Minecraft: every enchantment and what they do

What every enchantment in Minecraft does, what items it can be applied to, and what conflicts there are

Enchanting Table / Mojang

Enchanting is a vital part of the progression system in Minecraft. When used on your tools, it makes simple tasks like gathering resources much easier, while for armor and weapons, it greatly expands the range of challenges you can face safely. Still, there are a lot of different enchantments in Minecraft, and it’s not obvious what all of them do from the name alone. On top of that, some enchantments conflict with each other, and some have very narrow use cases.

Since the game doesn’t explain any of this itself, we’ve put together this complete list of every enchantment in Minecraft. This includes everything you could possibly want to know about each one, including what items they can be applied to, what their effects are, and what other enchantments they conflict with.

Every Enchantment in Minecraft

1. Aqua Affinity
2. Bane of Arthropods
3. Blast Protection
4. Breach
5. Channeling
6. Cleaving
7. Curse of Binding
8. Curse of Vanishing
9. Density
10. Depth Strider
11. Efficiency
12. Feather Falling
13. Fire Aspect
14. Fire Protection
15. Flame
16. Fortune
17. Frost Walker
18. Impaling
19. Infinity
20. Knockback
21. Looting
22. Loyalty
23. Luck of the Sea
24. Lure
25. Mending
26. Multishot
27. Piercing
28. Power
29. Projectile Protection
30. Projectile Protection
31. Punch
32. Quick Charge
33. Respiration
34. Riptide
35. Sharpness
36. Silk Touch
37. Smite
38. Soul Speed
39. Sweeping Edge
40. Swift Sneak
41. Thorns
42. Unbreaking
43. Wind Burst

Aqua Affinity

Enchanting Table / Mojang

Effect: Increases mining speed while underwater.
Max Level: 1
Applicable items: Helmet, Turtle Shell
Incompatible with: None

Bane of Arthropods

Effect: Increases damage and inflicts Slowness 4 on Spiders, Cave Spiders, Silverfish, Endermites, and Bees.
Max Level: 5
Applicable items: Sword, Axe, Mace
Incompatible with: Breach, Density, Sharpness, Smite.

Blast Protection

Effect: Reduces damage and knockback received from explosions.
Max Level: 4
Applicable items: Helmet, Chestplate, Leggings, Boots, Turtle Shell
Incompatible with: Fire Protection, Projectile Protection, Protection

Breach

Effect: Reduces the effectiveness of armor on the target.
Max Level: 4
Applicable items: Mace
Incompatible with: Bane of Arthropods, Density, Smite

Channeling

Effect: Summons a lightning bolt to strike the target when used in a Thunderstorm.
Max Level: 1
Applicable items: Trident
Incompatible with: Riptide

Cleaving

Effect: Increases damage and shield stun time (currently only in Java Edition Combat Test build).
Max Level: 3
Applicable items: Axe
Incompatible with: Bane of Arthropods, Sharpness, Smite

Curse of Binding

Effect: Item cannot be removed from armor slot once worn.
Max Level: 1
Applicable items: Helmet, Chestplate, Leggings, Boots, Elytra, Pumpkin, Mob Heads, Turtle Shell
Incompatible with: None

Curse of Vanishing

Effect: Item will disappear when the user dies while holding/wearing it.
Max Level: 1
Applicable items: Helmet, Chestplate, Leggings, Boots, Pickaxe, Shovel, Axe, Sword, Hoe, Fishing Rod, Bow, Shears, Flint and Steel, Compass, Recovery Compass, Carrot on a Stick, Warped Fungus on a Stick, Shield, Elytra, Pumpkin, Mob Heads, Triden, Turtle Shell, Crossbow, Brush, Mace
Incompatible with: None

Density

Effect: Increases damage inflicted per block fallen.
Max Level: 5
Applicable items: Mace
Incompatible with: Bane of Arthropods, Breach, Smite

Depth Strider

Enchanting Table / Mojang

Effect: Increases underwater movement speed.
Max Level: 3
Applicable items: Boots
Incompatible with: Frost Walker

Efficiency

Effect: Increases mining speed.
Max Level: 5
Applicable items: Pickaxe, Shovel, Axe, Hoe, Shears
Incompatible with: None

Feather Falling

Effect: Decreases fall damage.
Max Level: 4
Applicable items: Boots
Incompatible with: None

Fire Aspect

Effect: Sets the target on fire.
Max Level: 2
Applicable items: Sword, Axe, Mace
Incompatible with: None

Fire Protection

Effect: Reduces damage taken from fire and burn time.
Max Level: 4
Applicable items: Helmet, Chestplate, Leggings, Boots, Turtle Shell
Incompatible with: Blast Protection, Projectile Protection, Protection

Flame

Effect: Sets the target on fire when hit.
Max Level: 1
Applicable items: Bow
Incompatible with: None

Fortune

Effect: Increases the amount of drops from certain blocks.
Max Level: 3
Applicable items: Pickaxe, Shovel, Axe, Hoe
Incompatible with: Silk Touch

