All Minecraft Axe Enchantments (And When To Use Them)

Updated: 23 Nov 2022 1:00 pm
All Minecraft Axe Enchantments (And When To Use Them)
Let's see which enchantments we need to absolutely pwn the ecosystem.
UmutCeylan's picture BY: Umut C.


Here's A List of All Minecraft Axe Enchantments (And When To Use Them)

We are always talking about what enchantments you should use on your pickaxe, sword, armor, etc. We gotta talk more about what enchantments we should use on our axe. Axe is an integral part of the game and if you want all those delicisious log blocks, you better get yourself a brand new enchanting table.

Before we learn what enchantments we should have on our axe for different situations; first, let's look at all of them and analyze them. Let's go!

 

9. Fortune

“Increases the number and/or chances of specific item drops.”
Fortune stats:

  • On average, Fortune I gives you +33% increase in drops.
  • On average, Fortune II gives you +75% increase in drops.
  • On average, Fortune III gives you +120% increase in drops.

Fortune is one of the best enchantments in the game, and you really should have it on your pickaxe. However, we are talking about the axe here, and at first glance, it doesn’t seem like Fortune would be that useful for the axe. Well, before we get to that, let’s explain what Fortune does.

With Fortune, you can get more item drops from the things you break. Even though it doesn’t work on everything, with a Fortune axe, you can break leaves and get many more saplings and apples from those leaves.

If that doesn’t excite you, other blocks that can be broken faster with an axe like melon blocks will also drop more melons. Also, add gravel, vines, grass, and so on to the list as well.
Use Fortune if:

  • You want to drop more apples and saplings from the leaves you break.
  • You have farms like melon farms and want to get more melon per melon block by breaking them with a Fortune axe.
  • You enjoy getting more drops from the blocks you break. I mean, who doesn’t like that?

 

8. Silk Touch

“Causes certain blocks to drop themselves as items instead of their usual drops when mined.”
Silk Touch stats:

  • Incompatible with Fortune
  • Enchantment weight: 1
  • Maximum level: 1

Silk Touch is also an amazing enchantment for your pickaxe but if we have to be really clear and honest here, it really doesn’t do much for the axe. While you can still enjoy the benefits of Silk Touch with your axe, because you can’t break things like ore blocks with it… Yeah, you get my point.

However, it’s not entirely useless. If you like to get leaf blocks or other blocks like melon blocks not as item drops but as blocks, Silk Touch for your axe could prove really useful to you. 

Also, you need to keep in mind that you can only have Silk Touch or Fortune on your axe. You really can’t have both. So, choose wisely, depending on what you want to do with your axe, and don’t forget to have fun. That’s the most important part.
Use Silk Touch if:

  • You want to farm leaf blocks.
  • You want to farm other blocks such as melon blocks.

 

7. Efficiency

“Increases the player's mining speed.”
Efficiency stats:

  • Maximum level: V
  • Enchantment weight: 10
  • Increase the chance for a shield to be temporarily disabled by an axe by %25 for level I, %30 percent for level II, %35 for level III, %40 for level IV, %45 for level V.

Efficiency is always good. With an efficiency V axe, you can go through those logs like they are nothing. As we know, efficiency makes your tool work much faster and break blocks much faster. While you can get Efficiency IV with normal means, and normal means is with an enchantment table, you will need to find Efficiency V in the world or combine 2 Efficiency IV items to create one.

Also, while Efficiency helps your axe devour all those trees, it also has a hidden but very useful benefit, especially if you are keen on playing PvP.

As some of you might know, combat with an axe has a benefit. If you attack someone who is holding a shield and blocking, there is a chance that you will disable their shield with your attack. Well, this chance increases a lot with the efficiency enchantment, so, there’s that.
Use Efficiency if:

  • You want to farm more wood and similar blocks much, much faster.
  • You play PvP against people who use shields.
  • You have things like a melon farm where you need to break the melon blocks with your axe and want to do it much faster.

 

6. Unbreaking

“Gives a chance for an item to avoid durability reduction when it is used, effectively increasing the item's durability.”
Unbreaking stats:

  • %100 more durability on a tool at Unbreaking I
  • %200 more durability on a tool at Unbreaking II
  • %300 more durability on a tool at Unbreaking III

Unbreaking is useful on a variety of tools; well, probably every tool. The thing is, it might be most useful here, depending on how much you like collecting wood VS how much you like mining. Well, the axe seems to run out of durability really fast for some reason.

So, what do we do? With the Unbreaking enchantment, you can make your axe last a lot longer and can farm much more wood with your axe before you need to go and repair it. It is also useful if you plan on using your axe for combat as well.
Use Unbreaking if:

  • You don’t want to always repair your axe.
  • You plan on destroying forests with your axe.
  • You engage in combat with an axe since that will also consume a lot of durability.

 

5. Sharpness

“Increases melee damage.”
Sharpness stats:

  • 1 half heart of damage increase for Sharpness I
  • 1.5 half heart of damage increase for Sharpness II
  • 2 half heart of damage increase for Sharpness III
  • 2.5 half heart of damage increase for Sharpness IV
  • 3 half heart of damage increase for Sharpness V

Sharpness works the exact same way it does on the sword. If you decide to enchant your axe with Sharpness, it will increase the attack damage of your tool depending on the level of sharpness. With Sharpness V as a maximum, you can expect to do 3 half hearts of damage more to your enemies. 

