Minecraft Enchanting Table: How to Set Up and Use It?

The Minecraft Enchanting Table is a mid-game tool, but if you want to use it as soon as possible, then you should know exactly how it works and how to craft it.

The Enchanting Table is a type of block where you can enchant weapons, armor, books, and tools. You can also enchant certain items, although particular enchants require the Anvil.

These enchants are buffs you put on the gear, and you can put various simultaneously. To use the table effectively, though, you need various Bookshelves, which are a rare find.

Minecraft Enchanting Table Crafting Recipe

An Enchanting table requires the following items:

• 1 book
• 2 diamonds (you can find them on the Overworld’s underground, and water sources in caves. The lower you go, the higher the chances of finding Diamond Ore blocks).
• 3 Obsidian blocks (you can find these on water sources near lava pools, but you need a diamond pickaxe to mine it).

The ores can be difficult to find, but you probably already have a book stored somewhere, or a place to find one.

After you find the items, open the Crafting Table, and put the items in the following pattern: 

Then, you can put it on the inventory and place it anywhere on the map or your base. Afterward, remember that the chance of getting higher-tier Enchantments on the table is by placing as many bookshelves around the tables as possible. The ideal setup should be like so:

Minecraft worlds generate bookshelves in libraries within strongholds, village buildings, and woodland mansions.

The exact number of bookshelves you need to maximize the table is 15. 15 bookshelves equal 90 wooden planks and 45 books. The recipe for each recipe is 3 wooden planks (like Oak, Spruce, or Berch) and three books: 

To set up the table put it about two blocks from the wall. Then, place the bookshelves around the table, one block away, while leaving space in front of you to walk and use it.

15 bookshelves will put the table on level 30, which is its maximum level. That means each bookshelf offers 2 levels. Leveling up the table allows you to craft higher-tier enchantments. 

How to Use Enchanting Tables?

You can place any gear item, tool, or weapon on the Enchanting table to buff it with magic. We recommend doing it with diamond gear and above only, as it can be an expensive process.

To enchant an item, these are the steps:

1. Put the item in the enchanting spot. It can be armor, a weapon, a pickaxe, or an ax. 
2. Put up to 3 Lapis Lazuli in the other spot. Each Lapis Lazuli will unlock a possible enchantment option.
3. Once you put the Lapis Lazuli, you’ll see the possible enchantments you can put on the item. These options are randomized, and the chance of getting a better enchantment increase with the bookshelves you place. 
4. Hover the mouse over each enchantment to read the description and choose one to finish.

There are a few extra rules and tricks we can teach you about the Enchanting Table. First of all, take a look at the “2 Enchantment Levels” you see in the image below. That’s the level price you pay for each enchantment.

For example, if you’re level 40, and you pay a “2 Enchantment Levels” price, you’d end up as a level 38 character after the enchantment. This price is on top of the Lapis Lazuli price listed.

Sometimes, enchantments with a high price can randomly add an extra buff to your weapon. It’s a rare mechanic, but it may happen.

Then, to refresh the enchantments you’re seeing on the table, you need to use them. The process is known as a “dummy enchantment,” where you use a low-tier weapon to get rid of the enchantments you don’t want. Each enchantment you use refreshes the options on the table.

We recommend using one low-tier weapon and one Lapis Lazuli to reset the “enchantment Seed.”

If you see an enchantment you like and you want to save it, you can place it on a book via the Enchantment Table. You still need Lapis Lazuli and Levels to pay it, though.

Beware, because you generally get the worst enchantment on books. Also, to enchant an item with the book, you need to you the anvil instead.

Finding Lapis Lazuli

If you’re wondering about the Lapis Lazuli, you can find these on Lapis Lazuli ore blocks. Each drops four to nine Lapis Lazuli stones. 

You can mine these with stone, iron, diamond, and netherite pickaxes. Lastly, you can find these blocks in Woodland Mansions, at the center of “villager statues.” 

You may also find these blocks in the underworld, close to bedrock. The lower you go, the higher the chances of finding the ore. 