Frost Walker

Effect: Freezes water under your feet.
Max Level: 2
Applicable items: Boots
Incompatible with: Depth Strider

Impaling

Effect: Increases damage against aquatic mobs (also increases damage against mobs in water or rain, but only in Bedrock Edition).
Max Level: 5
Applicable items: Trident
Incompatible with: None

Infinity

Effect: Grants infinite ammo provided one arrow is in inventory
Max Level: 1
Applicable items: Bow
Incompatible with: Mending

Knockback

Enchanting room / Mojang

Effect: Increases knockback of melee strikes
Max Level: 2
Applicable items: Sword
Incompatible with: None

Looting

Effect: Increases loot drops.
Max Level: 3
Applicable items: Sword
Incompatible with: None

Loyalty

Effect: Trident will return you when thrown.
Max Level: 3
Applicable items: Trident
Incompatible with: Riptide

Luck of the Sea

Effect: Increases treasure bite rates.
Max Level: 3
Applicable items: Fishing Rod
Incompatible with: None

Lure

Effect: Decreases time between bites.
Max Level: 3
Applicable items: Fishing Rod
Incompatible with: None

Mending

Effect: Repairs the item’s durability if held/worn when experience orbs are collected.
Max Level: 1
Applicable items: Helmet, Chestplate, Leggings, Boots, Pickaxe, Shovel, Axe, Sword, Hoe, Fishing Rod, Bow, Shears, Flint and Steel, Carrot on a Stick, Warped Fungus on a Stick, Shield, Elytra, Trident, Turtle Shell, Crossbow, Brush, Mace
Incompatible with: Infinity

Multishot

Effect: Fores three arrows at once.
Max Level: 1
Applicable items: Crossbow
Incompatible with: Piercing

Piercing

Effect: Arrows pieces through enemies.
Max Level: 4
Applicable items: Crossbow
Incompatible with: Multishot

Power

Effect: Increases arrow damage
Max Level: 5
Applicable items: Bow
Incompatible with: None

Projectile Protection

Effect: Reduces damage taken from projectiles.
Max Level: 4
Applicable items: Helmet, Chestplate, Legging, Boots, Turtle Shell
Incompatible with: Blast Protection, Fire Protection, Protection

Projectile Protection

Enchating room / Mojang

Effect: Reduces damage taken from all sources.
Max Level: 4
Applicable items: Helmet, Chestplate, Legging, Boots, Turtle Shell
Incompatible with: Blast Protection, Fire Protection, Projectile Protection

Punch

Effect: Increases arrow knockback
Max Level: 2
Applicable items: Bow
Incompatible with: None

Quick Charge

Effect: Decreases crossbow charging time.
Max Level: 3
Applicable items: Crossbow
Incompatible with: None

Respiration

Effect: Increases underwater breathing time.
Max Level: 3
Applicable items: Helmet, Turtle Shell
Incompatible with: None

Riptide

Effect: Trident launches player forwards when thrown in water or during rain.
Max Level: 3
Applicable items: Trident
Incompatible with: Channeling, Loyalty

Sharpness

Effect: Increases melee damage.
Max Level: 5
Applicable items: Sword, Axe
Incompatible with: Bane of Arthropods, Smite

Silk Touch

Effect: Mined blocks drop themselves, even when they normally wouldn’t.
Max Level: 1
Applicable items: Pickaxe, Shovel, Axe, Hoe, Shears
Incompatible with: Fortune

Smite

Effect: Increases damage dealt to undead mobs.
Max Level: 5
Applicable items: Sword, Axe, Mace
Incompatible with: Bane of Arthropods, Breach, Density, Sharpness

Soul Speed

Effect: Increases walking speed on Soul Sand and Soul Soil.
Max Level: 3
Applicable items: Boots
Incompatible with: None

Sweeping Edge

Effect: Increases sweeping attack damage (only available in Java Edition).
Max Level: 3
Applicable items: Sword
Incompatible with: None

Swift Sneak

Enchantment Room / Mojang

Effect: Increases sneaking speed/
Max Level: 3
Applicable items: Leggings
Incompatible with: None

Thorns

Effect: Deals damage to attackers when they damage you.
Max Level: 3
Applicable items: Helmet, Chestplate, Leggings, Boots, Turtle Shell
Incompatible with: None

Unbreaking

Effect: Reduces durability damage.
Max Level: 3
Applicable items: Helmet, Chestplate, Leggings, Boots, Pickaxe, Shovel, Axe, Sword, Hoe, Fishing Rod, Bow, Shears, Flint and Steel, Carrot on a Stick, Warped Fungus on a Stick, Shield, Elytra, Trident, Turtle Shell, Crossbow, Brush, Mace
Incompatible with: None

Wind Burst

Effect: Emits a Wind Charge when using the smash attack, launching you up into the air.
Max Level: 3
Applicable items: Mace
Incompatible with: None