Enchanting

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Enchanting grid. Top: Without item. Bottom: With item and possible enchantments.

Enchanting is a game mechanic that involves using an Enchantment Table to add special bonuses to tools, weapons or armor. To enchant an item, you need the required Experience level for the enchantment and an Enchantment Table. Each spell costs the player experience levels but in turn allows the player to enchant armor, swords and tools with one or several random bonus attributes as well as making the items glow with a brilliant hue.

Contents

[edit] Enchanting basics

To enchant an item, craft an Enchantment Table, place it on the ground, right-click on it and drag an enchantable item from your inventory onto the square under the book icon. Three randomly chosen enchantments will appear on the menu on the right. The only thing you can know for sure about them is their level, which appears as a number; the foreign text is random. You can take the item off and place it on the table again for a different set of enchantments. Or, you can attempt to replace the item on the table with a stack of two or more of any other item from your inventory.

A chart showing the relative probabilities of the different enchantment levels in the bottom slot with 10 (blue), 20 (green) and 30 (red) bookshelves.

Once you choose an enchantment, it will be applied to your item, giving it a glow and one of the special powers detailed below, and you will lose a number of experience levels equal to the level of the enchantment. Enchantments cannot be undone and an item can only be enchanted once, although the item may receive multiple enchantments during one instance of enchanting, determined randomly.

Whenever you place an eligible item on the table, the enchantment levels available are randomly generated for each slot using the formula below. The enchantment level is dependent upon the number of nearby bookshelves (capped at 30) and a "slot factor" of 0.50 for the topmost enchantment slot, 0.66 for the middle slot, and 1.00 for the bottom slot. (If the number of bookshelves is 0, the second two random integers will always be zero. When placing bookshelves around the Enchanting Table they CANNOT be touching the table or the table will not change from 5.)

Enchantment level available = (1..5 + (b/2) + 0..b) × s,

where b is the number of nearby bookshelves (maximum of 30), s is the slot factor for the given enchantment slot, and x..y generates a random integer between x and y inclusive. The lowest level available is equal to half the number of book shelves used.

Prior to version 1.1, the (b/2) term in the above equation was 0..(b/2), resulting in more randomness, and making the search for high level enchantments an extremely time consuming process. Prior to 1.1, the lowest level available was 1, regardless of the number of bookshelves used.

Bookshelves 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Max Level 5 6 8 9 11 12 14 15 17 18 20 21 23 24 26 27 29 30 32 33 35 36 38 39 41 42 44 45 47 48 50
Min Level 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9

[edit] Bookshelf placement

Nearby bookshelves raise the available enchantment levels. As of Beta 1.9 Pre-release 4, no enchantments costing above five Experience levels are available unless you place bookshelves near but not touching the Enchantment Table.

In order to have an effect, a bookshelf must be placed exactly 2 blocks, laterally, of the enchantment table and be on the same level or one block height above the table, and the space between the bookshelf and table must be Air (even a torch or snow cover will block the effect), where “between” is as shown in the following diagrams (the white spaces are air, and the
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do not matter):
Like this from the top:
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or
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and like this from the side:
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or
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An enchantment table can be surrounded by 30 bookshelves by placing them in a square around the table, with each wall measuring 5 blocks wide and 2 blocks high, with a 2 block high doorway. This arrangement gives the maximum possible boost.[1] (While it is possible to get two more bookshelves in "range", they do not add, as the boost is capped.)

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An easy way to limit the maximum level of enchantment available, if you want to do a lower-level enchantment, is to put torches on the bookshelves so that they aren't recognized by the enchantment table. That way you can still have the entire 'ring' of bookshelves around the table, but get lower-level enchantments when you need them. Breaking the torches will restore the maximum level to its original amount.

An important thing to put into mind is to keep the area between the enchanting table and the bookshelves completely clear. Things like snow can cancel out the effect of all the bookshelves, and will render them useless until the snow is cleared. A safe bet is to completely clear the workspace unless you are intentionally doing so to obtain lower level enchantments.

