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Enchanting Table

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Renewable	No (except via vault)
Stackable	Yes  (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	1,200
Hardness	5
Luminous	Yes (7)
Transparent	Yes
Waterloggable	JE: No BE: Yes
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No
Map color (Java)	28 COLOR_RED

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            "field": "No",
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An enchanting table is a block used to spend experience and lapis lazuli to enchant items. An enchanting table requires bookshelves placed around it in order to apply powerful enchantments.

Obtaining

Breaking

An enchanting table requires a pickaxe to be mined, in which case it drops itself. If mined without a pickaxe, it drops nothing.

Block	Enchanting Table
Hardness	5
Tool
Breaking time (sec)
Default	25
Wooden	3.75
Stone	1.9
Iron	1.25
Diamond	0.95
Netherite	0.85
Golden	0.65
Options
Efficiency	0
Haste	0 JEBE

Legend

• drops nothing
• drops something other than the block itself
• drops the block itself
• italicized can be instant mined

Crafting

Ingredients	[hide]Crafting recipe
Book + Diamond + Obsidian

Usage

One-block tall maximal enchanting library

An item can be enchanted by using an enchanting table and placing the item in the input slots and 1–3 lapis lazuli in its dedicated slot. Upon placing the item, three (pseudo)randomized options appear on the right of the GUI. The glyphs here do not affect the enchantment, but hovering over a presented enchantment shows one enchantment to be applied (on mobile devices, the player can tap an enchantment before putting in the lapis lazuli or hold the enchantment before release). The only choices available have a level requirement equal to or below the player's current level and a lapis lazuli requirement equal to or below the number of lapis lazuli placed in the table. Each option imbues the item with a randomized set of enchantments that are dependent on the number of experience levels required (e.g. a level 10 enchantment can give a pickaxe the "Efficiency II" enchantment); the actual level cost and the number of lapis lazuli required have no effect.

Although the player must have at least the level requirement to get an enchantment, the number of levels that the player is charged is the same as the lapis lazuli requirement. For example, if the third enchantment listed is a level 30 enchantment, the player must have at least 30 levels, while paying only 3 levels and 3 lapis lazuli.

The level requirement influences the quantity, type, and level of enchantments instilled in the item, with a higher experience level generally resulting in more and/or higher-level enchantments. Nevertheless, there is a significant random factor, and even a level 30 enchantment (the maximum) doesn't guarantee more than one enchantment, or even that enchantments are "maximum strength" — a level 30 enchantment can still yield Fortune II or Efficiency III alone, for example.

To increase the enchantment level, bookshelves should be placed next to the enchanting table while keeping one block of air, or a replaceable block such as grass, between them. Most types of blocks being between the enchanting table and the bookshelves - even transparent blocks like torches - prevents the table from connecting with the shelves. To gain access to the previously mentioned level 30 enchantments, a total of 15 bookshelves need to be placed around the enchanting table. See the enchanting mechanics page for more detailed information on this.

The enchanting table is ³⁄₄ blocks high.

Despite comprising largely of obsidian, they are not immune to destruction by the ender dragon.

Enchanting

Enchanting interface.

The enchanting table's main purpose is to enchant items. The table can enchant only the following items:

• some tools: pickaxes, shovels, axes, hoes and fishing rods,
• all pieces of player armor: helmets, chestplates, leggings and boots,
• some weapons: swords, bows, crossbows, maces and tridents,
• books.

Many other items can instead be enchanted using an anvil and an appropriate enchanted book.

When a bookshelf is placed next to an enchanting table (with one block of air in between) it increases the maximum enchantment level. There must be 15 bookshelves around the enchanting table in order to obtain the maximum enchantment level of 30.

Light source

Enchanting tables emit a light level of 7.

Mysterious text

Glyphs flowing from the bookshelves animation.

In the user interface, text can be seen on each enchantment button. This text is written in the Standard Galactic Alphabet. Particles of letters from this font are also present when an enchanting table is close to a bookshelf. These cannot be seen if "particles" in the video settings is set to "minimal".

The words present on the buttons will be multiple of the following:[show]

• the
• elder
• scrolls
• klaatu
• berata
• niktu
• xyzzy
• bless
• curse
• light
• darkness
• fire
• air
• earth
• water
• hot
• dry
• cold
• wet
• ignite
• snuff
• embiggen
• twist
• shorten
• stretch
• fiddle
• destroy
• imbue
• galvanize
• enchant
• free
• limited
• range
• of
• towards
• inside
• sphere
• cube
• self
• other
• ball
• mental
• physical
• grow
• shrink
• demon
• elemental
• spirit
• animal
• creature
• beast
• humanoid
• undead
• fresh
• stale
• phnglui‌
• mglwnafh‌
• cthulhu‌
• rlyeh‌
• wgahnagl‌
• fhtagn‌
• baguette‌

Three to five words are chosen from the list and appended to each other, then displayed. Although sometimes the words chosen accidentally refer to mobs, the words chosen are random and purely cosmetic; they have no relation to the enchantments to be applied to the item and are not saved on the enchanted item (meaning they say nothing about the enchantment's identity), and they are displayed only in the enchanting table. Only the cost and one of the enchantments are known.

