10 Best Sword Enchantments In Minecraft (2024)

Enchanting tools and weapons, such as a Sword in Minecraft, enhance farming and combat, which is crucial for survival against mobs and other players. Given the sword's prominence as a primary weapon, investing in top-tier enchantments is essential to overcoming hostile encounters and getting the best utility out of your weapon. Rare enchantments elevate the sword's effectiveness, ensuring players are well-equipped to navigate the diverse challenges presented throughout Minecraft's adventures.

To craft a sword in Minecraft, players must use a Crafting Table with one Stick and two of either Wood Planks, Cobblestone Blocks, Iron Ingots, Gold Ingots, or Diamond Ingots, depending on your desired sword type. Iron Swords are recommended for early gameplay due to their balance of durability and availability. To eventually upgrade to Netherite gear in Minecraft, a Smithing Table is required, which combines a Diamond Sword with a Netherite ingot, creating one of the game's most potent weapons.

10 Curse of Vanishing

Enchantment Cost: 2

Curse of Vanishing, a negative Minecraft enchantment, makes your sword permanently despawn upon death. In a hardcore world where death is final, this has no impact, but losing a valuable diamond or netherite sword to this curse in a standard game mode would be unfortunate.

Once activated, this curse can only be removed, making it an unpopular choice if you're seeking an added challenge and are indifferent to potentially losing your items. Storing your sword in a chest, however, prevents it from despawning. The sole advantage of this curse is its ability to prevent other players from taking your sword on a multiplayer server, ensuring that if you can't have it, no one else can either.

9 Bane of Arthropods V

Enchantment Cost: 5

While niche, Bane of Arthropods offers additional damage against arthropod mobs such as Bees, Spiders, Cave Spiders, Silverfish, and Endermites. Its uniqueness inflicts Slowness on these typically fast-moving and aggressive creatures, making them easier to manage. This enchantment is particularly effective for players focused on farming materials like String or Spider Eye, providing a specialized tool for handling these specific mobs more efficiently.

Given that arthropod mobs are less common in Minecraft, dedicating an enchantment slot to them may not be the most strategic choice. Bane of Arthropods cannot coexist with Sharpness or Smite, forcing players to forgo these versatile and powerful enchantments for a less universally effective use. This trade-off renders Bane of Arthropods a less desirable option for players seeking to maximize their weapon's overall utility and effectiveness.

8 Fire aspect II

Enchantment Cost: 4

Fire Aspect is a premium sword enchantment Minecraft igniting enemies with fire upon impact. This enchantment enhances your damage output by adding 80 fire ticks (4 seconds of burning damage) per enchantment level. It uniquely offers sustained damage over time, especially effective against formidable foes with substantial health bars. Fire Aspect is also an exceptional choice for PvP scenarios, making it a sought-after enhancement for any player's arsenal.

Fire Aspect also serves a practical purpose in farming, as it causes food-based mobs like Chickens, Cows, Sheep, and Pigs to drop cooked meat when slaughtered. This eliminates the need for additional cooking resources, streamlines the food preparation process, and saves valuable materials.

Use this enchantment with caution. Setting a mob on fire risks igniting yourself upon contact if they strike you. Additionally, while mobs take fire-tick damage, your immediate successive hit won't register. Avoid using it against Endermen, as they teleport erratically when aflame, making them harder to target and increasing their threat level.

7 Smite V

Enchantment Cost: 5

When applied to a sword, Smite significantly boosts damage against Undead mobs. Unlike Bane of Arthropods, Smite targets a broad and commonly encountered category of enemies in Minecraft, making it a valuable and versatile enchantment choice. It proves particularly beneficial when farming Wither skulls in Nether Fortresses.

6 Sharpness V

Enchantment Cost: 5

Sharpness is a top all-round enchantment for swords, increasing melee damage against all Minecraft mobs. With Sharpness V, Creepers can be taken down in just two hits, which is crucial for eliminating them swiftly before they explode and cause severe damage or possibly death. Sharpness is also unique as the sole sword enchantment that affects the Ender Dragon in Minecraft, making it essential for those daring to confront this boss up close in melee combat.

