Best Minecraft Enchantments Guide [1.21]
Complete ranking of every Minecraft 1.21 enchantment by usefulness. Find the best enchantments for swords, pickaxes, armor, bows, and more with incompatibility charts and priority lists.
Choosing the right enchantments in Minecraft 1.21 can mean the difference between dying to a Warden and walking away with loot. This guide ranks every enchantment by practical usefulness and tells you exactly what to put on each piece of gear.
If you need help setting up your enchanting station first, check out our enchantment table setup guide to make sure you are getting level 30 enchantments.
How Enchanting Works in 1.21
Enchantments are applied through an enchanting table, an anvil, or villager trading. The enchanting table requires lapis lazuli and experience levels, while the anvil lets you combine enchanted books with gear. The maximum enchanting table level is 30, which requires 15 bookshelves placed correctly.
Use our enchantment order calculator to find the cheapest anvil combination order for your gear, since each anvil use increases the cost of the next one.
Enchantment Tier List: Overall Rankings
S-Tier (Must-Have)
- Mending - Repairs gear using XP orbs. The single most important enchantment in the game. Without it, your best gear eventually breaks. Obtain through villager trading or fishing since it cannot appear on the enchanting table.
- Unbreaking III - Multiplies effective durability by 4x for most items. Pairs with Mending to make gear nearly permanent.
- Protection IV - The best general-purpose armor enchantment. Reduces all damage types by up to 16% per piece (64% with a full set).
- Sharpness V - Adds 3 extra damage per hit to swords and axes. Works on all mobs, making it universally useful.
- Efficiency V - Dramatically speeds up mining. A Netherite pickaxe with Efficiency V and Haste II from a beacon mines instant-break on most blocks.
A-Tier (Highly Recommended)
- Fortune III - Multiplies ore drops. Diamonds average 2.2 per ore block with Fortune III, which is essential for efficient diamond mining.
- Looting III - Increases mob drops significantly. More ender pearls, wither skeleton skulls, and rare drops.
- Feather Falling IV - Reduces fall damage by 48%. Stacks with Protection for serious fall damage reduction.
- Fire Protection IV - Critical for Nether exploration. Reduces fire tick duration and fire damage.
- Silk Touch - Lets you pick up blocks in their original form. Essential for moving spawners in some mods, collecting glass, ice, and ore blocks.
- Infinity - Removes the need to carry stacks of arrows. Incompatible with Mending, which creates an important choice for bows.
- Power V - The bow equivalent of Sharpness. Significantly increases arrow damage for ranged combat.
B-Tier (Situationally Strong)
- Sweeping Edge III (Java only) - Increases sweep attack damage by 75%. Very strong for mob farms and group combat.
- Respiration III - Extends underwater breathing time to about 60 seconds total. Helpful for ocean monuments and underwater builds.
- Aqua Affinity - Removes the mining speed penalty underwater. Pairs well with Respiration.
- Depth Strider III - Swim at normal walking speed. Important for ocean exploration.
- Flame - Sets arrows on fire for extra damage over time. Free bonus damage on every shot.
- Knockback II - Pushes enemies back when hit. Can be a drawback in some situations since it makes follow-up hits harder.
- Thorns III - Damages attackers when they hit you. Uses extra durability, which is the main downside.
- Piercing IV - Crossbow bolts pass through multiple entities. Strong for pillager raids and grouped enemies.
C-Tier (Niche or Low Impact)
- Blast Protection IV - Only needed for specific situations like fighting the Wither or Creeper farms.
- Projectile Protection IV - Useful against skeletons and blazes, but Protection IV is usually better overall.
- Punch II - Bow knockback. Mostly a PvP enchantment.
- Multishot - Fires 3 crossbow bolts at once but only costs 1 arrow. Fun but not essential.
- Quick Charge III - Speeds up crossbow reloading significantly. Only matters if you use crossbows.
- Lure III - Reduces fishing wait time. Only useful for AFK fishing.
- Luck of the Sea III - Increases treasure catch rate while fishing. Valuable for early-game enchanted books.
- Soul Speed III - Walk faster on soul sand and soul soil. Drains durability and only works on boots.
- Swift Sneak III - Move faster while sneaking. Useful for building and avoiding sculk sensors near the Warden.
D-Tier (Avoid or Situational)
- Frost Walker II - Creates ice when walking on water. Conflicts with Depth Strider and causes issues with farms and water mechanics. More trouble than it is worth.
- Bane of Arthropods V - Only works on spiders, silverfish, and endermites. Extremely niche compared to Sharpness.
- Smite V - Only works on undead mobs. Stronger than Sharpness against zombies and skeletons but useless against everything else.
- Curse of Vanishing - Item disappears on death. Never intentionally apply this.
- Curse of Binding - Cannot remove the item once equipped. Only useful for pranks in multiplayer.
Best Enchantments by Item
Sword (Best in Slot)
| Enchantment | Priority |
|---|---|
| Sharpness V | Core damage |
| Unbreaking III | Durability |
| Mending | Infinite lifespan |
| Looting III | Better mob drops |
| Sweeping Edge III | AoE damage (Java) |
| Fire Aspect II | Extra burn damage |
| Knockback II | Optional (can be annoying) |
Avoid putting Knockback on your primary sword if you fight Endermen or need to land combo hits. Keep a separate Knockback sword for Creepers.
