Here is the full Minecraft enchantments list for Java 26.3: 43 enchantments, from Aqua Affinity to Wind Burst. Bedrock 26.60 has 42 of them, because Sweeping Edge is Java only. Max levels run from I to V. The tables below give each enchantment’s max level, the items it goes on, what it does and what it can’t be combined with, followed by our pick of the best enchantments for every item. Checked November 2, 2026 UTC against the Minecraft Wiki’s enchantment page and Mojang’s patch notes.
- Count: 43 enchantments in Java 26.3, 42 in Bedrock 26.60 (no Sweeping Edge).
- Highest max level: V, on Sharpness, Smite, Bane of Arthropods, Efficiency, Power, Impaling and Density.
- Newest: Lunge (spear only), added with the spear in Mounts of Mayhem (Java 1.21.11, Bedrock 1.21.130). Breach, Density and Wind Burst came with the mace in 1.21.
- Must-haves on almost everything: Unbreaking III and Mending.
- Classic conflicts: Fortune vs Silk Touch, Infinity vs Mending, Multishot vs Piercing, Loyalty and Channeling vs Riptide, and only one Protection type per armor piece.
- Book-only (treasure): Mending, Frost Walker, Soul Speed, Swift Sneak, Wind Burst and both curses never appear on the enchanting table.
Table of Contents
Minecraft enchantments list: every enchantment and max level
“Goes on” lists the items that can get the enchantment from an enchanting table. Items marked “book” can only get it from an enchanted book on an anvil. Where Java and Bedrock differ, the table says so. Damage numbers are in health points (2 points = 1 heart).
| Enchantment | Max | Goes on | What it does | Incompatible with |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aqua Affinity | I | Helmet, turtle shell | Normal mining speed underwater | – |
| Bane of Arthropods | V | Sword, spear; axe and mace (book in Java, table in Bedrock) | Extra damage and Slowness IV on spiders, cave spiders, silverfish, endermites and bees | Sharpness, Smite, Breach, Density |
| Blast Protection | IV | All armor, turtle shell | Less explosion damage and knockback | Other Protection types |
| Breach | IV | Mace | Target’s armor counts 15 percentage points less per level | Density, Smite, Bane of Arthropods |
| Channeling | I | Trident | Thrown trident calls lightning on the target in a thunderstorm | Riptide |
| Curse of Binding | I | Armor, elytra, carved pumpkin, heads (book or loot only) | The item can’t be taken off until you die or it breaks | – |
| Curse of Vanishing | I | Almost any gear, plus compass (book or loot only) | The item disappears when you die | – |
| Density | V | Mace | +0.5 smash damage per block fallen per level | Breach, Smite, Bane of Arthropods |
| Depth Strider | III | Boots | Faster movement in water | Frost Walker |
| Efficiency | V | Pickaxe, shovel, axe, hoe; shears (book) | Faster mining | – |
| Feather Falling | IV | Boots | 12% less fall damage per level (48% at IV) | – |
| Fire Aspect | II | Sword, spear; mace (book in Java, table in Bedrock) | Sets the target on fire | – |
| Fire Protection | IV | All armor, turtle shell | Less fire damage and shorter burning | Other Protection types |
| Flame | I | Bow | Flaming arrows that also light TNT and campfires | – |
| Fortune | III | Pickaxe, shovel, axe, hoe | More drops from ores, crops and other blocks | Silk Touch |
| Frost Walker | II | Boots (book, treasure) | Freezes water under you; no magma block or campfire damage | Depth Strider |
| Impaling | V | Trident | +2.5 damage per level: aquatic mobs in Java, anything in water or rain in Bedrock | – |
| Infinity | I | Bow | Normal arrows aren’t used up (you need one) | Mending |
| Knockback | II | Sword, spear | Stronger melee knockback | – |
| Looting | III | Sword, spear | More and rarer mob drops | – |
| Loyalty | III | Trident | Thrown trident flies back to you | Riptide |
| Luck of the Sea | III | Fishing rod | More treasure when fishing | – |
| Lunge | III | Spear | Jab attacks push you forward; costs hunger and 1 durability | – |
| Lure | III | Fishing rod | Fish bite sooner | – |
| Mending | I | Anything with durability (book, treasure) | XP orbs repair the item, 2 durability per XP point | Infinity |
| Multishot | I | Crossbow | Fires 3 arrows for the price of 1 | Piercing |
| Piercing | IV | Crossbow | Arrows pass through 1 extra mob per level and can be picked up again | Multishot |
| Power | V | Bow | +25% arrow damage per level, plus 25% (V = +150%) | – |
| Projectile Protection | IV | All armor, turtle shell | Less damage from arrows and other projectiles | Other Protection types |
| Protection | IV | All armor, turtle shell | 4% less damage per level per piece, from almost every source | Other Protection types |
| Punch | II | Bow | Stronger arrow knockback | – |
| Quick Charge | III | Crossbow | Faster crossbow loading | – |
| Respiration | III | Helmet, turtle shell | Longer underwater breathing | – |
| Riptide | III | Trident | Throwing launches you while in water or rain | Loyalty, Channeling |
| Sharpness | V | Sword, spear; axe (book in Java, table in Bedrock) | More melee damage on everything | Smite, Bane of Arthropods |
| Silk Touch | I | Pickaxe, shovel, axe, hoe; shears (Bedrock, book) | Blocks drop themselves (glass, ores, grass blocks) | Fortune |
| Smite | V | Sword, spear; axe and mace (book in Java, table in Bedrock) | +2.5 damage per level on undead mobs | Sharpness, Bane of Arthropods, Breach, Density |
| Soul Speed | III | Boots (book, treasure) | Faster on soul sand and soul soil; wears the boots down | – |
| Sweeping Edge | III | Sword (Java only) | Sweep attacks deal 50%, 67% or 75% of the sword’s damage | – |
| Swift Sneak | III | Leggings (book, treasure) | Sneak at 45%, 60% or 75% of walking speed (normal is 30%) | – |
| Thorns | III | Chestplate; other armor (book in Java, table in Bedrock) | 15% chance per level to hurt attackers for 1-5 damage; extra durability loss | – |
| Unbreaking | III | Almost everything with durability | Chance to skip durability loss; tools last about 2x, 3x or 4x as long | – |
| Wind Burst | III | Mace (book only, from ominous vaults) | A smash attack launches you back up, about 8, 16 or 24 blocks | – |
On books the wiki also lists Sharpness as incompatible with Breach and Density. You can never hit that conflict on a real weapon, because no weapon in Survival can take both. Cleaving, an axe enchantment, only exists in the old Java Combat Test builds, so it isn’t in the count.
Best enchantments for each item (our picks)
These are GamingRoute’s picks for a normal Survival game. We built them from the effect numbers above and the conflict rules, not from play testing. Where you have to choose between two enchantments, the notes say which situation each one suits.
| Item | Best enchantments (our pick) | Choices and notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sword | Sharpness V, Looting III, Sweeping Edge III (Java), Fire Aspect II, Unbreaking III, Mending | Leave Fire Aspect off a mob-farm sword. Per the wiki, mobs killed by its fire damage don’t get Looting drops. |
| Spear | Sharpness V, Lunge III, Looting III, Fire Aspect II, Unbreaking III, Mending | Lunge costs 1 to 3 hunger points per jab, so carry good food. |
| Axe | Efficiency V, Unbreaking III, Mending, Silk Touch or Fortune III, plus Sharpness V | In Java, Sharpness goes on an axe only with a book on an anvil. |
| Pickaxe | Efficiency V, Unbreaking III, Mending, Fortune III | Keep a second pickaxe with Silk Touch. Fortune III averages 2.2x drops from most ores. |
| Shovel | Efficiency V, Unbreaking III, Mending, Silk Touch | Use Fortune instead if you’re digging gravel for flint. |
| Hoe | Efficiency V, Fortune III, Unbreaking III, Mending | Fortune raises carrot and potato drops, and seed drops from wheat and beetroot. |
| Helmet | Protection IV, Respiration III, Aqua Affinity, Unbreaking III, Mending | Turtle shell takes the same set. |
| Chestplate | Protection IV, Unbreaking III, Mending | Thorns III is optional. It costs durability every time it triggers. |
| Leggings | Protection IV, Swift Sneak III, Unbreaking III, Mending | Swift Sneak comes only from ancient city chests. |
| Boots | Protection IV, Feather Falling IV, Depth Strider III, Soul Speed III, Unbreaking III, Mending | Swap Depth Strider for Frost Walker II to walk across water instead. |
| Bow | Power V, Punch II, Flame, Unbreaking III, Infinity or Mending | Infinity saves arrows; Mending keeps the bow alive forever. You can’t have both. |
| Crossbow | Quick Charge III, Multishot or Piercing IV, Unbreaking III, Mending | Multishot for crowds and raids; Piercing for lines of mobs and getting arrows back. |
| Trident | Loyalty III, Channeling, Impaling V, Unbreaking III, Mending | Or a travel trident: Riptide III, Unbreaking III, Mending. |
| Mace | Density V or Breach IV, Wind Burst III, Fire Aspect II, Unbreaking III, Mending | Density for big falls, Breach for armored targets, Smite V for undead. |
| Fishing rod | Luck of the Sea III, Lure III, Unbreaking III, Mending | Fishing is also a source of enchanted books, including Mending. |
| Elytra, shield, shears, brush, flint and steel | Unbreaking III, Mending | Shears also take Efficiency V, and Silk Touch in Bedrock. |
The Protection numbers explain the armor picks. Each Protection IV piece cuts 16%, so a full set gives 64%. Protection stacks with Feather Falling and the specific Protection types up to an 80% cap. If you fight a lot of creepers or fall into lava, one Blast Protection IV or Fire Protection IV piece in place of Protection is a fair trade.
