# The Ideal Pickaxe Enchantments _Published September 13, 2026_ Efficiency, Fortune or Silk Touch, Unbreaking, and Mending — what each does and why you can't have Fortune and Silk Touch together. A pickaxe only really needs four decisions made well — and because one of those is a hard either/or, most players end up keeping **two** "God Pick(axe)" builds side by side, not one: the **Fortune Pick** and the **Silk Touch Pick**. Here's both, and the mechanics behind each pick. ## Efficiency V Efficiency adds a flat bonus to mining speed per level, and the jump from IV to V is the single biggest speed increase in the whole enchantment (each level adds `1 + level²` to the tool's mining speed, so level 5 alone adds 26 — more than levels 1 through 4 combined). Combined with a Haste II beacon or potion, an Efficiency V pickaxe breaks stone and ore almost instantly. ## Fortune III *or* Silk Touch — never both These two are mutually exclusive on the same item because they solve opposite problems. **Fortune** multiplies the *quantity* of an ore's natural drop (extra diamonds, lapis, redstone, coal), which is what you want for gathering resources to use or sell. **Silk Touch** instead forces the block itself to drop, unmodified — the only way to pick up ore blocks, ice, grass blocks, or a fully-grown amethyst cluster intact. Most players keep one pickaxe of each rather than picking a single "best" option, since they serve entirely different jobs. ## Unbreaking III + Mending Unbreaking gives each point of durability damage a chance to be ignored (75% of the time at level III), stretching out how long the tool lasts between repairs. Mending then converts any XP you pick up into durability instead of levels, which — combined with Unbreaking's reduced damage rate — means a Mending pickaxe you use regularly can go essentially forever without ever touching an anvil again for repairs. None of these four conflict with each other, so each exact combination below is achievable in a single item — the only decision AnvilCalc can't make for you is Fortune vs. Silk Touch, since that's a "which pickaxe do I need right now" call, not a cost one. ## The Fortune Pick For gathering ore, redstone, and lapis in quantity — this is the one you're using 90% of the time. **Diamond Pickaxe:** Efficiency V, Fortune III, Unbreaking III, Mending I [Build the Fortune Pick →](https://anvilcalc.com/#eyJpIjoiZGlhbW9uZF9waWNrYXhlIiwiZSI6W10sInAiOjAsIm4iOiIiLCJ0IjpbWyJlZmZpY2llbmN5Iiw1XSxbImZvcnR1bmUiLDNdLFsidW5icmVha2luZyIsM10sWyJtZW5kaW5nIiwxXV19) **Give this build in-game** Java 26.3: ``` /give @s minecraft:diamond_pickaxe[enchantments={"minecraft:efficiency":5,"minecraft:fortune":3,"minecraft:mending":1,"minecraft:unbreaking":3}] ``` Bedrock 26.60: ``` /give @s diamond_pickaxe /enchant @s efficiency 5 /enchant @s fortune 3 /enchant @s mending 1 /enchant @s unbreaking 3 ``` ## The Silk Touch Pick Keep a second one for ore blocks, ice, glass, and anything else you want to pick up whole instead of converted into its normal drop. **Diamond Pickaxe:** Efficiency V, Silk Touch I, Unbreaking III, Mending I [Build the Silk Touch Pick →](https://anvilcalc.com/#eyJpIjoiZGlhbW9uZF9waWNrYXhlIiwiZSI6W10sInAiOjAsIm4iOiIiLCJ0IjpbWyJlZmZpY2llbmN5Iiw1XSxbInNpbGtfdG91Y2giLDFdLFsidW5icmVha2luZyIsM10sWyJtZW5kaW5nIiwxXV19) **Give this build in-game** Java 26.3: ``` /give @s minecraft:diamond_pickaxe[enchantments={"minecraft:efficiency":5,"minecraft:mending":1,"minecraft:silk_touch":1,"minecraft:unbreaking":3}] ``` Bedrock 26.60: ``` /give @s diamond_pickaxe /enchant @s efficiency 5 /enchant @s mending 1 /enchant @s silk_touch 1 /enchant @s unbreaking 3 ``` 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. To see where this build sits among all your gear, see [Minecraft Enchanting Order](/guides/minecraft-enchanting-order). ## Frequently asked questions **Can a pickaxe have Fortune, Efficiency, Unbreaking, and Mending all at once?** Yes. The only conflict anywhere in the pickaxe's enchantment pool is Fortune versus Silk Touch — Efficiency, Unbreaking, and Mending don't exclude anything, including each other, so all four stack freely on one Fortune pickaxe. **Can Efficiency and Silk Touch go on the same pickaxe?** Yes. Silk Touch's only conflict is with Fortune — it has no issue sitting alongside Efficiency, Unbreaking, or Mending, which is exactly what the Silk Touch Pick build above uses. **What order should I combine two already-enchanted pickaxes in an anvil?** It doesn't matter which one you put in the base slot versus the sacrifice slot for cost purposes — Minecraft's prior-work penalty only cares about whichever of the two items has the higher existing anvil-use count, plus one; it never adds the two counts together. That's also why it's often cheaper to build up two separate pickaxes partway and merge them, rather than always piling every new enchantment onto the same one. See Enchanting Strategy for the full formula. **Why do players keep two separate pickaxes instead of one 'best' pickaxe?** Because Fortune and Silk Touch solve opposite problems and can never be on the same item — Fortune multiplies how much ore you get, Silk Touch lets you pick up the block itself unmodified. Most players keep a Fortune Pick for gathering and a Silk Touch Pick for ore blocks, ice, and anything else they want intact, rather than treating it as a single either/or upgrade. **Why is Efficiency V worth going for specifically?** Each level of Efficiency adds 1 + level squared to mining speed, so level V alone adds 26 — more than levels 1 through 4 combined. It's the single biggest jump in the whole enchantment, and paired with a Haste II beacon or potion it makes stone and ore break almost instantly.