Custom name

By default, the GUI of an enchanting table is labeled "Enchant", but this name can be customized by naming the enchanting table in an anvil before placing it or by changing the CustomName tag using the /data command‌.

Note blocks

Enchanting tables can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass drum" sounds.

Piston interactivity

Enchanting tables cannot be pushed by pistons. They also cannot be pushed nor pulled by sticky pistons.

Sounds

Generic

Java Edition:

[hide] v t e stone sound type
Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.stone.break	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.stone.place	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.stone.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	0.25	0.5	16
	​Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.stone.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	0.5	0.75	16
	​Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.stone.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

[hide] v t e normal sound type
Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.stone	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	When the block is placed	dig.stone	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.stone	0.27	0.5
	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.stone	0.4	1.0
	Players	Walking on the block	step.stone	0.3	1.0
	Blocks	Jumping from the block	jump.stone	0.12	1.0
	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.stone	0.22	1.0

Unique

Java Edition

[hide]Sounds
Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Enchanting Table used	Blocks	When an enchanting table enchants an item	block.enchantment_table.use​​	subtitles.block.enchantment_table.use​​​	1.0	0.9-1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

[hide]Sounds
Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	When an enchantment table enchants an item	block.enchanting_table.use	1.0	1.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	[hide]Translation key
Enchanting Table	enchanting_table	Block & Item	block.minecraft.enchanting_table

Name	[hide]Identifier
Block entity	enchanting_table

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID	[hide]Translation key
Enchanting Table	enchanting_table	116	Block & Giveable Item	Identical	tile.enchanting_table.name

Name	[hide]Savegame ID
Block entity	EnchantTable

Block data

An enchanting table has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.

Java Edition:

• [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Block entity data
  • Tags common to all block entities see Template:Nbt inherit/blockentity/template[show]
  • [String] CustomName: Optional. The name of this container in JSON text component, which appears in its GUI where the default name ordinarily appears. Is not preserved when removed.​

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Block entity format.

Achievements

[hide]
Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Enchanter	Construct an Enchantment Table.	Pick up an enchantment table from a crafting table output.	20	Bronze

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	Enchanter	Enchant an item at an Enchanting Table	Insert an item in an enchanting table, then apply an enchantment.

