Minecraft Enchantments: Explained in Detail (2022)

Almost all of the enchantments included in this guide work on both Minecraft Java and Bedrock editions. We have tested everything in our guide on the Minecraft 1.18 update. So, you can rest assured about compatibility. And to explore a specific topic at your will, use the table attached below.

What are Enchantments in Minecraft

In simple terms, Enchanting is a way to upgrade and add abilities to a Minecraft item like your armor, boots, sword, and more. An enchantment can not only give your item new features, but it can also push its existing ability to a whole new level. You can use them to mine faster, fight better, and even improve your in-game luck.
The best part is that you can apply any of the enchantments easily. But before continuing our Minecraft enchantments guide, let’s quickly go over how to find items with enchantments already applied to them.

Where to Find Enchanted Items in Minecraft

If you are not in the mood to do manual work of applying enchantments to each of your equipment, you can also obtain enchanted items through the following methods:

Trading with villagersFishing in oceans and large riversBy killing mobs like zombies or skeletons that might be carrying an enchanted itemIn rare Minecraft chests, which spawn in almost every popular in-game structure. Though, the chances of chests spawning with an enchanted item are highest in end citiesBartering with Piglings in NetherBedrock users can also obtain enchanted items by killing vindicators and pillagers in raids.

How to Apply Enchantments to Armor, Boots, and Sword

When your exploration results in nothing, you can choose to manually add enchantments to your items. Minecraft offers two ways to apply enchantments in the game. And with our Minecraft enchantments guide, you can understand each of them individually.

Using Enchanted Books

Enchanted books are spread throughout the Minecraft worlds. You can trade with librarians or loot chests to find them. If there’s an enchantment, there’s definitely an enchanted book for it. Not to forget, some enchantments can only be applied through an enchanted book.
All you need to use these books is to combine them with the item you want to enchant using an anvil. Doing so only costs experience orbs, which are easy to collect. If this method interests you, dive deep using our tutorial on how to use enchanted books in Minecraft.

Using Enchanting Table

At the core of our Minecraft enchantments guide is the Enchanting table. Just like a crafting table in Minecraft, this table is used to craft in-game recipes. You only need the item you want to enchant and lapis lazuli. Using these two items, the Enchanting table presents all the possible enchantments you can apply to it. It shows up to three enchantments at a time, as shown in the screenshot below.
Comparatively, this method is easier than using an anvil as there’s no exploration involved beyond looking for lapis lazuli. And if you have read our Minecraft 1.18 ore distribution guide, it’s isn’t that hard to come across. That’s why, to keep things balanced, Minecraft has made many enchantments like soul speed exclusive to enchanting books. But if the table still attracts you, you can quickly make an Enchanting table in Minecraft using our linked tutorial.

What is the Enchantments Language in Minecraft

If you choose to use the enchanting table in Minecraft, you might encounter text in the SGA script. It’s a popular symbolic language that many video games use. Even though it doesn’t hold any real function in Minecraft, it still has an interesting story attached to it. You can find all about it and learn how to read Enchanting table language using our linked guide.

A Complete List of Minecraft Enchantments

Now that you know the basics behind enchanting, we can move on to the actual enchantments. To keep it simple, we have created a table of all in-game enchantments in Minecraft. You can use it to know what that enchantment does along with its maximum levels. But if you don’t want to read about each of them, use our list of best Minecraft enchantments to learn about some of the coolest upgrades and abilties.

General Enchantments in Minecraft

Tools Enchantments in Minecraft

While we have listed all the enchantments that exist in the game, you cannot use many of them alongside other enchantments. So, make sure to follow our next section thoroughly before jumping into the game. Moreover, if the lists above look confusing to you, read our in-depth articles on some of the best enchantments for swords, tridents, and more linked here.

