Since Minecraft is all about mining, it’s clear that your first and most basic tool in the game is the pickaxe. But did you know you can enchant it to boost its power?
No other video game allows for such creative freedom as Minecraft. There is a massive world to explore, many building opportunities, exciting resources, cute animals, enemies, and a reality made entirely of blocks.
To make the game even more intriguing, the developers introduced enchantments you can use to upgrade your tools, armor, and weapons. This option involves the standard tool, the pickaxe! If you wonder how to make the best use of pickaxe upgrades, feel free to use our Minecraft mining tips and an enchanting guide to grasp everything on this subject!
What is the best pickaxe to enchant?
While initially, enchanting a wooden (3 wood planks 2 sticks) or iron (3 iron ingots 2 sticks) pickaxe may seem like a good idea, only the diamond (3 diamonds 2 sticks) and Netherite (Netherite Upgrade Diamonds Pickaxe Netherite Ingot) pickaxes are worth upgrading. Using up the most common resources early on your adventure doesn’t take much work, so nothing stops you from crafting one basic pickaxe after another.
Once you get your hands on a diamond pickaxe, it’s time to consider enchanting it. After all, you won’t even be able to get a Netherite Pickaxe without using a Diamond Pickaxe. Also, the Diamond Pickaxe is required to craft an Enchantment Table, as you can’t mine obsidian using any other tool. All these projects can be time-consuming – an enchanted Diamond Pickaxe may be a better alternative to its classic version.
How can you enchant tools?
Once you have a diamond (or netherite) pickaxe, you can enchant it at the Enchanting Table. It’s a unique block where you will spend lapis lazuli and experience to enchant items. Very important – the bookshelves around the table let you apply enchantments up to a maximum level of 30 (if you have 15 bookshelves).
How can you craft such a table? It requires 1 book 2 diamonds 4 obsidian. You can’t mine obsidian without a diamond pickaxe, so it’s a must-have. As for bookshelves, you can craft them from any 6 planks 3 books.
To enchant an item, open the enchanting table and put it in the first box. Then, place three lapis lazuli in the box next to it and pick one of the three available enchantments. To use the enchanted item, move it back to your inventory.
What to do with the enchantments you find?
Sometimes, enchanting an item doesn’t require an enchanting table. Depending on the items you’ve acquired and their power, you can also use one of three alternative methods:
- An anvil – combine an enchanted book with an item to get an enchanted item.
- An anvil – combine two of the same items with different enchantments to create one that uses the power of both.
- A librarian villager – spend emeralds in exchange for enchanted books.
You may also encounter already-enchanted items in the game world, so we recommend thorough exploration!
Minecraft Pickaxe Enchantments
Curse of Vanishing
(Available through – fishing, raid drops, or looting in Jungle Temples, Strongolds, Ruined Portals, and End City)
Available through fishing, raid drops, or looting in Jungle Temples, Strongolds, Ruined Portals, or End City, Curse of Vanishing is a unique spell you should avoid at all costs. While it may not belong to the best pickaxe spells on this list, it’s worth learning its effects to understand the consequences of using such a tool.
Curse of Vanishing causes an item to disappear forever upon the player’s death. It cannot be removed, so even a valuable pickaxe equipped with this spell will eventually disappear. Therefore, we don’t recommend combining the curse with any other spell or upgrading such a pickaxe, as you will only waste resources and time. Unless you want to use the tool with Curse of Vanishing for that extra thrill during your adventure, it’s better to let it go.
Mending
(Available through – fishing, raids, loot, and trading with librarian villagers)
Unlike most of the best enchantments, this one is unavailable through an enchanting table. Instead, you must find it through fishing, raids, loot, or trading with librarian villagers of any level. That also means enchanting a pickaxe with Mending requires using an anvil instead of a table.
The effect is worth the effort, as Mending is one of the most sought-after enchantments among Minecraft players. Once you equip a tool with this enchantment, it will restore its durability while you earn experience. Since Minecraft is primarily a game about, well, mining, keeping such a pickaxe in mint condition forever shouldn’t be a problem. While Mending is incompatible with Infinity enchantments, you can combine it with other recommendations described in this guide.
Efficiency
(Available through – combining 2 Efficiency 4 items at an anvil or looting End City and Bastion Remnant chests)
If mining speed is your primary goal, Efficiency is your go-to spell. It comes in five tiers, starting at 1 (equipped with a 25% increase) and ending at 5 ( 45% increase). Combining a gold pickaxe with a Haste effect and Efficiency grants you the fastest tool in the game!
Remember, however, that the enchantment doesn’t change the item’s resource compatibility. Therefore, the better the pickaxe you equip with Efficiency, the better the overall results of your work will be. Also, you can reach Efficiency V only by combining 2 Efficiency 4 items at an anvil or finding the enchantment in a chest.
Unbreaking
(Available through – Enchantment Table, fishing, dungeon chests, and trading with Librarian Villager)
Is there anything worse than a pickaxe breaking? Contrary to its name, the Unbreaking enchantment doesn’t make your tool indestructible but extends its durability. That way, there’s always a random chance that your pickaxe won’t wear out when breaking a block.
