Aqua Affinity in Minecraft: How does it work?

Here's everything you need to know about Aqua Affinity in Minecraft.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

The Aqua Affinity in Minecraft is a Helmet enchantment that removes the penalty for mining underwater. If you have been playing Minecraft for a while, you will notice that it takes much longer to mine underwater and the process feels painfully slow. Having Aqua Affinity makes mining underwater a lot faster and you will be able to farm Prismarine from Ocean Monuments very quickly. The enchantment has just one level and you will get the most out of the effect as soon as you acquire it.

How does Aqua Affinity in Minecraft Work?

Anyone who has tried mining underwater knows how frustrating it is. Equipping your helmet with Aqua Affinity removes the penalty for underwater mining because it normally takes five times longer to get items.

While the effect of Aqua Affinity in Minecraft sounds straightforward, there are some caveats when using it. The effect works only if you are fully underwater, and standing on a block – not floating. You will need access to a conduit to help you breathe indefinitely underwater if you want to make the most use of it. Similarly, also equipping your helmet with the Respiration enchantment increases the length of time you can breathe underwater.

Aqua Affinity is very useful only if you mine underwater very frequently. If you do, to get the most use out of Aqua Affinity, we also recommend using the Night Vision Potion effect to help you get perfect vision underwater. Unfortunately, you will have to use potions as there is no other way to get Night Vision via armor enchantments or other equipment.

How to get Aqua Affinity in Minecraft

If you want to obtain Aqua Affinity, there are a few different methods you can use, including purchasing an Enchanted Helmet from an armorer.

Using an Enchanting Table

1.

Set up your enchanting area

First, you’ll want a fully-functioning Enchanting area set up in your base or nearby area. If you’re not sure how to get a level-30 Enchanting Table set up, take a look at our guide to enchanting in Minecraft first.

2.

Lapis and Level up

You’ll need XP levels in order to enchant items. If possible, it’s best to get to at least level 30 before enchanting so you know you’ll have enough, but you will be able to get Aqua Affinity for less than that so it’s not essential. You’ll also need some Lapis Lazuli for the other enchanting “currency”. This can be mined underground.

You won’t lose all your levels when enchanting. For example, you need to be at level 30 to get a level 30 enchantment, but it will only consume three of your levels.

 

3.

Place items on Enchanting Table

Place your Helmet and Lapis Lazuli in the item boxes on the Enchanting Table interface. You’ll then be given three random Helmet enchantments on the right hand side. If one of these is Aqua Affinity, as per the image below, then great! Trade levels and Lapis for your new enchantment. If not, you’ll need to re-roll the Enchanting Table. To do this, you’ll need to enchant another item first. Place a book or another tool or armor piece that you want to enchant into the Table, and choose an enchantment. When you place your helmet back on the table, you’ll see three new enchantments (unless you’re unlucky!)

Using a Book and Anvil

1.

Obtain an Enchanted Book

You can come across an Aqua Affinity Enchanted Book by a number of means. You may catch one when fishing or find on in a loot chest, you may have enchanted a book on an Enchanting Table using the above method, or perhaps you’ve bought one from a Librarian Villager. However you do it, your first step is getting your hands on the book.

2.

Craft an Anvil

To craft an Anvil in Minecraft, you’ll need 31 Iron Ingots – 4 Iron Ingots, and 27 more to craft three Iron Blocks. Then, place the iron in a Crafting Table as per the image below to make your Anvil.

Minecraft Anvils have durability, so they will eventually break after a number of uses.

3.

Combine items

Place your Helmet and Enchanted Book on the Anvil, with the Helmet in the first slot. Using this method, you can even add Aqua Affinity to an already enchanted Helmet, which you cannot do on the Enchanting Table.

Just like using the Enchanting Table, you’ll need to spend levels to combine items on an Anvil, but you don’t need to start with more, so you’ll probably have a few levels handy by this point. If not, you’ll should only need around four, so you’ll be able to earn them quickly.

From an Armorer

Step

Title

2.

Get the Armorer to Master Level

From there, the downside is that the Enchanted Helmet trade is not an Armorer’s first, so you’ll need to level the Villager up to Master level and hope that the resultant trade is a Aqua Affinity-enchanted Helmet. Chances are, it won’t be. Hence why this is only a suitable method if you’re levelling up lots of Villagers anyway.

The Helmet trade can cost anything between 13 and 27 Emeralds.

Can You Combine Respiration And Aqua Affinity?

As mentioned earlier, Respiration is another enchantment that is also only able to be applied to a helmet. The Respiration enchantment allows players to stay underwater for a longer amount of time, increasing breathing time without taking drowning damage. The good news is that these two enchantments are able to be applied together on the same helmet. This will prove particularly useful for exploring those underwater temples. You should also consider adding Unbreaking and Mending to your helmet, as well as some Protection.

More Minecraft Enchantment guides

• How to enchant in Minecraft
• How to get the Piercing enchantment
• What is the Fire Protection enchantment?
• What does Bane of Arthropods do in Minecraft?
• All you need to know about the Aqua Affinity enchantment
• What does the Mending enchantment do?
• Everything you need to know about Looting
• What does the Smite enchantment do?
• What is Feather Falling? All you need to know
• What does the Minecraft Impaling enchantment do?

And head over to our Minecraft hub for even more news, guides, and how-tos!