# Fortune vs. Silk Touch: Can You Have Both? _Published October 9, 2026_ Fortune and Silk Touch can never go on the same tool — here's why they conflict and when to pick each for mining. See the real anvil cost for either pick. Fortune and Silk Touch are the two enchantments every miner wants, and the anvil will only ever let you have one of them at a time. Here's exactly why, and when each one actually wins. ## Why you can't have both Fortune and Silk Touch are hard mutually exclusive — confirmed directly in the game's own conflict data (`fortune` excludes `silk_touch`, and `silk_touch` excludes `fortune`), the same way Sharpness excludes Smite or Depth Strider excludes Frost Walker. It isn't a balance nudge the anvil is softening for you: try to combine them and the one you're sacrificing gets dropped rather than merged. The reason is mechanical, not arbitrary — the two enchantments change what a block *becomes* when mined in genuinely incompatible ways, covered below. ## What Fortune actually does Fortune multiplies the quantity of a block's natural drop. Mining diamond, coal, lapis, redstone, nether quartz, or similar ore with a Fortune pickaxe gives you a chance at extra copies of that ore's normal drop — more diamonds per block, more redstone dust, and so on. The block is still being broken and converted into its item drop exactly as it always would be; Fortune just stacks better odds on top of that normal conversion. It's the correct enchantment any time your goal is "get more of the resource." ## What Silk Touch actually does Silk Touch does the opposite: it stops the block from converting into its normal drop at all, and instead gives you the block itself, intact. That's the only way to pick up ore blocks as placeable blocks instead of raw ore items, keep ice or packed/blue ice from melting back into water when moved, harvest a fully-grown amethyst cluster without breaking it into shards, or grab grass blocks, mycelium, and glass without them reverting to dirt or shattering. (One common myth worth killing: Silk Touch does *not* let you pick up a monster spawner — spawners drop nothing when mined, Silk Touch or not.) Since Silk Touch is fundamentally about preserving the block rather than multiplying a drop, there's no "quantity" for it to boost — which is also exactly why it can't coexist with Fortune on the same tool. ## When to pick each Pick **Fortune** for anything you're mining to consume or sell in bulk — diamond veins, redstone farms, lapis for enchanting, nether quartz. Pick **Silk Touch** for anything you want to relocate or display unmodified — moving an ore vein's blocks into a build, harvesting amethyst clusters for décor, collecting grass/mycelium for terraforming, or grabbing ice without melting it. Most serious players don't actually choose between them long-term — they keep one pickaxe of each, the same way a pickaxe-and-sword build splits across two tools rather than compromising on one. See [The Ideal Pickaxe Enchantments](/guides/ideal-pickaxe) for how either slots in alongside Efficiency, Unbreaking, and Mending on a full build. ## The Fortune Pick **Diamond Pickaxe:** Efficiency V, Fortune III, Unbreaking III, Mending I [Build the Fortune Pick →](https://anvilcalc.com/#eyJpIjoiZGlhbW9uZF9waWNrYXhlIiwiZSI6W10sInAiOjAsIm4iOiIiLCJ0IjpbWyJlZmZpY2llbmN5Iiw1XSxbImZvcnR1bmUiLDNdLFsidW5icmVha2luZyIsM10sWyJtZW5kaW5nIiwxXV19) ## The Silk Touch Pick **Diamond Pickaxe:** Efficiency V, Silk Touch I, Unbreaking III, Mending I [Build the Silk Touch Pick →](https://anvilcalc.com/#eyJpIjoiZGlhbW9uZF9waWNrYXhlIiwiZSI6W10sInAiOjAsIm4iOiIiLCJ0IjpbWyJlZmZpY2llbmN5Iiw1XSxbInNpbGtfdG91Y2giLDFdLFsidW5icmVha2luZyIsM10sWyJtZW5kaW5nIiwxXV19) See also [Best Enchantments in Minecraft](/guides/best-enchantments-minecraft), which lists the best enchantments for every item with the one decision that matters for each. ## Frequently asked questions **Can you have Fortune and Silk Touch on the same pickaxe?** No, they're hard mutually exclusive — confirmed directly in the game's enchantment conflict data. Combining them on an anvil just drops whichever one you sacrifice; it's the same kind of either/or as Sharpness vs. Smite or Depth Strider vs. Frost Walker. **Why can't Fortune and Silk Touch be combined?** They change what happens when a block breaks in opposite ways. Fortune multiplies the quantity of the block's normal drop; Silk Touch replaces that drop entirely with the block itself, unmodified. There's no shared 'quantity' for Fortune to boost once Silk Touch is preserving the block instead of converting it, so the game treats them as solving the same situation in conflicting ways. **Does Silk Touch work on diamond ore?** Yes — it gives you the diamond ore block itself instead of raw diamonds, which you can place and re-mine later (with Fortune, at that point) or use for a build. It works the same way on any ore: redstone ore, lapis ore, nether quartz ore, and so on. **What's the best enchantment for mining, Fortune or Silk Touch?** Fortune is the better default for resource gathering — more diamonds, more redstone, more lapis per block mined. Silk Touch is better any time you want the block intact: moving ore veins, harvesting amethyst clusters, or collecting ice and grass blocks without them changing. Most players keep one pickaxe enchanted each way rather than treating it as a single best answer. **Can Silk Touch pick up a mob spawner?** No — this is a persistent myth. Monster spawners drop nothing when mined in vanilla survival regardless of Silk Touch; that behavior was patched out all the way back in a Beta 1.9 prerelease. Silk Touch does work on ores, ice, glass, grass/mycelium, and amethyst clusters, just not spawners.