Best Pickaxe Enchantments

Every pickaxe enchantment, ranked

Enchantment	Max	Verdict	Why
Fortune	III	Max build	More diamonds, lapis, redstone and coal.
Silk Touch	I	Alternative	Collects ores, glass, ice and more as blocks. Excludes Fortune, so you pick one.
Efficiency	V	Max build	Mines much faster.
Unbreaking	III	Max build	Part of every max pickaxe.
Mending	I	Max build	Part of every max pickaxe.
Curse of Vanishing	I	Avoid	A curse: it only makes the item worse.

What matters on a pickaxe

The pickaxe is the tool you use most, so it deserves your first good books. Efficiency V, Unbreaking III and Mending go on every pickaxe. The real choice is Fortune III or Silk Touch, and most players settle it by keeping two pickaxes.

Efficiency V on a diamond or netherite pickaxe, plus Haste II from a beacon, mines stone instantly. Meanwhile Fortune III averages about 2.2 drops per diamond ore, so it more than doubles your diamonds.

Builds for different playstyles

Fortune pickaxe for ores

Efficiency V, Fortune III, Unbreaking III and Mending. Fortune boosts diamonds, coal, lapis, redstone, emeralds, quartz and raw iron, copper and gold. Use it for strip mining and caving.

Silk Touch pickaxe for blocks

Efficiency V, Silk Touch, Unbreaking III and Mending. Silk Touch collects ores, glass, ice, ender chests and amethyst clusters as blocks. So builders and anyone moving an ender chest need one.

Ancient debris

Fortune does nothing on ancient debris, so any diamond or netherite pickaxe with Efficiency does the job. Many players blast debris loose with beds or TNT and use the pickaxe for the rest.

Quarries and tunnels

Efficiency V with Unbreaking III and Mending, plus a Haste beacon. Fortune or Silk Touch hardly matters for plain stone, so use whichever pickaxe is less worn. Mending then tops it up from the ores you mine on the way.

Conflicts and which one to pick

Java 26.3 has 1 conflict on the pickaxe: Fortune with Silk Touch. An anvil refuses a book that clashes with an enchantment already on the item, so decide before you start.

Fortune or Silk Touch

Most players keep two pickaxes: Fortune III for ores, Silk Touch for blocks. If you can only have one, pick Fortune, because it multiplies diamonds, lapis and other ores. Add a Silk Touch pickaxe later for glass, ice and ore blocks you want to keep, then mine those with Fortune whenever you like. See Fortune vs Silk Touch.

Each enchantment on the pickaxe

Fortune III

Fortune gives extra drops from ores, crops and some other blocks. At level III that means up to 4× ore drops, about 2.2× on average. More diamonds, lapis, redstone and coal. The book costs 6 levels on a fresh pickaxe. More about Fortune.

Efficiency V

Efficiency makes tools mine faster. At level V that means +26 mining speed. Mines much faster. The book costs 5 levels on a fresh pickaxe. More about Efficiency.

Unbreaking III

Unbreaking gives items a chance to not lose durability when used. At level III that means tools skip 75% of durability loss, armor 30%. The book costs 3 levels on a fresh pickaxe. More about Unbreaking.

Mending

Mending repairs an item with experience orbs. At level I that means each experience point you pick up repairs 2 durability. The book costs 2 levels on a fresh pickaxe. More about Mending.

The numbers behind the build

A netherite pickaxe has 2031 durability. Unbreaking III skips three out of four durability losses on average, so it lasts about 8124 uses instead of 2031. Mending repairs 2 durability per experience point, so a full repair from almost broken takes about 1016 points. That is roughly the XP needed to go from level 0 to level 26. With both books, each point of experience pays for about 8 uses.

Efficiency V adds 26 mining speed, the biggest jump of any level because the bonus grows with the square of the level. Fortune III averages about 2.2 diamonds per diamond ore, so it more than doubles your haul.