Items You Can Enchant

The items you can enchant are:

• Arrows
• Trident
• Crossbows
• Fishing rods
• Swords
• Pickaxes
• Axes
• Shovels
• Hoes
• Sears
• Body armor
• Leg armor
• Helmets 
• Turtle Shells

You can enchant any type of armor, tool, and weapon as well (like iron, wooden, or Netherite). Also, different items get better chances of receiving a higher-level enchantment on the table.

For example, most iron and stone items have the worst “enchantability.” Diamond tools have the second worst, whereas Netherite and golden tools have the best. Iron is right in the middle.

List of Available Enchants

Let’s wrap up the article by detailing every available enchantment in Minecraft:

Enchantment	Item	Description	Max level	Incompatible with
Aqua Affinity	Helms, Turtle Shells	Increases mining speed underwater	I
Bane of Arthropods	Axes, Sords (only Axes on Java Edition)	It adds extra damage and applies Slowness IV to arthropod enemies (bees, cave spiders, silverfish, ender mites, and spiders)	V	Smite, Sharpness
Blast Protection	All armor types	Reduces knockback and explosion damage	IV	Fire Protection, Protection, Projectile Protection
Channeling	Tridents	Tridents can channel lightning bolts during thunderstorms	I	Riptide
Cleaving	Axes	Increases shield stunning and damage	V	Sharpness, Bane of Arthropods, Smite
Curse of Binding	All armor types	You can’t remove items from armor slots	I
Curse of Vanishing	All items	The item disappears when you die	I
Depth Strider	Boots	Increases moving speed underwater	III	Frostwalker
Efficiency	Shovels, axes, hoes, pickaxes	Increases mining speed. Also, it increases the axe shield stun chance	V
Feather Falling	Boots	Reduces damage on fall	IV
Fire Aspect	Swords	Attacks set enemies on fire	II
Fire Protection	All armor types	It reduces burn time and fire damage	IV	Blast Protection, Protection, Projectile Protection
Flame	Bows	Attacks set enemies on fire	I
Fortune	Hoes, Shovels, Axes, Pickaxes	Increases the drop on certain blocks	III	Silk Touch
Frostwalker	Boots	Allows you to walk on water	II	Depth Strider
Impaling	Trident	Deals extra damage to oceanic mobs	V
Infinity	Bow	Bows no longer spend arrows when you shoot	I	Mending
Knockback	Swords	Increases knockback	II
Looting	Swords	Increases loot from the mobs you defeat	III
Loyalty	Tridents	Your trident returns after you throw it	III	Riptide
Luck of the Sea	Fishing Rods	Increases the chance of finding good loot	III
Lure	Fishing Rods	Accelerates the speed at which the rod catches something	III
Multishot	Crossbows	Shoots three arrows for the cost of one arrow	I
Piercing	Crossbows	Arrows pass through multiple mobs and structures	IV	Multishot
Power	Bows	Increases the damage of arrows	V
Projectile Protection	All armor types	Reduces the damage you take from projectiles	IV	Protection, Blast Protection, Fire Protection
Protection	All armor types	Reduces almost every type of damage	IV	Blast Protection, Fire Protection, Projectile Protection
Punch	Bows	Increases knockback for arrows	IV
Quick Charge	Crossbows	Increases crossbow reload time	III
Respiration	Helmets, turtle shells	Adds underwater breathing time	III
Riptide	Tridents	If you’re in water or rain, throwing the trident will throw you along	III	Channeling, Loyalty
Sharpness	Swords (swords and axes in the Bedrock Edition)	Adds damage	V	Bane of Arthropods, Smite
Silk Touch	Shovels, Pickaxes, Axes, Hoes	When you mine blocks, you will get the entire block instead of an item. It also allows you to mine various types of ice blocks	V	Fortune
Smite	Swords (axes as well on the Bedrock edition)	Increases the damage you deal to undead enemies	V	Bane of Arthropods, Sharpness
Soul Speed	Boots	Increases movement speed if you’re on soul soil or soul land	III
Sweeping Edge (Java Edition only)	Swords	Enhances sweeping attack damage	III
Thorns	Chestplates	Reflets damage taken on hit	III
Unbreaking	All armor, weapon, and tool types	Increases the durability of items

You can put up to seven enchantments on an item on Bedrock Edition. On Java, you can put up to eight enchantments, as Java offers the Sweeping Edge enchantment.