How To Use Minecraft Tools, Armor, and Anvils

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Steps for enchanting a tool or armor
After constructing an enchantment table, here’s how to enchant a tool or armor:
Open up your enchanting screen by right-clicking the enchantment table.

The enchanting screen will show, with a place where you can place items, and three buttons.

Select the tool or armor or other item (like a book) to be enchanted.

Hoes, shears, and horse armor cannot be enchanted on a table.

Power the enchantment table with lapis lazuli.

In the latest version of Minecraft, in order to enchant things, your enchantment table must be powered with lapis lazuli. You do so by placing lapis lazuli in the second block on the enchantment table. Place the same number of lapis lazuli as you have numbers on the right.

Then you’re given three options, displaying only the Experience points required for the spell, and, by moving your mouse over the option, one of the enchantments that you are guaranteed to get, with a one, two, or three as your price. You aren’t given any indication if you will gain any other enchantments for the item you are enchanting however.

Choose one of the three options randomly.

The options are labeled using a special language (with characters called “runes”) but even when ciphered, the combination of runes doesn’t disclose the enchantment. The higher the level option, the higher level enchantment you will receive. To know what the item was enchanted with, mouse over the item in your inventory and the enchantment will appear under the item name.

To get around the problem of not knowing what an item will be enchanted with, many players choose to enchant a book, revealing the enchantment, and then use the book on an anvil to apply a specific enchantment to the desired item. (For a list of enchantments, see the table below.)

The one, two, and three are your cost. Choosing one means you will have to pay one experience point and one lapis lazuli. Paying three means you will have to pay three experience points and three lapis lazuli.
 
In Minecraft, mastering tools, armor, and anvils is key to surviving and thriving in the blocky world. Tools like pickaxes, axes, and shovels are essential for gathering resources—each type excels at specific tasks: pickaxes break stone and ores, axes chop wood, and shovels dig dirt or sand. Craft them using materials from wood to diamond, with higher-tier options lasting longer and working faster. Don’t forget to repair them with the same material or enchant them for extra perks like efficiency or fortune.
Armor—helmets, chestplates, leggings, and boots—protects you from damage, with leather, iron, gold, diamond, and netherite offering varying levels of defense. Enchanting armor with protection, fire resistance, or unbreaking can drastically boost its effectiveness. Keep an eye on durability; when it runs out, the armor breaks, leaving you vulnerable.
Anvils are versatile workstations where you can repair tools and armor by combining two of the same item, rename gear, or apply enchantments from books. Each operation costs experience levels, so plan wisely—using a material matching the item (like iron ingots for iron tools) can reduce the XP cost compared to combining two damaged items.
Whether you’re mining deep underground, battling mobs, or building your dream base, knowing how to use these items effectively ensures you’re always prepared for whatever the Minecraft world throws your way.
 
List of enchantments
Enchantment Effect Item
Protection Reduces damage Armor
Fire protection Reduces fire damage Armor
Feather falling Reduces fall damage Boots
Blast protection Reduces explosion damage Armor
Thorns Damages attacker Armor (helmet, boots, leggings only on anvil)
Projectile protection Reduces projectile damage Armor
Aqua infinity Increases underwater mining speed Helmet
Respiration Increases underwater breathing Helmet
Depth strider Increases underwater movement Boots
Looting Increases mob drops Sword
Knockback Increases the range that a mob is thrown when hit Sword
Fire aspect Sets items on fire Sword
Bane of anthropods Increase damage to spiders, silverfish, and endermites Sword and ax (ax only on anvil)
Sharpness Increases damage Sword and ax (ax only on anvil)
Smite Increases damage to skeletons, zombies, and withers Sword and ax (ax only on anvil)
Fortune Increases block drops Sword, shovel, ax
Silk touch Mined blocks drop themselves Pickaxe, shovel, ax, and shears (shears on anvil)
Efficiency Increases mining speed Pickaxe, shovel, ax, and shears (shears on anvil)
Lure Increases rate of fish biting Fishing pole
Luck of the sea Decreases odds of junk when fishing Fishing pole
Infinity Shooting uses up no arrows Bow
Punch Increases knockback Bow
Flame Sets arrows on fire Bow
Power Increases damage Bow
Unbreaking Increases durability Armor, sword, bow, fishing pole, axe, shovel, and pickaxe; using an anvil —shears, flint and steel, carrot on a stick, and hoe
 
How to craft an anvil in Minecraft
An anvil is useful in Minecraft to repair items without breaking the enchantment. An anvil can also combine enchantments and rename items. An anvil is more complicated than a crafting table, and it requires experience points (earned by completing tasks in the game, and by killing mobs) and materials in order to repair an item.
Like many of the items an anvil repairs — including tools, weapons, and armor — an anvil becomes damaged with use and lasts, on average, for only 24 uses. After you craft an anvil, it opens its own menu when you right-click it.

To repair or enchant an item, follow these steps:
Place the item in the first slot.

Place the sacrifice piece in the second slot.

For enchantments, you place the enchantment book in the second slot. For other items, you place an ingredient (such as iron ingot to repair an iron sword) in the second slot.

The game calculates the cost of the repair and determines whether you have enough experience points (seen as the bottom bar below the hearts) to complete the repair. (This statement does not apply to Creative mode.) Repairing on an anvil is generally only desirable to preserve enchantments.


You can drop an anvil and inflict considerable damage on mobs and players (the anvil will not be damaged).
An anvil is one of the more expensive items to craft, because it requires more iron than a complete set of iron armor. To craft an anvil, place three blocks of iron on the top horizontal row, three iron ingots on the bottom horizontal row, and 1 iron ingot in the middle square. Then you have a total of 31 iron ingots (blocks are composed of nine iron ingots apiece).
 
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