Density

What Density does

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 the smash attack works

The mace deals a smash attack when you hit something while falling. In Java you need to fall more than 1.5 blocks. The bonus is 4 damage per block for the first 3 blocks, 2 per block for the next 5, and 1 per block after that. So the first few blocks add the most, and very long falls add less per block.

Density changes that curve. It adds 0.5 damage per block per level, with no drop-off. At Density V that is 2.5 damage for every block you fall, so long falls keep getting stronger.

Damage by fall height

Here is a mace smash in Java, before armor, with and without Density V:

• From 5 blocks: 22 damage without Density, 34.5 with Density V.
• From 10 blocks: 30 without, 55 with Density V.
• From 20 blocks: 40 without, 90 with Density V.
• From 30 blocks: 50 without, 125 with Density V.

Even a full netherite set with Protection IV on every piece does not save a player from a 20-block Density V smash. The armor and the enchantments cut 90 damage to about 27.2, which is still more than a full health bar.

Density or Smite?

The mace can take Smite instead, which adds 12.5 damage against undead on every hit. Density V adds 12.5 damage on a 5-block fall. So above 5 blocks Density V beats Smite V even against undead, and it works on every mob. Smite only wins when you fight undead on the ground or from short drops.

Density or Breach?

They exclude each other, so you pick one. Density is the PvE choice: it adds raw damage that grows with height, and most mobs wear little armor. Breach makes armor less effective, which helps most against players in diamond or netherite. The Density vs Breach page compares them in detail, and Density and Breach on a mace explains why they can't share a mace.

Getting height

The smash only pays off if you can get up high quickly. These are the usual ways:

• Wind charges thrown at your feet launch you upward. Breezes drop the breeze rods that craft them.
• Wind Burst on the mace bounces you back up after every smash, so you can chain hits.
• Pillars, cliffs and towers let you drop onto mobs below.
• An elytra dive lets you fall from a great height onto a target.

The full mace build

A max PvE mace carries Density V, Wind Burst III, Fire Aspect II, Unbreaking III and Mending. Wear Feather Falling IV boots for the times you miss. The best mace enchantments page shows the build, and the mace enchant order the cheapest steps.

Density by level

Each level adds 0.5 damage per block fallen. Level I adds 5 damage on a 10-block fall, and level V adds 25. So every level counts the same, and level V is five times as strong as level I. The book is ×1 per level, so Density V costs only 5 levels on a fresh mace.

Density against tough mobs

Density shines against mobs with a lot of health, where a normal weapon needs many hits. A high drop onto a ravager, an elder guardian on land or the warden deals damage that no sword can match. Plan the fight around height: build a pillar, use wind charges, or fight from a ledge.

Mace durability

The mace has 500 durability, which is low for a weapon you swing at full force. Unbreaking III and Mending keep it alive, and an XP farm tops it up between fights.

Practice before you rely on it

The smash is easy to miss on moving mobs. Practice on slow targets first, such as a zombie in a pen, and learn how far you drift while falling. Once you can land hits from 10 blocks, Density starts to feel like the strongest weapon in the game.

Density on the anvil

Density is a ×1 book, so Density V costs only 5 levels. Therefore it is a good book for the last step, after Wind Burst and Fire Aspect.

Density and Wind Burst together

With Wind Burst, every smash launches you back up for another fall. Then each new fall adds Density damage again. So the two together clear groups faster than either one alone, and both fit on the same mace.

Common mistakes

• Missing the smash. Only a hit cancels your fall damage, so a miss means you take the whole fall.
• Swinging on the ground. Without a fall, Density adds nothing at all.
• Spending a lot on Smite instead. For a mace you mostly use from height, Density is the stronger pick.

Which items take Density

Density 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 Breach. If an item already has one of those, the anvil skips the Density book. Java still charges 1 level for it.

Density from the enchanting table

The level you can roll depends on the item's enchantability. A material with a higher value reaches higher levels from the same level 30 enchant. This table shows the best Density each mace can get from a level 30 enchant with 15 bookshelves.

Anything higher has to come from a book instead. Then the enchanting table calculator shows the exact chance for every level.

Anvil cost of Density

Density has an anvil multiplier of 2 from another item and 1 from a book. So a Density V book costs 5 levels on a fresh item, and each lower level costs 1 less. Two fresh Density IV books merge into Density V for 5 levels. Building it from scratch takes 16 level I books and 15 merges, 75 levels in all. That is as cheap as books get, so it rarely decides the order.

Java charges the full resulting level every time, even when the item already has a lower level of it. 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

Density is part of the max build for 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 Density book with the command generator. The librarian price list shows what villagers charge for it.

How to get Density

• 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. Level I costs 5–19 emeralds plus a book.
• Ominous vaults (trial chambers) This loot table names it directly, so it is one of the most reliable places to look.
• Random enchanted books It is also in the pool for the random enchanted books and gear in many chests and in fishing loot.

Density is an uncommon roll at the enchanting table, and the mace is the only item that can get it there. Librarians can sell it, and ominous vaults in trial chambers can drop it.

The mace itself comes from a heavy core, which only ominous vaults give. So most players get their Density book from the same trial chamber trips.

Enchanting power and librarian prices

The power column is the hidden enchanting value each level needs. A level 30 enchant on a mace reaches power 43 at most. That already includes the enchantability bonus and the random spread. The price column shows what a librarian can ask for each book. Curing a zombie villager or the Hero of the Village effect lowers it.

Tips

• Density V adds 2.5 damage per block, so a 20-block drop adds 50 damage.
• It excludes Breach and Smite: Density is the PvE favourite.

Commands

Give yourself a Density book or enchant the item in your hand. These work in Java 26.3 once cheats are on.

Versions

Density is in every Java version from 1.21 (when enchantments became data files) up to 26.3.

Its costs, levels and items have not changed in that time.

Also see the update log for every change, and how this data is checked. Bedrock player? See Density on Bedrock.

Goes well with

• Curse of Vanishing
• Fire Aspect
• Mending
• Unbreaking
• Wind Burst