History

[hide]Java Edition
September 30, 2011							First mentions of the enchantment table.
September 30, 2011							Notch posted first picture of the enchantment table, they were originally made with cobblestone instead of obsidian.
September 30, 2011							Notch posted second picture of the updated enchantment table.
October 1, 2011							The first image of the enchantment screen are revealed, with enchantments written in the Standard Galactic Alphabet. The first enchantment translates into "Well Played Internets You Are Good", the second translated into "These Names Will Be Random And Confusing", and the third translates to "Each Spell Costs Experience Levels". The Standard Galactic Alphabet or SGA was originally created by Tom Hall for use in the Commander Keen series of computer games.
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3				Added enchantment tables.
							Enchantment tables require bookshelves to get maximum enchantments.
							Enchantments are to be labeled in the enchantment table as random words written in the Standard Galactic Alphabet.
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4				A bug where all enchantments would show up as Feather Falling I has been fixed.
							Enchanting has been now properly enabled in multiplayer. Previously, if a player attempted to enchant an item, it appeared enchanted for the client, but updated with the un-enchanted status once the player logged out and then back in again.
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6				Enchantment tables now take time to mine​.
1.1			12w01a				Decreased the randomness of enchantment tables.
			release				Bows can now be enchanted in the enchantment table.
1.2.1			12w05a				Enchanting no longer requires experience in Creative mode.
1.3.1			12w15a				⇧ Shift + clicking can now be used to put items in enchantment tables.
			12w22a				The maximum enchantment power has been lowered from 50 to 30; as a result, the amount of bookshelves required to reach the maximum enchantment power has lowered from 30 to 15.
							The 3rd enchantment slot in an enchantment table is always set at the highest possible level (depending on the amount of bookshelves), instead of being random like the other slots (requiring clicking the item in and out many times to get a maximum level enchantment).
1.4.6			12w49a				The player can now enchant books to then be used to enchant a tool.
1.7.2			13w36a				Fishing rods can now be enchanted in the enchantment table.
			13w39a				Books can now gain multiple enchantments when enchanted in an enchantment table.
1.8			14w02a				Enchanting has received a major overhaul where there is now a secondary cost, which is lapis lazuli.
							When enchanting an item, one enchantment now appears in the tooltip when selecting an enchantment (e.g Looting III?...).
							Level 5 enchants (Sharpness, Power, Smite and Bane of Arthropods) can now be applied without the use of an anvil.
							The enchantments the player would get on a specific kind of tool do not change until the enchantment happens.
1.10			16w20a				Added a sound for enchanting an item in the enchantment table.
1.12			17w13a				Now displays its name when hovering over it.
							Closing the enchanting interface now returns the items from the lapis slot and enchanting slot to the inventory, if space allows instead of dropping the items on the ground.
1.13			17w47a				"Enchantment Table" has been renamed to "Enchanting Table".
			18w02a				Hoes can now be enchanted in the enchanting table.
1.14			18w43a				The texture of enchanting tables has been changed.
			18w44a				The texture of enchanting tables has been changed, as the texture of obsidian has been changed.
			18w46a				Enchanting tables are no longer transparent from the bottom.
			18w50a				The texture of enchanting tables has been changed, as the texture of obsidian has been changed, once again.
							The enchanting table's bottom texture has now been made identical to that of obsidian - previously it had a defined border.
1.16			20w21a				The capitalization of the subtitle for using an enchanting table was changed from "Enchanting table used" to "Enchanting Table used".
1.18			21w37a				Enchanting tables now provide a light level of 7, to match Bedrock Edition.
			21w41a				The texture of the blank slot for lapis lazuli has been changed.
			Pre-release 5				The texture of the blank slot for lapis lazuli has been changed, once again.
1.18.2			22w07a				Bookshelf detection method changed. Previously, both the block at the level of the enchanting table and the layer above needed to be air, or the enchanting table was blocked. Additionally, bookshelves 2 across 1 over changed from being blocked by the corner block to being blocked by the edge block.
1.20			23w14a				A replaceable block between enchanting table and bookshelves no longer invalidates bonuses.
1.20.2			23w31a				Reverted the texture of lapis slot to the texture before 1.18-pre5, to make the consistency with smithing table.
[hide]Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.12.1			build 1				Added enchantment tables.
							Enchantment tables now emit a light level of 12.
							Enchantment tables can now be crafted in the stonecutter.
							Added enchantment tables to the Creative inventory.
			build 11				Enchanting tables are now craftable in the crafting table, instead of the stonecutter.
[hide]Bedrock Edition
?							Hoes can no longer be enchanted in enchanting tables.
1.4.0			beta 1.2.13.11				When Experimental Gameplay is enabled, tridents can now be enchanted.
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				The texture of enchantment tables has been changed.
1.16.0			beta 1.16.0.57				Hoes can now be enchanted with Efficiency, Fortune and Silk Touch.
1.17.30			beta 1.17.20.20				Enchantment tables now emit a light level of 7, instead of 12.
1.19.30			Preview 1.19.30.20				Added a sound for enchanting an item in the enchantment table.
1.21.30			Preview 1.21.30.22				Changed name from "Enchantment Table" to "Enchanting Table" to match Java Edition.
1.21.50			Preview 1.21.50.24				Enchanting tables drop themselves only if mined using a pickaxe, matching Java Edition.
[hide]Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU7	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added enchanting tables.
TU31	CU19	1.22	1.22	1.22	Patch 3		Enchanting now consumes lapis lazuli.
							Enchanting has been re-balanced.
							Enchanted books can now receive multiple enchantments at once.
TU46	CU36	1.38	1.38	1.38	Patch 15		Added a sound for enchanting an item in the enchantment table.
TU54	CU44	1.52	1.52	1.52	Patch 24	1.0.4	Closing the enchanting interface now returns the items from the lapis slot and enchanting slot to the inventory, if space allows instead of dropping the items on the ground.
			1.90				The texture of enchanting tables has been changed.
[hide]New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added enchanting tables.

Data history

[hide]Java Edition
1.8			14w18a				Enchantment tables with numerical metadata variants 1 through 15, which are inaccessible through normal gameplay, now have no model rather than appearing identical to enchantment tables.
			14w26a				Block metadata has been completely removed from this snapshot onward with the introduction of block states. As this block never used block metadata at all prior to this version, fifteen unused, inaccessible metadata variants of it have been completely removed from the game: DV [hide]Description 0 Enchanting table 1-15 Inaccessible "boring" variants of enchantment tables
1.11			16w32a				The block entity ID for the enchantment table has been changed from EnchantTable to enchanting_table.
1.13			17w47a				Prior to The Flattening, the enchanting table's numeral ID was 116.

