Enchanting table mechanics

This article is about the mechanics of enchanting with enchanting tables.

Bookshelf placement

Nearby bookshelves raise the experience costs, which increases the value of the offered enchantments. The maximum number of active bookshelves is 15, and further bookshelves are ignored.

Bookshelves must be placed exactly two blocks from the enchanting table along one horizontal axis, up to two blocks along the other, and on the same height as the table or one block higher. Additionally, the bookshelf must be unblocked, the exact definition of which differs between the Java and Bedrock editions.

In Java Edition, any block added to the tag #enchantment_power_provider can be used instead of bookshelves.

Java Edition

The block at the height of the bookshelf, horizontally between the table and the bookshelf, right next to the table unless the bookshelf is placed diagonally, shown as below, must be in the tag #enchantment_power_transmitter, like air, snow, or short grass:

Glyph particles can fly to the enchanting table from blocked bookshelves as they follow different rules.

Bedrock Edition

The block at the height of the table and the block above it, horizontally between the table and the bookshelf, right next to the bookshelf unless it is placed diagonally, shown as below, must be air:

15 bookshelf arrangements

There are many possible bookshelf arrangements that can reach the enhancement limit.

One option is a 1-block tall square of bookshelves at the height of the table or a block above, with a single-block gap anywhere on a side.

Another option has the bookshelves in a corner, with two bookshelves always stacked vertically. This uses 16 bookshelves, which is one more than needed, so if the corner bookshelf column's back sides are covered, its bookshelf can be left out.

Item requirements

For an item to be enchantable, it must fulfill these conditions:

It is enchantable, meaning in Java Edition it has the components enchantable and enchantments.
It has no enchantments, meaning in Java Edition the component enchantments must be empty.

If the item meets the conditions but has no available enchantments, it will be possible to select the slot at the enchanting table, but nothing will happen.

Experience cost

When an item is placed in an enchanting table, the experience cost of each enchantment slot is selected depending on the slot and the number of nearby bookshelves, which is capped at 15.

For each slot, a base experience cost is calculated as:

where generates a random integer in range to (both included).

The final experience cost is then calculated depending on the slot:

Top slot:

Middle slot:

Bottom slot:

Bookshelves	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Experience cost of top slot	1–2	1–3	1–3	1–4	1–4	1–5	1–5	1–6	1–6	1–7	2–7	2–8	2–8	2–9	2–9	2–10
Experience cost of middle slot	1–6	1–7	2–8	2–9	3–10	3–11	3–12	3–13	4–14	4–15	5–16	5–17	5–18	5–19	6–20	6–21
Experience cost of bottom slot	1–8	2–9	4–11	6–12	8–14	10–15	12–17	14–18	16–20	18–21	20–23	22–24	24–26	26–27	28–29	30

Enchantment selection

This section describes how enchantments for an item are selected for a given experience cost.

This process is used by various mechanics:

When enchanting with an enchanting table.
In Java Edition when generating items with the item modifier enchant_with_levels, which is used in villager trade definitions for traded equipments and loot tables for generated loot and fishing.
In Bedrock Edition when generating traded equipments, generated loot, and fishing.
In Java Edition when generating items with the enchantment providers enchantments_by_cost or enchantments_by_cost_with_difficulty, which is used for gearing mobs.
In Bedrock Edition when gearing mobs.

Enchantment cost

For each slot, the enchantment cost, which is not shown in game, is calculated depending on the item's enchantability and the experience cost:

where generates a random integer in range to (both included)

and generates a random number in range (included) to (excluded) with triangular distribution:

where generates a random number in range (included) to (excluded).

In Java Edition, an item's enchantability is stored in the minecraft:enchantable item component.

Item	Enchantability
Golden Armor	25	6
Golden Weapons and Tools	22	5
Leather Armor Mace Netherite Armor Netherite Weapons and Tools Wooden Weapons and Tools	15	3
Iron Weapons and Tools	14	3
Copper Weapons and Tools	13	3
Chainmail Armor	12	3
Diamond Armor Diamond Weapons and Tools	10	2
Iron Armor Turtle Shell	9	2
Copper Armor	8	2
Stone Weapons and Tools	5	1
All other enchantable items Book Bow Crossbow Fishing Rod Trident	1	0

Candidates

In Java Edition, the initial candidates are:

the enchanting table's list of enchantments are stored in the tag #in_enchanting_table.

the item modifier enchant_with_levels can overwrite that list of enchantments with its field options, which default is used by the tags #on_random_loot, and #on_traded_equipment.

enchantment providers use the field enchantments, which default to the tag #on_mob_spawn_equipment.

