Rarity

Rarity is a statistic applied to items and blocks to signify their value and ease in obtaining. Rarity only affects the displayed color of an item name and has no effect on gameplay whatsoever.

There are four rarity tiers: Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Epic. The rarity of an item is generally based on the difficulty of getting it, the time it takes to obtain it and the ingredients used to craft it.

The rarity of an item can be increased by giving it enchantments. A Common or Uncommon becomes Rare, and a Rare item becomes Epic. Epic items stay Epic, since that is the maximum rarity. Adding enchantments multiple times does not increase the rarity of an item any further.

Displaying in game

Rarity is intended to display anywhere the item name does.

It is shown in the following situations:

• Item tooltips in the inventory
• Item tooltips above the hotbar
• Item tooltips in the statistics screen‌^{[JE only]}
• Death messages or /give command in chat‌^{[JE only]}

Rarity colors do not display in the following cases:

• Item tooltips from an item frame^[1]
• Contents tooltips from a shulker box^[2]
• The CanPlaceOn/CanBreak tags of an item^[3]
• Item names in the Superflat customization screen‌^{[JE only][4]}

Tiers

Common

"Common" redirects here. For the cape, see Common Cape.

The Common rarity applies to all items that do not have a dedicated rarity tier.

In Bedrock Edition, enchanted books are Common rarity.^[5]

Uncommon

This tier mostly contains easier-to-obtain treasure items and materials, as well as some useful equipment.

Rare

This tier mostly contains rare treasures, materials, and equipment that require more effort to obtain.

Epic

This tier is mostly reserved for extremely difficult-to-obtain treasures and powerful equipment based on game progression. In Java Edition, most administrative items also belong here.

All items of base (no enchantments) Epic rarity are non-renewable.^{[note 1]}

Administrative

This feature is exclusive to Java Edition.

These items are Epic rarity in Java Edition, but are Common rarity (or do not exist) in Bedrock Edition.

Definition

According to Mojang, the rarity tier of an item is determined based on the following guidelines:^[8][9]

The rarity of an item are manually and individually determined. They may not necessarily reflect on the actual practical difficulty of obtaining, as there are several inconsistencies. For example:

• All spawn eggs are considered Common, despite only being available from the Creative inventory (and two only being available through commands), which usually mandates an Epic rarity^[10]
• The Potion of Luck, alongside its splash, lingering and tipped arrow derivatives, are considered Common, despite only being available from the Creative inventory, which usually mandates an Epic rarity^[11]
• Petrified oak slabs are considered Common, despite only being obtainable through commands, which usually mandates an Epic rarity^[12]
• All netherite equipment is considered Common, even though the required upgrade template is Uncommon^[13]
• Lingering potions (and, by extension, tipped arrows) are Common, despite being made using dragon's breath, which is Uncommon^[14]
• Armor trim templates are usually considered at least Uncommon, yet any armor trimmed with them remains Common^[15]
• Decorated pots of any composition are considered Common, despite all pottery sherds being Uncommon^[16][17]
• Non-ominous banners are considered Common, even if they incorporate a Rare or Uncommon banner pattern^[18][19]
• Shields with ominous banners applied remain Common, despite ominous banners being Uncommon^[20]
• Firework stars (and, by extension, firework rockets) which use heads in the recipe are Common, despite heads being Uncommon or Rare^[21][22]
• Despite having the exact same tier and chances from an ominous vault, Music Disc Creator is Rare whereas the heavy core is Epic^[23]
• Despite having the exact same tier and chances from a vault, Music Disc Precipice is Uncommon whereas the Guster banner pattern is Rare^[24]
• Torchflowers and torchflower seeds as well as pitcher plants and pitcher pods are Common, despite sniffer eggs, which are Uncommon, being a mandatory prerequisite^[25]
• Player heads, despite only being obtainable through the Creative inventory, are simply Uncommon, rather than Epic^[26]
• The Water, Fire, Earth and Wind paintings, which are exclusive to the Creative inventory, are Common, rather than Epic^[27]
• Wither skeleton skulls are the easiest mob head to obtain, yet are considered Rare, despite most other heads being Uncommon^[28]
• Wither roses are Common, despite requiring wither skeleton skulls to obtain, which are Rare^[29]

In addition, there exist many blocks which can only be encountered as placed blocks in Survival mode, whereas their item forms are strictly Creative-only, which are nonetheless classified as Common anyway:

• Bedrock
• Budding Amethyst
• Chorus Plant
• Dirt Path‌^{[JE only]}
• End Portal Frame
• Farmland
• Frogspawn
• Infested Chiseled Stone Bricks
• Infested Cobblestone
• Infested Cracked Stone Bricks
• Infested Deepslate
• Infested Mossy Stone Bricks
• Infested Stone
• Infested Stone Bricks
• Monster Spawner
• Reinforced Deepslate
• Trial Spawner
• Vault

History

Java Edition

Due to being the default rarity, items with the rarity of Common are not listed here when added to the game - such items will only be mentioned if their rarity changes.

Bedrock Edition

Legacy Console Edition

Issues

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

Trivia

• In April Fools' snapshot 24w14potato, the "Potato" rarity was added, displaying green text: Potato.​
  • Poisonous Potato Plant
  • Potatiesh, Greatstaff of the Peasant
  • Big Brain
  • Poisonous Polytra
  • Powerful Potato
  • Vicious Potato
  • Mega Spud Spawn Egg

Notes

References