Minecraft Enchanting Order: What to Enchant First and Why

The best Minecraft enchanting order is a Fortune pickaxe first, then a shield, a chestplate and your sword, then the rest of the armor, then your everyday tools, and the specialist gear last. Nothing in the game forces that order: an anvil only looks at the two items in its slots, so finishing one item never changes what the next one costs. It is the order that gives the most survival and mining benefit for the XP you have at each point, and this guide shows all 18 builds in order, why each one sits where it does, and the four things that really do change what a build costs depending on when and how you do it, with numbers from AnvilCalc's own solver.

Checked against Java 1.21.11, 26.1, 26.3 and Bedrock 1.19.1, 26.52, 26.60 on October 24, 2026.

What to enchant first in Minecraft: the full order

Every build below is the "ideal" or "god" build from its own guide, made on a fresh diamond item (a fresh bow, shield and so on where the item has no tiers) with every enchantment on its own fresh single-enchantment book. The levels are the total of the calculator's cheapest order (Min XP) on Java Edition 1.21.11. The order is our recommendation, a judgement about what pays off first, not a game rule; the level counts are computed, not estimated.

Stage 1: Start here

1. Fortune Pick (23 levels): Faster mining and more drops from every ore pay for all the builds after it, and Mending keeps it repaired.
2. Ideal Shield (6 levels): The cheapest build on the list, and it blocks attacks from the front.
3. Ideal Chestplate (28 levels): The piece with the most armor points; Protection IV takes the same 16% off whichever piece it is on.
4. God Sword (33 levels): Your main weapon: the other half of staying alive, and the most expensive build of the first stage.

Stage 2: Finish the armor

5. Ideal Leggings (28 levels): The second-biggest armor piece for the same levels as the chestplate.
6. Depth Strider Boots (30 levels): Feather Falling IV takes 48% off fall damage; Depth Strider covers water.
7. Ideal Helmet (45 levels): The most expensive build here (six enchantments, a 14-level last step) for the fewest armor points, so it goes last.

Stage 3: Everyday tools

8. Ideal Axe (22 levels): Fast tree and wood work plus a second weapon, for fewer levels than the sword.
9. Infinity Bow (16 levels): Ranged damage for 16 levels; Infinity needs only one arrow.
10. Max Fishing Rod (24 levels): Slow, but it brings in enchanted books and XP while you do something else.
11. Silk Touch Pick (21 levels): The second pickaxe, for blocks you want to pick up whole.
12. Ideal Shears (14 levels): A cheap three-enchantment build, mostly a quality-of-life upgrade.

Stage 4: Specialist gear

13. Fortune Shovel (23 levels): Same cost as the Fortune pickaxe, for a job you do less often.
14. Riptide Trident (28 levels): Fast travel through water for a build that costs more than most tools; only worth it if you will use it.
15. Multishot Crossbow (17 levels): A second ranged weapon, only worth the levels once the bow is done.
16. Density Mace (23 levels): A smash-attack specialist that needs a heavy core first, so it is a late build.
17. Lunge Spear (20 levels): A melee weapon for the jab and lunge playstyle, for players who want it.
18. Fortune Hoe (23 levels): The least urgent: farming works without it.

On Bedrock Edition (checked on 26.52) there is no Sweeping Edge, so the God Sword costs 23 levels instead of 33 and the Riptide Trident 23 instead of 28; every other number on this page is the same on both editions.

Start with the Fortune Pick →

/give @s minecraft:diamond_pickaxe[enchantments={"minecraft:efficiency":5,"minecraft:fortune":3,"minecraft:mending":1,"minecraft:unbreaking":3}]

/give @s diamond_pickaxe
/enchant @s efficiency 5
/enchant @s fortune 3
/enchant @s mending 1
/enchant @s unbreaking 3

The list stays at 18 builds. If you want the spear with everything on it, the God Spear (Sharpness V, Lunge III, Fire Aspect II, Knockback II, Looting III, Unbreaking III and Mending) costs 46 levels on both editions, which is 26 more than the Lunge Spear; it is an optional upgrade to the stage 4 spear.

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

How the order was decided

Three questions, asked of every build:

• What does one level of anvil work buy? Defence and mining speed come before convenience. A shield is 6 levels, a chestplate 28 and a helmet 45, so the shield is almost free and the helmet is the last thing you should pay for among the armor.
• Can you pay its biggest step yet? An anvil step is paid in levels, and you must hold at least that many. The biggest step of every stage 1 build is 12 levels or less (9 for the pickaxe, 4 for the shield, 12 for the chestplate and the sword), so you can start them early; the helmet's last step is 14 and the trident's is 14.
• How much of the day do you use it? A pickaxe, a sword and armor are used constantly, so their durability and damage matter every minute. A hoe is not.

The reason the order is a recommendation and not a formula: building the chestplate first does not make the helmet cheaper. According to the Minecraft Wiki's anvil mechanics page, an anvil operation costs the value of the enchantments being added plus the prior work penalties of the two items in the slots, and nothing else. So the total for all 18 builds is the same whatever order you pick. What the order changes is how soon each benefit arrives, and the four effects below.

Armor before most tools

Protection IV takes 16% off damage on one piece, and the wiki says the piece it is on does not change its strength, so a full set of Protection IV gives 64% general damage reduction. The pieces differ in two other ways: how many armor points the diamond piece gives (wiki) and what the build costs (solver).

That is why the chestplate comes first and the helmet last. The boots go before the helmet because Feather Falling IV is the one enchantment on the armor that cuts fall damage directly: the wiki gives 12% per level, 48% at level IV. See Best Armor Enchantments for the choices on each piece.

Spend XP as you earn it, not after you bank it

An anvil takes levels, but a level is worth more XP points the higher your level is (see XP Levels and Sources). So the same anvil step costs fewer XP points when you pay it from a low level. Here are five of the builds both ways: every step paid from exactly the level it needs (best case), against banking all the levels first and doing the whole build in one sitting.

Real play falls between the two columns, but the direction holds: do each step as soon as you hold its level instead of saving up for a whole build. A build that is a long sequence of small steps, like the helmet, gains the most.

Enchant first, repair later

Every anvil repair adds prior work to the item, and prior work raises every later operation on it. Enchant a fresh item and let Mending repair it afterwards, instead of repairing the plain item in the anvil first. For the Fortune Pick on a diamond pickaxe:

The same applies to netherite. According to the wiki, upgrading diamond gear in the smithing table keeps the enchantments, the prior work penalty and the durability lost, and the solver prices the netherite pickaxe at the same 23 levels. So do not wait for netherite: build and enchant the diamond item now and upgrade it later (see Netherite Conversion).

Mending takes your XP first

Mending repairs items in your main hand, offhand and armor slots with experience orbs, two durability per XP point, and the wiki says experience is not added to your level bar while any of those items can still be repaired. That is free repair, but it means a damaged Mending pickaxe or armor piece takes the orbs you were farming for levels. While you are saving up for a build, keep damaged Mending items out of your hands and armor slots, or accept the repair as the price. See XP Farms in Minecraft for where the XP comes from.

The whole list in XP

Summed over the builds of each stage on Java Edition 1.21.11, with every step paid from the level it needs:

Stage 1 is 90 levels of anvil work, about a fifth of the whole list, and it gives you a pickaxe, shield, chestplate and sword that all repair themselves. Put each of your builds into the calculator to get the cheapest order for the books you actually own, and see Master Book in Minecraft and Minimum Prior Work for how to order the books on a single item.

For the order to buy librarian books in and how to cycle a librarian for the one you want, see Minecraft Librarian Trades.