Minecraft Mending enchantment – All you need to know

Table of Contents Table of Contents

Mending is undoubtedly one of the best enchantments in Minecraft, and many survival players will endeavour to enchant all of their eligible items with it as soon as possible. We take a look at why this is, and why you should be doing it too.

The Mending enchantment pretty much means you don’t have to worry about the durability of all your favorite tools. I mean, there’s nothing worse than mining away with that precious Diamond Pickaxe you spent hours (and plenty of Iron Picks) to get, just for it to suddenly shatter and disappear. But how does it work? What tools and items can it be used on? And what other enchantments should you put with it?

How does the Minecraft Mending enchantment work?

As mentioned, Mending will help you keep your most precious tools and items a little bit longer. In fact, if you’re careful and clever, with Mending, your items may never perish. This is because, if you are holding, wearing or using an item with the Mending enchantment, every time you earn Exp, some of it will be consumed by the item in exchange for an increase in durability.

This means Mending does have two downsides, but they’re worth it. One is that you’ll earn less Exp, so your grind to build levels will take a bit longer. The other is that your item can still get worn out all the time you aren’t earning Exp, for example, if you’re mining stone, iron or gold. However, the Mending enchantment only applies to items in your main hand, off-hand or armor slots, so if you’re specifically grinding for Exp, you can just remove any Mending items from these slots.

Which Minecraft items can be enchanted with Mending?

Mending is one of Minecraft’s enchantments that can be applied to most items. While, for example, the likes of Looting and Fire Aspect are specific to swords, and feather Falling to Boots, Mending can be used on tools, armor and even Elytra. The list below shows every item that can be enhanced with the Mending enchantment.

• Helmet (all materials)
• Turtle Shell
• Chest plate (all materials)
• Leggings (all materials)
• Boots (all materials)
• Pickaxe (all materials)
• Shovel (all materials)
• Axe (all materials)
• Sword (all materials)
• Hoe (all materials)
• Trident
• Bow
• Crossbow
• Fishing Rod
• Carrot on a Stick
• Warped Fungus on a Stick
• Shears
• Flint and Steel
• Shield
• Elytra

How to Get Mending in Minecraft

There is a catch to getting Mending, though. Known as a “treasure enchantment”, Mending cannot be obtained via an Enchanting Table. So, while the enchanted can be applied to all above items in survival Minecraft, it must be done using a Mending Book and an anvil.

The easiest way to get Mending enchanted items is to find them in Shipwrecks, Strongholds, raids, and fishing, though these aren’t guaranteed and you’ll only get one at a time. You can also trade with Villagers if you come across one with a weapon or tool already enchanted with Mending. As we’ll show you shortly, though, the easiest way to guarantee yourself the Mending enchantment is to buy the book from a Librarian Villager. All in all, while it is a very valuable enchantment, it can be difficult to obtain.

How to guarantee Mending from a Librarian

The below steps outline the easiest and fastest method of trading with a Librarian for a Mending book. There are other ways, such as breeding Villagers and building a Villager Trading hall, levelling up different Librarians at the same time, or healing a Zombie Villager, but we’re keeping it simple with the best starter method for finding Mending as early in your survival world as possible.

1.

It takes a Village

Once you have come across a village – either naturally, or by using the /locate command – ensure there are actually villagers around. If they’ve all been killed off or you’ve found an Abandoned Village, Villagers won’t spawn there naturally.

2.

Find or “employ” a Librarian

If you’re lucky, there might already be a Librarian in your village. If not, you’ll need to find a Villager with whom you haven’t already traded and turn them into a Librarian. To do this, simply replace their work block with a Lectern. For example, if the Villager is a Farmer, destroy all nearby Composters until it loses its profession. Then place a Lectern nearby, and the Villager should take that work block instead. Do not trade with the Villager yet!

We recommend trying to block a Villager into a house or similar small area before placing the lectern down, so that it stays nearby and doesn’t wander off!

3.

Hope for a Mending offer

This next bit is a bit of a slog, but (unless you’re incredibly lucky) is still far and away the quickest method of guaranteeing yourself a Mending trade. Once you’ve trapped your Villager and placed the Lectern, check its trades. If you’ve got Mending, then you can trade! And you’re incredibly lucky. Chances are, though, the Villager will be offering up a different Enchanted Book, or maybe no enchanted book at all. That’s fine. All you need to do is break the Lectern and place it again, and the Villager’s trade will refresh.

