Guides / Ideal Tools / The Ideal Hoe Enchantments
The Ideal Hoe Enchantments
Published September 13, 2026
The hoe is the most underrated mining tool in the game, because most players never learn it is a mining tool for two specific block families.
Why a hoe at all
Hoes are the designated "correct tool" for leaves and for the entire sculk family (sculk, sculk veins, sculk catalysts, sculk shriekers, and sculk sensors) — meaning a hoe breaks these blocks noticeably faster than any other tool, axe included. That makes an enchanted hoe the standard gear for two farms: automated leaf farms (saplings, sticks, and apples) and clearing sculk quickly and safely after a Warden encounter.
Efficiency V
Stacks with the hoe's built-in speed bonus on leaves/sculk for near-instant clearing at scale — the whole point of running an automatic leaf farm through a hoe instead of an axe.
Fortune III
Leaves have a small independent chance to drop a sapling (and on oak/dark oak, a separate chance at an apple); Fortune increases those drop chances the same way it does for ores, meaningfully improving yield on a large leaf farm. Swap for Silk Touch if you'd rather pick up the leaf block itself for building.
Unbreaking III + Mending
Same durability logic as every other tool — slower damage accumulation, then XP-funded repair instead of anvil repair.
The Fortune Hoe
Efficiency V- Fortune III
- Unbreaking III
- Mending I
Give this build in-game
/give @s minecraft:diamond_hoe[enchantments={"minecraft:efficiency":5,"minecraft:fortune":3,"minecraft:mending":1,"minecraft:unbreaking":3}]Needs cheats enabled and operator permission (or creative mode with commands allowed).
/give @s diamond_hoe /enchant @s efficiency 5 /enchant @s fortune 3 /enchant @s mending 1 /enchant @s unbreaking 3
Run the commands one at a time, in order. /enchant works on the item held in your hand. Needs cheats enabled.
The Silk Touch Hoe
Keep a second one for picking up leaf blocks whole instead of relying on their independent sapling/apple drop chance.
- Efficiency V
- Silk Touch I
- Unbreaking III
- Mending I
Give this build in-game
/give @s minecraft:diamond_hoe[enchantments={"minecraft:efficiency":5,"minecraft:mending":1,"minecraft:silk_touch":1,"minecraft:unbreaking":3}]Needs cheats enabled and operator permission (or creative mode with commands allowed).
/give @s diamond_hoe /enchant @s efficiency 5 /enchant @s mending 1 /enchant @s silk_touch 1 /enchant @s unbreaking 3
Run the commands one at a time, in order. /enchant works on the item held in your hand. Needs cheats enabled.
See also Best Enchantments in Minecraft, which lists the best enchantments for every item with the one decision that matters for each.
To see where this build sits among all your gear, see Minecraft Enchanting Order.
Frequently asked questions
Does Fortune actually do anything useful on a hoe?
Yes, on leaves specifically. Normal leaves have a 5% base chance to drop a sapling when broken (2.5% for jungle leaves), and Fortune raises that to roughly 6.25% at level I, 8.33% at level II, and 10% at level III — the same scaling Fortune applies to ore drops. Oak and dark oak leaves also have a small independent apple-drop chance that Fortune boosts the same way.
Can a hoe have both Efficiency and Fortune?
Yes. Efficiency is a mining-category enchantment with no exclusions, and Fortune only conflicts with Silk Touch — not Efficiency. A hoe with Efficiency V and Fortune III is a completely legal combination.
Can a hoe have Fortune and Silk Touch at the same time?
No. Fortune and Silk Touch both live in the mining_loot category and explicitly exclude each other on every tool that can take them, hoes included — you need a separate hoe for each.
Does a hoe actually mine leaves and sculk faster than an axe?
Yes — hoes are the game's designated correct tool for leaves and for the entire sculk family (sculk, sculk veins, catalysts, shriekers, and sensors), breaking them noticeably faster than an axe, sword, or bare hands. A diamond hoe breaks a sculk sensor in roughly 0.3 seconds versus 2.25 seconds by hand.