Guides / Ideal Tools / The Ideal Shovel Enchantments
The Ideal Shovel Enchantments
Published September 13, 2026
Shovels get overlooked, but they carry the same enchantment categories as a pickaxe — mining and mining loot — plus one genuinely great, specific use case.
Fortune III (yes, really)
Mining a block of gravel has a flat 10% chance to drop flint instead of the block. Fortune changes that chance dramatically: Fortune I brings it to 16%, Fortune II to 25%, and Fortune III makes it 100% — every single gravel block breaks into flint. If you've ever needed flint for arrows without hunting down a river of gravel piece by piece, a Fortune III shovel through a gravel patch (or a gravel duper/generator) is the fastest source in the game.
Efficiency V
Shovels already break gravel, sand, dirt, clay, snow, and soul sand quickly; Efficiency V makes large-scale terraforming or clay farming near-instant.
Silk Touch — situational swap
Swap Fortune for Silk Touch when you specifically want intact grass blocks, mycelium, or podzol rather than their dirt drop — useful for building, less useful for flint farming, and mutually exclusive with Fortune for the same reason as a pickaxe.
Unbreaking III + Mending
Standard durability pairing — reduced damage rate plus XP-funded self-repair.
The Fortune Shovel
Efficiency V- Fortune III
- Unbreaking III
- Mending I
Give this build in-game
/give @s minecraft:diamond_shovel[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_shovel /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 Shovel
Keep a second one for grass blocks, mycelium, podzol, or snow layers you want to pick up whole rather than as their converted drop.
- Efficiency V
- Silk Touch I
- Unbreaking III
- Mending I
Give this build in-game
/give @s minecraft:diamond_shovel[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_shovel /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 really work on a shovel for gravel and flint?
Yes, and the effect is dramatic. Gravel has a flat 10% chance to drop flint instead of the block with no enchantment. Fortune raises that to 16% at level I, 25% at level II, and a full 100% at level III — every gravel block you break with a Fortune III shovel drops flint.
Can a shovel have Silk Touch and Fortune at the same time?
No. Fortune and Silk Touch both live in the mining_loot category and explicitly exclude each other on a shovel, exactly as they do on a pickaxe, axe, or hoe — you need two shovels if you want both effects available.
What blocks does a shovel actually mine faster?
Gravel, sand, dirt, clay, snow, mycelium, podzol, and soul sand all count as the shovel's correct tool, meaning it breaks them faster than an axe, pickaxe, or bare hands. Efficiency V on top of that makes large-scale terraforming or clay farming close to instant.
Is it worth keeping a separate Silk Touch shovel?
Only if you specifically want intact grass blocks, mycelium, or podzol for building rather than their converted dirt drop. In Java Edition it also changes how you harvest snow layers: a non-Silk-Touch shovel drops a snowball per layer, while Silk Touch instead picks up the snow layer block itself. For flint farming or general terraforming, the Fortune shovel is strictly better.