Minecraft enchantment incompatibilities
An enchanting table never offers conflicting enchantments together, and an anvil drops the conflicting enchantment from the item you sacrifice. The /enchant command refuses them too. These are the conflict groups, according to the wiki:
- Sword, axe, spear: Sharpness, Smite and Bane of Arthropods (pick one).
- Mace: Density, Breach, Smite and Bane of Arthropods (pick one).
- Tools: Fortune or Silk Touch.
- Armor: Protection, Fire Protection, Blast Protection or Projectile Protection (one per piece).
- Boots: Depth Strider or Frost Walker.
- Bow: Infinity or Mending.
- Crossbow: Multishot or Piercing.
- Trident: Riptide conflicts with both Loyalty and Channeling. Loyalty and Channeling work together.
The spear, the only item that takes Lunge, arrived with the Mounts of Mayhem drop (Java 1.21.11, Bedrock 1.21.130). Image: Mojang Studios
Mace, spear and trident enchantments explained
The three newest weapons have the most unusual enchantments, so here’s what the numbers mean.
Mace: Density, Breach and Wind Burst
Density adds 0.5 damage per block fallen for each level, so Density V adds 2.5 damage for every block you drop before a smash attack. Breach works against armor instead: each level makes the target’s armor 15 percentage points less effective. For example, armor that normally blocks 50% blocks only 35% against Breach I. Wind Burst throws you back up after a smash attack (about 8, 16 or 24 blocks at levels I to III), so you can chain smashes. You can only get Wind Burst from ominous vaults in trial chambers, as a level I book (the wiki puts the chance at 5.5% per vault). Level III means combining books on an anvil.
Spear: Lunge
Mojang’s Java 1.21.11 patch notes and the Bedrock 1.21.130 changelog describe Lunge the same way. It’s a spear-only enchantment that pushes you forward in the direction you’re looking when you jab, farthest when you look perfectly level. Level I costs 1 hunger point, II costs 2 and III costs 3, and every lunge costs 1 durability at any level. Mojang’s Java notes add that you need at least 6 hunger points to use it. Spears take the same enchantments as swords except Sweeping Edge, plus Lunge.
Trident: pick a job
A trident does one of two jobs. A combat trident (Loyalty, Channeling, Impaling) comes back after you throw it and calls lightning in storms. A Riptide trident is a movement tool: it launches you through water or rain, and combined with an elytra it’s one of the fastest ways to travel. Impaling is where the editions differ most. In Java it only boosts damage against aquatic mobs such as guardians and fish (drowned don’t count). In Bedrock it boosts damage against any mob or player standing in water or rain.
Treasure enchantments: where to find them
Treasure enchantments never show up on the enchanting table. The wiki lists where each one comes from:
| Enchantment | Where to get it |
|---|---|
| Mending | Librarian villager trades, fishing, structure chests (not villages), raid drops (Bedrock) |
| Frost Walker | Librarian trades, fishing, jungle temple and stronghold chests, raid drops (Bedrock) |
| Soul Speed | Piglin bartering, bastion remnant chests, piglins’ golden boots |
| Swift Sneak | Ancient city chests only (non-renewable) |
| Wind Burst | Ominous vaults in trial chambers only (level I books) |
| Curse of Binding / Vanishing | Fishing, librarian trades, structure chests (not villages), raid drops (Bedrock) |
Librarians charge double for treasure enchantments. With the Villager Trade Rebalance experiment turned on, enchanted book trades depend on the village biome. For example, the wiki says Mending then comes only from master-level swamp librarians.
Java vs Bedrock enchantment differences
- Sweeping Edge exists only in Java, which is why Bedrock has 42 enchantments.
- Sharpness hits harder in Bedrock: +6 damage at level V vs +3 in Java.
