Enchanting Guides

Where to start

New to enchanting? Start with how to enchant, which walks through the table, the anvil, villagers and loot in the order you will use them. If an anvil refuses a combination, read Too Expensive!. For the most wanted book in the game, see how to get Mending. The block pages cover the recipes and tricks for the enchanting table, anvil, grindstone and bookshelves.

What each guide covers

• How to enchant: the full path from your first enchanting table to max gear, step by step.
• How to get Mending: librarians, fishing, loot and trial chamber vaults, plus which gear needs it first.
• Too Expensive!: why the anvil refuses some steps, with a worked example and the fixes.
• Treasure enchantments: the seven books the enchanting table never gives, and where each one drops.
• Curses: what Binding and Vanishing do and how to avoid them.
• Librarian trading: making, rerolling and curing librarians for cheap books.
• Max levels: the top level of every enchantment and how to reach it.

Every guide uses numbers from the game files and links straight to the calculator and the enchantment pages.

A learning path, from first table to god gear

Early game: your first enchants

Your first goal is an enchanting table, even before you have bookshelves. It costs a book, 2 diamonds and 4 obsidian. Without shelves the options stay low, but they still give useful Efficiency, Protection and Unbreaking on iron gear. Read how to enchant first, then the enchanting table page for the exact level ranges.

At this stage, don't spend levels on the anvil yet. Instead, save lapis, collect any books you find, and start a sugar cane farm. Sugar cane turns into paper, and paper turns into both bookshelves and emeralds from librarians.

Mid game: bookshelves and librarians

Next, surround the table with 15 bookshelves so the bottom option reaches level 30. The bookshelf page lists exactly how much paper and leather that takes. Then set up two or three librarians and reroll them for the books you want. The librarian trading hall guide walks through each step, from the first lectern to curing villagers for cheap books.

This is also when Mending becomes your top priority. Once your main tools and armor have it, an XP farm keeps them repaired forever.

Late game: max gear without Too Expensive

Finally, combine everything on the anvil. The order matters, because each anvil use raises the item's prior work penalty. So read Too Expensive! before you start, and follow a worked-out order such as the sword or pickaxe enchant order. After that, hunt the 7 treasure enchantments the table never gives, and check max levels so no book goes to waste.

Quick answers

• Can the table give Mending? No. Mending is a treasure enchantment, so it comes from librarians, fishing and loot.
• How many bookshelves do I need? 15, placed two blocks from the table with nothing in between.
• Why does the anvil say Too Expensive? One step costs 40 levels or more, usually because of the prior work penalty. A better order fixes it.
• Can I remove a curse? Not in survival. A grindstone removes every other enchantment but leaves curses.
• Which books can villagers sell? 40 of the 43 enchantments. See the price list.

Every guide uses numbers read from the game files for Java 26.3, so costs, levels and drop sources match the version you play. If you play Bedrock, the Bedrock calculator uses Bedrock's own anvil rules.