In vanilla, this means that all non-treasure enchantments are initially candidates, and that for generated loot and fishing, Curse of Binding, Curse of Vanishing, Frost Walker, and Mending are also initial candidates.

If the item to enchant is not a book, all enchantments to which the item is not a primary item are removed.

Finally, the level for each enchantment is determined. The enchantment's highest level for which the enchantment cost falls within its cost range is the candidate, and if the cost is not within any of its ranges, the enchantment is removed.

In Java Edition, enchantments, including which other enchantments they're exclusive with, what items are primary to them, and the cost ranges of their levels are defined in enchantment definition. Books being primary to all enchantments is hardcoded.

Selection

The selection uses repetition, in which it selects one of the candidate enchantments and has a chance to repeat and add additional enchantments. The change of the enchantment cost in this final stage does not retroactively change the set of candidate.

A random candidate is selected based on weights, meaning the chance of a candidate being selected is its weight divided by the total weight of the current candidates.
The selected candidate and incompatible ones are removed from the set of candidates, and if no candidates remain, the selection ends.
If a chance of is fails, the enchantment selection ends.
The enchantment cost () is divided by two and rounded down, and the process returns to step 1.

Finally after the loop, if the item is a book, an enchanting table is used, and multiple enchantments were selected, a random one is removed.

