The Best Armor Enchantments In Minecraft

What Are The Best Armor Enchantments In Minecraft?

The best armor enchantments in Minecraft are:

• Protection - All armor pieces
• Mending - All armor pieces
• Thorns - All armor pieces
• Aqua Affinity - Helmet only
• Respiration - Helmet only
• Swift Sneak - Leggings only
• Feather Falling - Boots only

Enchantments For All Pieces Of Armor In Minecraft

These important enchantments are some of the best Minecraft enchantments available, and they can be combined to create sets of extraordinary armor.

The following two best enchantments apply to all pieces of armor.

Protection Enchantment

The protection enchantment is one of the best armor enchantments that has up to 4 levels (protection IV), which reduce damage in most situations in your Minecraft world, along with reducing damage from sources normal unenchanted armor (e.g. diamond armor) wouldn't.

The protection enchantment provides protection from:

• Fire
• Lava
• Mob attacks
• Fall damage
• Wither (Java edition only)
• Freezing
• Drawing and suffocation
• Explosions
• Fireworks

The protection enchantment is not effective against:

• The Kill command
• Hunger
• The Void
• The warden’s sonic attack

Protection Enchantment Damage Resistance

For each armor piece enchanted with the armor enchantment, the damage resistance is increased by 4 x the level of the enchantment, for a total of 80% damage resistance if all armor pieces are equipped and enchanted with protection IV.

The protection armor enchantment and other enchantments such as projectile protection, blast protection or fire protection are conflicting enchantments, meaning they can’t be used together on the same armor.

Fire Protection, Blast Protection And Projectile Protection Enchantments

The fire protection IV, blast protection IV and projectile protection IV armor enchantments are similar to the protection IV armor enchantment in that they decrease damage taken by the player while wearing enchanted armor.

This makes them some of the best Minecraft armor enchantments, however the effects only apply to specific types of damage.

Types Of Damaged Reduced By Fire, Blast And Projectile Protection

Each piece of armor enchanted with any type of protection has a damage reduction of 8X the enchantment level as a percentage, so for example a helmet enchanted with level IV Fire protection will have a 32% increase to fire resistance.

Each type of protection armor enchantments in Minecraft has a total damage reduction cap of 80%, meaning a full set of level IV protection enchanted armor of any type will have a max damage reduction percent of 80.

Protection Enchantment Properties In Bedrock Edition

In the Bedrock edition of Minecraft, fire protection will give the player fire resistance if the total enchantment level on their armor is greater than 7.

For example, a player who equips a chestplate with level III, a helmet with level II and boots with level III fire armor enchantments in Minecraft will have total resistance to being set on fire, but will still take fire damage when in contact with it.

Protection Enchantment Properties In Java Edition

In the Java edition of Minecraft, this armor enchantment will reduce burn damage from being on fire by 15X the level of enchantment, e.g. 15X (level II) = 30% damage reduction.

The blast protection armor enchantment in Java reduces explosion knockback by 15 X the enchantment level as a percentage.

Thorns Enchantment

The thorns III armor enchantment is one of the best Minecraft armor enchantments as it deals damage to mobs attacking the player.

This applies to both direct (melee attack) and ranged attacks (such as those dealt by the ender dragon or undead mobs), and each piece of armor enchanted with thorns worn by the player has a chance to inflict two hearts worth of melee damage to the attacking entity.

This chance is increased by each level of the thorns armor enchantment, from thorns I to thorns III.

The armor items enchanted with thorns stack, so the chance to inflict this damage also increases with the amount of armor worn:

Each time an armor piece enchanted with thorns deals damage to an attacker, the armor will lose two points of durability, with the armor’s durability penalty being applied to a random piece if multiple pieces of armor are worn.

When paired with the unbreaking enchantment (another of the best armor enchantments, similar to the mending enchantment), this durability damage has a chance to be ignored.

Helmet Enchantments

These next best enchantments only apply to helmets, with other armor pieces only able to be enchanted with the following enchantments via console commands: Aqua Affinity and Feather Falling.

Aqua Affinity Enchantment

The aqua affinity enchantment is one the best armor enchantments because it increases the wearer's mining speed underwater.

Aqua affinity only has one level, and increases the underwater mining speed by 5X, bringing it up to normal speed when mining a block out of the water.

An aqua affinity enchanted helmet doesn’t have an affect when floating.

Respiration Enchantment

The respiration armor enchantment grants the wearer extends underwater breathing time before drowning, making it one of the best enchantments for survival mode in the Minecraft world, with each level of the armor enchantment (from respiration I to respiration III) increasing the time in seconds before drowning begins:

This is on top of the standard time allowed before drowning (15 seconds), giving a max time of 60 seconds underwater (with the maximum power level of the enchantments) before beginning to drown.

This enchantment also gives the player an additional chance to avoid drowning damage.

Pairing this with aqua affinity can greatly improve the underwater experience in Minecraft.

Leggings and Boots Enchantments

There is only one enchantment available for leggings (swift sneak), but boots have many unique enchantments in Minecraft that are very useful. We’ll only list the most useful enchantments here:

Swift Sneak Enchantment

The swift sneak enchantment is a leggings exclusive enchantment (applied to other pieces of armor via console commands) which allows the player to walk more quickly while sneaking.

Each level of this armor enchantment in Minecraft increases movement speed while crouching, up to 15% at level III for a total movement speed of 75% of the players normal movement speed whilst standing.

Feather Falling Enchantment

The feather falling enchantment for boots is one of the best Minecraft armor enchantments there is, because it reduces the damage a player receives when landing from a fall.

Fall damage reduction is equal to 12% for each level of feather falling, up to a total of 48% at  feather falling IV, nearly half of all fall damage taken when landing from a height.

The feather falling enchantment doesn't affect fall speed.

Does The Feather Falling Enchantment Stack?

Feather falling IV also stacks with other best armor enchantments in Minecraft such as protection, for a total damage reduction of 80%; as well as other enchantments for boots such as the soul speed enchantment.

Where Can I Find The Best Armor Enchantments In Minecraft?

You can find the best enchantments in Minecraft by:

• Raiding loot chests (such as dungeon chests) for enchantments
• Using an enchantment table
• Finding enchanted books