Riptide

What Riptide 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 Riptide works

With Riptide, using the trident launches you instead of throwing it. Hold the use button to charge, then release, and you shoot forward in the direction you look. Each level launches you further and faster.

It only works while you are in water or standing in rain. On dry land in clear weather the trident can't be used at all, though you can still hit things with it in melee.

Snow does not count as rain. So Riptide does nothing in snowy biomes during a storm, and dry biomes like deserts and savannas never get rain.

The spin attack

While you fly, you spin. Any mob you crash into on the way takes damage. That is handy against drowned and guardians, but the spin is hard to aim, so don't count on it as your main attack.

Riptide for travel

• In the ocean, Riptide moves you faster than swimming or a boat. With Depth Strider and Respiration you can cross oceans quickly.
• In rain, Riptide launches you into the air from anywhere outside. Open an elytra at the top and glide, then launch again.
• In a water column, launching straight up carries you to the top in a moment.

Each launch costs 1 durability. With Unbreaking III and Mending, that cost barely matters.

Riptide and the elytra

In the rain, Riptide and an elytra together are one of the fastest ways to travel. Launch, open the elytra at the peak, glide, then launch again from the next spot of rain. You save firework rockets, too. It does not work in the Nether or the End, where it never rains.

Safety

Riptide in the rain can throw you high over land. Landing from there hurts like any fall, so wear Feather Falling IV boots or land in water. Watch out for ceilings: launching under a roof slams you into it.

Riptide, Loyalty and Channeling

Riptide excludes Loyalty and Channeling. So a Riptide trident is a travel tool, not a throwing weapon. Most players keep a second trident with Loyalty and Channeling for fights. The Loyalty vs Riptide page compares them, and Loyalty and Riptide on a trident explains why they can't share one.

The Riptide trident build

A max Riptide trident carries Riptide III, Impaling V, Unbreaking III and Mending. That is the Riptide variant on the best trident enchantments page, and the trident enchant order lists the cheapest steps.

Riptide by level

Level I gives a short, gentle launch that is easy to control in tight spots. Level III throws you a long way, which is great in the open and dangerous near walls and ceilings. Most players use level III for travel, since you can always launch at a lower angle.

Where you can launch from

You can launch from any water you stand in, from a river or the ocean to a single water block. Rain works anywhere outside in a biome where it rains. A thunderstorm counts as rain too.

Riptide durability

A trident has 250 durability, and each launch costs 1. That is fine for a few trips, but long rainy-day travel wears it down. So Unbreaking III and Mending are essential on a travel trident.

Riptide on the anvil

The Riptide trident takes only four useful books: Riptide, Impaling, Unbreaking and Mending. So its anvil order is short. Put Riptide and Impaling on first, since they are the pricier books, then finish with the cheap ones.

Riptide in thunderstorms

Thunderstorms count as rain, so Riptide works in them. However, lightning can strike near you, so keep away from tall trees and lightning rods while you fly.

Riptide and Impaling

Impaling adds damage to the trident's melee hits against the mobs it affects. So a Riptide trident with Impaling V is still a decent melee weapon between launches, even though it can't be thrown.

Common mistakes

• Trying to throw a Riptide trident. It can't be thrown, so it is useless as a ranged weapon.
• Using Riptide indoors or in caves. You slam into the ceiling.
• Picking the wrong level. Riptide I is gentle and easier to control, while Riptide III can throw you far past where you meant to go.

Which items take Riptide

Riptide goes on 1 kind of gear in the calculator: trident. An enchanting table can roll it on the trident.

It can't share an item with Loyalty or Channeling. If an item already has one of those, the anvil skips the Riptide book. Java still charges 1 level for it.

Riptide 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 Riptide each trident 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 Riptide

Riptide has an anvil multiplier of 4 from another item and 2 from a book. So a Riptide III book costs 6 levels on a fresh item, and each lower level costs 2 less. Two fresh Riptide II books merge into Riptide III for 6 levels. Building it from scratch takes 4 level I books and 3 merges, 16 levels in all. 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

Riptide can go on 1 item: best trident enchantments. To put it on in the cheapest order, see the trident enchant order.

Common questions: can you put Loyalty and Riptide on a trident?

More reading: Getting books from librarians, How to enchant in Minecraft, Every max enchantment level. You can make a Riptide book with the command generator. The librarian price list shows what villagers charge for it.

How to get Riptide

• 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.
• Trial chamber vaults 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.

Riptide is a rare roll at the enchanting table, and a level 30 enchant on a trident can reach level III. Librarians sell it, and trial chamber vaults can give it. Since tridents only come from drowned, many players put Riptide on their second trident and keep the first for Loyalty.

Enchanting power and librarian prices

The power column is the hidden enchanting value each level needs. A level 30 enchant on a trident reaches power 36 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

• With an elytra in the rain it is one of the fastest ways to travel.
• It excludes Loyalty and Channeling.

Commands

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

Versions

Riptide 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 Riptide on Bedrock.

Goes well with

• Curse of Vanishing
• Impaling
• Mending
• Unbreaking