Fortune Enchantment in Minecraft: What It Does and How to Use It

Max level

III

Applies to

Pickaxe, Shovel, Axe, Hoe

Incompatible with

Silk Touch

Obtained via

Enchanting table, anvil, villager trade

Fortune multiplies how much a block actually drops when you mine it — more diamonds, more redstone, more lapis per block, for anything whose normal drop is a resource rather than the block itself.

What Fortune actually does

Fortune increases the quantity of a block's natural drop, with better odds at higher levels. It doesn't change what drops — a Fortune pickaxe still converts diamond ore into diamonds, coal ore into coal, and so on — it just stacks better odds of getting extra copies of that same drop on top of the normal conversion. The exact bonus varies by which block/drop is involved (some blocks like gravel-to-flint or glowstone get a flat extra-item chance per level, while ore drops get a multiplier-style bonus), but the core idea is the same across every Fortune-affected block: more resource per block broken.

How to use it

Fortune is the correct pick any time your goal is "get more of a resource" — ore veins, gravel farms for flint, redstone/lapis farming, nether quartz. It's mutually exclusive with Silk Touch, so you need to decide per-tool (or just keep one of each) whether you want more drops or the block itself.

Well-known builds that use it

Fortune is one half of the central tradeoff covered in depth in Fortune vs. Silk Touch — read that guide for exactly when each one wins. It's also one of the standard four enchantments (alongside Efficiency, Unbreaking, Mending) on The Ideal Pickaxe, Ideal Shovel, and Ideal Hoe builds.

• Efficiency V
• Fortune III
• Unbreaking III
• Mending I

Build the Fortune Pick →

Frequently asked questions

What does Fortune III do exactly?

It increases the quantity of a block's natural drop — more diamonds, redstone, lapis, or similar per block mined — with better odds at Fortune III than I or II. It multiplies the normal drop rather than changing what drops.

Can you have Fortune and Silk Touch on the same tool?

No — they're mutually exclusive. See Fortune vs. Silk Touch for exactly why and how to pick between them.

Does Fortune work on mob drops?

Fortune itself is a tool enchantment for blocks, not mobs — the enchantment that increases mob drop quantity is Looting, applied to a weapon instead.

Is Fortune worth it on a shovel?

Yes for one specific case: Fortune on a shovel increases the chance gravel drops flint instead of gravel, which is otherwise a slow, luck-based process without it.