What Breach does
| Level | Effect | Book cost |
|---|---|---|
| I | target's armor is 15% less effective | 2 |
| II | target's armor is 30% less effective | 4 |
| III | target's armor is 45% less effective | 6 |
| IV | target's armor is 60% less effective | 8 |
Book cost is the anvil cost of putting that book on a fresh item. However, already-used items add their prior work penalty: work it out in the calculator.
How Breach works
Armor normally cuts the damage of every hit. Breach makes the target's armor less effective, by 15% per level. At Breach IV the armor works at only 40% of its usual strength against your mace.
It only matters if the target wears armor. Most mobs have little or none, so Breach does very little in normal PvE. Against players in diamond or netherite it makes a huge difference.
Why armor matters against a mace
Armor toughness, which diamond and netherite armor have, also reduces the drop-off against big hits. That is why Breach is aimed at fully armored players rather than mobs.
Protection enchantments are a separate step. Breach lowers what the armor points block, but it does not touch the Protection, Blast Protection or other enchantment points.
Breach or Density?
Breach and Density exclude each other. Density adds raw damage that grows with fall height, so it wins against mobs and against unarmored or lightly armored targets. Breach wins in PvP against players in heavy armor. If you play mostly PvE, choose Density. See Density vs Breach for the full comparison.
Where Breach is worth it
- PvP servers, where opponents wear full netherite with toughness.
- Fighting mobs that spawn with armor, such as zombies and skeletons in iron or diamond gear.
- Duels where you can't count on long falls. Breach helps on short hops, when Density adds little.
The PvP mace build
A typical PvP mace carries Breach IV, Wind Burst III, Fire Aspect II, Unbreaking III and Mending. Breach excludes Smite, Sharpness and Bane of Arthropods as well as Density, so it is the only damage enchantment on the mace. The best mace enchantments page shows the Breach variant, and the mace enchant order lists the cheapest steps.
On the anvil
Breach is a ×2 book, so Breach IV costs 8 levels on a fresh mace. Merging two Breach III books into IV is cheap compared with a whole new mace, so keep spare books from your vault runs.
Breach by level
Each level takes another 15% off the target's armor effectiveness. Level I barely shows, while level IV removes 60%. Since the book is ×2 per level, each level adds 2 levels to the anvil cost.
Read the armor first
Breach only pays off against heavy armor. Against players in leather or iron, or mobs with no armor, Density adds more. So check what your opponents wear. On a server full of netherite, Breach is the better pick. On a mostly PvE world, it is not.
Breach with Fire Aspect
Fire damage ignores armor points entirely. So Fire Aspect II stacks well with Breach: the smash cuts through armor, and the fire keeps hurting afterwards.
Building a Breach mace
Breach IV is a ×2 book, Wind Burst III a ×2 book and Fire Aspect II a ×2 book. Unbreaking III and Mending are cheap. So the mace stays well below Too Expensive if you combine the books with each other first and apply them in two or three big steps. The enchantment calculator works out that order for you.
When to carry two maces
A mace comes from a heavy core, and heavy cores are rare. Once you have two, many players keep one with Density for mobs and one with Breach for players. Switching takes a moment on the hotbar, and you always have the right tool.
Breach on mobs that wear gear
Zombies, skeletons and piglins sometimes spawn wearing armor. Breach does help against those. However, they rarely wear full diamond or netherite, so the gain stays small compared with Density.
Breach and durability
Every mace hit costs durability, whether it is a smash or not. So pair Breach with Unbreaking III and Mending, or the mace wears out during long PvP fights.
Common mistakes
- Using Breach against mobs. Most of them have little armor, so Density does far more.
- Expecting Breach to bypass Protection. It only weakens armor points, not protection enchantments.
- Forgetting Feather Falling boots. A missed smash still costs you the full fall.
Which items take Breach
Breach goes on 1 kind of gear in the calculator: mace. An enchanting table can roll it on the mace.
It can't share an item with Sharpness, Smite, Bane of Arthropods, Impaling or Density. If an item already has one of those, the anvil skips the Breach book.
Anvil cost of Breach
Breach has an anvil multiplier of 4 from another item and 2 from a book. So a Breach IV book costs 8 levels on a fresh item, and each lower level costs 2 less. Two fresh Breach III books merge into Breach IV for 2 levels. Building it from scratch takes 8 level I books and 7 merges, 24 levels in all. That is a middling cost, so the order still matters once you combine several books.
Bedrock only charges for the levels a book adds. So upgrading a lower level costs only the difference. Every step also adds the prior work penalty of both items. The enchantment calculator finds the cheapest order for your whole set of books.
Builds, questions and guides
Breach can go on 1 item: best mace enchantments. To put it on in the cheapest order, see the mace enchant order.
Common questions: can you put Density and Breach on a mace?
More reading: Getting books from librarians, How to enchant in Minecraft, Every max enchantment level. You can make a Breach book with the command generator. The librarian price list shows what villagers charge for it.
How to get Breach
- Enchanting table It can appear when you enchant a supported item at an enchanting table. However, higher levels need more bookshelves and a level 30 enchant.
- Librarian villagers Librarians can sell it as an enchanted book.
- Ominous vaults (trial chambers) One of the places it reliably shows up, the same as in Java.
- Random enchanted books It is also in the pool for the random enchanted books and gear in many chests and in fishing loot.
Breach is a rare roll at the enchanting table, and only on a mace. Librarians can sell it, and ominous vaults in trial chambers can give it. Since the vaults also give the heavy core that makes the mace, trial chamber runs are the main source of mace books.
Tips
- Breach IV cuts armor effectiveness by 60%, which is huge against netherite.
- It conflicts with Density and Smite on the mace.
Commands
Hold the item and run this command in Bedrock 26.60 with cheats on. Bedrock's /enchant only goes up to the max level. Its /give command can't add enchantments.
/enchant @s breach 4Questions
Is Breach good against mobs?
Most mobs wear little or no armor, so Density is better for PvE. Breach shines in PvP.
Does Breach work on mobs without armor?
No. Breach only weakens armor, so against a mob with no armor it adds nothing.
Does Breach ignore Protection enchantments?
No. Breach only lowers what the armor points block. Protection and the other protection enchantments still reduce the damage.
Can you have Breach and Density on the same mace?
No. They exclude each other, so a mace carries one or the other.
Is Breach good in PvP?
Yes, against players in diamond or netherite armor. Breach IV makes their armor work at only 40% of its usual strength.
What armor does Breach counter best?
Diamond and netherite. They have the most armor points and toughness, so cutting their effectiveness removes the most protection.
What is the max level of Breach?
Breach IV. It makes the target's armor 60% less effective.
Can you get Breach from the enchanting table?
Yes, but only on a mace, and it is a rare roll. Librarians and ominous vaults are the steadier sources.