Anvil Calculator
Find the cheapest order to combine enchanted books in an anvil, with every step's level cost. Java Edition.
The item you are enchanting. It stays in the anvil's left slot.
Diamond Sword
minecraft:diamond_sword
Pick each enchantment you have a book for, and its level. Only enchantments a Diamond Sword can take on this version are listed.
- Max V
- CurseLevel I
- Max II
- Max II
- Max III
- Level I
- Max V
- Max V
- Max III
- Max III
Leave this empty for a fresh item. An item that has been through an anvil before costs more every time.
The lowest total of levels across every step.
Want the finished item without the grind? Build it in the Enchantment Builder.
How anvil costs work
Every time you combine two things in an anvil, Java Edition adds up three charges. The item in the right-hand slot is the one used up, and only its enchantments are charged:
- Enchantments: each enchantment coming from the right-hand slot costs its multiplier times the level it ends up at. A book uses half the item multiplier (at least 1), which is why books are cheaper than sacrificing a second enchanted item. Two equal levels merge one level higher, so two Sharpness IV books make Sharpness V. Java charges the final level even when the left item already has it higher.
- Prior work penalty: each time an item goes through an anvil, its penalty roughly doubles: 0, 1, 3, 7, 15, 31 levels (2n − 1 after n uses). Both slots pay theirs, and the result keeps the higher count plus one.
- Conflicts: one level for each enchantment on the left item that conflicts with an incoming one, such as Sharpness and Smite. The conflicting enchantment is not added.
An operation that costs 40 levels or more shows Too Expensive! in Survival and cannot be done. That is why the order matters: merging books with each other before they touch the item keeps the item's prior work low. The calculator above tries every order and picks the cheapest one that keeps every step under 40.
Cost multipliers in Java 26.3
Levels charged per enchantment level. These come from the game's own data for 26.3; switch the version in the calculator and it uses that version's values.
| Enchantment | From a book | From an item | Max level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aqua Affinity | 2 | 4 | I |
| Bane of Arthropods | 1 | 2 | V |
| Blast Protection | 2 | 4 | IV |
| Breach | 2 | 4 | IV |
| Channeling | 4 | 8 | I |
| Curse of Binding | 4 | 8 | I |
| Curse of Vanishing | 4 | 8 | I |
| Density | 1 | 2 | V |
| Depth Strider | 2 | 4 | III |
| Efficiency | 1 | 1 | V |
| Feather Falling | 1 | 2 | IV |
| Fire Aspect | 2 | 4 | II |
| Fire Protection | 1 | 2 | IV |
| Flame | 2 | 4 | I |
| Fortune | 2 | 4 | III |
| Frost Walker | 2 | 4 | II |
| Impaling | 2 | 4 | V |
| Infinity | 4 | 8 | I |
| Knockback | 1 | 2 | II |
| Looting | 2 | 4 | III |
| Loyalty | 1 | 2 | III |
| Luck of the Sea | 2 | 4 | III |
| Lunge | 1 | 2 | III |
| Lure | 2 | 4 | III |
| Mending | 2 | 4 | I |
| Multishot | 2 | 4 | I |
| Piercing | 1 | 1 | IV |
| Power | 1 | 1 | V |
| Projectile Protection | 1 | 2 | IV |
| Protection | 1 | 1 | IV |
| Punch | 2 | 4 | II |
| Quick Charge | 1 | 2 | III |
| Respiration | 2 | 4 | III |
| Riptide | 2 | 4 | III |
| Sharpness | 1 | 1 | V |
| Silk Touch | 4 | 8 | I |
| Smite | 1 | 2 | V |
| Soul Speed | 4 | 8 | III |
| Sweeping Edge | 2 | 4 | III |
| Swift Sneak | 4 | 8 | III |
| Thorns | 4 | 8 | III |
| Unbreaking | 1 | 2 | III |
| Wind Burst | 2 | 4 | III |
How to use the Anvil Calculator
Pick an item and the enchanted books you have, and the calculator finds the cheapest order to combine them in an anvil: which two go in the left and right slots at each step, what each step costs, and whether any step would be Too Expensive!.
Quick steps
- 1Pick the item you are enchanting and your Minecraft version
- 2Tick each enchanted book you have and set its level
- 3If the item already has enchantments or has been through an anvil, add them under Already on the item
- 4Follow the numbered steps, left slot then right slot, or copy them
Example use cases
- Plan a god sword or max-enchanted armor without hitting Too Expensive
- Find out whether one more book still fits on an item with prior work
- Compare the cost of fewest levels against fewest XP points