Enchantment Calculator - Optimal Anvil Order
Pick an item, choose your enchantments, and watch the cheapest combine tree assemble itself: exact level costs with prior work penalties, the 39-level cap and conflict checks. Java Edition 26.3.
1 · Your item
The gear (or book) the enchantments end up on.
Repairs and earlier anvil jobs count. To check, put the item alone in an anvil and type a new name: the cost shown minus 1 is its penalty. Then take the item back out.
2 · Enchantments
4/7 booksEach pick is one enchanted book. Crossed-out chips conflict with your selection.
Enchanting Table Basics
The enchanting table offers three random enchantments at a time, costing 1, 2 and 3 lapis lazuli plus 1, 2 and 3 levels. The displayed number is a requirement, not the price: a level-30 slot needs you to be level 30 but only takes 3 levels when you use it.
Bookshelves placed one block away (with air in between) raise the table's power. 15 bookshelves unlock the maximum: a guaranteed level-30 bottom slot with the best odds of high-level enchantments. Drag the slider to see the offer ranges change, or open the enchanting table calculator for the chance of every enchantment in each slot.
Treasure enchantments (Mending, Frost Walker, Soul Speed, Swift Sneak, Wind Burst and the curses) never appear on the table. They come from loot, trading or fishing as enchanted books, which is exactly what the anvil planner above is for. The best enchantments page lists the full set for every item.
The three offers only reroll when you spend a level on one of them or enchant a different item type. Enchanting a cheap book in the 1-lapis slot is the classic way to reroll bad offers.
Top slot (1 lapis)lvl 2-10Middle slot (2 lapis)lvl 6-21Bottom slot (3 lapis)lvl 30Possible required levels per slot at this shelf count, using the vanilla Java formula.
All 43 Enchantments
Java 26.3Max level, anvil cost multiplier, conflicts, and what each one actually does. Filter by the item you are enchanting.
How Anvil Costs Work
Anvil cost = prior work penalty of both items + (final level × multiplier) for every enchantment on the sacrifice. Books use half the multiplier. Any job costing 40 or more levels shows "Too Expensive" in Survival.
Every item remembers how many times it has been worked on an anvil. That counter sets the prior work penalty, which doubles each time: an item used once adds 1 level to the next job, then 3, 7, 15, 31 and 63. Both the target and the sacrifice add their penalty to the bill, and the result inherits the larger counter plus one. This is why the same five books can cost 25 levels in one order and blow past the cap in another.
Bedrock Edition charges for the levels an enchantment gains rather than its final level. Adding Unbreaking III to a bare pickaxe costs the same in both editions, but topping up Unbreaking II to III with a second Unbreaking II book costs 3 levels in Java and 1 in Bedrock. Impaling is cheaper on Bedrock too, with a multiplier of 2 instead of 4 (1 instead of 2 from a book), and so is Loyalty taken from another trident, 1 instead of 2.
On top of the penalty, each enchantment transferred from the sacrifice costs its final level multiplied by its anvil multiplier. Cheap enchantments like Protection and Sharpness have a multiplier of 1, while Silk Touch, Thorns and Infinity sit at 8. When the sacrifice is an enchanted book the multiplier is halved (rounded down, minimum 1), which is why books are almost always the cheaper way to enchant.
How to Avoid "Too Expensive"
1. Plan the whole combine before touching the anvil. Once an item has been worked 6 times its penalty alone is 63 levels and nothing more can be added in Survival.
2. Keep the combine tree balanced. Merging books into pairs, then pairs into fours, keeps every penalty small. Stacking everything onto one item doubles its penalty at every step.
3. When merging two books, put the expensive one on the left. The anvil only charges for the enchantments on the right-hand item.
4. Apply high-multiplier books (Silk Touch, Thorns, Infinity) while penalties are still low, and never repair an item you plan to enchant further; repairs raise the same counter.
5. If a step would hit 40, split it: the calculator above searches every ordering and warns you when a build cannot fit under the cap at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best order to combine enchantments at an anvil?
Combine books with books first, then apply the result to your gear, keeping the tree balanced so no single item racks up a big prior work penalty. When merging two books, put the more expensive one on the left, since the anvil only charges for the right-hand item's enchantments. The exact cheapest order depends on each enchantment's multiplier, which is what the calculator at the top of this page solves for you.
Why does my anvil say Too Expensive?
Survival anvils refuse any job of 40 or more levels. Each anvil operation doubles an item's prior work penalty (1, 3, 7, 15, 31, 63), so an item that has been worked five or six times becomes unmodifiable. Renaming and repairing raise the same counter. The fix is prevention: combine in a balanced order so the penalty never snowballs.
How many enchantments can a sword have?
Seven practical ones: a damage enchantment (Sharpness, Smite or Bane of Arthropods, pick one), Fire Aspect, Knockback, Looting, Sweeping Edge, Unbreaking and Mending. Sweeping Edge is Java only, so a Bedrock sword tops out at six. Curse of Vanishing can technically join them for one more. The calculator enforces these conflicts automatically.
Does the anvil cost the same on Bedrock?
Mostly. On a fresh item with single books, both editions charge the same levels. They split when the target already has the enchantment: Java charges the full final level times the multiplier, while Bedrock only charges for the levels gained. A Sharpness IV book on a Sharpness IV sword costs 5 levels in Java and 1 in Bedrock, before penalties. Bedrock also halves Impaling's multiplier and has no Sweeping Edge. Switch the edition at the top of the calculator and it applies all of this.
Should I minimize levels, XP or the work penalty?
Levels is the number the anvil shows, and it's the right pick for most gear. XP points counts each step as earned from level 0, and because every level costs more XP than the one before, it favours several mid-sized steps over one big one. A sword with Bane of Arthropods, Fire Aspect, Looting, Knockback, Unbreaking and Mending costs 38 levels (592 XP) in the cheapest-levels order, or 39 levels but only 559 XP in the XP order. Work penalty keeps the finished item's prior work penalty as low as the books allow, which pays off on gear you'll repair or add to later: seven boots books cost 66 levels in the cheapest order and 68 with a penalty of 7 instead of 15.
Can I add books to gear that's already enchanted?
Yes. Under your item, pick each enchantment it already has from the Already on it menu, set its level, and set how many times the item has been on an anvil. Books that conflict with what's there are crossed out, and a book for an enchantment already at max level is blocked. The plan then charges only for the books, the way the anvil does.
Does Mending conflict with Infinity?
Only on bows. Infinity's exclusive set contains Mending, so a bow takes one or the other. On every other item, including crossbows and tridents, Mending combines freely.
Can I use the calculator in Spanish or another language?
Yes. The language menu next to the version control switches the enchantment names to the game's own translations in 14 languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Japanese and Korean, and the labels around the tool in the first four. The calculator itself is the same: it plans by enchantment id, so a Spanish plan and an English plan for the same gear cost exactly the same levels.
How many bookshelves do you need for level 30 enchantments?
15 bookshelves, placed one block from the table with air in the gap. At 15 shelves the bottom slot is always level 30. More shelves do nothing; the table caps at 15.
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