[edit] Enchantments

Enchantment names are randomly constructed from the following list of words. Three to five words are chosen from the list and appended to each other, then displayed in the Standard Galactic Alphabet. Note that the names have no meaning and are not saved on the enchanted item (meaning they will tell you nothing about what the resulting spell will be), they are only displayed in the Enchantment Table interface.

scrolls klaatu berata niktu xyzzy bless curse light darkness fire air earth water hot dry cold wet elder ignite snuff embiggen twist shorten stretch fiddle destroy imbue galvanize enchant free limited range of towards inside sphere cube self other ball mental physical grow shrink demon elemental spirit animal creature beast humanoid undead fresh stale

Repairing an enchanted weapon/tool will remove the enchantment on it.[2]

When an enchanted weapon deals bonus damage to a mob, circular blue particles fly off of that mob, similar to getting a critical hit.

There are several levels on most enchants, and when you enchant you can get several enchants on each weapon/tool/armor.

[edit] Enchantable Items

Items such as swords, shovels, pickaxes, axes, bows, and every part of armor of any material can be enchanted. Hoes, shears, fishing rods and flint and steel are not enchantable.

[edit] Enchantment Types

EID is the item's Effect Identification Number in the game code.

EID Enchantable item Name Effect Max. Enchantment Power On level up Notes

[edit] Armor Enchantments

0 Grid Iron Helmet.png Grid Iron Chestplate.png Grid Iron Leggings.png Grid Iron Boots.png Protection Converts environmental damage to armor damage IV Armor with this enchantment cannot receive any other type of Protection
1 Grid Iron Helmet.png Grid Iron Chestplate.png Grid Iron Leggings.png Grid Iron Boots.png Fire Protection Protection against fire IV Armor with this enchantment cannot receive any other type of Protection
2 Grid Iron Boots.png Feather Falling Less fall damage IV +1 to reduction of falling damage (half a heart) This is great for preventing falling damage from ender pearl teleportations.
3 Grid Iron Helmet.png Grid Iron Chestplate.png Grid Iron Leggings.png Grid Iron Boots.png Blast Protection Protection against explosions IV Armor with this enchantment cannot receive any other type of Protection
4 Grid Iron Helmet.png Grid Iron Chestplate.png Grid Iron Leggings.png Grid Iron Boots.png Projectile Protection Protection against projectile entities (e.g. arrows) IV Armor with this enchantment cannot receive any other type of Protection
5 Grid Iron Helmet.png Respiration Decreases the rate of air loss underwater; increases time between damage while suffocating III Underwater breathing time +15 seconds; time between suffocation damage +1 second
6 Grid Iron Helmet.png Aqua Affinity Increases underwater mining rate I

[edit] Weapon Enchantments

16 Grid Iron Sword.png Sharpness Extra damage V Up to 1.5 hearts extra damage per level Extra damage is random for every hit, but will always be at least 0.5 heart. A Sword with this enchantment cannot receive Smite or Bane of Arthropods.
17 Grid Iron Sword.png Smite Extra damage to zombies, zombie pigmen and skeletons. V Up to 2 hearts extra damage per level Extra damage is random for every hit, but will always be at least 0.5 heart. A Sword with this enchantment cannot receive Sharpness or Bane of Arthropods.
18 Grid Iron Sword.png Bane of Arthropods Extra damage to spiders, cave spiders and silverfish V Up to 2 hearts extra damage per level Extra damage is random for every hit, but will always be at least 0.5 heart. A Sword with this enchantment cannot receive Sharpness or Smite.
19 Grid Iron Sword.png Knockback Knocks mobs and players backwards upon hit II Does not stack with knockback caused by attacking while sprinting.
20 Grid Iron Sword.png Fire Aspect
[note 1]
Lights mobs on fire II 0.5 heart extra damage per second. Will cook meat if mob is killed by the fire damage
21 Grid Iron Sword.png Looting Mobs have a chance to drop more loot III +1 to max loot drop per level
48 Grid Bow.png Power Extra damage V Extra damage is dealt Multiplies base damage by 1.5 at Power I; additional levels increase the multiplier by .25 each, for a maximum of 2.5 at Power V. A Power V enchantment will one-shot many mobs when fully charged. (11-12.5 hearts damage)
49 Grid Bow.png Punch Knockback effect on mobs II Mobs are knocked back further.
50 Grid Bow.png Flame Sets arrows and mobs on fire. I Sets arrows on fire when shot, and mobs when hit.
51 Grid Bow.png Infinity Gives infinite shots with a single arrow. I This can be extremely useful against the Ender Dragon when fighting it in The End, since the player can no longer return for more arrows to use. Additionally, arrows fired by a bow with this enchantment cannot be retrieved, similar to the arrows fired by Skeletons. In Creative, all bows have this ability by default, although they are not enchanted.

[edit] Tool Enchantments

32 Grid Iron Pickaxe.png Grid Iron Shovel.png Grid Iron Axe.png Efficiency Faster resource gathering while in use V +10% mining speed Most blocks break instantly at levels IV and V.

The speed increase applies to all blocks mined, not just the ones the tool is appropriate for.

33 Grid Iron Pickaxe.png Grid Iron Shovel.png Grid Iron Axe.png Silk Touch
[note 2]
[note 3]
Blocks mined will drop themselves, even if it should drop something else (e.g. Stone will drop stone, not Cobblestone). I Allows the collection of normally unobtainable blocks such as Ores, Mycelium, Double Slabs and Huge Mushrooms. (Regardless of the tool used as of 1.0)
34 Grid Iron Pickaxe.png Grid Iron Shovel.png Grid Iron Axe.png Unbreaking At each use, there's a chance the tool's durability will not decrease. III For example, an Unbreaking III item has a chance to use up a use of (100/(3+1))% = (100/4)% = 25%, so Unbreaking III should, on average, make a tool last 4 times as long.
35 Grid Iron Pickaxe.png Grid Iron Shovel.png Grid Iron Axe.png Fortune
[note 4]
Can multiply the drop rate of items from blocks III I: 30% * 2 (30% more)

II: 25% * 2, 25% * 3 (75% more)
III: 20% * 2, 20% * 3, 20% * 4 (120% more)

Only applies to item drops such as coal, diamond, redstone, lapis lazuli and nether wart. When used on wheat, only the seeds' drop rate is affected. Increases the chance for gravel to drop flint instead of itself, up to 100% at III. It doesn't affect clay ball drop rates (it is always 4).

[edit] How Enchantments Are Chosen

"Enchantment level" is the cost of the enchantment in experience levels (the green number on the button). "Enchantment power" is the strength of the particular enchantment. For example, "Sharpness IV" has power 4. The enchantment algorithm uses a three-step process.

[edit] Step One - Applying modifiers to the enchantment level

The first thing that Minecraft does is apply two modifiers to the base enchantment level. Each modifier is restricted to a certain range, with numbers close to the middle of the range more common than those near the ends.

The first modifier is based on the item's "enchantability," which depends on the material and the type of the item (see the table below). Minecraft picks a number between 0 and the enchantability, then adds that number plus one to the enchantment level. Bows have an enchantability of 1 for this purpose.

modified enchantment level = enchantment level + Random(0, enchantability) + 1
Material Armor enchantability Sword/Tool enchantability
Wood N/A 15
Leather 15 N/A
Stone N/A 5
Iron 9 14
Chain 12 N/A
Diamond 10 10
Gold 25 22

Next, Minecraft picks a value between 0.75 and 1.25. The modified enchantment level is multiplied by this value (so it could increase or decrease by up to 25%) and then rounded to the nearest integer.

[edit] Step 1 pseudocode

/* Returns a uniformly distributed random number between [0,n) */
function randomInt(n);

/* returns a uniformly distributed random number between [0,1) */
function randomFloat();

int j = item_enchantability
int i = chosen_enchantment_level
int j2 = 1 + randomInt(j/2 + 1) + randomInt(j/2 + 1);
int k = j2 + i;
float f = (randomFloat() + randomFloat() - 1) * 0.25;
int final_level = (int)((float)k * (1.0 + f) + 0.5);
Source:[3]

[edit] Step Two - Find possible enchantments

A sword with several enchantments.

Now, based on the modified level, Minecraft makes a list of all enchantment types that can be applied to the target item along with the power that each enchantment will have.

The power of each enchantment type is determined by the level and the values in the table below. For each power value of an enchantment type, there is a minimum and maximum level that can produce the enchantment at that power. If the modified enchantment level is within the range, then the enchantment will be assigned that power. If the level is within two overlapping ranges for the same enchantment type, the higher power value is used.

The minimum values are all calculated using a linear function y = kx+m where y is the calculated minimum value, x is the current enchantment power level and k and m varies between different enchantments. The maximum values are all the minimum values plus a constant that varies for each enchantment.


Armor Enchantment Modified Enchantment level
I II III IV V
Protection 1 - 21 17 - 37 33 - 53 49 - 69
Fire Protection 10 - 22 18 - 30 26 - 38 34 - 46
Feather Fall
[note 5]
5 - 15 11 - 21 17 - 27 23 - 33
Blast Protection 5 - 17 13 - 25 21 - 33 29 - 41
Projectile Protection 3 - 18 9 - 24 15 - 30 21 - 36
Respiration
[note 6]
10 - 40 20 - 50 30 - 60
Aqua Affinity
[note 6]
1 - 41
Sword Enchantment Modified Enchantment level
I II III IV V
Sharpness 1 - 21 17 - 37 33 - 53 49 - 69 65 - 85
Smite 5 - 25 13 - 33 21 - 41 29 - 49 37 - 57
Bane of Arthropods 5 - 25 13 - 33 21 - 41 29 - 49 37 - 57
Knockback 5 - 55 25 - 75
Fire Aspect
[note 1]
10 - 60 30 - 80
Looting 20 - 70 32 - 82 44 - 94
Bow Enchantment Modified Enchantment level
I II III IV V
Power 1 - 16 11 - 26 21 - 36 31 - 46 41 - 56
Punch 12 - 37 32 - 57
Flame 20 - 50
Infinity 20 - 50
Tool Enchantment Modified Enchantment level
I II III IV V
Efficiency 1 - 51 16 - 66 31 - 81 46 - 96 61 - 111
Silk Touch
[note 2]
[note 3]
25 - 75
Unbreaking 5 - 55 15 - 65 25 - 75
Fortune
[note 4]
20 - 70 32 - 82 44 - 94

Source:[4]

Note: that extremely high modified enchantment levels can fall outside the ranges of all valid enchantments for the item. If this happens, the item is left un-enchanted, but you are not charged any experience levels and can try enchanting it again.

A table showing all possible enchantments' relationship with modified levels.

[edit] Step Three - Select a set of enchantments from the list

Now that it's got a list of the possible enchantments for the item, Minecraft has to pick some of them that will actually be applied.

You always get at least one enchantment. The first enchantment is picked from a list of statistical "weights" - the enchantment with the higher weight has a higher chance of being selected.

P(enchantment) = (enchantment weight) / ( ∑i=1number of possible enchantments〖enchantment weighti 〗)
Armor Enchantments Weight
Protection 10
Fire Protection 5
Feather Fall
[note 5]
5
Blast Protection 2
Projectile Protection 5
Respiration
[note 6]
2
Aqua Affinity
[note 6]
2
Sword Enchantments Weight
Sharpness 10
Smite 5
Bane of Arthropods 5
Knockback 5
Fire Aspect
[note 1]
2
Looting 2
Bow Enchantments Weight
Power 10
Punch 2
Flame 2
Infinity 1
Tool Enchantments Weight
Efficiency 10
Silk Touch
[note 2]
[note 3]
1
Unbreaking 5
Fortune
[note 4]
2

After the first element is selected, there is a chance of receiving more, based on this algorithm:

  1. Divide the modified level in half, rounded down. (This does not affect the possible enchantments themselves, because they were all pre-calculated in Step Two.)
  2. With probability (modified level + 1) / 50, keep going. Otherwise, stop picking bonus enchantments.
  3. Remove from the list of possible enchantments anything that conflicts with previously-chosen enchantments.
  4. Pick one enchantment from the remaining possible enchantments (based on the weights, as before) and apply it to the item.
  5. Repeat from step 1.

[edit] Conflicting Enchantments

Some enchantments conflict with other enchantments and thus both can't be enchanted into the same item, Effectively taking down the possibility for one to get an overpowered weapon.

The rules for enchantment conflicts are:

[edit] Examples

Needs update. Discuss
This section needs a update from [5]. These numbers are sometimes within range and sometimes way off target.

[edit] How Enchantments Are Attached to an Item

The Enchantments of an item are determined by an extra set of data attached to the item.

The extra data is a "compound" labeled "tag"; Which contains a "list" of data named "ench"; in which is a series of "compound"[s] (one compound for each enchantment); Each of the "compound"[s] contains a pair of "short"[s] named "id" and "lvl";

The "id" short represents the EID of the enchantment and the "lvl" short represents the level of the enchantment.

[edit] Hacking Enchantments

It is possible to edit enchantments via an external program such as NBTEdit by using a process such as that shown here, or by installing TooManyItems and editing TooManyItems.txt so that your enchanted items can be accessed in game whenever you need them, or easier by using an enchantment editor like this one.

[edit] Standard Galactic Alphabet

The enchantments are written in the Standard Galactic Alphabet which is a simple alphabet substitution code used in the Commander Keen series of computer games (see that page for the code key).

This is something that may help you decode the language (but will not give leads on the enchanting result):
Sga.gif


[edit] History

Notch first tweeted about the Enchantment Table on September 30th 2011.[6][7] Notch stated that Enchanting will work in three stages and the benefits will be based on the spell you choose, but a random loot element will be included as well.[8][9]

Enchanting was added to the game in 1.9 prerelease 2. However, enchanting was not the same in the 1.9 prerelease 2. Enchanting did NOT require bookshelves to get maximum enchantments. Also, many enchantments were not added back then. Enchantments are labeled in the enchanting table as random words in the Standard Galactic Alphabet.

In 1.1, four bow enchantments (Power, Flame, Punch and Infinity) were added to the game.

As of snapshot 12w05a, enchanting no longer requires experience in creative mode.

As of snapshot 12w06a, Iron Swords, Golden Swords, and Bows have a small chance of being already enchanted when dropped by their respective mobs.

[edit] Notes

  1. a b c Fire Aspect enchantment is virtually useless on all nether mobs because all nether mobs are immune to fire and lava.
  2. a b c Silk Touch does not work on Monster Spawners, Ice, or Glass Panes.
  3. a b c Items able to be obtained legitimately only through use of Silk Touch:
  4. a b c Fortune does essentially nothing on an axe, and only gives flint for shovels. This is due to it not dropping multiple for things that can be user recreated such as trees, and wood products so a single item isn't infinite.
  5. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named boots
  6. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named helmet

[edit] Gallery

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Bugs

[edit] References

  1. http://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/lav7p/19_prerelease_4_changelog/
  2. jebtweet:123733323817295872
  3. Minecraft 1.1 server source code
  4. Minecraft 1.1 server source code
  5. https://github.com/zazcallabah/mce
  6. notchtweet:119799522170912768
  7. http://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/kwjnt/notch_twitter_its_an_enchantment_table/c2nt0a5
  8. notchtweet:119799522170912768
  9. notchtweet:119803746376089600
  10. notchtweet:120207632228298753
  11. http://www.omniglot.com/writing/sga.htm

[edit] See also

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