Can you put Mending on a bow?

How to add it

Mending is a treasure enchantment, so the enchanting table never offers it. Instead, combine an enchanted book with the bow on an anvil: Mending costs 2 levels on a fresh bow.

Plan it in the calculator

What it does on a bow

A bow loses 1 durability per shot. With Mending, the experience from your kills goes into the bow first, so a bow you use at a farm stays full. There is one catch: a bow with Infinity can't take Mending, so you pick one of the two.

Step by step

1. First, get Mending as an enchanted book. Sources: a librarian villager, fishing, chest loot or trial chamber vaults.
2. Then put the bow in the left slot of an anvil and the book in the right slot.
3. Finally, pay the cost shown: 2 levels on a fresh bow, plus any prior work penalty the bow already has.
4. If the bow is getting more books, plan the order first so no step costs 40 levels or more.

Why it works

Mending lists bow among its supported items. That matters because Bedrock checks a built-in list of items for each enchantment. The enchanting table never offers Mending on a bow, so it has to come from a book.

On a bow it rules out Infinity, so choose before you buy books.

What it costs on the anvil

First, the base price: on a fresh bow, Mending costs 2 levels. Bedrock only charges for the levels a book adds, so small upgrades stay cheap. Each anvil use also raises the item's prior work penalty for the next step.

Order matters. Say your bow already has Power V, Flame, Punch II and Unbreaking III, put on in the cheapest order. That took 3 anvil uses, so adding Mending last costs 9 levels: 7 for the prior work penalty plus 2 for the book. Planning everything from the start costs 26 levels in total, with no step above 9.

Plan your own version in the calculator or follow the bow enchant order. The prior work penalty calculator shows how the penalty grows.

Where Mending goes

• Mending goes on helmet, chestplate, leggings, boots, elytra, sword, axe, spear, mace, trident, bow, crossbow, pickaxe, shovel, hoe, fishing rod, shears, brush, flint and steel, shield, carrot on a stick and warped fungus on a stick. The enchanting table never offers it, so every one of them needs a book. Related questions: Mending on elytra, Mending on shield, Mending on trident, Mending on spear, Mending on mace, Mending on crossbow, Mending on fishing rod, Mending on shears, Mending on pickaxe, Mending on helmet, Mending on flint and steel, Mending on brush.

Commands and creative mode

With cheats on, hold the bow and run /enchant @s mending 1. Bedrock's /give can't add enchantments, so /enchant is the way. The command generator writes the right syntax for your edition.

Java and Bedrock

As far as the item list goes, the answer is also the same in Java and Bedrock. The anvil differs, though: Bedrock only charges for the levels a book adds. This page follows Bedrock 26.60.

About Mending

Mending repairs an item with experience orbs. When you pick up experience while holding or wearing a Mending item, the XP goes into repairing it first, at 2 durability per XP point.

Mending has a max level of I. If you need a book, you can get it from librarian villagers, trial chamber vaults and enchanted loot from fishing and chests. Before you buy, read everything about Mending, including what each level does.

What else a bow can take

Besides Mending, a bow can take Power, Flame, Punch, Unbreaking and Infinity. Of those, Infinity conflicts with Mending. Then the best bow enchantments page ranks them and gives the max build.

Related questions: Mending and Infinity on bow, Fire Aspect on bow.

Related

• Best bow enchantments
• Mending
• Mending on elytra
• Mending on shield
• Mending on trident
• Mending on spear
• Mending on mace
• Mending on crossbow
• Mending on fishing rod
• Mending on shears
• Mending on pickaxe
• Mending on helmet