What are the best enchantments for every armor slot in Minecraft?
Hey, you! Are you a pathetic fighter? Do you lose every PvP battle you get into? Do you even get bullied by zombies and skeletons in singleplayer? Well that is exactly what this guide is for. Read on and learn about the absolute best enchantment for every single armor slot in Minecraft.
Now, before we get started, let me explain how this list works. First of all, I’m going to assume that you already have Mending on every single item you own. If you don’t, then get it. Secondly, keep in mind that Protection, Fire Protection, Blast Protection, and Projectile Protection can all be swapped out for each other. These enchantments have the same effect regardless of the armor slot they are placed on.
Helmet
More than just stylish headwear
Just like in real life, helmets are vitally important in Minecraft. Not only do they provide three of your twenty max defense points, but they can have several enchantments that no other piece of armor can have. Enchant your helmet correctly, and you’ll never have to worry about taking an arrow to the ol’ noggin again. (You may still take an arrow to the knee.)
Best Enchantments for Helmet: (top 3)
- Projectile Protection IV: We’re the same, me and you. We both play Minecraft, we both make up for our woeful lack of skill by reading gaming magazines, and we both get shot a lot by skeletons. Since we’re such good friends, let me tell you that Projectile Protection is exactly what you need. Projectile Protection reduces the damage you take from arrows, tridents, and even llama spit.
- Respiration III: Drowning is one of the scariest things in Minecraft. Not only is it super easy to get caught in a place underwater, but your health goes down so fast it isn’t even funny. Respiration is here to help, though. Every level of respiration adds 15 seconds to the time you can spend underwater before you begin to drown. At max level, you can spend 60 seconds underwater before death consumes you.
- Aqua Affinity: What’s the point of spending all that time underwater if you can’t even do anything down there? It’s no secret that mining blocks takes way longer underwater than it does above land. With Aqua Affinity, however, this effect is completely negated so long as your feet are touching the ground. Even when you’re floating, you still mine much faster than usual.
Chestplate
Trust me, my abs are just as hard as this chestplate
Ah, the good ol’ torso protector, as I like to call it. While this particular piece of armor may not have any exclusive enchantments, it does provide a whopping 8 of your 20 max defense points. If you put the right enchantments on your armor, you’ll feel sorry every time you have to take it off to use elytra.
Best Enchantments for Chestplate: (top 3)
- Protection IV: What makes Protection so great is that it puts a damper on almost every single type of damage you get hit with. Fell off a cliff? Protected. Hit by a zombie? Protected. Showing off your ender pearl farm by throwing stacks of ender pearls in all directions? Protected.
- Thorns III: When you get hurt by something in Minecraft, your first instinct is usually to hurt whatever it was back, right? Well, what if your armor automagically did it for you? That’s what Thorns does. Anytime something hits you, even if it’s a ranged attack, Thorns snaps its fingers and puts the hurt on them.
- Unbreaking III: Normally, I would say that the benefits of Unbreaking on armor are too small to warrant a top-three spot, but the downside of Thorns is that it causes your armor to break faster. Thorns is an awesome enchantment, but you need Unbreaking to help slow the rate your armor loses durability.
Leggings
I'd rather a pair of jeans myself
So long as you ignore the practicality issues of walking in solid diamond pants, you have to admit that leggings are a mad boss piece of armor. Unlike helmets (turtle shells), chestplates (elytra), and boots (leather boots), you never have to take off your maximum netherite leggings for any reason ever. That’s all the more reason to make extra sure you have the best enchantments you can have on it.
Best Enchantments for Leggings: (top 3)
- Blast Protection IV: Creeper? Aww… Well you know the rest. Explosions happen a lot in Minecraft, particularly if you play on a multiplayer server. That’s why you need Blast Protection on at least one piece of armor. Blast Protection keeps you safer from any type of explosion including TNT, creepers, and ghast fireballs.
- Thorns III: What’s better than one piece of armor that automatically deals damage to enemies? TWO, that’s what! That’s right, Thorns is indeed a stackable enchantment, so go ahead and slap it on as many armor pieces as you want, just make sure to at least invite chestplate and leggings to the party.
- Unbreaking III: Just like with the chestplate, we need to pair Unbreaking with Thorns to make sure that our armor doesn’t bite the dust prematurely. Like I mentioned in the intro (which I’m sure you totally read), I’m assuming you already know to put Mending on every piece of armor you have. Even still, it’s best to be safe and use Unbreaking to offset the effect of Thorns.
Boots
Air Jordan got nothing on those Minecraft boots
Finally we get to the pièce de résistance. Boots, like the helmet, may only provide three of your twenty max defense points, but boy do they make up for it with two of the most baller exclusive enchantments in Minecraft. Do not enchant this armor piece incorrectly, because it has a lot to give you.
Best Enchantments for Boots: (top 3)
- Feather Falling IV: Fall damage is easily the most common type of damage taken in Minecraft. Whether you are simply sprint-jumping across the landscape a little too carelessly or whether you like to practice speedbridging in survival mode, you are going to need Feather Falling. At max level, Feather Falling reduces fall damage by nearly 50%.
- Depth Strider III: Depth Strider is another boots exclusive, and boy is this one handy. At max level, Depth Strider allows you to swim as fast as you walk on land. This is very helpful to anyone who has to swim at any point (that’s literally everyone by the way).
- Fire Protection IV: The way Fire Protection works is that it reduces the time you are set on fire. Meaning that if you have Fire Protection IV, you are going to burn for a lot shorter time than if you didn’t have Fire Protection at all. Remember that this enchantment only takes into account one armor piece at a time, so enchanting two armor pieces with Fire Protection is redundant.
Now that you are the tankiest tank to ever have tanked in Minecraft, why not check out these other guides to improve your combat ability:
