Right now, the only way to get high level enchantments in this game is to grind at a monster spawners. It can take many many hours just to get a chance at one high level enchantment, and of course the good enchantments only have a small chance of occuring so you will have to repeat that process many times. And after all that... you get an item that helps you out a little and breaks after awhile. Generally not worth it.
So I thought I'd review all of the possible enchantments and give my opinion which ones are worth getting. I'll be using this guide for statistics: http://pernsteiner.org/minecraft/enchant/tables/
Tools
Fortune: The one enchantment that is actually worth grinding for, but only if you use it correctly. If you use this up quickly mining random blocks, it's a huge waste. IMO this should only be used for the rarest material, and that means diamonds, period. It should never be used to mine common blocks. If you only use this for diamonds, it will last an incredibly long time. A Fortune III can double your diamond output over that time.
Unfortunately Fortune III is incredibly hard to get... the most cost effective level on a diamond pickaxe is 44, and even then you only have a 1/4 chance of getting it. Which means that on average, I'm guessing it would take something like 20-30 hours of monster grinding. You could have spent that time getting a LOT of diamonds the normal way, so it's probably not worth the effort.
Fortune II is a little more reasonable. It doesn't quite double the amount of diamonds you get, but a 70% increase is still nice enough. The most cost effective level on a diamond pickaxe is 28, and you chance is only 1/6, however at that level you also have a 5% of getting Fortune 1 and a 1% chance of Fortune III. So you're overall chance of getting Fortune is 1/5. It's still a huge amount of grinding to get to level 28, but if you don't mind grinding then it might possibly be worth it.
Fortune I is easier to get, the most cost effective level is 15. Your chance of getting it is only 1/7, but since it's actually possibly to get to level 15 in normal play, this is the one I would go for. It only gives you 30% more diamonds, but that's still a decent increase.
Silk Touch: The optimal level for a diamond tool is 21 at 8%. On average it you will have to get to level 21 12 times, meaning that you will have to do a lot of grinding to get this. It's considerably easier to get it on a gold pickaxe, but you have to waste a lot of gold pickaxes, and the durability is so low that I don't think it's worth it. Silk Touch lets you acquire certain blocks that are otherwise unobtainable, but most of these can be "placed" in other ways. You don't need to acquire grass blocks, you can spread grass naturally. Mining bookshelves or glass can be a nice perk, but it's far easier to just make more of those than it is to get Silk Touch. The only block that is really nice to pick up is ice, but IMO that's not worth the effort.
Silk Touch seemed like a neat thing to have when it was first introduced, but for practical purposes it is simply not worth the huge amount of effort to get. Of course, if you decide to go for a Fortune pickaxe then there's always a chance you could get Silk Touch. But if you already have a fortune pickaxe, I would suggest ignoring it.
So to summarize... the tools worth grinding for are:
Efficiency: No.
Unbreaking: No.
Fortune: Yes for Fortune I, and possibly II. (If used for diamonds only, otherwise not worth it.)
Silk Touch. No.
Armor
Unfortunately I'm not clear on how armor enchantments work... I don't know exactly how much they protect you. Also, I don't know if you need to get an enchantment on all 4 pieces or if it'll work fine on only 1... I'm assuming that Protection I on a single piece of armor is all you need.
Even so, armor with enchantments that are meant to protect you can never be worth it at high levels. Armor simply doesn't last long enough to be worth it. Normal armor works well enough and is all you need. The only armor enchantments I would consider going for would be the underwater effects, because these can potentially last forever, making them worthwhile. They are also extremely useful for underwater builders. Because you don't need to wear them in combat, there's no need to put them on diamond helmets, instead you can simply use whichever type of helmet is most cost effective to get, making them a bit easier to get than tool enchantments.
Respiration: The most cost effective level for Respiration III is 23 on a gold helmet, at a 28% chance. This means you need to get to level 23 roughly 4 times. This will require a fair amount of grinding, so I would rather go for a lower level respiration since you don't necessarily need III.
The most cost effective level for Respiration II is a bit tricky... experience wise, it is the cheapest at level 1, but you will waste 30 gold helmets on average. At level 10, you only waste 9 gold helmets, but it will take a lot more experience. It's probably best to enchant somewhere between level 5 and 10. You also have a decent chance of getting Respiration I at any of these levels, so you can simply settle for that if you get it.
Aqua Affinity: For underwater building, this arguably might be more useful than Respiration. Luckily it only comes in one tier, and it's by far the easiest useful enchantment to get. It even has the best % of getting on leather helmets, meaning you don't have to waste good material. At level 1, you have a 20% chance of getting it on a leather helmet, and the % only goes down from there (because it's considered a weak enchantment) so you should only go for this at level 1. However, if you're gonna go for Respiration, you should try for that first, because it's likely that you'll get Aqua Affinity during your attempts at Respiration.
So to summarize... the armor worth grinding for are:
Protection: No.
Fire Protection: No.
Feather Fall: No.
Blast Protection: No.
Projectile Protection: No.
Respiration: Yes.
Aqua Affinity: Yes... (but no need to grind.)
Weapons
The nice thing about enchanting weapons is that the enchantment will last a very long time if you use a diamond sword. However, whether it's "worth it" to grind for better weapons depends on the actual damage increase. In other words, if you can't kill monsters in less hits, it's not worth it. Also, you have to ask yourself if it's really worth the trouble to make a sword more powerful, considering that in many situations the bow is a preferable weapon.
As it stands, there's only 1 enemy that you would REALLY want to kill in less hits, preferably one hit... the Creeper. However, I don't believe it's possible for a Sharpness sword to one-hit a Creeper, even at tier 5. And even if it was possible, Tier 5 weapons are insanely hard to get. You only have a 10% chance at level 50 to get Sharpness 5. This essentially makes them impossible to get, as it would take hundreds, maybe even thousands of hours of grinding to get them.
Since you'll still mainly be using bows, IMO it's never worth grinding for any weapon. I'm not sure if level 1 enchantments are enough to reduce the number of hits with a diamond sword for any enemies, but if they are then you should never bothered with anything but low level enchantments. If not, then you shouldn't bother enchanting weapons period.
So to summarize... the weapons worth grinding for are:
None.
So out of all the enchantments in the game, I believe there are only 2 worth grinding for: Fortune, and Respiration. And even those are easy to ignore if you hate grinding. The conclusion I've reached is that if you want Minecraft to stay a fun game, you're best off using the enchanting system only for low level enchantments, and forgetting that the high ones exist.
For those who ask "what about PVP"? I don't particularly care about PVP, but for those who do, my suggestion is to only play on a server which bans enchantments, unless you love grinding for hundreds of hours.
I wouldn't discount silk touch. In the hands of an experienced user, it's invaluable. Want to improve your mushroom farm? Unless you want to push mycelium all the way back from a mushroom island with pistons, you're gonna need that silk touch. Want to make a silverfish trap? Silk touch. Want to make a white stone building (assuming you eventually can get back from the End)? Silk touch. Want to build a zombie pigmen farm in the nether, giving you all the gold nuggets you need for glistering melon and instant health? You'll need water in the nether, and you'll only get that from silk touch. It is worth grinding for simply on the basis of doing things that you can't possibly do on your own.
Also, getting upper-level weapons and armor might be pretty important whilst facing off against future bosses, depending on their nature.
Silk touch allows the moving of blocks that can't be moved otherwise. That alone makes it invaluable. Also if the wiki is correct sharpness V on a diamond sword has a chance of 1 shotting a creeper, should always 1 shot with a critical, and should almost always 1 shot with a Potion of Strength. As for armor I don't think you've actually seen fully buffed armor in action... check out
While his xp is hacked the enchantments are legit.
I wouldn't discount silk touch. In the hands of an experienced user, it's invaluable. Want to improve your mushroom farm? Unless you want to push mycelium all the way back from a mushroom island with pistons, you're gonna need that silk touch. Want to make a silverfish trap? Silk touch. Want to make a white stone building (assuming you eventually can get back from the End)? Silk touch. Want to build a zombie pigmen farm in the nether, giving you all the gold nuggets you need for glistering melon and instant health? You'll need water in the nether, and you'll only get that from silk touch. It is worth grinding for simply on the basis of doing things that you can't possibly do on your own.
Those things are all nice, but I think that for most people they are things you can live without. You can live without mycelium and white stone. There's plenty of other traps you can make besides silverfish traps (which aren't very practical anyway.) A zombie pigfarm would be cool, but I'm not sure how that would work since it's hard to control where they spawn. Anyway, instant healing isn't that important when you can regenerate. None of these things, IMO, are worth the incredible amount of time you have to invest to get Silk Touch.
Also, getting upper-level weapons and armor might be pretty important whilst facing off against future bosses, depending on their nature.
Possibly, but I'm sure you will be able to succeed without them. You can always just rely on low level enchantments, which don't require grinding. Anyway, we don't even know if normal weapons will work on a dragon, so it's a bit premature to speculate... as of now, there are no monsters in the game for which high level enchantments are needed. Hopefully it will stay that way, because grinding should never be required in a game like Minecraft.
