Perhaps the most vital aspect of Minecraft’s immense and timeless popularity is the game’s unmatched versatility.
Players who like to build can spend all their time doing just that, those who are competitive can complete various challenges or participate in various servers, and those who like fighting can equip a powerful suit of enchanted armor with the best enchantments that Minecraft has to offer and hit the ground running.
Creating a powerful suit of armor is pretty essential regardless of the route that players hope to take in Minecraft because some of the enchantments are fighting-based while others can help players to better traverse the world.
Related: Seven best sword enchantments in Minecraft 1.19
However, the list of enchantments in Minecraft is rather expansive and it can be quite difficult to know which ones are worth wielding and which should be avoided entirely.
All Armor Enchantments in Minecraft
There is a grand total of 16 enchantments that can be applied to armor in Minecraft. Some of these enchantments can be applied to all pieces of armor while others are exclusively available for one piece of armor only.
All armor types in Minecraft
- Players can equip a helmet.
- Players can equip a chestplate.
- Players can equip leggings.
- Players can equip boots.
All armor comes in different types depending on which resources are utilized to craft them. Armor can be constructed utilizing Leather, Iron Ingots, Gold Ingots, and Diamond Ingots. Chainmail armor can be found in chests around the world and Netherite armor can only be created by combing Diamond armor with one Netherite Ingot.
One unique piece of armor that also exists is the Turtle Shell helmet, which isn’t very protective but does grant players the Water Breathing ability for 10 seconds. The Turtle Shell can be enchanted to make it more useful but is certainly not the best choice for players seeking to create the most powerful armor set possible.
Best Minecraft Armor Enchantments
While there are 16 enchantments available, this does not mean players can or should apply all of them. Many of these enchantments conflict with each other and certain ones far exceed others.
All enchantment effects are also more powerful at the highest level possible. Thus, players should always try to enchant their armor with the highest level of each enchantment possible.
1) Mending (I)
Perhaps the best armor enchantment in all of Minecraft is Mending, which can be applied to all armor types.
Mending does exactly what its name suggests and keeps armor constantly on the mend by absorbing experience to repair any piece of armor this enchantment is applied on.
2) Unbreaking (I-III)
Another important enchantment for ensuring that armor never breaks in Unbreaking. This enchantment decreases the chance of armor being worn down in every situation that players come across. Essentially, this means Unbreaking makes armor tougher and more resilient against all types of situations that would otherwise wear armor down.
3) Protection (I-IV)
While plain armor itself already decreases how much damage players will take, enchanting any kind of armor with Protection will help players even more and is essential in ensuring that they are able to navigate the most dangerous parts of Minecraft like the Nether, the Deep Dark biome, and the End.
The Protection enchantment reduces the overall damage that players take in every situation except for a few outliers like the damage dealt from the Warden’s powerful sonic boom, the damage inflicted from growing too hungry, and the damage from falling into the void.
It conflicts with the other protection-based armor enchantments, which are Blast Protection, Projectile Protection, and Fire Protection, but is far more powerful than these options because it helps protect players in every situation rather than in a few specific instances.
4) Thorns (I-III)
This can be a somewhat controversial enchantment but is undoubtedly worth utilizing for any Minecraft player looking to maximize their overall efficiency and power. The only way Thorns will truly serve players well is if they first ensure they have applied the maximum level of the Protection enchantment and have also applied the Mending enchantment.
Players who utilize Thorns without these will lose all of their hard work as their armor likely won’t survive.
The Thorns enchantment deals damage back to any foes who first deal damage against players. This counts for other players and any Minecraft mobs. A zombie who hits players will be dealt damage themselves from doing so and an unlucky player attempting to attack someone with Thorns will find that player nearly impossible to vanquish thanks to the Thorns enchantment.
Thorns gives all players who utilize the enchantment an immense advantage in any battle, but it also drains the durability of armor quite quickly. Unbreaking grants a chance for no durability penalty to be taken while Mending ensures that any durability that is drained will then be repaired as long as players are engaging in activities that yield experience like fighting mobs or fishing.
5) Respiration (I-III)
The Respiration enchantment can only be applied to helmets, but this is the only item players will need to apply it to for it to work. Respiration extends the period of time players can breathe underwater for with an additional 15 seconds gained for each level that players enchant it to.
