All sword enchantments in Minecraft and what they do

Minecraft’s world may be full of color and blocky charm, but there are also a number of deadly enemies that inhabit each biome. Luckily, there are a number of sword enchantments you can use to keep your foes at bay. 

Whether you’re looking to quickly cut down hordes of pillager patrols or wishing to beat the game’s Ender Dragon boss, you’ll want to kit your characters out with Minecraft’s best sword enchantment. Not only does imbuing your sword with various enchantments raise its damage, it also provides you with game-changing buffs and effects. 

From enchantments that knock your foes back to those that increase mob drops, there are plenty of magical properties that can turn Minecraft’s humble sword into the ultimate weapon. However, knowing which enchantment to use can be a little tricky, so make sure you check out the description below to find out what each one does. 

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Contents

• All Minecraft Sword enchantments
  • Knockback
  • Fire Aspect
  • Bane of Arthropods
  • Looting
  • Unbreaking
  • Sharpness
  • Smite
  • Mending
  • Curse of Vanishing
  • Sweeping Edge

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All Minecraft Sword enchantments

Here’s a list of all the Sword Enchantments in Minecraft, what they do, and how to get them:

Knockback

The Knockback enchantment is incredibly useful for those that wish to put distance between themselves and their enemies. Just one lethal blow will send even the fiercest of foes flying backward. Knockback can be leveled up twice, which will enable the player to send mobs a total of six blocks away. 

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Combine Knockback with a bow to quickly take down your foes before they can get to your or send them spiraling into the abyss below. 

Fire Aspect

As the name suggests, Fire Aspect imbues the sword with red hot flames. This enchantment sets the target ablaze for up to four seconds, forcing any enemies hit to take burning damage for the duration. 

While the majority of Minecraft’s mobs will take damage from Fire Aspect’s flames, there are a few that are immune to its scorching hot slashes. Nether exclusive mobs are naturally resistant to fire, so it’s often best to avoid using this enchantment if you wish to slay them. 

Additionally, any enemies killed with the Fire Aspect sword will drop cooked meat, making it the perfect meal prep weapon. 

Bane of Arthropods

Bane of Arthropods increases the amount of damage dealt to spiders, cave spiders, silverfish, Bees, and Endermites. This makes it the perfect enchantment for cave exploring and doing general foraging in the early stages of the game. 

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This damage buff can be applied to both sword and pickaxes, giving intrepid explorers an incredibly reliable way to deal with low-level mobs. Bane of Arthropods can be leveled up to a maximum of five times, increasing the damage with every level gained. 

Looting

Whether you’re looking to farm specific mobs or just wish to be rewarded with more materials for your heroic efforts, then the Looting enchantment will enable you to do just that. To make matters even better, this enchantment will also increase the drop rate of rarer monster materials. Be sure to use the Looting Enchantment to help speed up your monster hunting sessions. 

Unbreaking

Weapon and tool breakage is a part of the Minecraft loop. Even the best items eventually break, but the Unbreaking enchantment will help to decrease the deterioration of your weapons, tools, and armor. While Unbreaking doesn’t guarantee that specific items won’t break, it does greatly increase the chances of the enchanted item’s durability not being reduced.

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This is an extremely useful enchantment that is particularly useful when wanting your items to last that little bit longer. After all, constantly crafting new ones can get a little tiresome, especially when you need rarer materials to make them. 

Sharpness

Sharpness shares similarities to the Bane of Arthropods enchantment as it buffs your sword’s damage. However, unlike the insect-killing enchantment above, Sharpness deals extra damage to any enemy mob. 

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This enchantment can be leveled up to five times, making this enchantment absolutely devastating when paired with the game’s most powerful swords and axes. 

Smite

Minecraft’s undead enemies are some of the toughest in the game thanks to their high damage, so if you find yourself struggling to survive against the undead hordes, then the Smite attachment is a must. Smite can be leveled up to a total of five times, adding 2.5 extra damage to each hit. This makes dealing with Minecraft’s skeletons and zombies incredibly easy. 

Mending

Mending is extremely useful if you have a weapon you wish to permanently keep. This enchantment will automatically repair your weapons, tools, and armor whenever you absorb any experience orbs. 

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Essentially, this allows the player to use their most prized possessions without the fear of breaking them. Consider using this enchantment when you’re gear is getting a little worse for wear. 

Curse of Vanishing

When a sword or piece of equipment is enchanted with Curse of Vanishing, it will disappear from the player’s world upon their death. You can mitigate this effect by simply dropping the imbued enchanted item on the floor before your health bar reaches zero. 

While this may seem rather extreme, this enchantment is great for those of you who enjoy playing on Minecraft’s PvP servers. 

Sweeping Edge

While Minecraft’s generic sword jab is great at in 1v1 scenarios, it can leave you high and dry against hordes of enemies. We’ve all been in scenarios where a bunch of zombies or skeletons have caught us off guard. This can be particularly problematic when you’re busy exploring underground caverns or mining. 

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After all, the lack of space makes dealing with multiple enemies rather difficult. Fortunately, Sweeping Edge enables you to deal even more damage to multiple foes in just one fell sword swing. 

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By using all of these Minecraft sword enchantments, you’ll be able to tackle anything the game throws at you. Be sure to check out our other Minecraft guides here.