Repair & Name
The order in words
Get all 4 books ready before you start, and keep at least 8 levels on hand. Then follow these steps on an anvil:
- Step 1: Put the pickaxe in the left slot and the Fortune III book in the right. Neither side has been on an anvil yet, so you only pay for the enchantments: 6 levels.
- Step 2: Merge the Unbreaking III book with the Mending book, the first one on the left. Neither side has been on an anvil yet, so you only pay for the enchantments: 2 levels.
- Step 3: Put the pickaxe (now with Fortune III) in the left slot and the Unbreaking III + Mending book in the right. You pay 5 levels for the enchantments plus 2 for prior work, so 7 in total.
- Step 4: Put the pickaxe (now with Fortune III + Unbreaking III + Mending) in the left slot and the Efficiency V book in the right. You pay 5 levels for the enchantments plus 3 for prior work, so 8 in total. That finishes the pickaxe.
Why this order is the cheapest
Each repair or enchantment combination increases prior work. Rename-only operations do not. So the order keeps the penalties low by merging books with each other in pairs. With 4 books, the pickaxe needs at least 3 rounds on the anvil, and this order uses exactly that many.
The first step puts Fortune III straight on the pickaxe for 6 levels. It is the dearest book in the build, so it goes on while the item has no penalty at all. The expensive books, Fortune III and Efficiency V, cost 6 and 5 levels on their own, so the order adds them while their penalty is still low. Cheap books like Mending can ride along later, when the penalty has grown.
Fortune III goes on the bare pickaxe first, because it is the dearest book. Unbreaking and Mending then merge into one book, and Efficiency V goes on alone at the end.
Making the Silk Touch pickaxe? A Silk Touch book costs 4 levels, 2 fewer than Fortune III, so that order comes out slightly cheaper. Decide which pickaxe you are making before step 1, because the anvil won't take the other book later.
Levels and experience
The full order costs 23 levels. If you do each step as soon as you have its levels, you spend about 291 experience points. Saving up to level 23 first would take 751 points, because each level costs more XP the higher you climb. So enchant in small batches and keep your levels low. The XP calculator converts any level into points.
After the last step the pickaxe has been on the anvil 3 times. Its prior work penalty is now 7, so a later repair or rename starts at that cost. Check a single step with the prior work penalty calculator.
If you skip a book
You don't need every book on day one. Leaving out Fortune III saves the most: the rest costs 14 levels instead of 23.
No Mending yet? Enchant the rest now for 18 levels, then add Mending later for 9 more. That is 27 levels in all, against 23 if you wait and do it in one go. The extra cost is small, so using the item early is usually worth it.
| Book left out | Total for the rest | Levels saved |
|---|---|---|
| Fortune III | 14 | 9 |
| Efficiency V | 15 | 8 |
| Unbreaking III | 17 | 6 |
| Mending | 18 | 5 |
If your pickaxe was on an anvil before
A used pickaxe costs more, because the anvil adds its prior work penalty to every step it is in:
| Earlier anvil uses | Cheapest total | Survival? |
|---|---|---|
| None (fresh) | 23 levels | Yes |
| 1 | 27 levels | Yes |
| 2 | 33 levels | Yes |
| 3 | 40 levels | Yes |
Many players start from a pickaxe that already has Unbreaking III from the enchanting table. In that case the other 3 books cost 17 levels in 3 steps, because a table enchant adds no prior work penalty.
Enter your own item's enchantments and uses in the calculator.
Java and Bedrock costs
Bedrock charges only the levels an enchantment gains. So if your pickaxe already has Efficiency IV, adding an Efficiency V book costs 1 level here. Java charges the full resulting level, so the same step costs 5 there. Merging two Efficiency IV books into one V costs 1 in Bedrock and 5 in Java.
For a fresh pickaxe with one book per enchantment, no enchantment gains a level twice, so both rules give the same step costs. Bedrock also charges nothing for a clashing enchantment on a book, while Java adds 1 level for each.
The books in this order
Fortune III, Efficiency V, Unbreaking III, Mending. Not sure which books to get? The best pickaxe enchantments page explains each one and where to find it. If the anvil refuses a step, read Too Expensive! for the fixes. The anvil guide covers repairs and renaming.
Other builds
Silk Touch: Silk Touch, Efficiency V, Unbreaking III, Mending. 21 levels in 4 steps, 2 fewer than the max build. See the order in the calculator.
Questions
What is the best enchant order for a pickaxe?
1. pickaxe + book (Fortune III): 6 levels; 2. book (Unbreaking III) + book (Mending): 2 levels; 3. pickaxe + book (Unbreaking III + Mending): 7 levels; 4. pickaxe + book (Efficiency V): 8 levels. Total: 23 levels.
Why is my pickaxe too expensive?
Each anvil use raises the item's prior work penalty (0, 1, 3, 7, 15, 31…). A pickaxe that has already gone through the anvil several times, for combining or repairs, reaches the 40-level limit quickly. Combine the books with each other first, then put the finished book on the pickaxe in as few steps as possible.
Do I need all the books at the same level?
Use books at the final level you want. Two books of the same level merge into the next level (two Sharpness IV make Sharpness V), but that costs an extra anvil step.
How many levels do I need for a max pickaxe?
23 levels in total, spread over 4 steps. The dearest step costs 8, so you never need more than 8 levels at once.
Can I add Mending to my pickaxe later?
Yes. Enchant the rest first for 18 levels, then add Mending for 9 more. That is 27 levels in all, against 23 if you wait and do everything at once.
Should Efficiency go on a pickaxe first?
No. Efficiency is the cheapest book, so the cheapest order adds it last. Fortune III, the dearest, goes on first.