Unbreaking has three levels, and each one reduces the chance of a decrease in the pickaxe durability by 25%. You can get it at the enchantment table and in books scattered across the game world, so it’s pretty easy to obtain. Here’s a look at the lifetime effects the enchantment can have on pickaxes of all types:
- Wood
No Enchantment (0% increase) – 60
Level 1 (100% increase) – 120
Level 2 (200% increase) – 180
Level 3 (300% increase) – 240
- Stone
No Enchantment (0% increase) – 132
Level 1 (100% increase) – 264
Level 2 (200% increase) – 396
Level 3 (300% increase) – 528
- Iron
No Enchantment (0% increase) – 251
Level 1 (100% increase) – 502
Level 2 (200% increase) – 753
Level 3 (300% increase) – 1004
- Gold
No Enchantment (0% increase) – 33
Level 1 (100% increase) – 66
Level 2 (200% increase) – 99
Level 3 (300% increase) – 132
- Diamond
No Enchantment (0% increase) – 1562
Level 1 (100% increase) – 3124
Level 2 (200% increase) – 4686
Level 3 (300% increase) – 6248
- Netherite
No Enchantment (0% increase) – 2032
Level 1 (100% increase) – 4064
Level 2 (200% increase) – 6096
Level 3 (300% increase) – 8128
Fortune
(Available through – Enchanted books and enchantment table)
This one is for those who want to become silly rich in no time. As its name suggests, Fortune increases your resources from ore blocks. It may not always yield all 4 drops, but the amount is always greater than when you don’t use the spell at all.
Fortune has three levels, each increasing the chance of a better drop. Obtaining it is incredibly easy, as it spawns in books and at the enchantment table. And below, you will learn all about the amounts each level drops from available ores:
- Ancient Debris
No Enchantment – 1
Level 1 – 1
Level 2 – 1
Level 3 – 1
- Coal
No Enchantment – 1
Level 1 – 2
Level 2 – 3
Level 3 – 4
- Raw Gold
No Enchantment – 1
Level 1 – 2
Level 2 – 3
Level 3 – 4
- Raw Iron
No Enchantment – 1
Level 1 – 2
Level 2 – 3
Level 3 – 4
- Emerald
No Enchantment – 1
Level 1 – 2
Level 2 – 3
Level 3 – 4
- Nether Quartz
No Enchantment – 1
Level 1 – 2
Level 2 – 3
Level 3 – 4
- Diamond
No Enchantment – 1
Level 1 – 2
Level 2 – 3
Level 3 – 4
- Redstone Dust
No Enchantment – 5
Level 1 – 6
Level 2 – 7
Level 3 – 8
- Amethyst Shards
No Enchantment – 4
Level 1 – 8
Level 2 – 12
Level 3 – 16
- Raw Copper
No Enchantment – 5
Level 1 – 10
Level 2 – 15
Level 3 – 20
- Gold Nuggets
No Enchantment – 6
Level 1 – 12
Level 2 – 18
Level 3 – 24
- Lapis Lazuli
No Enchantment – 9
Level 1 – 18
Level 2 – 27
Level 3 – 36
Silk Touch
(Available through – Enchantment Table and books)
Sometimes, in the mining process, some blocks tend to break – Silk Touch is an ideal solution to this problem. Although it’s incompatible with Fortune, you can use it with other spells from this list.
Silk Touch is available through the enchantment table and has only one level. It proves ideal when mining the most delicate materials like glass or ice (you’ll find the list of materials it allows to mine without breaking below). Equipping your pickaxe with this enchantment lets you gather the most valuable resources more efficiently, especially if you are a builder.
What can you obtain with this spell:
- Amethyst Bud
- Amethyst Cluster
- Bee Nest
- Beehive
- Blue Ice
- Bookshelf
- Chiseled Bookshelf
- Campfire
- Soul Campfire
- Clay
- Coal Ore
- Copper Ore
- Coral Blocks
- Coral
- Coral Fans
- Decorated Pot
- Deepslate
- Diamond Ore
- Emerald Ore
- Ender Chest
- Gilded Blackstone
- Glass
- Glass Pane
- Glowstone
- Gold Ore
- Grass Block
- Dirt Path
- Gravel
- Ice
- Iron Ore
- Lapis Lazuli Ore
- Leaves
- Melon
- Mushroom Block
- Mycelium
- Nether Gold Ore
- Nether Quartz Ore
- Nylium
- Podzol
- Redstone Ore
- Sculk
- Sculk Catalyst
- Sculk Sensor
- Calibrated Sculk Sensor
- Sculk Shrieker
- Sculk Vein
- Sea Lantern
- Stone
- Turtle Egg
- Twisting Vines
- Weeping Vines
Conclusion
So these are all the Minecraft pickaxe enchantments you should know to mine faster, longer, or more effectively. As you can see, finding and applying them to your most trusted tool is not as problematic as it might initially seem. All it takes is a few tries and experiments – you’ll soon master the enchantment of pickaxes and many other items! We also recommend using all the information in this guide, delivering detailed knowledge about the effects of each enchantment. Enjoy!