Issues

Issues relating to "Enchanting Table" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Java Edition

• MC-273234 – Enchanting a Mace in an Enchanting Table can sometimes show unavailable enchants
• MC-12656 – Using the enchanting table in creative mode deducts experience levels
• MC-229831 – Enchanting Table's GUI has three pixels in the top-right corner that shouldn't be there
• MC-264552 – Unused black pixels in enchanting table book texture
• MC-270272 – All mouse buttons work for enchanting table options, rather than only left click
• MC-272561 – 'random_chance_with_enchanted_bonus' always uses 'unenchanted_chance' outside of loot tables
• MC-269982 – Axes cannot receive Sharpness/Smite/Bane of Arthropods via the enchanting table
• MC-166821 – Non-enchantable items can be put in an enchanting table
• MC-185630 – Tooltips in enchantment table UI are inaccurate
• MC-192982 – Loot Table function enchant_randomly can give Non-Stored Enchantments to books if another function enchants it first.
• And 5 other open issues.

Bedrock Edition

• MCPE-190418 – Outdated Enchanting Table name still used in Minecraft Encyclopedia and Achievements
• MCPE-99573 – Enchantment table book changes color during breaking animation
• MCPE-102560 – There is no ? Button in the enchantment table screen
• MCPE-102563 – In the Enchantment table, it says no valid output for that item, even though there is nothing in the slot
• MCPE-113669 – /testforblocks fails with enchanting tables
• MCPE-120184 – Loot table item enchantments are randomized across the same seed
• MCPE-143453 – Moss carpets block the effect of bookcases on the enchantment table.
• MCPE-151909 – Brewing stand potion icon and lapis lazuli enchantment table icon isn't correctly fixed
• MCPE-159599 – Enchantment table UI not pixel aligned
• MCPE-162022 – Enchanting Table Yields no Level V Enchantments on books Except Impaling
• And 1 other open issues.

Trivia

• Enchanting tables are midway between slabs and full blocks height-wise, so they could be potentially used as a TNT cannon's range-amplifier instead of slabs or trapdoors.
• The enchanting table always opens its book toward the player, even when the player is invisible.
• On the enchantment screen, captions in the Standard Galactic Alphabet includes several in-jokes:
  • On October 1, 2011, Notch tweeted an image of the enchantment screen, with enchantments. The first enchantment translates into "Well Played Internets You Are Good", the second translated into "These Names Will Be Random And Confusing", and the third translates to "Each Spell Costs Experience Levels".
  • Three of the possible words for enchantments are "the elder scrolls," likely a joke at Bethesda, creator of The Elder Scrolls series and whose parent company, Zenimax, attempted to sue Mojang for the name of their game Scrolls.
  • The words "klaatu berata niktu" are a (misspelled) reference to "Klaatu barada nikto", a phrase that originates from the 1951 movie The Day the Earth Stood Still and has been since used as a reference in many other movies, cartoons and games.
  • Similarly, "Xyzzy" is a magic spell in the game Colossal Cave Adventure and has been used in several other games as an Easter Egg or cheat code.
  • The word "embiggen" is a fictional word coined by The Simpsons quote: "A Noble Spirit Embiggens the Smallest Man".
  • The words "phnglui mglwnafh cthulhu rlyeh wgahnagl fhtagn" are a quote from H. P. Lovecraft's short story The Call of Cthulhu. Said quote is a prayer in the Cthulhu mythos. The complete and correct quote is "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn", which translates to "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."
• Of the list of words that the enchanting table uses, none of the words contain the letters "J" or "Q". Although they are not used in the words, they do have a symbol attached to them, and can be seen moving from the bookshelf and the table.

Gallery

Renders

• 

  The book model, animated.

Textures

• 

  Color coded texture for the book model.

• 

  Color code legend for book model texture guide.

Screenshots

• 

  The enchantment table receiving knowledge from nearby bookshelves.

• 

  The GUI of the enchantment table in Bedrock Edition (top = no item, bottom = with item hovering on the second line).

• 

  A newly enchanted sword.

• 

  An enchanting setup with an enchanting table, bookshelves, a grindstone, and an anvil.

• 

  Enchanting setup

• 

  Enchanting setup

Development images

• 

  The first image of an enchanting table.

• 

  The second image of an enchanting table.

• 

  The first image of an enchanting table's interface.

• 

  The first image of Enchanted equipment.

In other media

• 

  Efe looking at an enchanting table.