What Fire Aspect does
| Level | Effect | Book cost |
|---|---|---|
| I | the target burns for 4 seconds | 2 |
| II | the target burns for 8 seconds | 4 |
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 Fire Aspect works
Every hit with a Fire Aspect weapon sets the target on fire. The fire lasts 4 seconds per level, and burning deals 1 damage per second. So Fire Aspect II adds up to about 8 damage over time on top of the hit. Fire damage keeps ticking while you hit again, which makes it strong against mobs you can't finish in one blow.
Mobs that die while burning drop cooked meat: steak, cooked porkchops, cooked chicken, cooked mutton, cooked rabbit and cooked fish. That saves a trip to the furnace.
What it does not burn
Fire-immune mobs ignore it. That includes blazes, magma cubes, ghasts, striders, wither skeletons, zombified piglins, the wither and the ender dragon. Mobs that step into water also stop burning at once.
So Fire Aspect is weak in the Nether, where many mobs are immune, and strong in the Overworld.
Risks
- Burning zombies can set you on fire when they hit you. Fight them with Fire Resistance or finish them quickly.
- A burning mob can run into your base or your farm. Fire Aspect does not light blocks, but lava or campfires nearby can.
- It can kill villagers or pets you hit by accident, and the fire keeps hurting after you stop.
On which weapon?
Fire Aspect goes on swords, spears and the mace. The table offers it on swords and spears, while the mace needs a book. Axes can't take it, and bows use Flame instead. See Fire Aspect on a mace, Fire Aspect on an axe and Fire Aspect on a bow.
In a build
Fire Aspect conflicts with nothing. It sits next to Sharpness, Looting, Unbreaking and Mending on the best sword. It is a ×2 book, so Fire Aspect II costs 4 levels.
Fire Aspect by level
Level I sets mobs on fire briefly, and level II doubles the burn time. Since fire keeps hurting after the hit, level II matters most against mobs that take several swings. The book is cheap, so most players go straight for level II.
Fire Aspect or Flame
Fire Aspect is the melee version and Flame the bow version. They work the same way on the target: it burns and drops cooked food. Many players use both, a Fire Aspect sword for close fights and a Flame bow for range.
Is Fire Aspect worth it?
On a main sword, yes. It is cheap, it adds damage over time, and it cooks your food. However, if you fight mostly in the Nether, the fire does little, since many Nether mobs are immune. In that case a Smite or Sharpness upgrade matters more.
Which items take Fire Aspect
Fire Aspect goes on 3 kinds of gear in the calculator: sword, spear, mace. An enchanting table can roll it on the sword, spear. On mace the table never offers it, so there it only comes from a book.
Nothing conflicts with Fire Aspect, so it fits next to every other enchantment its items can take.
Fire Aspect 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 Fire Aspect each sword can get from a level 30 enchant with 15 bookshelves.
| Item | Enchantability | Best from the table |
|---|---|---|
| Netherite Sword | 15 | II |
| Diamond Sword | 10 | II |
| Iron Sword | 14 | II |
| Golden Sword | 22 | II |
Anything higher has to come from a book instead. Then the enchanting table calculator shows the exact chance for every level.
Anvil cost of Fire Aspect
Fire Aspect has an anvil multiplier of 4 from another item and 2 from a book. So a Fire Aspect II book costs 4 levels on a fresh item, and each lower level costs 2 less. Two fresh Fire Aspect I books merge into Fire Aspect II for 4 levels. That is a middling cost, so the order still matters once you combine several books.
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
Fire Aspect is part of the max build for 3 items: best sword enchantments, best spear enchantments, best mace enchantments. To put it on in the cheapest order, see the sword enchant order, spear enchant order, mace enchant order.
Common questions: can you put Fire Aspect on a mace?, can you put Fire Aspect on an axe?, can you put Fire Aspect on a bow?
More reading: Getting books from librarians, How to enchant in Minecraft, Every max enchantment level. You can make a Fire Aspect book with the command generator. The librarian price list shows what villagers charge for it.
How to get Fire Aspect
- 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.
- Random enchanted books It is also in the pool for the random enchanted books and gear in many chests and in fishing loot.
Fire Aspect is a rare roll at the enchanting table. Level II needs a lot of enchanting power, so a level 30 enchant is the way to get it from the table. Librarians sell it too.
Enchanting power and librarian prices
| Level | Enchanting power | Librarian price |
|---|---|---|
| I | 10–60 | 5–19 emeralds |
| II | 30–80 | 8–32 emeralds |
The power column is the hidden enchanting value each level needs. A level 30 enchant on a netherite sword 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
- Cooked drops make it handy on a farming sword.
- Do not use it near your own wooden builds or on mobs you want to lead into water traps.
Commands
Give yourself a Fire Aspect book or enchant the item in your hand. These work in Java 26.3 once cheats are on.
/give @p enchanted_book[stored_enchantments={fire_aspect:2}]
/enchant @s fire_aspect 2
/give @p netherite_sword[enchantments={fire_aspect:2}]Versions
Fire Aspect is in every Java version from 1.21 (when enchantments became data files) up to 26.3.
- 1.21.9: now goes on copper sword.
- 1.21.11: now goes on diamond spear, stone spear, golden spear, netherite spear, wooden spear, iron spear, copper spear.
Also see the update log for every change, and how this data is checked. Bedrock player? See Fire Aspect on Bedrock.
Questions
Does Fire Aspect work on fire-immune mobs?
No. Blazes, magma cubes, striders and other fire-immune mobs ignore it.
Does Fire Aspect cook food?
Yes. Animals killed while burning drop cooked meat instead of raw meat.
Can you put Fire Aspect on an axe?
No. Fire Aspect goes on swords, spears and the mace, but not on axes.
Does Fire Aspect set blocks on fire?
No. It sets the mob you hit on fire, not the ground around it.
Does Fire Aspect work on a mace?
Yes. The mace can take Fire Aspect from a book, and it sets every smash target on fire.