- Impaling boosts damage against aquatic mobs in Java, and against anything wet (water or rain) in Bedrock, rounded down.
- Enchanting table: Bedrock puts Sharpness, Smite and Bane on axes, Smite, Bane and Fire Aspect on maces, and Thorns on every armor piece straight from the table. Java needs books for all of those.
- Silk Touch on shears works only in Bedrock (by book).
- Mob gear drops: enchanted gear worn by mobs drops 8.5% of the time in Java and 25% in Bedrock, plus 1% per Looting level.
- Raid drops can include enchanted books, such as Mending, Frost Walker, Infinity, Multishot and Piercing, only in Bedrock.
- Command IDs: the curses are
binding_curseandvanishing_cursein Java butbindingandvanishingin Bedrock.
Merge enchanted books with each other before adding them to an item, so the anvil cost stays under the 39-level limit. AI-generated illustration
Best enchantment order on an anvil
Every time an item goes through an anvil, its next anvil job costs more. The wiki gives this “prior work penalty” as 0, 1, 3, 7, 15 and then 31 levels after 0 to 5 uses. In Survival the anvil refuses any job over 39 levels and shows “Too Expensive!”. These tips follow from those rules:
- Enchant at the table first. With 15 bookshelves the table reaches level 30 offers, and an item fresh from the table has no anvil penalty.
- Merge books with each other before they touch the item. Combine them in pairs (two books, then two pairs), so no single book piles up uses.
- Add the most expensive books early, while the item’s penalty is still 0 or 1. Mending, Sharpness V and Protection IV are the big ones.
- Do it in as few steps as possible. Four anvil jobs on one item already add 15 levels to the fifth.
- Rename in the same step as an enchant or repair. A rename on its own still pays the penalty.
A grindstone removes every enchantment except curses, along with the prior work penalty, if you want to start an item over.
How to add enchantments with commands
With cheats on, /enchant puts an enchantment on the item in your main hand. In Java the syntax is /enchant <targets> <enchantment> [<level>], for example /enchant @s sharpness 5. In Bedrock it’s /enchant <player> <enchantmentName> [level], for example /enchant @s mending. The command stops at each enchantment’s normal max level and refuses conflicting enchantments. In Bedrock, turning on cheats disables achievements for that world. Our Minecraft commands list has the full syntax for /give, /enchant and the rest.
What changed in 26.3, and what 26.4 adds
According to Java 26.3’s changelog, the only gameplay change to enchantments in 26.3 is small: enchantments now apply when an undead mob’s helmet takes damage while shielding it from the sun. 26.1 and 26.2 added no new enchantments. Mojang’s Java 26.4 snapshots 1 to 6 only change data-pack formats for enchantments, not the list itself. If 26.4 changes anything in game, we’ll update this page. Our 26.4 snapshot tracker covers everything else coming.
If you play modded, our guides to the best Minecraft mods for 26.3 and the best Minecraft modpacks cover packs that add new enchantments and enchanting menus on top of the vanilla list above.
FAQ
How many enchantments are there in Minecraft?
43 in Java Edition 26.3 and 42 in Bedrock 26.60. Sweeping Edge is the one Bedrock lacks.
What is the best enchantment in Minecraft?
Our pick is Mending. It goes on almost every item and repairs it with the XP you collect anyway, so your best gear never breaks. Pair it with Unbreaking III.
Can you put Mending and Infinity on the same bow?
Not in Survival. They’re mutually exclusive, so the table won’t offer both and an anvil drops one of them.
What is the max enchantment level in Minecraft?
V is the highest normal level (Sharpness, Smite, Bane of Arthropods, Efficiency, Power, Impaling, Density). Commands like /give can go up to 255, but many enchantments stop improving well before that, according to the wiki.
How do you get Mending in Minecraft?
Mending never comes from the enchanting table. Get it as a book from a librarian villager, from fishing or from structure chests (raids too in Bedrock), then add it with an anvil.
Sources: Minecraft Wiki: Enchantment and its pages for each enchantment, Anvil mechanics and Commands/enchant; Mojang’s Java patch notes for 1.21.11, 26.1, 26.3 and 26.4 snapshots 1-6 (Minecraft Launcher); Mojang’s Bedrock 1.21.130 changelog; version numbers from Mojang’s version manifest (Java 26.3 current, 26.4 snapshot 6 latest) and the wiki’s version template (Bedrock 26.60). Checked November 2, 2026 UTC. “Best” picks are GamingRoute’s.
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Featured image: AI-generated illustration
