Impaling

Impaling

Maximum level	V
Primary items
Secondary items	None
Enchantment weight	2
Incompatible with	Sharpness[note 1] Smite[note 1] Bane of Arthropods[note 1] Density[note 1] Breach[note 1] Cleaving[note 1]

Impaling is an enchantment applied to tridents that substantially increases damage against aquatic mobs,‌^{[JE only]} or increases damage against entities in water or rain.‌^{[BE only]}

Obtaining

Impaling can be obtained from enchanting tables, drops from mobs that have spawned in a raid,‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} books obtained by fishing, monster room chests, librarian villagers, and non-village structure loot.

Usage

Each level of Impaling adds 2.5 (HP × 1 ¹⁄₄) extra damage per hit. In Bedrock Edition, the values are rounded down to the nearest whole number. This applies both to the trident projectile and in melee combat.

In Java Edition, only aquatic mobs receive the extra damage. Aquatic mobs include axolotls, dolphins, guardians, elder guardians, nautiluses, zombie nautiluses, squid, glow squid, tadpoles, turtles, and all variants of fish, but not drowned,^[1] as drowned are classified purely as undead mobs and not underwater mobs. A thrown trident with Impaling I kills the majority of these mobs in one hit (≤10 HP), whereas an Impaling III trident is needed to kill a nautilus or zombie nautilus in one hit (15 HP) or a turtle or guardian in two hits (30 HP), and an Impaling V trident is needed to kill an elder guardian in four hits (80 HP).

In Bedrock Edition, the damage applies to all mobs and players when in contact with water: underwater, in flowing water, and in rain.^[2]

In the Java Edition Combat Tests, Impaling has both of these effects.

Damage per hit

These tables detail how much damage is done per attack based on the level of enchantment used, assuming the target is not wearing armor and the attack is fully charged.‌^{[Java Edition only]} While both Java Edition and Bedrock Edition add 2.5HP × 1.25 per level, Bedrock Edition rounds down to the nearest whole number which makes Impaling I, Impaling III, and Impaling V weaker than Java Edition.

Impaling extra damage

Edition	I	II	III	IV	V
In Java Edition	2.5HP × 1.25	5HP	7.5HP × 3.75	10HP	12.5HP × 6.25
In Bedrock Edition	2HP	5HP	7HP	10HP	12HP × 6

Java Edition

Type	Base damage	Impaling I	Impaling II	Impaling III	Impaling IV	Impaling V
Melee	9HP	11.5HP × 5.75	14HP × 7	16.5HP × 8.25	19HP × 9.5	21.5HP × 10.75
Melee (critical)	13.5HP × 6.75	16HP × 8	18.5HP × 9.25	21HP × 10.5	23.5HP × 11.75	26HP × 13
Ranged	8HP	10.5HP × 5.25	13HP × 6.5	15.5HP × 7.75	18HP × 9	20.5HP × 10.25

Bedrock Edition

Type	Base damage	Impaling I	Impaling II	Impaling III	Impaling IV	Impaling V
Melee	9HP	11HP × 5.5	14HP × 7	16HP × 8	19HP × 9.5	21HP × 10.5
Melee (critical)	13.5HP × 6.75	16.5HP × 8.25	21HP × 10.5	24HP × 12	28.5HP × 14.25	31.5HP × 15.75
Ranged	8HP	10HP	13HP × 6.5	15HP × 7.5	18HP × 9	20HP × 10

Specific cases

If Impaling is applied to a bow by use of commands or an anvil in Creative, the enchantment affects the weapon's arrows. If Impaling is applied to a crossbow by use of commands or an anvil in Creative, the enchantment affects weapon's arrows but not its firework rockets.

Incompatibilities

Impaling is incompatible with Sharpness, Smite, Bane of Arthropods, Density, Breach, and Cleaving​^{[upcoming: JE Combat Tests]}, but in Survival these incompatibilities can only be encountered with enchanted books, as no weapon types have access to both Impaling and one of the other aforementioned enchantments. If commands are used to have two or more of these enchantments on the same item, their effects stack.‌^{[Java Edition only]}

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Enchantment definition

{
  "anvil_cost": 4,
  "description": {
    "translate": "enchantment.minecraft.impaling"
  },
  "effects": {
    "minecraft:damage": [
      {
        "effect": {
          "type": "minecraft:add",
          "value": {
            "type": "minecraft:linear",
            "base": 2.5,
            "per_level_above_first": 2.5
          }
        },
        "requirements": {
          "type": "minecraft:entity_properties",
          "entity": "this",
          "predicate": {
            "minecraft:entity_type": "#minecraft:sensitive_to_impaling"
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "exclusive_set": "#minecraft:exclusive_set/damage",
  "max_cost": {
    "base": 21,
    "per_level_above_first": 8
  },
  "max_level": 5,
  "min_cost": {
    "base": 1,
    "per_level_above_first": 8
  },
  "slots": [
    "mainhand"
  ],
  "supported_items": "#minecraft:enchantable/trident",
  "weight": 2
}

History

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Legacy Console Edition

Java Edition Combat Tests

Issues

Issues relating to "Impaling" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

References

Notes