Minecraft has a ton of different items, blocks, enchantments, potions, weapons and mobs — so you could be excused for not knowing everything about the game. In patch 1.11 for PC/Mac, Minecraft introduced two new treasure enchantments called Curse of Binding and Curse of Vanishing.
Treasure enchantments are enchantments which aren’t available through use of the Enchantment Table; you have to find the enchantment through looting chests, fishing, or trading with villagers — though you can enchant other items with these curses if you find the enchantment in book form.
But what do these new enchantments do? This guide has the answer!
What Curse of Binding Does in Minecraft
The Curse of Binding enchantment can only be found on armor or in enchantment books, and the enchantment can only be transferred from a book to a piece of armor (using the anvil). The Curse of Binding makes it so once you put the cursed piece of armor on, you cannot take it off. The cursed item stays in its armor slot until either you die or the armor breaks from durability loss.
While the effects of the curse are limited, there are some applications where the curse could be beneficial. First, since it’s a treasure enchantment, it’s possible to find an upgrade to your current armor in a survival game. While that’s not ideal if you find something like iron armor, a tough survival game of Minecraft might make you think twice about not putting on cursed armor. And diamond armor with the Curse of Binding has only one drawback: you can’t take it off to enchant it or repair it later.
The Curse of Binding has broader applications for Minecraft mapmakers. The ability to have armor that cannot be taken off can benefit mapmakers who want the player to have certain items equipped at all times, especially when dropping the armor leads to the map breaking somehow.
Additionally, those who are feeling mean-spirited can set up dispensers with leather armor enchanted with the Curse of Binding. On a server, this means that players without armor are stuck in the worst grade of armor until they die or the leather armor breaks. I’m sure more than a few trolls are positively gleeful at the prospect.
What the Curse of Vanishing Does in Minecraft
The Curse of Vanishing enchantment has a much larger pool of items that it can be placed on. In addition to armor, the Curse of Vanishing can be placed on weapons, shields, tools, and Elytra. It can also be found as an enchantment book, and placed onto any of those items using the anvil. The Curse of Vanishing makes any enchanted item completely disappear if you die with it equipped or in your inventory, instead of the item dropping to the ground.
Like the Curse of Binding, the effects of Curse of Vanishing are limited — but Vanishing has its uses. For one, like Binding, you can find an upgrade to a tool, weapon, shield, or armor through chests, fishing, or trading. Unlike Binding, you can take the item off (and even drop it), to repair or enchant it further. Once you die with the cursed item equipped or in your inventory, though, it’s gone forever.
The Curse of Vanishing has further applications for mapmakers, as well. Harder adventure maps in Minecraft can punish players by removing collected items upon death, or other adventure maps can ensure you don’t keep potentially game-breaking items past where the map maker wants you to have them.
PvP servers can also benefit from the Curse of Vanishing on their equipment. Since dying removes the items completely, players can enchant their equipment with the curse and go into battle knowing that even if they die, other players won’t be able to use their own equipment against them later.
There are certainly other uses for both enchantments, but those uses are more than likely limited to map making and modding, rather than survival. In Minecraft, however, “limited” is hardly an obstacle to those creative enough.
Got any other ideas for how these enchantments can be used? Let us know in the comments!
