I need someone to help me understand what people are talking about referring to the level when enchanting something. I was reading that the best level to be at when enchanting a pickaxe with fortune is level 14, 15 or 16. It's my understanding that you have to be at at least level 30 before you can even begin enchanting. So what level is being referred to or am I mistaken in something here? Thank you anyone for the help.
It's the levels shown at the bottom of your screen, between the hearts and the drumsticks.
You can enchant at any level, from 1 to 30 (you can of course have more than 30 levels but 30 is the highest number counted when enchanting.)
Each time you use the enchanting table you have a choice of three different enchantment levels, costing 1, 2 or 3 levels and 1, 2 or 3 Lapis Lazuli, with different numbers of levels required to choose that enchantment level.
Which three levels you can choose depends on how many bookcases are placed in the proper locations around the Enchanting Table.
With 15 bookcases your options will be something like a level 30 enchantment, a level 17 enchantment or a level 7 enchantment.
With no bookcases, or with torches or something between the bookcases and the Enchantment table I get 1, 3 or 3.
quote=DiamondDaddy
I need someone to help me understand what people are talking about referring to the level when enchanting something. I was reading that the best level to be at when enchanting a pickaxe with fortune is level 14, 15 or 16.
Depending on where you are getting your information this could refer to the level at which the pick would be most likely to receive a particularly desirable enchantment. [Checking the publication date adn Minecraft version before relying on information is always wise.]
Different enchantments are applied with differing likelyhoods and the level at which an item is enchanted influences this; the effect of player level was considered strong by some people enough under the old (pre lapis requiring versions <1.8) enchanting system that tables and even some web pages/widgets were circulated to pick the optimal level to maximize the chance of recieving the desired enchantment.
It is unclear to me whether this effect has been reduced to the point such is no longer useful, or whether there is merely no one updating the calculators – but I have not seen such a calculator for recent versions.
If you have found such a calculator for 1.12, posting the link would be appreciated.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Why does everything have to be so stoopid?" Harvey Pekar (from American Splendor)
WARNING: I have an extemely "grindy" playstyle; YMMV — if this doesn't seem fun to you, mine what you can from it & bin the rest.
Thank you both for your replies. It's clear that I misunderstood that you must be at least a level 30 to enchant. I'm not sure what version the calculator I have is for, but it may not be right. On the other hand it shows your chances of getting silk touch going up with every level and and I did enchant my diamond pickaxe with silk touch a couple of nights ago at level 38. Maybe take a look and see how it looks.
quote=DiamondDaddy
I'm not sure what version the calculator I have is for, but it may not be right. On the other hand it shows your chances of getting silk touch going up with every level and and I did enchant my diamond pickaxe with silk touch a couple of nights ago at level 38. Maybe take a look and see how it looks.
As it includes neither Frost Walker nor Mending (both added in 1.9) in its calculations it will not be entirely accurate past 1.8.
[It also does not include Sweeping Edge and the Curses (Binding and Vanishing) or that Infinity and Mending are can not now be combined.]
It may, however, be of some utility in getting a general "feel" for what enchantments are likely under various circumstances as the underlying algorithms remain broadly similar....
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Why does everything have to be so stoopid?" Harvey Pekar (from American Splendor)
WARNING: I have an extemely "grindy" playstyle; YMMV — if this doesn't seem fun to you, mine what you can from it & bin the rest.
Here's a question I still don't understand, and I think this is really what I was trying to figure out with my first question. There are three different levels of enchantments that can be done, each using 1, 2, or 3 lapis lazuli. To get the third level enchantment, you must be at an experience level 30 or higher. The level 3 enchantments are the silk touch, fortune and so on. We've established that my tool is for an older version, but is it so out of date that it's showing the best level to be at for fortune is 15, 16, or 17 when you can't even get the fortune enchantment below level 30? This is what isn't making sense to me. Any help would be appreciated.
How many XP levels you need for each slot depends on how many bookcases are placed around the enchanting table, 1 block away with nothing but air between them and the enchanting table. According to the first table on the Enchantment_mechanics page in the Wiki, if there are no bookshelves the required XP level for the enchantment in the third slot will vary between 1 and 8 https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Enchantment_mechanics
And this chart: https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Image005.png taken from the same page shows that you can get Fortune from XP level 8 or 9 and up, though you need XP level 16 or more to get Fortune II and level 24 or more to get Fortune III and level 30 (or more) gives you the best chance of Fortune III (as well as the best chance of Fortune overall.)
You can get a Fortune enchantment in any of the three slots, but as far as I can see Fortune III can only come from the third slot since the second slot only goes up to 21 XP levels.
I note in that chart that the best chance of getting Fortune I comes somewhere between level 14 and level 18, maybe that's the cause of some of your confusion?
"Short" version; (direct replies only) replies interpolated in green
quote=DiamondDaddy
Here's a question I still don't understand, and I think this is really what I was trying to figure out with my first question. There are three different levels of enchantments that can be done, each using 1, 2, or 3 lapis lazuli. To get the third level enchantment, you must be at an experience level 30 or higher. No, with zero bookcases active the range for the bottom slot [slot3] is 1-8. However, with 15 active bookcases the range for the slot3 is 30-30 (ie. always 30) – but "Note that a higher experience cost for a specific slot does not necessarily mean that the enchantments from that slot will be better than the others with less cost."
These ranges are the MAXIMUM values for the randomly generated "Base enchantment level available".
The level 3 enchantments are the silk touch, fortune and so on.
"level" gets used for several distinct things in these discussions. [Part of what creates the confusion.]
With few bookcases active, the ranges for the three slots overlap quite a bit; with higher numbers of active bookcases, the ranges (particularly of the slot3) are more distinct [max # of bookcases counted =15]
While the ranges of the "Modified Enchanting level" required for each step of an enchantment (eg. Fortune I, II, III) overlap, the higher steps are more likely to generate under a higher "Modified Enchanting level".
The three slots in the enchantment table GUI are not good/better/best: one can get Aqua affinity in the bottom [slot3] and (albeit improbable) flame or silk touch in the top [slot1]
We've established that my tool is for an older version, but is it so out of date that it's showing the best level to be at for fortune is 15, 16, or 17 when you can't even get the fortune enchantment below level 30? This is what isn't making sense to me. Any help would be appreciated.
Short answer: yes, the tool is too outdated to give anything but a general idea of which enchantments are [relatively] more or less likely at low/medium/high levels.
The chart cited above is from labeled as being from 12w22a and was last updated 02:20, 11 August 2012
If you are interested either in maxing out your gear, or in getting specific enchantments... using an enchanting table is actually a suboptimal choice; both fishing and villager trading to acquire books which one then applies (often in combination) using an anvil is [IMO] much less annoying (and likely quicker). [Particularly after the 'start-up costs'.]
If you want want to understand the enchantment mechanics as an end in itself, I've put some links and some comments in the spoiler:
This page covers the [hopefully current] enchantment mechanics.
Studying the algorithms laid out there (and on the linked pages like enchantments levels table) shows one can get Fortune I as low as about ExpLevel14, but the chances are much better at higher levels and Fortune III only becomes likely at about level 28+.
That assumes diamond a tool; iron, wood, and gold each have a higher "enchantability number" than gold and will get better possible enchantments at lower minimum levels.
[There are a sufficient number of randomized steps in the selection that the calculations are messy.]
Once a list of possible enchantments has been constructed, those that are actually available are selected from that list as a weighted random draw.
[The weights (comparative likelyhood of occurance) ofthe various enchantments can be found in a chart here]
Because of the way possible multiple enchantments are selected only the third [bottom] slot is likely to give an additional enchantment. [This can make finding a desired enchantment in slot one or two desirable when attempting to build a maxed out bit of gear as the result does not depend on the slot from which it was applied (i.e. Unbreaking 1 acts the same whether you paid one lapis for a top slot or three for a bottom slot enchantment) and the top two slots do not risk getting a second enchantment that would make combining the item inconvenient. ]
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Why does everything have to be so stoopid?" Harvey Pekar (from American Splendor)
WARNING: I have an extemely "grindy" playstyle; YMMV — if this doesn't seem fun to you, mine what you can from it & bin the rest.
Before you start combining books you should get an understanding of how the anvil works.
Each time you use an anvil on books or items the cost, in XP levels, increases, approximately doubling each time, and once it goes over 39 levels you can no longer use the anvil on the item, either for adding enchantments or repairing it. And this doubling is always calculated on the item that already had the highest cost.
So you want to spread out the combinations.
Say you have 7 books with enchantments you want to add to a sword.
If you add the books to the sword 1 by 1 then you can only add 6 (I think), when you try to add the 7'th it will be too expensive, so you only got 6 enchantments and you can never repair it.
If you add one book to the sword and combine the other books 2 by 2 that gives you the sword and 3 books each of which have only been "anviled" once. Add one book to the sword and combine the other 2 books and you have a sword and a book each with 2 "anvilings". Add the book to the sword and you get a sword with all the enchantments applied and only 3 "anvilings" meaning it can still be repaired up to 3 times.
If one of the books had the Mending enchantment then this is less important since the item will be self repairing as long as you earn enough XP while holding it.
(In case you're wondering why you would use 7 books when there probably aren't that many enchantments that can go on a sword, you can increase the level of an enchantment by combining 2 copies of the same enchantment. 2 Fortune I make a Fortune II and 2 Fortune II make a fortune III for instance.)
Got busy the last few days and finally got the chance to read this right now Thanks for all the good info here. Lots I didn't know. I wonder if I have to many book shelves around my enchanting table. I read in a few places the best way to get the good enchantments was to have 30 shelves. Two stacks of 15 each one block from the table leaving a one block opening to get to the table. Anyone know if there is any validity to this or should I oust a few shelvs? My setup only allows me a level 3 enchantment with XP level 30.
quote=DiamondDaddy
Two stacks of 15 each one block from the table leaving a one block opening to get to the table. Anyone know if there is any validity to this or should I oust a few shelvs?
The downside to using more than fifteen bookcases is that it is harder to adjust the number when checking for enchantments...
Temporarily disabling a some book shelves will allow you to check enchantments available at other levels. [This can be useful if you're using the table to enchant gear (vs books and an anvil) and nothing offered in any of the three slots @ Lvl30 for any bit of kit is attractive
Scanning what's available for what gear at the other levels may offer a better return on your Xp & lapis than enchanting a book with whatever is in slot one.
The tradeoff being that switching torches around and checking each type of items takes player time.]
I need someone to help me understand what people are talking about referring to the level when enchanting something. I was reading that the best level to be at when enchanting a pickaxe with fortune is level 14, 15 or 16. It's my understanding that you have to be at at least level 30 before you can even begin enchanting. So what level is being referred to or am I mistaken in something here? Thank you anyone for the help.
It's the levels shown at the bottom of your screen, between the hearts and the drumsticks.
You can enchant at any level, from 1 to 30 (you can of course have more than 30 levels but 30 is the highest number counted when enchanting.)
Each time you use the enchanting table you have a choice of three different enchantment levels, costing 1, 2 or 3 levels and 1, 2 or 3 Lapis Lazuli, with different numbers of levels required to choose that enchantment level.
Which three levels you can choose depends on how many bookcases are placed in the proper locations around the Enchanting Table.
With 15 bookcases your options will be something like a level 30 enchantment, a level 17 enchantment or a level 7 enchantment.
With no bookcases, or with torches or something between the bookcases and the Enchantment table I get 1, 3 or 3.
The Wiki has a lot of info at: https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Enchanting
and: https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Enchantment_Table
Just testing.
quote=DiamondDaddy
I need someone to help me understand what people are talking about referring to the level when enchanting something. I was reading that the best level to be at when enchanting a pickaxe with fortune is level 14, 15 or 16.
Depending on where you are getting your information this could refer to the level at which the pick would be most likely to receive a particularly desirable enchantment. [Checking the publication date adn Minecraft version before relying on information is always wise.]
Different enchantments are applied with differing likelyhoods and the level at which an item is enchanted influences this; the effect of player level was considered strong by some people enough under the old (pre lapis requiring versions <1.8) enchanting system that tables and even some web pages/widgets were circulated to pick the optimal level to maximize the chance of recieving the desired enchantment.
It is unclear to me whether this effect has been reduced to the point such is no longer useful, or whether there is merely no one updating the calculators – but I have not seen such a calculator for recent versions.
If you have found such a calculator for 1.12, posting the link would be appreciated.
Thank you both for your replies. It's clear that I misunderstood that you must be at least a level 30 to enchant. I'm not sure what version the calculator I have is for, but it may not be right. On the other hand it shows your chances of getting silk touch going up with every level and and I did enchant my diamond pickaxe with silk touch a couple of nights ago at level 38. Maybe take a look and see how it looks.
http://www.minecraftenchantmentcalculator.com/rev6/
Thank you both for helping me clear this up.
quote=DiamondDaddy
I'm not sure what version the calculator I have is for, but it may not be right. On the other hand it shows your chances of getting silk touch going up with every level and and I did enchant my diamond pickaxe with silk touch a couple of nights ago at level 38. Maybe take a look and see how it looks.
http://www.minecraftenchantmentcalculator.com/rev6/
That is one of the older calculators to which I was referring: it has not been updated past 1.8. [See the copyright notice (Copyright © 2011-2014 Joseph Stevens) at the botom of the companion page http://minecraftenchantmentcalculator.com/ios/ ]
As it includes neither Frost Walker nor Mending (both added in 1.9) in its calculations it will not be entirely accurate past 1.8.
[It also does not include Sweeping Edge and the Curses (Binding and Vanishing) or that Infinity and Mending are can not now be combined.]
It may, however, be of some utility in getting a general "feel" for what enchantments are likely under various circumstances as the underlying algorithms remain broadly similar....
Here's a question I still don't understand, and I think this is really what I was trying to figure out with my first question. There are three different levels of enchantments that can be done, each using 1, 2, or 3 lapis lazuli. To get the third level enchantment, you must be at an experience level 30 or higher. The level 3 enchantments are the silk touch, fortune and so on. We've established that my tool is for an older version, but is it so out of date that it's showing the best level to be at for fortune is 15, 16, or 17 when you can't even get the fortune enchantment below level 30? This is what isn't making sense to me. Any help would be appreciated.
How many XP levels you need for each slot depends on how many bookcases are placed around the enchanting table, 1 block away with nothing but air between them and the enchanting table. According to the first table on the Enchantment_mechanics page in the Wiki, if there are no bookshelves the required XP level for the enchantment in the third slot will vary between 1 and 8 https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Enchantment_mechanics
And this chart: https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Image005.png taken from the same page shows that you can get Fortune from XP level 8 or 9 and up, though you need XP level 16 or more to get Fortune II and level 24 or more to get Fortune III and level 30 (or more) gives you the best chance of Fortune III (as well as the best chance of Fortune overall.)
You can get a Fortune enchantment in any of the three slots, but as far as I can see Fortune III can only come from the third slot since the second slot only goes up to 21 XP levels.
I note in that chart that the best chance of getting Fortune I comes somewhere between level 14 and level 18, maybe that's the cause of some of your confusion?
Just testing.
"Short" version; (direct replies only) replies interpolated in green
quote=DiamondDaddy
Here's a question I still don't understand, and I think this is really what I was trying to figure out with my first question. There are three different levels of enchantments that can be done, each using 1, 2, or 3 lapis lazuli. To get the third level enchantment, you must be at an experience level 30 or higher. No, with zero bookcases active the range for the bottom slot [slot3] is 1-8. However, with 15 active bookcases the range for the slot3 is 30-30 (ie. always 30) – but "Note that a higher experience cost for a specific slot does not necessarily mean that the enchantments from that slot will be better than the others with less cost."
These ranges are the MAXIMUM values for the randomly generated "Base enchantment level available".
The level 3 enchantments are the silk touch, fortune and so on.
"level" gets used for several distinct things in these discussions. [Part of what creates the confusion.]
With few bookcases active, the ranges for the three slots overlap quite a bit; with higher numbers of active bookcases, the ranges (particularly of the slot3) are more distinct [max # of bookcases counted =15]
While the ranges of the "Modified Enchanting level" required for each step of an enchantment (eg. Fortune I, II, III) overlap, the higher steps are more likely to generate under a higher "Modified Enchanting level".
The three slots in the enchantment table GUI are not good/better/best: one can get Aqua affinity in the bottom [slot3] and (albeit improbable) flame or silk touch in the top [slot1]
We've established that my tool is for an older version, but is it so out of date that it's showing the best level to be at for fortune is 15, 16, or 17 when you can't even get the fortune enchantment below level 30? This is what isn't making sense to me. Any help would be appreciated.
Short answer: yes, the tool is too outdated to give anything but a general idea of which enchantments are [relatively] more or less likely at low/medium/high levels.