5 Sweeping Edge III

Enchantment Cost: 6

Despite the popularity of axes for combat, particularly in PvP, swords hold a unique advantage: the ability to perform sweep attacks, hitting multiple opponents simultaneously. This feature excels in crowd control, where players face swarms of mobs, making swords exceptionally suited for survival-focused gameplay.

The Sweeping Edge enchantment enhances the damage of sweep attacks beyond that of regular hits. It is fully compatible with other enchantments, enabling players to augment their swords with additional damage-dealing properties for even greater combat effectiveness.

Although powerful, Sweeping Edge requires careful use due to its less accurate and precise nature in Minecraft, posing a risk of inadvertently harming nearby allies or tamed wolves. Additionally, only the primary target of a sweep attack benefits from the effects of Sharpness, Smite, or Bane of Arthropods if these enchantments are equipped, limiting the secondary damage enhancement to surrounding entities.

4 Unbreaking III

Enchantment Cost: 3

Unbreaking is one of the most versatile enchantments. It can be applied to any durable in-game item, including swords. It enhances an item's sturdiness by increasing the likelihood that its use will not decrease its durability, extending its lifespan. Consequently, it is most effective on valuable, durable tools, as applying Unbreaking or other potent enchantments on weaker swords, which will inevitably break, would be wasteful.

While Mending should be prioritized, it can be challenging to obtain during the early to mid-game stages. Until Mending becomes accessible, prioritizing Unbreaking is a practical strategy to ensure your weapon lasts longer. It serves as a valuable temporary solution to prolong your gear's usability.

3 Looting III

Enchantment Cost: 6

Looting is a prime example of an enchantment that provides utility beyond combat effectiveness. Akin to the Fortune pickaxe, using a Looting-enchanted sword to kill mobs increases their drop rate, potentially yielding more items than usual. This feature is particularly beneficial for farming in Minecraft, as it raises the likelihood of animals dropping additional meat and skeletons dropping extra bones, among other increased loot possibilities.

Looting also increases the chances of obtaining rare items from specific mobs. When defeated, Drowned are more likely to drop Tridents, Endermen have an increased chance of dropping Ender Pearls, and Blazes in the Nether are more prone to drop Blaze Rods.

For an optimal setup, it's recommended to dedicate a sword with the Looting enchantment specifically for farming item drops while maintaining another sword tailored for combat. To prevent your farming-focused sword from breaking, ensure it's also enchanted with Unbreaking and Mending, maximizing its durability and efficiency for gathering resources.

2 Knockback II

Enchantment Cost: 2

Knockback is an optimal enchantment for combat-focused swords in Minecraft. It offers the strategic advantage of pushing enemies back upon attack. With Knockback II, enemies can be propelled up to 6 blocks away with a single strike, significantly increasing the distance between you and potential threats. Creating space from aggressive mobs can be crucial for survivability, reducing the risk of taking damage.

Employing Knockback strategically against formidable foes with substantial health or against swarms, like those encountered in the Nether or during Pillager Raids, enhances combat effectiveness. It also serves as an effective anti-Creeper measure, pushing them far enough to escape their blast radius or interrupt their detonation. Additionally, in PvP scenarios, this enchantment hinders your opponents' ability to land attacks, making it a valuable asset for maintaining control in combat.

1 Mending

Enchantment Cost: 2

Mending is among the best enchantments in Minecraft, offering unmatched durability restoration for high-value swords. It uses your earned XP levels to repair your tools, essentially granting them infinite durability, and eliminating the need for replacement. Minecraft provides numerous ways to gain XP, whether through farming, defeating mobs, fishing, or smelting, ensuring your prized weapons remain resilient against wear and tear.

JayDeeMC demonstrates how to obtain and apply the Mending enchantment in Minecraft, which requires several steps to effectively utilize. As the ultimate enchantment, it is best suited for all optimized enchanted weapons, tools, and armor. Like Unbreaking, reserve it for the sword you intend to keep permanently, such as a Diamond or Netherite sword, for maximized potential.

Video Credit: JayDeeMC/YouTube

Minecraft

Franchise

Platform(s)

PS4 , PS3 , PS Vita , Xbox One , Xbox 360 , Switch , 3DS , PC , Android , iOS , Nintendo Wii U

Released

November 18, 2011

Developer(s)

Mojang

Publisher(s)

Mojang

Genre(s)

Sandbox , Survival

Platforms

Rating