There are a lot of enchantments that can be fused to the various pieces of armor you make and find in Minecraft. However, some of these can only be used by certain pieces of armor. What’s more, some can only be found in chests. Because they can’t all be mixed with others, it’s best to know which combinations work and which you should be after. These are the Top 16 best armor enchantments in Minecraft.
Top 16 Best Armor Enchantments in Minecraft, Ranked
Similar to sword enchantments, having all the enchantments on any given piece of armor is impossible without mods. Because of that, this list will be based on practicality, ease of acquisition, and how well the enchantments work with others.
Curse of Binding and Curse of Vanishing
Starting off our list of the Top 16 best Minecraft armor enchantments, we have curses. Yes, despite their negative effects, curses can be considered enchantments though they don’t benefit players — and that’s one reason I’ve combined them into one heading.
- The Curse of Vanishing, as the name would suggest, causes your armor to disappear if you perish. It disappears on death, ruining any chance for you to get it back — even if you return to the place you died. This really sucks when the enchantment is bonded to a piece of armor that’s worth keeping.
- The Curse of Binding, on the other hand, binds you to whatever item it’s adhered to. It can’t be removed from your inventory unless you die or the affected item is destroyed. This curse has been known to stop speed runs and hardcore games cold. Picking up a low-quality item with this curse forces you to keep it until it’s broken.
Swift Sneak
Moving on to real enchantments, we have Swift Sneak. This is an armor charm that can only be added to leggings. It can be used to increase crouched walking speed, though that can never be faster than your standing walking speed. Even with a ceiling, you can at least move faster when crouched. It’s so low on this list because like others in the community, I don’t use crouch often, and this enchantment doesn’t offer the upside of others on this list.
Soul Speed
Soul Speed is specific to boots and only applies in certain situations. It enables you to move faster on Soul Sand, which can be extremely helpful in places like the Nether, where enemies respawn constantly. This allows for quicker escapes and increased safety, but again, like Siwft Sneak, it has a very specific use that you won’t come across regularly.
Respiration
Respiration is a good armor enchantment because it lets you breathe underwater for extra time before starting to drown. Level 1 provides an extra 15 seconds, Level 2 gives 30 seconds, and Level 3 increases the duration by 45 seconds. This isn’t higher on my list of Top 16 best Minecraft armor enchantments because the potion of respiration gives 3 minutes of extra breathing time, which defeats the purpose of having this charm at all.
Frost Walker
Frost Walker does exactly what it says you can do. With it, you can literally walk on water! It causes the surface of the water you step on to freeze over. It even lets you walk across magma blocks with no damage (which is the main way that I use this armor enchantment if I have it). Just like ice in real life, the ice platforms you create on the surface of the water will melt over time in the sunlight.
Mending
Mending is a great armor enchantment that siphons your EXP to repair the item it’s attached to. Unlike with some other enchantments on this list, there’s only one level for mending, so while that reduces the number of levels you’ll need to get, it also decreases the number of buffs it can confer. Attach this to your favorite armor, and you’ll never have to worry about it breaking. This works even better with items that have high durability already because they’ll break more slowly and need even less EXP to repair.
Depth Strider
If you’re looking to move faster in water, this is the Minecraft armor enchantment for you. It can’t be paired with Frost Walker, but it can be paired with Respiration, making it a fantastic combo. With this on your boots, you can traverse underwater much faster than normal. This is great when exploring and collecting resources you wouldn’t have access to otherwise.
Unbreaking
Unbreaking increases the durability of armor. Higher levels further increase durability. Pair this with strong materials like Diamond armor to get the most out of it. Combining it with Mending decreases the amount of EXP required to repair whatever it’s attached to.
Fire Protection, Blast Protection, Projectile Protection
These three armor enchantments are together for a couple of reasons. First off, they all offer you more overall protection but only in specific scenarios and only for a specific damage type. The damage reduction is stronger than the Protection enchantment, which makes any of these worth getting depending on the situation. The second reason these are together is because these can’t be combined on one piece of armor. Pick your enchantments carefully when using one of these because you won’t be able to add the others.
- Fire Protection protects against fire damage.
- Blast Protection protects against blast damage.
- Projectile Protection protects against projectile damage.
Protection
The Protection armor enchantment provides all-around defense from all damage sources. It’s definitely one of the very best Minecraft armor enchantments, even coming in at number on our list. The highest it can reach is Level 4, providing a total of considerable damage reduction based on the armor you’re wearing. It can’t be combined with any of the enchantments listed directly above (Fire Protection, etc.).
Thorns
Give back some of the damage you take with this enchantment. Anytime you take physical damage with Thorns, the enemy that hits you gets a taste of their own medicine. This is perfect in close combat and when you’re getting swarmed. Pair this with Protection to take more hits and deal back more.
Aqua Affinity
I love Aqua Affinity because it makes diving so much easier. The helmet enchantment speeds up your actions underwater, and it’s great for resource gathering and mining beneath the waves (an especially useful charm if playing on an island). Pair it with Depth Strider and a potion of respiration for even better results.
Feather Falling
The last entry in our list of Top 16 best Minecraft armor enchantments is Feather Falling. MC is filled with uneven surfaces and random drops. Falling too far can cause you to lose health or worse, die. This can keep that from happening. It can also stack with other protection enchantments and their various levels. This protection also spreads to crash landings with the Elytra wings! I can’t tell you how many times this enchantment has saved my life during cave exploration.
That’s our list of the Top 16 best armor enchantments in Minecraft. The best thing about them is that they can all be useful in the right situations, so they all have their place in a run of Minecraft. It’s unfortunate that you can’t put them all on at the same time, but that does open the door for commands which can break that rule a bit. Find more Minecraft guides here.
