Finding or making a favorite item in Minecraft is a bittersweet feeling; while it's great to have it, it won't last forever. Just about everything in Minecraft has durability, even Netherite Tools. But there are ways to mend beloved items, including the mending enchantment.
Updated on November 11, 2021, by Anastasia Maillot: Mending continues to be one of the most important and powerful enchantments in the game, if not the most powerful. It's easily the most wanted enchantment book among players, and for good reason. It's unlikely this balance will shift in future patches unless something better comes along.
However, throughout updates, the way Mending works and how it can be earned has been balanced by Mojang in hopes to keep the game sufficiently challenging. This guide on how to get Mending in Minecraft has been updated accordingly with that new information.
How Mending Works In Minecraft
Mending is an enchantment that can be on just about any tool or weapon in Minecraft with durability. When an item has Mending, any experience collected will go to repair the item at the rate of 2 durability per experience point. When an item is being repaired, it uses up the experience so Minecraft players won't receive the experience that is being used to fix it. Mending only repairs items in a player's hand, off-hand, or armor slots, and not in the player's inventory.
If a player has several items that have Mending on them, only one is repaired at a time --the experience goes to a randomly chosen one of these. There isn't a priority system in place for repairing items first, though that may change in future updates of Minecraft.
How To Find Mending Enchantment Books
In order to put a mending enchantment on an item, players have to first come across a mending book. While most Minecraft enchantments can be created using an enchanting table, Mending, unfortunately, cannot. This means that players have to buy, find, or loot these books instead.
- Fishing - Mending enchantment books can be fished up from water sources just like fish in Minecraft. While some consider fishing boring, it is one of the easiest and fastest ways of getting Mending for items.
- Looting Chests - Mending enchantment books can be found in Dungeon Chests, Temples, End Cities, and most other kinds of chests found around the map. If players are already out and about looking for loot, they will most likely find a Mending book or two without any extra effort. End Cities have the highest chance of yielding tons of enchanted gear and weapons.
- Trading - Look for a villager who is a librarian and trade with them. Librarians will trade one random enchantment book for an emerald.
Making a Librarian Villager
If players can't find a librarian, they can make one. First, lure a Minecraft villager without a profession away from everyone else, then give them a lectern. They will take up the job, and then players can trade emeralds for books.
If the captured villager doesn't have the Mending book trade, players can steal back the lectern, replace it and then return the Librarian profession to the villager. Then players will be able to trade with them again and try for a Mending book.
Mending can be the first trade a Librarian villager has, so there's no need to level up a villager to unlock Mending from a higher tier trade.
Tips On Fishing For Mending
Ever since fishing was changed in Minecraft's 1.16 update, the mechanics have been altered to balance AFK fish farms. It's no longer possible to fish for treasure in single water block AFK fish farms. Since Mending enchantment books are considered treasures, this has significantly impacted how often players can hope to fish for a Mending book.
The new requirements according to Minecraft Wiki are as follow: the bobber now needs to be in an open water area, which is at least a 5 by 4 by 5 area. Every block in this area must consist of either air, water, or waterlogged blocks.
How To Use An Enchanted Mending Book
To use the enchantment nook, Minecraft players will have to make an anvil. Put the item to be enchanted in the first slot of the anvil, and add the Mending Book to the second. If it does not work, players may not have enough experience to enchant the item they have chosen.
Mending is also incompatible with the Infinity enchantment found on some bows. However, it can be applied mutually on items with Unbreaking, essentially making those items near indestructible.
What Items Should Players Use Mending For?
Mending is a very powerful and expensive enchantment. Because of this, the choice of gear is very important. Generally speaking, any other enchanted piece of gear or weapon that the player wants to keep as long as possible should get Mending on it. Nothing below diamond-tier, however, should ever be enchanted with Mending. Examples of good choices for Mending include:
- Diamond pickaxes with Efficiency IV and/or Fortune III and/or Silk Touch
- Diamond swords with Looting III and/or Sharpness IV
- Diamond armor with Protection IV and/or Feather Falling IV
- Fishing rods with Luck of the Sea III
- Bows with Power IV
Finally, elytras are by far the most important item players should save a Mending book for. In fact, the first Mending book a player finds should be specifically reserved for the elytra. Otherwise, repairing it will become tedious and difficult very quickly.
Minecraft is available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.