Minecraft Spear Enchantments: Best Build for Java & Bedrock

The best spear enchantments in Minecraft are Lunge III, Sharpness V, Unbreaking III and Mending, and the whole set costs 20 anvil levels on both Java and Bedrock Edition. This guide lists every enchantment a spear accepts, what each one does for the spear's two attacks (the jab and the charge), which tier to build on, and the one real decision in the build: which damage enchantment to pick, because Sharpness, Smite and Bane of Arthropods exclude each other. If you also want fire, knockback and mob drops, the God Spear below adds Fire Aspect II, Knockback II and Looting III for 46 levels.

Which spear enchantments can you get in Minecraft?

According to the wiki's Spear page, a spear can receive these ten enchantments, and the list is the same on Java and Bedrock Edition (the calculator's data agrees on every tier, wooden to netherite):

Mending and Curse of Vanishing never come from an enchanting table, so they always arrive as books. Sweeping Edge is not on the list: it is a sword enchantment, and the spear does not take it. Lunge is the only enchantment exclusive to the spear. Sharpness, Smite and Bane of Arthropods are mutually exclusive, and Lunge conflicts with nothing. For how to get the books themselves, see the Lunge page and All Minecraft Enchantments.

Jab and charge attacks: what each enchantment does

A spear has two ways to attack. A jab is the normal attack button: it has a fixed cooldown that cannot be skipped, and damage depends on the tier. A charge attack is made by holding the use button: if you and the target are moving toward each other fast enough (4.6 blocks per second or more), the spear deals damage that scales with that speed. A charge attack can be made while the jab is on cooldown, so alternating the two roughly doubles how often you can hit.

• Lunge only triggers on a jab (the jab does not have to hit anything). It does not trigger on a charge attack, but starting a charge right after a Lunge jab lets you connect it with the speed you just gained.
• Sharpness, Smite and Bane of Arthropods raise the damage of jab attacks (see the table below). On Java, the wiki notes that enchantments on a spear held in the offhand do not apply to its charge attacks, so keep an enchanted spear in your main hand.
• Fire Aspect, Looting and Knockback work like they do on a sword. On Bedrock, Fire Aspect also lights unlit candles, campfires and TNT.
• Unbreaking and Mending keep the spear alive. Lunge costs 1 extra durability each time it fires, so a Lunge spear wears out faster than a plain one.

The best spear build: Lunge III, Sharpness V, Unbreaking III, Mending

• Lunge III
• Sharpness V
• Unbreaking III
• Mending I

Build the Lunge Spear →

/give @s minecraft:diamond_spear[enchantments={"minecraft:lunge":3,"minecraft:mending":1,"minecraft:sharpness":5,"minecraft:unbreaking":3}]

/give @s diamond_spear
/enchant @s lunge 3
/enchant @s mending 1
/enchant @s sharpness 5
/enchant @s unbreaking 3

Why this set: Lunge is what makes a spear a spear, since it turns every jab into a dash. Unbreaking III and Mending offset the extra durability Lunge burns, and Sharpness V is the strongest all-round damage choice. Computed with the calculator's solver on a fresh spear and one fresh book per enchantment, the whole build costs 20 levels and ends with a prior-work count of 3. The cheapest plan and the fewest-prior-work plan cost the same here, on Java and on Bedrock, and the cost is identical on an iron, diamond or netherite spear, because the anvil price depends on the enchantments and prior work, not the tier. See Enchanting Strategy and Minimum Prior Work for how the order of the combines matters when you add more books.

If you want more than four enchantments, see the God Spear below, which puts Fire Aspect II, Knockback II and Looting III on top of this build.

Which damage enchantment?