6) Aqua Affinity (I)
Attempting to mine blocks underwater is one of the most difficult and laborious tasks in all of Minecraft. Luckily, the Aqua Affinity enchantment can be applied to any helmet to increase underwater mining speed.
7) Feather Falling (I-IV)
One of the scariest parts of Minecraft is accidentally falling into a deep ravine or unknowingly walking off of a cliff. The Feather Falling enchantment will ease players’ minds a bit as it will reduce the falling damage that players take.
This enchantment can only be applied to boots. Feather Falling is a powerful enchantment for allowing players to quickly navigate out of haphazardous scenarios or to save them during accidental falls.
8) Swift Sneak (I-III)
The arrival of Minecraft’s Wild Update introduced the dangerous and terrifying Deep Dark biome that is home to the terrifying Warden, a blind foe that can track players down through smell and sound. To give players a chance to combat this hostile mobs powerful skillset, Mojang added the Swift Sneak enchantment.
This enchantment allows players to move at a quicker pace while sneaking, which is essential for escaping the formidable Warden mob. Swift Sneak can only be applied to leggings and will allow players to move almost as quickly as they can while walking at the highest level while also ensuring that they are still in a sneaking position.
In addition to being an essential asset for taking on the Warden, Swift Sneak is also a great enchantment for exploring the general world of Minecraft. Instead of having to sneak around edges at a painfully slow speed, Swift Sneak allows players to traverse risky areas carefully but also quickly.
9) Depth Strider (I-III)
The Depth Strider enchantment increases the speed at which players can move while underwater. It is a boot exclusive enchantment and may only be applied to this type of armor.
This enchantment conflicts with Frost Walker, but Depth Strider is generally the more useful one of the two. It may simply depend on each individual player’s needs so if you find that Frost Walking sounds like it would be more beneficial for you then choose that one instead.
10) Frost Walker (I-II)
The Frost Walker enchantment grants players the ability to walk over water as the water beneath them turns into frosted ice. Frost Walker also allows players to walk over magma blocks and campfires without taking damage.
While the abilities of this boot enchantment are pretty helpful, Frost Walker does conflict with Depth Strider and players will thus have to choose between the two. Generally, Depth Strider is far more useful and players should thus choose that enchantment over this one for the most versatile and powerful armor set possible.
11) Soul Speed (I-III)
Soul Sand is one of the most irritating blocks as it slows down players and mobs who attempt to walk over it. The Soul Speed enchantment can remedy this issue as applying it to boots will allow players to traverse over Soul Sand and Soul Soil more quickly.
Outside of the Nether, this enchantment is not that useful, but since it doesn’t conflict with any enchantments it is still worth equipping for players seeking to apply as many useful enchantments as possible.
5 Worst Minecraft Armor Enchantments
There are a few other enchantments available for armor in Minecraft, but these are bad ones and should be skipped over completely and avoided entirely if possible.
1) Curse of Binding (I)
As the name might already make apparent, the Curse of Binding enchantment is not a great enchantment and instead functions like a curse. The Curse of Binding enchantment will make it so that players cannot unequip the armor piece that is enchanted with it.
The only way for players to remove a Curse of Binding armor piece that is already equipped is to die or for the armor piece to break. For these reasons and for its uselessness, Curse of Binding is one of the worst Minecraft enchantments.
2) Curse of Vanishing (I)
The Curse of Vanishing enchantment causes any item that is enchanted with it to disappear from existence entirely when players have it in their inventory and die. This is terrible in most situations since players generally want to recover their lost loot.
3) Projectile Protection (I-IV)
The Projectile Protection enchantment protects players from all forms of projective damage. This isn’t bad, but since it conflicts with regular Protection, players should always choose Protection instead.
4) Blast Protection (I-IV)
Blast Protection better protects players from explosive instances like creepers, TNT, and fireworks. It also conflicts with regular Protection and thus should be avoided in favor of general Protection.
5) Fire Protection (I-IV)
The last of Minecraft’s armor enchantment is another instance of specific instance-based protection. Fire Protection will reduce the damage players are dealt from fire sources. As is the case with Projectile Protection and Blast Protection, so too does Fire Protection conflict with regular Protection and should thus be skipped.
