Guides / Enchanting Strategy / Enchanted Books From Fishing: Odds, Examples and Anvil Costs
Enchanted Books From Fishing: Odds, Examples and Anvil Costs
Published October 23, 2026
An enchanted book from fishing is the one common source that can carry several enchantments at once, treasure enchantments such as Mending included. That makes it a very different anvil sacrifice from a villager's book (one enchantment) or most books from the enchanting table. This guide covers how the book is rolled, four example books, what happens when the same book meets different items, and how to feed such a book to the calculator. For the rod that catches it, see the Max Fishing Rod guide.
How fishing produces an enchanted book
Every catch falls into one of three categories: fish, junk or treasure. Without Luck of the Sea, a fishing rod has an 85% chance of a fish, 10% of junk and 5% of treasure. An enchanted book is one of the six treasure items, so it is the book that makes treasure worth farming. This is what the Minecraft Wiki says (checked on 2026-10-23):
| Luck of the Sea | Treasure catches | Enchanted book per cast, Java Edition (1 in 6 of treasure) | Enchanted book per cast, Bedrock Edition (6 in 31 of treasure) |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | 5% | 0.83% | 0.97% |
| I | 7.07% | 1.18% | 1.37% |
| II | 9.18% | 1.53% | 1.78% |
| III | 11.34% | 1.89% | 2.19% |
- The book's roll. The enchantment probabilities are the same as a level 30 enchantment on an enchanting table, but treasure enchantments such as Mending are available and the chance of multiple enchantments is not reduced. Swift Sneak, Soul Speed and Wind Burst cannot be obtained this way.
- Compared with other books. A librarian's enchanted book picks one random enchantment and a random level, so it carries exactly one. A book enchanted at a table has a reduced chance of several: if several would be added, one is removed at random. Mending cannot come from the table at all.
- Luck of the Sea only changes how often treasure appears. It moves catches out of junk and fish into the treasure category (the table above). The wiki gives no change to what is on the book, so a rod with Luck of the Sea III gets books more often, not better books.
- Java Edition needs open water. To catch any treasure item the bobber must sit in open water: the 5x4x5 area around it must be only air, lily pads or still water source blocks. A one-block puddle never gives a book.
- Never combined, so prior work 0. A freshly fished book has not been through an anvil. Its prior work is 0, which is what makes a multi-enchantment fished book valuable (see Minimum Prior Work).
A fished book never holds conflicting enchantments: when the game picks an enchantment, it removes every incompatible one from the remaining candidates, so Fortune and Silk Touch, or two kinds of Protection, can never share a fished book.
Four example fished books
The roll is random, so these are examples of combinations the game can produce (no conflicting pairs, every level within its maximum), not a promise of what you will catch. The cost is the XP of applying the book to a fresh diamond item of the matching kind (prior work 0), computed with AnvilCalc's solver on Java Edition 1.21.11; the costs are identical on Bedrock Edition 1.19.1.
| Example book | Enchantments | Applied to | XP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pickaxe book | Efficiency V, Unbreaking III, Mending | Diamond pickaxe | 10 |
| Armor book | Protection IV, Unbreaking III, Mending | Diamond chestplate | 9 |
| Sword book | Sharpness V, Looting III, Unbreaking III | Diamond sword | 14 |
| Fortune book | Fortune III, Efficiency V, Unbreaking III | Diamond pickaxe | 14 |
A Silk Touch book looks the same with Silk Touch I in place of Fortune III, since the two cannot be on one book.
Same book, different items: what transfers
Each enchantment on the book is charged as its level times a multiplier (Mending, Looting and Fortune count double, the others in these examples once), plus the prior-work penalties of both sides. Take the pickaxe book (Efficiency V, Unbreaking III, Mending) and a fresh item with prior work 0:
| Item | Transfers | Ignored | XP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diamond pickaxe | Efficiency V (5), Unbreaking III (3), Mending (2) | none | 10 |
| Diamond sword | Unbreaking III (3), Mending (2) | Efficiency V: it does not apply to swords | 5 |
| Diamond chestplate | Unbreaking III (3), Mending (2) | Efficiency V: it does not apply to armor | 5 |
The wiki's cost procedure ignores an enchantment that cannot be applied to the target, so it adds nothing to the price. Calculator note: the calculator's planner models this too. A book that carries a non-applicable enchantment is still a valid source for the enchantments that fit: the ignored enchantment is not transferred and costs 0. For the sword above, Only use plans 5 XP in one step, and May use picks the book because two fresh books would cost 6.
Conflicts and level merging
- A conflicting enchantment is dropped, with a penalty in Java. Apply the Fortune book to a pickaxe that already has Silk Touch: Silk Touch stays, Fortune is dropped, and Efficiency V and Unbreaking III transfer. The cost is 9 levels in Java Edition (5 + 3 + 1 for the dropped Fortune) and 8 in Bedrock Edition, which adds nothing for a conflict. The same book on a pickaxe with no Silk Touch costs 14.
- Higher level wins, equal levels combine one up. A pickaxe with Efficiency IV and Unbreaking II plus a book with Efficiency IV, Unbreaking III and Mending ends with Efficiency V (equal levels), Unbreaking III (higher wins) and Mending. That costs 10 levels in Java and 4 in Bedrock.
- Java also charges for enchantments that do not improve. The pickaxe book on a pickaxe that already has Efficiency V and Unbreaking III only adds Mending, but costs 10 in Java; Bedrock charges 2, only the increase.
