Enchanting in Minecraft allows you to upgrade your tools, armor and weapons to have special effects. For example, allow your bow to fire flaming arrows, your sword to knock enemies back great distances or for your pickaxe to increase the amount of Diamonds you mine by up to 4.
It’s necessary to Enchant practically every tool and armor item in the game, especially if you plan to reach the End where you can fight the Ender Dragon. Even fighting enemies in the Nether, Enchanted gear will be very helpful.
Below, you can read everything you need to know about Enchanting including the best set-up. For more Minecraft guides and best-of content, make sure to check out our dedicated area here.
About Enchanting Configurations
An Enchanting Table has to be surrounded by Bookshelves to work effectively. The maximum level Enchantments are level 30, and you can only get these if there are 15 Bookshelves wrapped around the table.
Any less than this, and you will only be able to get lower level enchantments. Any higher, and it won’t make a difference at all, you’ll just be wasting bookshelves.
Enchanting your items does come with a cost. You will have to spend some of your experience points (usually only around 2 levels worth) as well as some Lapis Lazuli, which can be mined near Bedrock.
How to Craft an Enchanting Table
Crafting an Enchanting Table might be considered mid-game content due to how expensive it is. To create the table, you will require 4 Obsidian, 2 Diamonds and a single book. However, you need a Diamond Pickaxe to mine Obsidian, so you can take this up to 5 Diamonds overall.
Obsidian should be quite easy to find, and if it isn’t, you can make some yourself. Obsidian is made when Lava reaches a water block, so if you find a pool of lava, pour a bucket of water over it to turn it into Obsidian. The mining process is slow, so it might take some time to collect. If you don’t already have a Nether portal, now would be a good time to make one too whilst you have a source of Obsidian.
We’ve already put together a guide on how to find Diamonds in Minecraft easily. All you need next is books, which can be crafted using leather and paper, or bought from Villagers with Emeralds.
Best Enchanting Room Set-up
Now the most efficient and space-saving set-up has to be this one. Place down your Enchanting Table, and leave a 1 block gap on every side. Then place Bookcases in rows of 3 which should be 2 high. This will mean your Enchanting Table has access to Level 30 Enchantments, and be ready to use.
This set-up only takes up a 5×5 square, which doesn’t take up much space at all. It does use 3 more bookshelves than necessary though, so you can find a way to take these out if you can’t afford them right now. The two corner pieces don’t need to be bookcases, these should be Wooden Planks or some other type of blocks just to prevent mobs spawning there.
Whilst the Enchanting Table does emit its own light, I’d also recommend placing a Redstone Lamp, Glowstone Block or Lanterns in the ceiling to light up the room a little more, to make sure no enemies spawn inside.
If you want to be a bit more creative, you can start looking into other designs like the one above. As long as the Enchanting Table is surrounded by 15 Bookshelves, any design will work. But the Bookshelves can not be more than 1 block away from the Enchanting Table, otherwise it will not work.
How to Get Bookshelves
The easiest way to get Bookshelves is to actually make them. Each Bookshelf requires 3 Books, so for all 15 Bookshelves required for a max level Enchanting Room, you’ll need 45 Books and 90 Wooden Planks.
A single Book costs 1 piece of Leather and 3 pieces of Paper. It’s highly recommended you set-up a Cow farm for a few in-game days, where you can collect large amounts of Leather. You’ll need 45 Leather total which means around 30-50 Cows will need to be killed if starting from 0.
Bookcases can often be found in Villagers, especially in the Library. You can mine these to collect Books from them. If you have a weapon such as an Axe with the Silk Touch Enchantment already, you can take the actual Bookcases.
What If I Have Enchanted Books?
If you have found some Enchanted Books, then you don’t need an Enchanting Table to use them. All you have to do is place your book and tool/armor item into an Anvil to enchant it.
Enchanted Books can be found in many locations. Loot Chests in Villages/Dungeons/Temples have a chance of containing them. Librarian Villagers will often have them available for trade, especially at higher levels. Finally, having a Fishing Rod with the ‘Luck of the Sea’ enchantment increases your chance of finding Enchanted Books whilst fishing dramatically.
Other Notes
Some Enchantments are curses, and can be ignored. These include the Curse of Binding and the Curse of Vanishing.
Here’s a complete list of items that can be Enchanted: Sword, Axe, Pickaxe, Shovel, Shears, Bow, Fishing Rod, Hoe, Flint & Steel, Fishing Rod, Shield, Trident, Crossbow, Helmet, Chestplate, Leggings, Boots, Elytra, Pumpkins and Mob Heads.
Here’s a complete list of Enchantments currently available in Minecraft: Bane of Arthropods, Channelling, Curse of Vanishing, Efficiency, Fire Aspect, Flame, Fortune, Impaling, Infinity, Knockback, Looting, Loyalty, Luck of the Sea, Lure, Mending, Multishot, Piercing, Power, Punch, Quick Charge, Riptide, Sharpness, Silk Touch, Smite, Sweeping Edge, Unbreaking, Chopping, Aqua Infinity, Blast Protection, Curse of Binding, Curse of Vanishing, Depth Strider, Feather Falling, Fire Protection, Frost Walker, Projectile Protection, Protection, Respiration, Thorns and Unbreaking.
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