4.

Repeat until you get it!

Continue breaking and replacing the Lectern until the Villager offers you Mending! Again, this can take some time, but you will eventually be offered a Mending book. The cost of the book will vary, so if you get an expensive one, you can risk it and keep trying for a cheaper trade. And however tempting another offer may be, do not trade with the Villager, because as soon as you do, their trades will be locked in and will no longer refresh.

OK, if it’s really tempting, take it, go back to step 2, and get yourself another Librarian!

5.

Trade!

When you do eventually get offered a Book of Mending, you’ll want to trade with the Villager. This will lock in their trades, and you’ll be able to keep coming back to them for more Mending books – one for each of your best tools and items! To buy an Enchanted Book from a Villager, you’ll need Emeralds and a Book.

Take a look at our guide to making a Minecraft Book for that latter, and this one on how to earn Minecraft Emeralds fast.

How to apply the Mending Enchantment

As mentioned above, you’ll need an anvil to apply Mending to an item. This does, however, mean that you can add Mending to an item that has already been enchanted, so our top tip here would be to get any other enchantments you might want first, then add your Mending book. You can only enchant an unenchanted item using the Enchantment Table, but you can combine enchanted items together or with a book thanks to the Anvil.

1.

Equip yourself

Of course, you’ll need all your items at the ready. The Mending book you’ll have obtained from one of the methods above, the item you’ll be enchanting, and an anvil. You’ll want to craft an Anvil using four Iron Ingots and three Iron Blocks – a total of 31 Iron Ingots. You’ll also need Exp levels, but how many will depend on the item you’re enchanting.

If you’re adding Mending to an already enchanted item, it will require more levels.

2.

Place items onto the Anvil

Pop your Anvil on the floor, and click the Use button on it. You’ll see three boxes appear; the first is for your tool, the second for your enchanted book (or second enchanted item), and the third will be the resultant item. Doing this can also add durability to a part-damaged item. Hover over the third box to check out your new tool before committing, and also to find out how many levels it will use up.

You can also name your new item in an anvil, but this will require one additional Exp level. Also, if you’re combining two enchanted items, try swapping them over to make sure you’re getting the cheapest deal!

3.

Take your new item out for a spin!

That’s it! Once you’ve checked everything over, simply remove the item from the third Anvil box, and you’ll have your new Mending item in your hand.

If you want to add any more enchantments to it in the future, simply pop it back in the Anvil with another, compatible enchanted item to roll them into one.

What other enchantments should I put with Mending?

Mending can be put with almost any other enchantment, though you cannot enchant a bow with both Mending and Infinity, for obvious reasons. Though, of course, we’d love an almost indestructible bow and never-ending arrows.

Other than the Infinity incompatibility, you can pair Mending with any other enchantment available on the item you are enchanting. The best and most obvious to start with is Unbreaking, which can be paired with Mending on all the items above. Unbreaking gives items a chance of not losing durability when in use. For example, a Pickaxe may retain durability when breaking a block, or a piece of armor may not lost durability when hit. As you can imagine, then, this is the perfect compliment to Mending to both prolong the life of your items that Exp coming as much as possible.

From there, it depends on the tool and what you’re going to be using it for. For Pickaxes, our other favorite enchantments are Silk Touch and Fortune. These two are incompatible with one another, so you might want two separate pickaxes. Fortune is another excellent enchantment to get as early as possible, as it has a chance of increasing ore drops – more Diamonds! Silk Touch, on the other hand, drops the exact item, so you can use it to gather the ore block itself, perhaps to save inventory space and use Fortune on it when you get back to base. Silk Touch can also be used on other tools to break Grass Blocks, Bee Nests, Amethyst Buds and much, much more.

On a Sword, why not consider Fire Aspect? A great enchantment for getting ready cooked food from mob kills. And, on a Fishing Rod, add Lure and Luck of the Sea for faster fishing and better loot.

That’s about it for the Mending enchantment in Minecraft. If enchanting your item with Mending isn’t working, double check that the item is compatible, that you have enough levels and that you’re not trying to enchant a Bow already equipped with Infinity. If you’re still having trouble, let us know in the comments and we’ll help you out!

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!