The chart cited above is from labeled as being from 12w22a and was last updated 02:20, 11 August 2012
Following the link on the chart leads to another older calculator @ http://pernsteiner.org/minecraft/enchant/index.html
If you are interested either in maxing out your gear, or in getting specific enchantments... using an enchanting table is actually a suboptimal choice; both fishing and villager trading to acquire books which one then applies (often in combination) using an anvil is [IMO] much less annoying (and likely quicker). [Particularly after the 'start-up costs'.]
If you want want to understand the enchantment mechanics as an end in itself, I've put some links and some comments in the spoiler:
This page covers the [hopefully current] enchantment mechanics.
Studying the algorithms laid out there (and on the linked pages like enchantments levels table) shows one can get Fortune I as low as about ExpLevel14, but the chances are much better at higher levels and Fortune III only becomes likely at about level 28+.
That assumes diamond a tool; iron, wood, and gold each have a higher "enchantability number" than gold and will get better possible enchantments at lower minimum levels.
[There are a sufficient number of randomized steps in the selection that the calculations are messy.]
Once a list of possible enchantments has been constructed, those that are actually available are selected from that list as a weighted random draw.
[The weights (comparative likelyhood of occurance) ofthe various enchantments can be found in a chart here]
Because of the way possible multiple enchantments are selected only the third [bottom] slot is likely to give an additional enchantment. [This can make finding a desired enchantment in slot one or two desirable when attempting to build a maxed out bit of gear as the result does not depend on the slot from which it was applied (i.e. Unbreaking 1 acts the same whether you paid one lapis for a top slot or three for a bottom slot enchantment) and the top two slots do not risk getting a second enchantment that would make combining the item inconvenient. ]
Before you start combining books you should get an understanding of how the anvil works.
Each time you use an anvil on books or items the cost, in XP levels, increases, approximately doubling each time, and once it goes over 39 levels you can no longer use the anvil on the item, either for adding enchantments or repairing it. And this doubling is always calculated on the item that already had the highest cost.
So you want to spread out the combinations.
Say you have 7 books with enchantments you want to add to a sword.
If you add the books to the sword 1 by 1 then you can only add 6 (I think), when you try to add the 7'th it will be too expensive, so you only got 6 enchantments and you can never repair it.
If you add one book to the sword and combine the other books 2 by 2 that gives you the sword and 3 books each of which have only been "anviled" once. Add one book to the sword and combine the other 2 books and you have a sword and a book each with 2 "anvilings". Add the book to the sword and you get a sword with all the enchantments applied and only 3 "anvilings" meaning it can still be repaired up to 3 times.
If one of the books had the Mending enchantment then this is less important since the item will be self repairing as long as you earn enough XP while holding it.
(In case you're wondering why you would use 7 books when there probably aren't that many enchantments that can go on a sword, you can increase the level of an enchantment by combining 2 copies of the same enchantment. 2 Fortune I make a Fortune II and 2 Fortune II make a fortune III for instance.)
Just testing.
Got busy the last few days and finally got the chance to read this right now Thanks for all the good info here. Lots I didn't know. I wonder if I have to many book shelves around my enchanting table. I read in a few places the best way to get the good enchantments was to have 30 shelves. Two stacks of 15 each one block from the table leaving a one block opening to get to the table. Anyone know if there is any validity to this or should I oust a few shelvs? My setup only allows me a level 3 enchantment with XP level 30.
More than 15 bookcases aren't any better than 15. But the extra won't hurt either.
It used to be 30 but that was a lot of updates ago so ignore anything that references that.
30 XP levels is the maximum enchanting level with the current system.
Just testing.
quote=DiamondDaddy
Two stacks of 15 each one block from the table leaving a one block opening to get to the table. Anyone know if there is any validity to this or should I oust a few shelvs?
The downside to using more than fifteen bookcases is that it is harder to adjust the number when checking for enchantments...
Temporarily disabling a some book shelves will allow you to check enchantments available at other levels. [This can be useful if you're using the table to enchant gear (vs books and an anvil) and nothing offered in any of the three slots @ Lvl30 for any bit of kit is attractive
Scanning what's available for what gear at the other levels may offer a better return on your Xp & lapis than enchanting a book with whatever is in slot one.
The tradeoff being that switching torches around and checking each type of items takes player time.]
see https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Enchantment_mechanics#Selecting_an_enchantment_level
(particularly this graphic and the associated chart https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Enchantment_table_bookshelf_placement.png )
for a fuller explanation.