Best Shears Enchantments

Every shears enchantment, ranked

Enchantment	Max	Verdict	Why
Efficiency	V	Max build	Cuts wool, leaves and cobwebs faster.
Unbreaking	III	Max build	Part of every max shears.
Mending	I	Max build	Part of every max shears.
Curse of Vanishing	I	Avoid	A curse: it only makes the item worse.

What matters on shears

Shears are a small tool with a long list of jobs: shearing sheep, cutting leaves, vines, cobwebs, grass, ferns and seagrass, and collecting honeycomb from bee nests. Most of those cost durability, so Unbreaking and Mending matter more than anything else.

Efficiency V makes shears cut leaves, wool and cobwebs much faster. It is the only speed book shears can take.

Builds for different playstyles

Sheep farm shears

Unbreaking III and Mending. Shearing doesn't get faster with Efficiency, so durability is all that matters. One pair can shear a whole flock many times over.

Leaf and cobweb shears

Efficiency V, Unbreaking III and Mending. Efficiency makes clearing trees, mineshafts and jungle vines much faster.

Bee farm shears

Unbreaking III and Mending. Shearing a full nest or hive gives honeycomb and costs durability, so a busy honey farm wears shears down.

Each enchantment on the shears

Efficiency V

Efficiency makes tools mine faster. At level V that means +26 mining speed. Cuts wool, leaves and cobwebs faster. The book costs 5 levels on fresh shears. 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 fresh shears. 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 fresh shears. More about Mending.

The numbers behind the build

Shears have 238 durability. Unbreaking III skips three out of four durability losses on average, so it lasts about 952 uses instead of 238. Mending repairs 2 durability per experience point, so a full repair from almost broken takes about 119 points. That is roughly the XP needed to go from level 0 to level 8. 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. On shears it speeds up wool, leaves and cobwebs.

Efficiency or not?

Efficiency only matters if you break lots of leaves, wool blocks or cobwebs. For sheep and bees it changes nothing, so a farm pair can skip it and save 5 levels.

Shears and Mending

Shearing gives no experience, so Mending only repairs shears when you pick up XP from something else. Keep them in your offhand while you mine or fight to top them up. For a wool farm, Unbreaking III plus a spare pair is often the simpler fix.

What shears are for

Shears are the easy way to collect leaves, vines, cobwebs, grass, ferns, dead bushes, seagrass and glow lichen as items. Most of those drop nothing, or something else, when you break them by hand. Shears also carve pumpkins and turn mooshrooms into normal cows.

Where to get the books

You need 3 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:

• 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.

The enchanting table won't take shears at all, so every enchantment on it comes from books on an anvil. You can still enchant plain books at the table and apply them here.

Which books to get first

Unbreaking and Efficiency books come from the enchanting table or librarians, and Mending from trading, fishing or vaults. Since shears are cheap to craft, they can wait until your armor and tools have their books.

Mistakes to avoid

• Breaking cobwebs with a sword when you want the cobweb. A sword gives string; shears give the block.
• Putting Mending on shears before your armor and pickaxe. Shears are cheap to craft, so they come last.
• Shearing a big flock by hand. A dispenser with shears shears the sheep in front of it, which saves your best pair.
• Expecting Efficiency to help with sheep. Shearing is instant either way.
• Breaking vines or glow lichen without shears. You get nothing back.

Shears enchantment questions

Every enchantment shears can take in Java 26.3: Efficiency, Unbreaking, Mending.

Quick answers: can you put Mending on shears?, can you put Efficiency on shears?, can you put Silk Touch on shears?

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 shears costs 14 levels in 3 steps, with no step above 5. So you never need more than 5 levels at once.

Spend the levels step by step as you earn them: that costs about 150 experience points in total. If you saved up to level 14 first, you would need 280 points, because each level costs more XP the higher you climb. Afterwards the shears 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
• Pickaxe
• Shovel
• Hoe
• Fishing Rod
• Brush
• Flint and Steel
• Shield
• Carrot on a Stick
• Warped Fungus on a Stick