While 3 half hearts doesn’t seem like a lot at a first glance, it will definitely make the difference when you are fighting enemies, whether it be PvP or PvE.

 If you would like to do more damage, but only for some enemy types, keep reading the other enchantments, we might have some surprises for you.
Use Sharpness if:

  • You want to do more damage to your enemies.
  • You have a mob farm where you need to quickly kill the mobs with your axe.
  • You are engaging in combat, regardless of if it’s PvE or PvP.

 

4. Smite

“Increases the damage dealt to undead mobs.”
Smite stats:

  • 2.5 half hearts of damage on your sword for Smite I
  • 5 half hearts of damage on your sword for Smite II
  • 7.5 half hearts of damage on your sword for Smite III
  • 10 half hearts of damage on your sword for Smite IV
  • 12.5 half hearts of damage on your sword for Smite V

Well, you are here. Maybe you don’t enjoy the amount of damage Sharpness gives to you, maybe you just enjoy killing undead mobs much more than the other ones, who knows. The important thing is you are here. So, let’s learn how Smite functions.

Smite will give almost four times as more damage to your axe compared to Sharpness with the downside being that you will only get to inflict this damage on undead mobs. What are these undead mobs? Here you go, here is the list:

Skeletons, zombies, zombie villagers, withers, wither skeletons, zombified piglins, skeleton horses, zombie horses, strays, husks, phantoms, drowned, and zoglins.
Use Smite if:

  • You have a mob farm for only undead mobs, like a wither skeleton farm.
  • You find yourself fighting undead mobs much more than the other mobs.
  • You enjoy your 8 damage netherite sword to do 20.5 damage against undead mobs. Yeah, that’s a lot of damage!

 

3. Bane of Arthropods

“Increases damage to arthropod mobs.”
Bane of Arthropods stats:

  • 2.5 half hearts of damage on your sword for Bane of Arthropods I
  • 5 half hearts of damage on your sword for Bane of Arthropods II
  • 7.5 half hearts of damage on your sword for Bane of Arthropods III
  • 10 half hearts of damage on your sword for Bane of Arthropods IV
  • 12.5 half hearts of damage on your sword for Bane of Arthropods V

This enchantment functions the same way Smite does, but only works against arthropod mobs. Much like the previous enchantment, if you think that you come across these types of enemies more in your casual time in Minecraft, this enchantment might be for you. 

What are these arthropod mobs? Well, they are spiders, cave spiders, bees, silverfish, and endermites. If you find yourself in an area, like a mineshaft for example, where you will be seeing a lot of these creatures, Bane of Arthropods might be for you.
Use Bane of Arthropods if:

  • You go to places like mineshafts which have a lot of spider spawners.
  • You have as spider mob farm, or a farm for any other arthropod.
  • You like when your axe does more than 20 damage to a certain mob type.

 

2. Mending

“Restores durability of an item using experience.”
Mending stats:

  • Enchantment weight: 2
  • Incompatible with Infinity
  • Maximum level: 1

Mending is definitely a unique enchantment. If you pick up XP orbs anywhere, and if you are holding or wearing equipment with Mending on it at the same time, rather than the orbs increasing your XP and leveling you up, they will instead be used up to repair your equipment. Pretty neat, huh?

Because you don’t really get XP when you break trees, an axe with Mending might not be the most useful equipment with Mending, but it’s still amazing to not waste netherite or diamonds to fix your axe and instead, you can just go to your mob farm and wait there for a minute. I mean, who doesn’t want that?
Use Mending if:

  • You want to repair your axe less and not waste diamonds or netherite while doing so.
  • You have a good axe, and you want to keep it around and not break it.

 

1. Curse of Vanishing

“Causes the item to disappear on death.”
Curse of Vanishing stats:

  • Maximum level: 1
  • Not able to disenchant.
  • Only appliable with an anvil.

Curse of Vanishing is definitely an enchantment that took me some time to work my head around, since I kind of forgot it existed for a while. Well, what does it do? It causes your item to disappear on death rather than drop on the ground. 

That’s not good, is it? It’s not really useful either. So, why would you enchant it? Well, you can’t anyway. You can’t acquire it from an enchantment table and can only find the books around the world or find tools as loot that already have the enchantment on them. Its purpose is to make your loot a little bit less OP and maybe riskier, or more interesting. 

If you have a good axe with Curse of Vanishing on it, just be really careful that you don’t accidently die while it is in your inventory.
Use Curse of Vanishing if:

  • You like adrenaline and risk in your life, I don’t know. I don’t judge. If you’ve found your equipment with Curse of Vanishing, you can’t get rid of the enchantment, so you kind of have to use it in some circumstances.

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Umut C.
As hundred-percenting every game slowly drove me mad, I've decided to dedicate some of the madness to writing about those games.
Gamer Since: 2004
Favorite Genre: RPG
Currently Playing: Minecraft
Top 3 Favorite Games:Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, DOTA 2, Dark Souls 3