Silk touch allows the moving of blocks that can't be moved otherwise. That alone makes it invaluable. Also if the wiki is correct sharpness V on a diamond sword has a chance of 1 shotting a creeper, should always 1 shot with a critical, and should almost always 1 shot with a Potion of Strength. As for armor I don't think you've actually seen fully buffed armor in action... check out
Not really. Only certain blocks are worth moving... mycelium, white stone, and ice, since there's no other way to get them. Using Silk Touch on any other block is a huge waste considering you spent days of your time grinding for it. Of those blocks, the only useful one is ice. The others are just for aesthetics and you can live without them. Personally, I don't think it's worth the tremendous amount of work it takes just to be able to acquire those blocks. If you need those blocks that bad and you aren't willing to cheat for them, you are a way more hardcore Minecraft player than I.
You might be right about Sharpness V, but it's virtually impossible to obtain even through grinding, so it doesn't really matter. It's cool how fully buffed armor makes you almost invincible, but remember that guy hacked his XP. It takes a ridiculous amount of time to actually get those buffs on your armor, and the invincibility only lasts as long as the durability lasts, which is not long enough to be worth it. For practical purposes, low level enchantments on diamond armor is plenty of protection. Temporary invincibility is not worth 50 hours of grinding.
Silk Touch is invaluable, but only for specific playstyles,
and this guide seems tailored to the OPPOSITE playstyles.
To the OP: You seem to put a lot of stock in Fortune, but I'm not entirely clear on which blocks it applies to.
Blocks that drop items, correct? So: Coal, redstone, lapis, diamonds and clay are the obvious candidates.
But what about saplings from leaves, or slices from melons, or mushrooms from huge shrooms, or even...
Reeds from reeds? Nether wort from Nether wort? I made a thread about it, but didn't get many replies.
Silk Touch is invaluable, but only for specific playstyles,
and this guide seems tailored to the OPPOSITE playstyles.
To the OP: You seem to put a lot of stock in Fortune, but I'm not entirely clear on which blocks it applies to.
Blocks that drop items, correct? So: Coal, redstone, lapis, diamonds and clay are the obvious candidates.
But what about saplings from leaves, or slices from melons, or mushrooms from huge shrooms, or even...
Reeds from reeds? Nether wort from Nether wort? I made a thread about it, but didn't get many replies.
I don't really see a playstyle that needs Silk Touch so badly. I agree it's a neat ability, but my point is just that it only offers fringe benefits, and it's not worth putting in an incredible amount of time and work to get.
Regarding Fortune... IMO it should only be used for diamonds. It's a waste to use it on anything else. It's very easy to get plenty of all the blocks you mentioned, the only blocks it should be used on are the rarest blocks. Diamond is the only block in the game rare enough to make it worthwhile. There are certain other blocks like gold and glowstone that you might consider using it on if you happen to need a lot of those. But if you don't have a pressing need, I would suggest only using it on diamond.
The nice thing about this strategy is that your Fortune diamond pickaxe will last practically forever, meaning that you'll never have to go through the Hell of grinding for one again. Without a doubt, the best enchantments to go for are the ones that last forever, like Fortune, Aqua Affinity and Respiration. Enchantments that have a short lifespan are simply not worth grinding for, unless you love hours of mindless dull repetitive tasks. But for me, that would suck all of the fun out of Minecraft.
I understand that diamonds are priority numero uno, but I'm asking if Fortune WORKS on those blocks or not. The parameters seem a bit more debatable, than the Silk Touch "anything goes" policy, mostly because of block/item overlap.
I can explain the Protection enchantments, though. First of all, they conflict with each other, but do not conflict with Feather Fall, Respiration or Aqua Affinity. So, an ideal setup would be one type of Protection on each armor piece. Their effect is that, more damage is converted to armor durability lost, rather than hearts lost. Keep in mind, armor no longer loses effectiveness with durability, so this is actually kinda useful. Unfortunately, the armor probably won't last longer than the time it took to grind, so lower-level Protection is more worth your effort.
I don't really see a playstyle that needs Silk Touch so badly. I agree it's a neat ability, but my point is just that it only offers fringe benefits, and it's not worth putting in an incredible amount of time and work to get.
Umm the my house is frickin' cooler than your group... Having a floor made of pure ores is great, not everyone is preparing for a zombie apocalypse. But nice writeup just a bit slanted..
Umm the my house is frickin' cooler than your group... Having a floor made of pure ores is great, not everyone is preparing for a zombie apocalypse. But nice writeup just a bit slanted..
Yeah, but there's lots of ways to make your house cool. Although it might seem cool that you can make a diamond floor just because it's possible, I wouldn't actually want to do that because I think it wouldn't look that great. Even if I could do it easily, I still probably wouldn't do it. My point is that Silk Touch doesn't really increase your creative options by that much. It lets you do a couple of cool things that you couldn't otherwise do, but nothing Earth shattering.
I understand that diamonds are priority numero uno, but I'm asking if Fortune WORKS on those blocks or not. The parameters seem a bit more debatable, than the Silk Touch "anything goes" policy, mostly because of block/item overlap.
Based on the description I'm fairly sure that it works on diamonds. If it didn't, I would have expected to see a complaint thread by now. If for some reasons it didn't work on diamonds, it would be a complete waste of time to grind for it.
I can explain the Protection enchantments, though. First of all, they conflict with each other, but do not conflict with Feather Fall, Respiration or Aqua Affinity. So, an ideal setup would be one type of Protection on each armor piece. Their effect is that, more damage is converted to armor durability lost, rather than hearts lost. Keep in mind, armor no longer loses effectiveness with durability, so this is actually kinda useful. Unfortunately, the armor probably won't last longer than the time it took to grind, so lower-level Protection is more worth your effort.
Ah, that's good to know. So multiple Protection enchantments replace each other, rather than stacking. Then I guess it would be a little more worthwhile to grind for protection enchantments, but still when you consider that the durability goes down faster, I don't see how it could ever be worth the time for normal play.
Then that means the guy in the video had Protection IV. I should point out that the optimal level for Protection IV on a piece of diamond armor is 49. Meaning that it is basically impossible to get... going above level 40, even by grinding, takes a ridiculous amount of time. Protection III is a bit more reasonable, as the optimal level is 32 with a 50% chance. But even so, 32 is pretty high and takes a long time to reach by grinding. And you won't be quite as invincible as the guy in that video.
I can see how a low level protection enchantment might be nice, especially if you don't want to waste diamonds for armor, but would rather stick with iron armor. In that case some added protection would be nice. I still wouldn't grind for III, but I and maybe II are worth getting.
As it stands right now the cost of enchanting far outweighs any benefit. If you're going past level 10xp then you're stupid or love monotonous, repetitive gameplay. Sure some of those enchantments are nice, but they just aren't worth the time and effort.
Until it's far easier to attain higher xp levels and the enchantment system is actually fixed so it makes some amount of sense instead of being random garbage nobody should be putting a lot of effort into it.
As it stands right now the cost of enchanting far outweighs any benefit. If you're going past level 10xp then you're stupid or love monotonous, repetitive gameplay. Sure some of those enchantments are nice, but they just aren't worth the time and effort.
Until it's far easier to attain higher xp levels and the enchantment system is actually fixed so it makes some amount of sense instead of being random garbage nobody should be putting a lot of effort into it.
Yeah, I basically agree. Except, for the certain items that last forever or near forever, it may be worth grinding for them as long as it's not too much. Fortune I and Respiration II are worth grinding for, as they don't require an unreasonable amount of grinding, are both very useful and last near forever. It's even possible to get both of those from normal play, it'll just take a long time unless you are lucky. But for anything else, I would say to just settle for low level enchantments you get from normal play, and pretend like the high ones don't exist.
I don't see any enchantments (except maybe silk touch, and possibly the underwater ones) being worth grinding for. I think of them more like an occasional random bonus. Got a couple of levels from killing stuff in a cave? Stick an enchantment on something - gives you a little bump - like a small gratuity :smile.gif:
As it stands right now the cost of enchanting far outweighs any benefit. If you're going past level 10xp then you're stupid or love monotonous, repetitive gameplay. Sure some of those enchantments are nice, but they just aren't worth the time and effort.
Until it's far easier to attain higher xp levels and the enchantment system is actually fixed so it makes some amount of sense instead of being random garbage nobody should be putting a lot of effort into it.
Basically, my opinion on the enchantment system right now. Too much effort, too little reward that doesn't last very long.
I have a Fortune I pick now. It's netted my 4 extra diamonds so far from the two veins I have found since.
I still want to get silk touch and may grind or be a cheater and 'save scum' until I get it, as I have a use for it in a construction project I want to do. (Seeding floating islands in the middle of an ocean with grass and obtaining pools in the nether near my outpost there, also it think red mushroom cap would make an interesting building material.)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
When no one was looking, the Endermen took forty blocks.
They took 40 blocks. That’s as many as four tens. And that’s horrible.
As it stands right now the cost of enchanting far outweighs any benefit. If you're going past level 10xp then you're stupid or love monotonous, repetitive gameplay. Sure some of those enchantments are nice, but they just aren't worth the time and effort.
Until it's far easier to attain higher xp levels and the enchantment system is actually fixed so it makes some amount of sense instead of being random garbage nobody should be putting a lot of effort into it.
Once good designs for a mob aggregator/XP grinder get figured out the time to grind will be markedly reduced.
As far as silk touch, it's nitch use, but if you want grass in the nether or end it's the only option. If you want water in the nether it's your only option. Hence, it's worth grinding for if you have need for it.
I still want to get silk touch and may grind or be a cheater and 'save scum' until I get it, as I have a use for it in a construction project I want to do. (Seeding floating islands in the middle of an ocean with grass and obtaining pools in the nether near my outpost there, also it think red mushroom cap would make an interesting building material.)
If all you wanted was floating grass, I would say that building grass staircases is far less effort than attaining Silk Touch. But yes, to get water in the Nether you'll need Silk Touch. If you use it sparingly, you will probably be fine with a gold pick Silk Touch which is considerably easier to get. Though I don't blame you at all if you decide to save scum it.
If all you wanted was floating grass, I would say that building grass staircases is far less effort than attaining Silk Touch. But yes, to get water in the Nether you'll need Silk Touch. If you use it sparingly, you will probably be fine with a gold pick Silk Touch which is considerably easier to get. Though I don't blame you at all if you decide to save scum it.
Well, for grass etc you need at most 4 uses (grass and mycelium for nether and ender) Figure a 10x10 pond of waterwill need another 10 uses for ice. 2 pig spawners for nether and ender. That's 16 uses before I run out of clear reasons to use. I'm going to say durability isn't an issue for silk touch.
Have you ever though about buying EXP from other people? Or, in your multiplayer team, having 1 guy be the designated enchanter, having everyone else give their EXP to him/her?
In single player, enchantments are too hard to get. However, in multiplayer, it becomes much easier and much more worth it, as you not only need to fight these dumb mobs, but also players who match your intelligence.
You need to take multiplayer into account, not just single player.
Spending hours grinding on monsters for enchantment? Waste of time. Play the game. If it takes that long on a monster grinder just to get an enchantment then this is a broken system.
Yeah, it's kind of broken, no doubt about it. Though it's not that bad... the low level enchantments don't take much work to get, and are still nice on their own, so I wouldn't say the enchantment system is a complete waste.
Well, for grass etc you need at most 4 uses (grass and mycelium for nether and ender) Figure a 10x10 pond of waterwill need another 10 uses for ice. 2 pig spawners for nether and ender. That's 16 uses before I run out of clear reasons to use. I'm going to say durability isn't an issue for silk touch.
Ice could make a very interesting aesthetic option when used in structures as it is partially see through, you just have to avoid putting light sources too close...
Also, ores could be put to decorative use. If you are not a fanatical builder in survival then it probably doesn't matter to you though.
If all you wanted was floating grass, I would say that building grass staircases is far less effort than attaining Silk Touch. But yes, to get water in the Nether you'll need Silk Touch. If you use it sparingly, you will probably be fine with a gold pick Silk Touch which is considerably easier to get. Though I don't blame you at all if you decide to save scum it.
Check out my location on the map shown in the image below and you may understand why I want silk touch to move grass in the overworld ...
Obviously, this is a work in progress. I need a lot more smooth stone to make the base of the island. I also plan to burn the bridge when I finish main structure of the island(s) and install a nether gate to link it to my original base.
Grass will take forever to grow on a staircase that spans almost half a map above an ocean and grass only grows when you are in nearby chunks (I spend most of my time on that round island in the middle) Also vast amounts of dirt are hard to come by on my map.
I understand it won't be very useful to most people, but for my current construction project it will make getting a nice green lawn on my floating island possible. :smile.gif: This is just a very, very specific use for silk touch.
Yeah, it's kind of broken, no doubt about it. Though it's not that bad... the low level enchantments don't take much work to get, and are still nice on their own, so I wouldn't say the enchantment system is a complete waste.
After I obtain silk touch on a diamond pick I'm going to use the system the way you describe here. Just put a few levels in here and there to get a bit of extra damage on my swords or make a slightly faster pick axe. Most of the rest of the high level enchantments aren't worth my time. The only thing that will change that is if the leveling system is modified to make it easier to reach higher levels in a future release.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
When no one was looking, the Endermen took forty blocks.
They took 40 blocks. That’s as many as four tens. And that’s horrible.
So I thought I'd review all of the possible enchantments and give my opinion which ones are worth getting. I'll be using this guide for statistics: http://pernsteiner.org/minecraft/enchant/tables/
Tools
Fortune: The one enchantment that is actually worth grinding for, but only if you use it correctly. If you use this up quickly mining random blocks, it's a huge waste. IMO this should only be used for the rarest material, and that means diamonds, period. It should never be used to mine common blocks. If you only use this for diamonds, it will last an incredibly long time. A Fortune III can double your diamond output over that time.
Unfortunately Fortune III is incredibly hard to get... the most cost effective level on a diamond pickaxe is 44, and even then you only have a 1/4 chance of getting it. Which means that on average, I'm guessing it would take something like 20-30 hours of monster grinding. You could have spent that time getting a LOT of diamonds the normal way, so it's probably not worth the effort.
Fortune II is a little more reasonable. It doesn't quite double the amount of diamonds you get, but a 70% increase is still nice enough. The most cost effective level on a diamond pickaxe is 28, and you chance is only 1/6, however at that level you also have a 5% of getting Fortune 1 and a 1% chance of Fortune III. So you're overall chance of getting Fortune is 1/5. It's still a huge amount of grinding to get to level 28, but if you don't mind grinding then it might possibly be worth it.
Fortune I is easier to get, the most cost effective level is 15. Your chance of getting it is only 1/7, but since it's actually possibly to get to level 15 in normal play, this is the one I would go for. It only gives you 30% more diamonds, but that's still a decent increase.
Silk Touch: The optimal level for a diamond tool is 21 at 8%. On average it you will have to get to level 21 12 times, meaning that you will have to do a lot of grinding to get this. It's considerably easier to get it on a gold pickaxe, but you have to waste a lot of gold pickaxes, and the durability is so low that I don't think it's worth it. Silk Touch lets you acquire certain blocks that are otherwise unobtainable, but most of these can be "placed" in other ways. You don't need to acquire grass blocks, you can spread grass naturally. Mining bookshelves or glass can be a nice perk, but it's far easier to just make more of those than it is to get Silk Touch. The only block that is really nice to pick up is ice, but IMO that's not worth the effort.
Silk Touch seemed like a neat thing to have when it was first introduced, but for practical purposes it is simply not worth the huge amount of effort to get. Of course, if you decide to go for a Fortune pickaxe then there's always a chance you could get Silk Touch. But if you already have a fortune pickaxe, I would suggest ignoring it.
So to summarize... the tools worth grinding for are:
Efficiency: No.
Unbreaking: No.
Fortune: Yes for Fortune I, and possibly II. (If used for diamonds only, otherwise not worth it.)
Silk Touch. No.
Armor
Unfortunately I'm not clear on how armor enchantments work... I don't know exactly how much they protect you. Also, I don't know if you need to get an enchantment on all 4 pieces or if it'll work fine on only 1... I'm assuming that Protection I on a single piece of armor is all you need.
Even so, armor with enchantments that are meant to protect you can never be worth it at high levels. Armor simply doesn't last long enough to be worth it. Normal armor works well enough and is all you need. The only armor enchantments I would consider going for would be the underwater effects, because these can potentially last forever, making them worthwhile. They are also extremely useful for underwater builders. Because you don't need to wear them in combat, there's no need to put them on diamond helmets, instead you can simply use whichever type of helmet is most cost effective to get, making them a bit easier to get than tool enchantments.
Respiration: The most cost effective level for Respiration III is 23 on a gold helmet, at a 28% chance. This means you need to get to level 23 roughly 4 times. This will require a fair amount of grinding, so I would rather go for a lower level respiration since you don't necessarily need III.
The most cost effective level for Respiration II is a bit tricky... experience wise, it is the cheapest at level 1, but you will waste 30 gold helmets on average. At level 10, you only waste 9 gold helmets, but it will take a lot more experience. It's probably best to enchant somewhere between level 5 and 10. You also have a decent chance of getting Respiration I at any of these levels, so you can simply settle for that if you get it.
Aqua Affinity: For underwater building, this arguably might be more useful than Respiration. Luckily it only comes in one tier, and it's by far the easiest useful enchantment to get. It even has the best % of getting on leather helmets, meaning you don't have to waste good material. At level 1, you have a 20% chance of getting it on a leather helmet, and the % only goes down from there (because it's considered a weak enchantment) so you should only go for this at level 1. However, if you're gonna go for Respiration, you should try for that first, because it's likely that you'll get Aqua Affinity during your attempts at Respiration.
So to summarize... the armor worth grinding for are:
Protection: No.
Fire Protection: No.
Feather Fall: No.
Blast Protection: No.
Projectile Protection: No.
Respiration: Yes.
Aqua Affinity: Yes... (but no need to grind.)
Weapons
The nice thing about enchanting weapons is that the enchantment will last a very long time if you use a diamond sword. However, whether it's "worth it" to grind for better weapons depends on the actual damage increase. In other words, if you can't kill monsters in less hits, it's not worth it. Also, you have to ask yourself if it's really worth the trouble to make a sword more powerful, considering that in many situations the bow is a preferable weapon.
As it stands, there's only 1 enemy that you would REALLY want to kill in less hits, preferably one hit... the Creeper. However, I don't believe it's possible for a Sharpness sword to one-hit a Creeper, even at tier 5. And even if it was possible, Tier 5 weapons are insanely hard to get. You only have a 10% chance at level 50 to get Sharpness 5. This essentially makes them impossible to get, as it would take hundreds, maybe even thousands of hours of grinding to get them.
