MELEE ENCHANTMENTS
Enchantments for swords, axes, and close-combat weapons that increase damage or add special effects. 7 enchantments in this category.
Increases melee damage dealt to all mobs.
Increases damage dealt to undead mobs (zombies, skeletons, wither, phantoms, etc.).
Increases damage dealt to arthropod mobs (spiders, cave spiders, bees, silverfish, endermites).
Sets the target on fire when hit, dealing fire damage over time.
Increases the knockback dealt to mobs and players when hit.
Increases the amount and chance of mob drops when killing mobs.
Increases the damage of sweep attacks (Java Edition only).
How the melee enchantments fit together
The seven melee enchantments below go on swords and axes. At full strength they are Sharpness V, Smite V, Bane of Arthropods V, Fire Aspect II, Knockback II, Looting III and Sweeping Edge III.
Swords take seven of them and axes three.
Weight decides how often the table offers one rather than another: Sharpness sits at 10 and Sweeping Edge at 2, so on an item that takes both, Sharpness is drawn five times as often.
Some of them refuse to share an item: Bane of Arthropods, Sharpness and Smite rule each other out, so one item carries exactly one of the three. An anvil turns the second one down instead of overwriting the first.
Room is the other limit. Counting everything that fits and not just the melee ones, a sword holds eight enchantments at once out of the ten it can take.
All seven come straight out of an enchanting table, so none of them needs a chest or a trade first.
| Enchantment | Max level | Weight | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sharpness | V | 10 | 32.3% |
| Bane of Arthropods | V | 5 | 16.1% |
| Knockback | II | 5 | 16.1% |
| Smite | V | 5 | 16.1% |
| Fire Aspect | II | 2 | 6.5% |
| Looting | III | 2 | 6.5% |
| Sweeping Edge | III | 2 | 6.5% |