10 Best Minecraft Sword Enchantments You Must Use7 Best Minecraft Trident Enchantments You Can Use15 Best Armor Enchantments in Minecraft You Should Use7 Best Minecraft Bow Enchantments You Must Use

Conflicting Minecraft Enchantments You Should Know About

As you might have noticed already, there are many enchantments that you can apply to the same item. But at the same time, some of the enchantments can have contradicting effects. To tackle that, Minecraft has a set of conflicting enchantments. You can apply them at the same time, but only one of them will function. Let’s go over some common conflicts in the Minecraft enchantments guide:

You can’t apply two or more of the same enchantment on a single item. Multiple types of protections can’t be applied on the same item. However, you can apply unique type of protection enchantment to each part of your armor.You can’t apply infinity and mending on the same bow.Damage based enchantments are conflicting to each other.Silk Touch and fortune can’t be applied to the same item.Depth Strider and Frost Walker can’t be applied to same set of boots.

Differences in Enchantments on Minecraft Java vs Bedrock

It’s unfortunate that even after a decade of existence, both versions of Minecraft are still far from equal. Because of that, you have to face some differences in enchantments as well. None of them are groundbreaking and won’t affect the majority of the Minecraft enchantments guide. But here are the difference you can expect:

Sweeping edge enchantment only exists in Java edition.Fire Aspect can be used to light TNT, candles, and campfires but only in the Bedrock edition.Protection enchantment reduces damage from magic attacks in Java edition.Trident with impaling causes damage to any wet mob, not just aquatic mobs in the Bedrock edition.Sharpness causes higher damage in the Bedrock edition.Soul speed changes the player’s field of view in Java edition.Trident with riptide can cause damage to multiple enemies in the Bedrock edition.Helmet with respiration also decreases the chance of drowning damage in Java edition.

How to Level Up Enchantments in Minecraft

As you already know, depending upon the enchanted books you find, you can apply different levels of enchantments through an anvil. But, if you want higher levels of enchantments, you need to use an Enchanting table and follow these steps:

  1. The rarity and levels of enchantments on the Enchanting table depend upon the bookshelves around it. You can place a maximum of 15 bookshelves to level up the offered enchantments. But first, you need to craft bookshelves using 3 books, 6 wooden planks, and the following recipe.
  2. Once you have enough bookshelves, you need to place them around your Enchanting table. Players usually create walls surrounding the table to keep it simple. You can place more than 15 bookshelves too, but they won’t affect the enchantment levels.
  3. If you don’t have enough time to make bookshelves, you can enchant books using the enchanting table to get lower-level enchantments. Then, you need to combine the two lower-level enchanted books using an anvil. It will result in creating a higher-level enchanted book that you can apply to your item. You can also combine an already enchanted item with the same enchantment‘s book to level it up.
    Do keep in mind that you can’t level up an enchanted item with a lower level of enchantment if you are using an Enchanting table. To level up an item’s enchantments after placing bookshelves around your table, you need to disenchant your item first.

How to Remove Enchantments in Minecraft

Now that you know how enchantments work, it’s time to understand how to remove them. It can be for leveling up the item or removing a wrong enchantment. Fortunately, Minecraft makes it simple to remove an enchantment. You just need to place it on a grindstone.
Grindstones are a common in-game tool that you can use to repair and disenchant items. All you need to do is place your enchanted item in the grindstone, and that’s it. You can then pick up the disenchanted item from it. To dig deeper into disenchanting, you can use our guide on how to remove enchantments in Minecraft. Keep in mind that you can’t remove Curse of Binding and Curse of Vanishing in any way.

Start Using Minecraft Enchantments Guide Today

With that, you are ready to explore and make the most out of all the in-game enchantments. Our Minecraft enchantments guide is here to help you learn about the enchantments one at a time. You can bookmark it to keep coming back and digging deeper. But if enchantments don’t feel enough, the best Minecraft mods are always here to have your back. Though, you need to install Forge in Minecraft to run them. Even if Minecraft didn’t have such a variety of enchantments, Minecraft biomes are enough to keep you entertained. But that’s a story for another guide. Now, don’t waste a moment more and start enchanting!