Since you'll still mainly be using bows, IMO it's never worth grinding for any weapon. I'm not sure if level 1 enchantments are enough to reduce the number of hits with a diamond sword for any enemies, but if they are then you should never bothered with anything but low level enchantments. If not, then you shouldn't bother enchanting weapons period.
So to summarize... the weapons worth grinding for are:
None.
So out of all the enchantments in the game, I believe there are only 2 worth grinding for: Fortune, and Respiration. And even those are easy to ignore if you hate grinding. The conclusion I've reached is that if you want Minecraft to stay a fun game, you're best off using the enchanting system only for low level enchantments, and forgetting that the high ones exist.
For those who ask "what about PVP"? I don't particularly care about PVP, but for those who do, my suggestion is to only play on a server which bans enchantments, unless you love grinding for hundreds of hours.
Also, getting upper-level weapons and armor might be pretty important whilst facing off against future bosses, depending on their nature.
While his xp is hacked the enchantments are legit.
Those things are all nice, but I think that for most people they are things you can live without. You can live without mycelium and white stone. There's plenty of other traps you can make besides silverfish traps (which aren't very practical anyway.) A zombie pigfarm would be cool, but I'm not sure how that would work since it's hard to control where they spawn. Anyway, instant healing isn't that important when you can regenerate. None of these things, IMO, are worth the incredible amount of time you have to invest to get Silk Touch.
Possibly, but I'm sure you will be able to succeed without them. You can always just rely on low level enchantments, which don't require grinding. Anyway, we don't even know if normal weapons will work on a dragon, so it's a bit premature to speculate... as of now, there are no monsters in the game for which high level enchantments are needed. Hopefully it will stay that way, because grinding should never be required in a game like Minecraft.
Not really. Only certain blocks are worth moving... mycelium, white stone, and ice, since there's no other way to get them. Using Silk Touch on any other block is a huge waste considering you spent days of your time grinding for it. Of those blocks, the only useful one is ice. The others are just for aesthetics and you can live without them. Personally, I don't think it's worth the tremendous amount of work it takes just to be able to acquire those blocks. If you need those blocks that bad and you aren't willing to cheat for them, you are a way more hardcore Minecraft player than I.
You might be right about Sharpness V, but it's virtually impossible to obtain even through grinding, so it doesn't really matter. It's cool how fully buffed armor makes you almost invincible, but remember that guy hacked his XP. It takes a ridiculous amount of time to actually get those buffs on your armor, and the invincibility only lasts as long as the durability lasts, which is not long enough to be worth it. For practical purposes, low level enchantments on diamond armor is plenty of protection. Temporary invincibility is not worth 50 hours of grinding.
and this guide seems tailored to the OPPOSITE playstyles.
To the OP: You seem to put a lot of stock in Fortune, but I'm not entirely clear on which blocks it applies to.
Blocks that drop items, correct? So: Coal, redstone, lapis, diamonds and clay are the obvious candidates.
But what about saplings from leaves, or slices from melons, or mushrooms from huge shrooms, or even...
Reeds from reeds? Nether wort from Nether wort? I made a thread about it, but didn't get many replies.
I don't really see a playstyle that needs Silk Touch so badly. I agree it's a neat ability, but my point is just that it only offers fringe benefits, and it's not worth putting in an incredible amount of time and work to get.
Regarding Fortune... IMO it should only be used for diamonds. It's a waste to use it on anything else. It's very easy to get plenty of all the blocks you mentioned, the only blocks it should be used on are the rarest blocks. Diamond is the only block in the game rare enough to make it worthwhile. There are certain other blocks like gold and glowstone that you might consider using it on if you happen to need a lot of those. But if you don't have a pressing need, I would suggest only using it on diamond.
The nice thing about this strategy is that your Fortune diamond pickaxe will last practically forever, meaning that you'll never have to go through the Hell of grinding for one again. Without a doubt, the best enchantments to go for are the ones that last forever, like Fortune, Aqua Affinity and Respiration. Enchantments that have a short lifespan are simply not worth grinding for, unless you love hours of mindless dull repetitive tasks. But for me, that would suck all of the fun out of Minecraft.
I can explain the Protection enchantments, though. First of all, they conflict with each other, but do not conflict with Feather Fall, Respiration or Aqua Affinity. So, an ideal setup would be one type of Protection on each armor piece. Their effect is that, more damage is converted to armor durability lost, rather than hearts lost. Keep in mind, armor no longer loses effectiveness with durability, so this is actually kinda useful. Unfortunately, the armor probably won't last longer than the time it took to grind, so lower-level Protection is more worth your effort.