Where the XP comes from
For the pickaxe book on a fresh pickaxe: Efficiency V gives 5, Unbreaking III gives 3, Mending gives 1 times 2, so 10 levels, and the pickaxe leaves the anvil with prior work 1. If the pickaxe already had prior work 1 (it went through the anvil once), the same book costs 11 levels, because the pickaxe's penalty of 1 level is added, and the result has prior work 2. The penalty grows as 2^c - 1, which is why a fished book is best applied early. See Enchanting Strategy for the full formula.
Before and after: the plan with the fished book
Here is the calculator's cheapest plan for four builds on Java Edition 1.21.11, with and without a fished book at prior work 0 (the other enchantments assumed to come from fresh single-enchantment books). Min XP and Min prior work gave the same numbers in all four, and so does Bedrock Edition 1.19.1.
| Build | Without the fished book | With the example book |
|---|---|---|
| Pickaxe: Efficiency V, Unbreaking III, Mending | 14 XP, prior work 2 | Pickaxe book: 10 XP, prior work 1 |
| Pickaxe: those plus Fortune III | 23 XP, prior work 3 | Pickaxe book plus a fresh Fortune book: 17 XP, prior work 2 |
| Sword: Sharpness V, Looting III, Unbreaking III, Mending | 23 XP, prior work 3 | Sword book plus a fresh Mending book: 17 XP, prior work 2 |
| Chestplate: Protection IV, Unbreaking III, Mending, Thorns III | 28 XP, prior work 3 | Armor book plus a fresh Thorns book: 22 XP, prior work 2 |
Four enchantments from single-enchantment books cannot finish below prior work 3, because the lowest possible is ceil(log2(n + 1)). A fished book that already holds three of them is one leaf instead of three, so the same builds finish at prior work 2 and cost 4 to 6 levels less. That is the effect behind the Min prior work mode.
Using a fished book with the anvil, the calculator and the inventory
- Open your inventory and tap + Add item. Leave it on Book, then tap each enchantment on the book to cycle it to the right level. Copy exactly what the book's tooltip shows.
- Under where you got it, choose Fishing (a label only: it never changes the cost). Leave Already combined on an anvil before off, since a fished book has prior work 0, and set the quantity if you caught several identical books.
- In the calculator, pick the item and the enchantments you want. With the Inventory usage control on May use, the calculator uses the book when it makes the plan cheaper and assumes any other book is obtainable. Only use considers just what you own, so the plan is marked blocked where you lack a book. The control picks for you: Don't use until the active inventory holds something relevant to the item, then May use; see Using the Calculator.
- Switch Min XP / Min prior work to compare: Min prior work finds the plan whose finished item has the fewest anvil operations on it, which is where a fresh multi-enchantment book helps most.
- Follow the steps on the anvil: put the item in the left slot and the book in the right slot, as in How to Use an Anvil.
The same source also works for AI agents through the MCP server: each source in anvil_migration_path takes a list of enchantments, so a book with several enchantments is one source. For managing the list, see Using Your Inventory; for pricing the other books in a plan, see Cheapest Enchanted Books.
Plan a pickaxe with a fished book →
Frequently asked questions
How often does fishing give an enchanted book?
About 0.83% of casts in Java Edition (5% treasure, and the book is 1 in 6 of the treasure items) and about 0.97% in Bedrock Edition (6 in 31), without Luck of the Sea. With Luck of the Sea III the treasure chance rises to 11.34%, which is about 1.89% in Java and 2.19% in Bedrock. In Java the bobber must be in open water to catch treasure at all.
Is a fished Mending book worth keeping?
Yes. Mending cannot come from the enchanting table, only from treasure sources, and a fished book that carries it can bring other enchantments at the same time with prior work 0. Mending costs 2 levels at the anvil (its level times a multiplier of 2), so putting a Mending book on a pickaxe or armor piece is cheap. Librarians can also sell Mending at a doubled price, so a fished one saves emeralds rather than being irreplaceable.
Can a fished book hold conflicting enchantments?
No. When the game picks each enchantment for the book it removes every incompatible one from the remaining candidates, so Fortune and Silk Touch, Sharpness and Smite, or two kinds of Protection never share a fished book. Conflicts only appear when you apply a book to an item that already has a conflicting enchantment, and then the book's enchantment is dropped.
Does Luck of the Sea change the enchantments on the book?
No. According to the Minecraft Wiki, Luck of the Sea only raises the share of treasure catches (from 5% to 7.07%, 9.18% and 11.34% for levels I to III) at the expense of junk and fish. The wiki describes the book's roll as the same level 30 style roll whatever the rod, so you get books more often, not stronger ones.
Which enchantments can a fished book not have?
Swift Sneak, Soul Speed and Wind Burst cannot be obtained from fishing. Treasure enchantments such as Mending, Frost Walker and the two curses can appear, and the chance of several enchantments on one book is not reduced.
What happens to an enchantment that does not fit my item?
In the game it is ignored and adds nothing to the cost, so the pickaxe book on a sword transfers only Unbreaking III and Mending, 5 levels instead of 10. AnvilCalc's planner does the same: it costs such an enchantment at 0, does not transfer it, and can still use the book for the enchantments that fit your item.
Can I trade or duplicate a fished book?
This guide cannot confirm a way to do either. The wiki's librarian trades list enchanted books as something a librarian sells, with one enchantment each, not as something it buys. Treat a fished book as a one-off: using it on an anvil consumes it. Because it keeps prior work 0 only while it is untouched, apply it before you combine it with other books.
Does a multi-enchantment fished book really lower the prior work?
Yes, while it is fresh. A book with three of your four enchantments at prior work 0 is one leaf of the combine tree instead of three, so the finished pickaxe in our example ends at prior work 2 instead of 3 and costs 17 levels instead of 23 (Java Edition 1.21.11). A book you built yourself by combining books carries its own prior work and loses that advantage.