Sharpness is the default: it adds damage to every target. Pick Smite instead if you mostly fight undead (zombies, skeletons, the Wither), or Bane of Arthropods for spiders and silverfish. You can only have one of the three on a spear. Wiki jab damage for the two top tiers, in damage points (2 points = 1 heart), shows the size of the gain:

The God Spear: the Lunge build plus Fire Aspect, Knockback and Looting

• Sharpness V
• Lunge III
• Fire Aspect II
• Knockback II
• Looting III
• Unbreaking III
• Mending I

Build the God Spear →

/give @s minecraft:diamond_spear[enchantments={"minecraft:fire_aspect":2,"minecraft:knockback":2,"minecraft:looting":3,"minecraft:lunge":3,"minecraft:mending":1,"minecraft:sharpness":5,"minecraft:unbreaking":3}]

/give @s diamond_spear
/enchant @s fire_aspect 2
/enchant @s knockback 2
/enchant @s looting 3
/enchant @s lunge 3
/enchant @s mending 1
/enchant @s sharpness 5
/enchant @s unbreaking 3

Players call the spear with everything on it the God Spear: the Lunge build above plus the three enchantments a spear shares with a sword. The spear accepts all seven on both Java and Bedrock Edition, and none of them conflict (Sharpness only excludes Smite and Bane of Arthropods, and Lunge, Fire Aspect, Knockback, Looting, Unbreaking and Mending exclude nothing). What each extra enchantment adds, and what it costs you:

• Looting III raises mob drops and the odds of rare drops, so this is the version to take to a mob farm. It has no downside beyond its anvil levels.
• Fire Aspect II sets every target on fire for 8 seconds on top of the hit, which is extra damage over time. The downside: fire burns away certain mob drops, so it is unwanted against mobs you are collecting intact drops from, and it is a hazard in a wooden base.
• Knockback II sends a hit target about 6.7 blocks back instead of about 1.6. That keeps dangerous mobs at a distance, but it also pushes a mob out of reach of your next jab, which works against a spear that wants to stay in range, so many players leave it off.

The plain Lunge build is the cheaper choice when you do not need the extras; the God Spear is for the player who wants one spear for everything. You can drop Knockback or Fire Aspect from the build in the calculator and it will price what is left.

Computed with the calculator's solver on a fresh diamond spear and one fresh book per enchantment, the God Spear costs 46 levels with the Min XP objective (prior work 4, biggest step 14 levels) and 47 levels with the Min prior work objective (prior work 3), identical on Java and on Bedrock and well under the 39-level cap for every single step. That is 26 levels more than the 20 of the Lunge build. As with the Lunge build, the price does not depend on the spear's tier. See Minimum Prior Work for why the two objectives differ.

Which spear tier should you enchant?

Higher tiers hit harder and last far longer, and their charge attacks multiply speed by more (0.7x for wood and gold up to 1.2x for netherite), but their jab cooldown is longer, so a wooden spear can Lunge about 1.54 times per second and a netherite one about 0.87. For a build you keep, diamond or netherite is the standard choice: with Mending the durability is a non-issue and the damage gap is large. Netherite is the strongest tier and is made by upgrading a diamond spear with a netherite ingot at a smithing table. The copper jab is never better than stone's, which has the same damage and a shorter cooldown. Enchantability only matters for what an enchanting table offers (gold's 22 is the highest), not for books and the anvil.

Repairing an enchanted spear

On an anvil you repair a spear with units of its tier's repair material, each restoring 25% of its maximum durability (rounded down), or combine two spears of the same tier. Both methods keep the enchantments. Combining two spears adds an extra 12% durability on Java, and about 6% on Bedrock, per the wiki. With Mending on the spear you rarely need either.

Java vs. Bedrock

• Availability: spears were added in Java 1.21.11 and Bedrock 1.21.130, and Lunge arrived with them in both.
• Same enchantments: both editions accept the same ten enchantments, and the calculator prices the build the same on both.
• Jab damage: Bedrock's jab does 1 more damage than Java's at every tier, and its durabilities are 1 higher (60 for wood, 2,032 for netherite).
• Cooldown: Java uses an attack cooldown that cannot be skipped. Bedrock uses a use cooldown like an ender pearl's, and it applies to every spear tier in your inventory, not only the one you jabbed with. The lengths in seconds match.
• Offhand: a Java spear can be held in the offhand to charge-attack, but its enchantments do not apply to those charge attacks. A Bedrock spear cannot be held in the offhand.

See Java vs. Bedrock Anvil Cost for how the anvil itself differs between the editions.

See also Best Enchantments in Minecraft, which lists the best enchantments for every item with the one decision that matters for each, and How to Use an Anvil for applying the books.

To see where this build sits among all your gear, see Minecraft Enchanting Order.