Looting Enchantment in Minecraft: What It Does and Does Looting Give XP?

Max level

III

Applies to

Sword, Spear

Incompatible with

Nothing

Obtained via

Enchanting table, anvil, villager trade

Looting increases how many items mobs drop when killed, and raises the odds of rare drops that are already technically possible without it but vanishingly unlikely.

What Looting actually does

It increases the maximum number of items for most common drops by 1 per level — so a mob that could already drop 0–2 of something can drop up to 0–3 at Looting I, 0–4 at Looting II, and so on. Separately, it raises the chance of rare and equipment drops by roughly 1 percentage point per level: zombies have a base chance around 0.83% to drop each of iron, a carrot, or a potato, and each Looting level adds about +1% to that. Endermen's ender pearl drop count climbs with Looting level too — up to 4 pearls per kill at Looting III, versus just 1 without it, which roughly quadruples average pearl yield over a farming session. Exact base rates vary per mob; the per-level bonus itself is the consistent part across all of them.

How to use it

Looting has no conflicts with anything — it's never a tradeoff against another enchantment, only a question of whether the weapon doing the killing is worth spending the anvil levels on. It's essential for any mob farm you stand at and kill manually (ender pearls, rotten flesh-adjacent rare drops, general grinding efficiency), and irrelevant for a weapon you'll never use on a farm.

Well-known builds that use it

Looting is one of the five enchantments on the "God Sword" build — it doesn't conflict with Sharpness, Smite, or Bane of Arthropods, so it's included regardless of which damage type you pick for that build's one real decision.

• Sharpness V
• Looting III
• Sweeping Edge III
• Unbreaking III
• Mending I

Build the God Sword →

Frequently asked questions

Does Looting give more XP?

No — Looting affects item drops, not experience orb amounts. XP gain from a kill is unaffected by Looting level.

Does Looting increase ender pearl drops?

Yes — endermen can drop up to 4 pearls per kill at Looting III, versus just 1 without the enchantment, roughly quadrupling average pearl yield over a farming session.

What's the maximum level of Looting?

III, obtainable from the enchanting table, an anvil, or a villager trade.

Does Looting conflict with Sharpness, Smite, or Bane of Arthropods?

No — Looting has no exclusions with any enchantment. It's always a free addition on top of whichever damage-type pick you make.

Is Looting worth putting on every sword?

It's worth it on any weapon you'll actually use for farming or regular mob-killing. For a weapon that never sees combat (a display item, or a sword you'll never swing), it's wasted anvil levels.