Item	Enchantment	Compatibility	Weight	Level I cost	Level II cost	Level III cost	Level IV cost	Level V cost
Helmet	Aqua Affinity		2	1–41
	Respiration		2	10–19	20–29	30–60
	Thorns‌^{[BE only]}		1	10–29	30–49	50–100
	Unbreaking		5	5–12	13–20	21–71
	Blast Protection	Incompatible with each other	2	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–37
	Fire Protection		5	10–17	18–25	26–33	34–42
	Projectile Protection		5	3–8	9–14	15–20	21–27
	Protection		10	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–37
Chestplate	Thorns		1	10–29	30–49	50–100
	Unbreaking		5	5–12	13–20	21–71
	Blast Protection	Incompatible with each other	2	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–37
	Fire Protection		5	10–17	18–25	26–33	34–42
	Projectile Protection		5	3–8	9–14	15–20	21–27
	Protection		10	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–37
Leggings	Thorns‌^{[BE only]}		1	10–29	30–49	50–100
	Unbreaking		5	5–12	13–20	21–71
	Blast Protection	Incompatible with each other	2	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–37
	Fire Protection		5	10–17	18–25	26–33	34–42
	Projectile Protection		5	3–8	9–14	15–20	21–27
	Protection		10	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–37
Boots	Feather Falling		5	5–10	11–16	17–22	23–29
	Thorns‌^{[BE only]}		1	10–29	30–49	50–100
	Unbreaking		5	5–12	13–20	21–71
	Blast Protection	Incompatible with each other	2	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–37
	Fire Protection		5	10–17	18–25	26–33	34–42
	Projectile Protection		5	3–8	9–14	15–20	21–27
	Protection		10	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–37
	Depth Strider	Incompatible with Frost Walker	2	10–19	20–29	30–45
Sword	Fire Aspect		2	10–19	20–80
	Knockback		5	5–24	25–75
	Looting		2	15–23	24–32	33–83
	Sweeping Edge‌^{[JE only]}		2	5–13	14–22	23–38
	Unbreaking		5	5–12	13–20	21–71
	Bane of Arthropods	Incompatible with each other	5	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–36	37–57
	Sharpness		10	1–11	12–22	23–33	34–44	45–65
	Smite		5	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–36	37–57
Spear	Fire Aspect		2	10–19	20–80
	Knockback		5	5–24	25–75
	Looting		2	15–23	24–32	33–83
	Lunge		5	5–12	13–20	21–41
	Unbreaking		5	5–12	13–20	21–71
	Bane of Arthropods	Incompatible with each other	5	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–36	37–57
	Sharpness		10	1–11	12–22	23–33	34–44	45–65
	Smite		5	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–36	37–57
Axe	Cleaving‌^{[JE Combat Tests only]}		2	5–24	25–44	45–65
	Efficiency		10	1–10	11–20	21–30	31–40	41–91
	Unbreaking		5	5–12	13–20	21–71
	Fortune	Incompatible with each other	2	15–23	24–32	33–83
	Silk Touch	Incompatible with each other	1	15–65
	Bane of Arthropods‌^{[BE only]}	Incompatible with each other	5	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–36	37–57
	Sharpness‌^{[BE only]}		10	1–11	12–22	23–33	34–44	45–65
	Smite‌^{[BE only]}		5	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–36	37–57
Pickaxe Shovel Hoe	Efficiency		10	1–10	11–20	21–30	31–40	41–91
	Unbreaking		5	5–12	13–20	21–71
	Fortune	Incompatible with each other	2	15–23	24–32	33–83
	Silk Touch	Incompatible with each other	1	15–65
Bow	Flame		2	20–50
	Power		10	1–10	11–20	21–30	31–40	41–56
	Punch		2	12–31	32–57
	Unbreaking		5	5–12	13–20	21–71
	Infinity	Incompatible with Mending	1	20–50
Crossbow	Quick Charge		5	12–31	32–50
	Unbreaking		5	5–12	13–20	21–71
	Multishot	Incompatible with each other	2	20–50
	Piercing	Incompatible with each other	10	1–10	11–20	21–30	31–50
Fishing Rod	Luck of the Sea		2	15–23	24–32	33–83
	Lure		2	15–23	24–32	33–83
	Unbreaking		5	5–12	13–20	21–71
Trident	Impaling		2	1–8	9–16	17–24	25–32	33–53
	Unbreaking		5	5–12	13–20	21–71
	Channeling	Incompatible with Riptide	1	25–50
	Loyalty	Incompatible with Riptide	5	12–18	19–25	26–50
	Riptide	Incompatible with Channeling and Loyalty	2	17–23	24–30	31–50
Mace	Fire Aspect‌^{[BE only]}		2	10–19	20–80
	Unbreaking		5	5–12	13–20	21–71
	Breach	Incompatible with each other	2	15–23	24–32	33–41	42–92
	Density		5	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–36	37–57
	Bane of Arthropods‌^{[BE only]}		5	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–36	37–57
	Smite‌^{[BE only]}		5	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–36	37–57
Book	Aqua Affinity		2	1–41
	Efficiency		10	1–10	11–20	21–30	31–40	41–91
	Feather Falling		5	5–10	11–16	17–22	23–29
	Fire Aspect		2	10–19	20–80
	Flame		2	20–50
	Knockback		5	5–24	25–75
	Looting		2	15–23	24–32	33–83
	Luck of the Sea		2	15–23	24–32	33–83
	Lunge		5	5–12	13–20	21–41
	Lure		2	15–23	24–32	33–83
	Power		10	1–10	11–20	21–30	31–40	41–56
	Punch		2	12–31	32–57
	Quick Charge		5	12–31	32–50
	Respiration		2	10–19	20–29	30–60
	Sweeping Edge‌^{[JE only]}		2	5–13	14–22	23–38
	Thorns		1	10–29	30–49	50–100
	Unbreaking		5	5–12	13–20	21–71
	Bane of Arthropods	Incompatible with each other	5	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–36	37–57
	Breach		2	15–23	24–32	33–41	42–92
	Cleaving‌^{[JE Combat Tests only]}		2	5–24	25–44	45–65
	Density		5	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–36	37–57
	Impaling		2	1–8	9–16	17–24	25–32	33–53
	Sharpness		10	1–11	12–22	23–33	34–44	45–65
	Smite		5	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–36	37–57
	Blast Protection	Incompatible with each other	2	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–37
	Fire Protection		5	10–17	18–25	26–33	34–42
	Projectile Protection		5	3–8	9–14	15–20	21–27
	Protection		10	5–12	13–20	21–28	29–37
	Channeling	Incompatible with Riptide	1	25–50
	Loyalty	Incompatible with Riptide	5	12–18	19–25	26–50
	Riptide	Incompatible with Channeling and Loyalty	2	17–23	24–30	31–50
	Depth Strider	Incompatible with Frost Walker	2	10–19	20–29	30–45
	Fortune	Incompatible with each other	2	15–23	24–32	33–83
	Silk Touch	Incompatible with each other	1	15–65
	Infinity	Incompatible with Mending	1	20–50
	Multishot	Incompatible with each other	2	20–50
	Piercing	Incompatible with each other	10	1–10	11–20	21–30	31–50

Enchanting table mechanics

Bookshelf placement

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

15 bookshelf arrangements

Item requirements

Experience cost

Enchantment selection

Enchantment cost

Candidates

Selection

Enchanting seed

Initial seed

Receivable enchantments

History

References

External links

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