Umm the my house is frickin' cooler than your group... Having a floor made of
Yeah, but there's lots of ways to make your house cool. Although it might seem cool that you can make a diamond floor just because it's possible, I wouldn't actually want to do that because I think it wouldn't look that great. Even if I could do it easily, I still probably wouldn't do it. My point is that Silk Touch doesn't really increase your creative options by that much. It lets you do a couple of cool things that you couldn't otherwise do, but nothing Earth shattering.
Based on the description I'm fairly sure that it works on diamonds. If it didn't, I would have expected to see a complaint thread by now. If for some reasons it didn't work on diamonds, it would be a complete waste of time to grind for it.
Ah, that's good to know. So multiple Protection enchantments replace each other, rather than stacking. Then I guess it would be a little more worthwhile to grind for protection enchantments, but still when you consider that the durability goes down faster, I don't see how it could ever be worth the time for normal play.
Then that means the guy in the video had Protection IV. I should point out that the optimal level for Protection IV on a piece of diamond armor is 49. Meaning that it is basically impossible to get... going above level 40, even by grinding, takes a ridiculous amount of time. Protection III is a bit more reasonable, as the optimal level is 32 with a 50% chance. But even so, 32 is pretty high and takes a long time to reach by grinding. And you won't be quite as invincible as the guy in that video.
I can see how a low level protection enchantment might be nice, especially if you don't want to waste diamonds for armor, but would rather stick with iron armor. In that case some added protection would be nice. I still wouldn't grind for III, but I and maybe II are worth getting.
Until it's far easier to attain higher xp levels and the enchantment system is actually fixed so it makes some amount of sense instead of being random garbage nobody should be putting a lot of effort into it.
Yeah, I basically agree. Except, for the certain items that last forever or near forever, it may be worth grinding for them as long as it's not too much. Fortune I and Respiration II are worth grinding for, as they don't require an unreasonable amount of grinding, are both very useful and last near forever. It's even possible to get both of those from normal play, it'll just take a long time unless you are lucky. But for anything else, I would say to just settle for low level enchantments you get from normal play, and pretend like the high ones don't exist.
Basically, my opinion on the enchantment system right now. Too much effort, too little reward that doesn't last very long.
I have a Fortune I pick now. It's netted my 4 extra diamonds so far from the two veins I have found since.
I still want to get silk touch and may grind or be a cheater and 'save scum' until I get it, as I have a use for it in a construction project I want to do. (Seeding floating islands in the middle of an ocean with grass and obtaining pools in the nether near my outpost there, also it think red mushroom cap would make an interesting building material.)
They took 40 blocks. That’s as many as four tens. And that’s horrible.
Once good designs for a mob aggregator/XP grinder get figured out the time to grind will be markedly reduced.
As far as silk touch, it's nitch use, but if you want grass in the nether or end it's the only option. If you want water in the nether it's your only option. Hence, it's worth grinding for if you have need for it.
If all you wanted was floating grass, I would say that building grass staircases is far less effort than attaining Silk Touch. But yes, to get water in the Nether you'll need Silk Touch. If you use it sparingly, you will probably be fine with a gold pick Silk Touch which is considerably easier to get. Though I don't blame you at all if you decide to save scum it.
Well, for grass etc you need at most 4 uses (grass and mycelium for nether and ender) Figure a 10x10 pond of waterwill need another 10 uses for ice. 2 pig spawners for nether and ender. That's 16 uses before I run out of clear reasons to use. I'm going to say durability isn't an issue for silk touch.
Have you ever though about buying EXP from other people? Or, in your multiplayer team, having 1 guy be the designated enchanter, having everyone else give their EXP to him/her?
In single player, enchantments are too hard to get. However, in multiplayer, it becomes much easier and much more worth it, as you not only need to fight these dumb mobs, but also players who match your intelligence.
You need to take multiplayer into account, not just single player.
Ice could make a very interesting aesthetic option when used in structures as it is partially see through, you just have to avoid putting light sources too close...
Also, ores could be put to decorative use. If you are not a fanatical builder in survival then it probably doesn't matter to you though.
Check out my location on the map shown in the image below and you may understand why I want silk touch to move grass in the overworld ...
Grass will take forever to grow on a staircase that spans almost half a map above an ocean and grass only grows when you are in nearby chunks (I spend most of my time on that round island in the middle) Also vast amounts of dirt are hard to come by on my map.
I understand it won't be very useful to most people, but for my current construction project it will make getting a nice green lawn on my floating island possible. :smile.gif: This is just a very, very specific use for silk touch.
After I obtain silk touch on a diamond pick I'm going to use the system the way you describe here. Just put a few levels in here and there to get a bit of extra damage on my swords or make a slightly faster pick axe. Most of the rest of the high level enchantments aren't worth my time. The only thing that will change that is if the leveling system is modified to make it easier to reach higher levels in a future release.
They took 40 blocks. That’s as many as four tens. And that’s horrible.