Pickaxe (Two Pickaxes Recommended)
Fortune Pickaxe:
| Enchantment | Priority |
|---|---|
| Fortune III | Multiplied ore drops |
| Efficiency V | Fast mining |
| Unbreaking III | Durability |
| Mending | Infinite lifespan |
Silk Touch Pickaxe:
| Enchantment | Priority |
|---|---|
| Silk Touch | Collect blocks whole |
| Efficiency V | Fast mining |
| Unbreaking III | Durability |
| Mending | Infinite lifespan |
Fortune III and Silk Touch are mutually exclusive. You need two pickaxes. Fortune goes on your diamond mining pickaxe while Silk Touch handles glass, ice, ender chests, and ore block storage.
Helmet
| Enchantment | Priority |
|---|---|
| Protection IV | Damage reduction |
| Unbreaking III | Durability |
| Mending | Infinite lifespan |
| Respiration III | Underwater breathing |
| Aqua Affinity | Underwater mining speed |
Chestplate
| Enchantment | Priority |
|---|---|
| Protection IV | Damage reduction |
| Unbreaking III | Durability |
| Mending | Infinite lifespan |
The chestplate is straightforward since it has fewer unique enchantments. Some players use Thorns III here, but the extra durability usage is a real cost even with Mending.
Leggings
| Enchantment | Priority |
|---|---|
| Protection IV | Damage reduction |
| Unbreaking III | Durability |
| Mending | Infinite lifespan |
| Swift Sneak III | Faster sneaking |
Swift Sneak is only available from ancient city loot and cannot be obtained from the enchanting table or villager trading.
Boots
| Enchantment | Priority |
|---|---|
| Protection IV | Damage reduction |
| Feather Falling IV | Fall damage reduction |
| Unbreaking III | Durability |
| Mending | Infinite lifespan |
| Depth Strider III | Swim speed |
| Soul Speed III | Optional, uses durability |
Depth Strider and Frost Walker are mutually exclusive. Depth Strider is almost always the better choice.
Bow (Choose One Path)
Infinity Build (no arrow management):
| Enchantment | Priority |
|---|---|
| Infinity | Unlimited arrows |
| Power V | Maximum damage |
| Unbreaking III | Durability |
| Flame | Fire damage |
| Punch II | Optional knockback |
Mending Build (permanent bow):
| Enchantment | Priority |
|---|---|
| Mending | Infinite lifespan |
| Power V | Maximum damage |
| Unbreaking III | Durability |
| Flame | Fire damage |
Infinity and Mending are mutually exclusive on bows. Most players choose Infinity for convenience, then craft a new bow when it breaks. Hardcore players prefer Mending since arrows are cheap but a max enchanted bow is expensive to replace.
Trident
| Enchantment | Priority |
|---|---|
| Loyalty III | Returns after throwing |
| Unbreaking III | Durability |
| Mending | Infinite lifespan |
| Impaling V | Extra damage to aquatic mobs |
| Channeling | Summons lightning during storms |
Loyalty and Riptide are mutually exclusive. Loyalty is better for combat since Riptide only works in water or rain.
Enchantment Incompatibilities
Understanding which enchantments conflict prevents wasted XP and materials. These pairs cannot exist on the same item:
| Enchantment A | Enchantment B | Item |
|---|---|---|
| Sharpness | Smite, Bane of Arthropods | Sword/Axe |
| Protection | Fire/Blast/Projectile Protection | Armor |
| Depth Strider | Frost Walker | Boots |
| Infinity | Mending | Bow |
| Silk Touch | Fortune | Pickaxe/Tools |
| Loyalty | Riptide | Trident |
| Channeling | Riptide | Trident |
| Multishot | Piercing | Crossbow |
The Protection family conflict is especially important. Protection IV outperforms all specialized protections in general use. Only swap to Fire Protection IV on one piece if you spend significant time in the Nether.
Enchanting Strategy: Early to Late Game
Early Game
Focus on Protection and Sharpness from the enchanting table. Even Protection I on iron armor makes a huge difference. Use the XP level calculator to plan how much mining or mob grinding you need.
Mid Game
Start trading with villagers to get Mending books. A librarian villager can be reset by breaking and replacing their lectern until they offer Mending. This is the single biggest upgrade path in the game.
Late Game
Combine max-level enchanted books on an anvil in the correct order to minimize prior work penalty. The enchantment order calculator handles this math for you. A fully enchanted Netherite set costs dozens of levels, so get the order right the first time.
Wind Charge and Mace Enchantments (1.21 New)
Minecraft 1.21 introduced the Mace, a new weapon obtained from trial chambers. It has unique enchantments:
- Density V - Increases smash damage based on fall distance. The primary Mace enchantment.
- Breach IV - Reduces the effectiveness of enemy armor. Strong for PvP and heavily armored mobs.
- Wind Burst III - Bounces you into the air after hitting a mob, enabling chain attacks. Pairs perfectly with Density.
The Mace is incompatible with Sharpness, Smite, and Bane of Arthropods. Its unique enchantments make it a distinct weapon class rather than a sword replacement.
Final Recommendations
For a survival world, prioritize in this order: Mending on all gear, then Unbreaking III, then Protection IV on armor and Sharpness V on your sword, then Fortune III on your mining pickaxe. Everything else is optimization on top of this core.