in order to create an easy doorway to your enchantment area.

Enchantments

There are a lot of different enchantments, ranging from faster gathering to increased damage dealing powers. Some enchantments will take effect every time you use them, while others have a chance of being used. When you use an enchanted weapon to strike mobs, particles will fly off that mob.

There are several levels on most enchantments, shown on your items as roman numerals (I, II, III, IV, V). The higher the enchantment level the higher the effect or the higher the chance of an effect happening. Higher enchantment levels are, of course given, to higher level requirements, though a level 30 enchantment doesn’t necessarily give a higher level than a level 25 enchantment, it only has a higher chance to get this. Of course it’s always better to use more levels, but expect to be disapointed once in a while because of an enchantment you weren’t expecting or hoping for.

Arrows, shears, pumpkins (as a head piece) flint and steel and hoes cannot be enchanted. All other pieces of armour, weapons and tools can be enchanted.

Enchantments for All Armour Pieces

  • Blast protection: Increased protection against explosions. Can go up to a level IV enchantment.
  • Fire protection: Increased protection against fire. Can go up to a level IV enchantment.
  • Projectile protection: Increased protection against arrows. Can go up to a level IV enchantment.
  • Protection: Converts all damage to armour damage. Can go up to a level IV enchantment.

Enchantments for Feet Pieces

  • Feather falling: Reduces damage taken from falling from heights.

Enchantments for Helmets

  • Aqua affinity: Increases the underwater mining speed. Can only be a level I enchantment.
  • Respiration: Increases the time you can stay underwater and the time between damage from suffocating. Can go up to a level III enchantment.

Sword Enchantments

The damage done by the damaging enchantments is random, but always at least 0,5 heart.

  • Bane of Arthropods: Extra damage against spiders, cave spiders and silverfish. Can go up to a level V enchantment, each level can do up to 2 hearts of extra damage.
  • Fire aspect: Will set mobs on fire when struck. Can go up to a level II enchantment. If the mob dies from fire damage, it’ll drop cooked meat, if possible.
  • Knockback: Knocks back mobs and players. Can go up to a level II enchantment.
  • Looting: Killing a mob will give you a chance to receive extra loot. Can go up to a level III enchantment, each level can drop 1 extra piece of loot.
  • Sharpness: Does extra damage to all mobs and players. Can go up to a level V enchantment, each level can do up to 1,5 hearts of extra damage.
  • Smite: Extra damage to skeletons, zombies and zombie pigmen. Can go up to a level V enchantment, each level can do up to 2 hearts of extra damage.

Bow Enchantments

  • Flame: Arrows will be lit on fire when shot, they’ll also set mobs on fire. Can only be a level I enchantment.
  • Infinity: Will give an infinite amount of shots when you have 1 arrow in your inventory. Can only be a level I enchantment.
  • Power: Deals extra damage. Can go up to a level V enchantment, which’ll one shot most mobs when the bow is fully pulled back.
  • Punch: Knocks back mobs. Can go up to a level II enchantment.

Tool Enchantments

  • Efficiency: Increases the speed at which resources are gathered. Can go up to a level V enchantment and the enchantment applies to all blocks the tool is used on, even if the tool isn’t meant for those blocks.
  • Fortune: It can multiply the drops you get from blocks. Can go up to a level III enchantment. Each level can drop an extra resource item.
    Level I has a 30% chance to drop 2 resources.
    Level II has a 25% chance to drop 2 and a 25% chance to drop 3 resources.
    Level II has a 20% chance to drop 2, 20% chance to drop 3 and a 20% chance to drop 4 resources.
    So mining a diamond ore block with a level III fortune enchantment, could result in 4 diamonds.
  • Silk touch: Mining anything with this enchant will drop the actual block instead of the resource. Can only be a level I enchantment.
    So mining a diamon ore block will drop a diamond ore block, not a diamond.
    Can be used to harvest mycelium blocks, grass blocks, ore blocks, mushroom blocks and double slabs for example.
  • Unbreaking: Whenever you destroy a block, there’s a chance the durability won’t decrease. Can go up to a level III enchantment.