Pickaxes for each kind of mining

For strip mining and caving, use Fortune III with Efficiency V: caves expose coal, iron, copper, redstone and diamonds, and Fortune multiplies them all. In the Nether, Fortune also helps with quartz and nether gold. For building, a Silk Touch pickaxe collects glass, ice, ender chests and ore blocks for decoration.

Deepslate takes twice as long to break as stone, so Efficiency V matters even more below level 0. Fill the second slot of your hotbar with the other pickaxe, and swap as you go.

Where to get the books

You need 4 books for this build. Mending is a treasure enchantment, so the enchanting table won't give it. Plan to trade or loot for it first. Here is where each one comes from:

• Fortune III: the enchanting table, librarian villagers, trial chamber vaults, random chest loot and fishing.
• Efficiency V: the enchanting table, librarian villagers, trial chamber vaults, random chest loot and fishing.
• Unbreaking III: the enchanting table, librarian villagers, random chest loot and fishing.
• Mending: librarian villagers, trial chamber vaults, random chest loot and fishing.

Librarians are the most reliable source for exact books, because you can reroll them until they offer the one you want. The trading hall guide shows how, and the villager trade tool lists the prices. Combine the books in the cheapest anvil order so no step becomes too expensive.

Put a pickaxe in the enchanting table and it can roll Fortune, Silk Touch, Efficiency and Unbreaking. Mending never shows up there on a pickaxe, so that one comes from books only. The enchanting table calculator shows the odds for each slot.

Which books to get first

Efficiency, Fortune, Silk Touch and Unbreaking all come from the enchanting table, so a diamond pickaxe and 15 bookshelves get you most of the way. Mending comes from librarians, fishing or vaults.

Put Fortune on your first good pickaxe, because more diamonds mean more gear. Then make the Silk Touch pickaxe, once you start building or moving ender chests.

Which material to enchant

Put your best books on a netherite pickaxe: it has the most durability (2031), so every enchantment lasts longest, and it also survives lava. The golden pickaxe has the highest enchantability (22), so it rolls the best results at an enchanting table, but it wears out fast. Enchantments stay on when you upgrade diamond gear to netherite at a smithing table, so you can enchant diamond first and upgrade later.

Netherite has 2031 durability against diamond's 1561, about 30% more. Copper is the cheap middle step: 190 durability, against 250 for iron, with enchantability 13. It is fine for a first enchant, but don't spend treasure books on it. Gold rolls the best table enchantments (22 enchantability) yet has only 32 durability, so it suits throwaway gear.

Mistakes to avoid

• Mining diamond ore with Silk Touch by accident. You get the ore block instead; keep it and mine it later with Fortune.
• Using Fortune on ancient debris. It does nothing there.
• Letting your only Fortune pickaxe break. Unbreaking III and Mending keep it alive, so add them early.
• Mining ancient debris with an iron pickaxe. It needs diamond or netherite, or it drops nothing.
• Skipping Efficiency to save levels. It is the cheapest book in the build, only 5 levels on a fresh pickaxe.

Pickaxe enchantment questions

Every enchantment a pickaxe can take in Java 26.3: Fortune, Silk Touch, Efficiency, Unbreaking, Mending.

Quick answers: can you put Mending on a pickaxe?, can you put Fortune and Silk Touch on a pickaxe?

See also the full list of incompatible enchantments and the god gear command generator.

Cheapest order

Combining these books in the wrong order can cost twice as many levels or hit Too Expensive! The cheapest order for the max pickaxe costs 23 levels in 4 steps, with no step above 8. So you never need more than 8 levels at once.

Spend the levels step by step as you earn them: that costs about 291 experience points in total. If you saved up to level 23 first, you would need 751 points, because each level costs more XP the higher you climb. Afterwards the pickaxe has been on the anvil 3 times, so later repairs start at a penalty of 7.

See every step

Other gear

• Full armor set
• Helmet
• Chestplate
• Leggings
• Boots
• Elytra
• Sword
• Axe
• Spear
• Mace
• Trident
• Bow
• Crossbow
• Shovel
• Hoe
• Fishing Rod
• Shears
• Brush
• Flint and Steel
• Shield
• Carrot on a Stick
• Warped Fungus on a Stick