Free anvil tool
Minecraft Enchantment Calculator
Choose an item and the enchanted books you want on it. The calculator finds the anvil order that costs the fewest levels and never hits "Too Expensive!", step by step.
- Cheapest order, checked exhaustively
- Every step under 40 levels
- Java and Bedrock, 1.21 items
Enchantments
Picking an enchantment that cannot be combined with another (e.g. Sharpness and Smite) swaps them.
- Total levels
- 49
- Minimum XP points
- 785
- Prior work penalty after
- 15
If each step is paid from exactly that many levels.
Added to every future anvil use of this item.
Anvil order
- Step 1
Left slot
Sword
Right slot
Enchanted book
Sweeping Edge III
6 levels
6 enchant + 0 penalty
- Step 2
Left slot
Enchanted book
Looting III
Right slot
Enchanted book
Unbreaking III
3 levels
3 enchant + 0 penalty
- Step 3
Left slot
Sword
Sweeping Edge III
Right slot
Enchanted book
Looting III, Unbreaking III
11 levels
9 enchant + 2 penalty
- Step 4
Left slot
Enchanted book
Sharpness V
Right slot
Enchanted book
Mending
2 levels
2 enchant + 0 penalty
- Step 5
Left slot
Sword
Looting III, Sweeping Edge III, Unbreaking III
Right slot
Enchanted book
Sharpness V, Mending
11 levels
7 enchant + 4 penalty
- Step 6
Left slot
Enchanted book
Fire Aspect II
Right slot
Enchanted book
Knockback II
2 levels
2 enchant + 0 penalty
- Step 7
Left slot
Sword
Sharpness V, Looting III, Sweeping Edge III, Unbreaking III, Mending
Right slot
Enchanted book
Knockback II, Fire Aspect II
14 levels
6 enchant + 8 penalty
How to use it
Combine enchanted books in the cheapest order
- 01
Pick the item and the books
Choose the item, then tick the enchantments you have as books and set their levels. Conflicting enchantments swap automatically.
- 02
Follow the steps in order
Each step tells you what goes in the left slot and the right slot of the anvil. Books merged early are used again in later steps, so keep them.
- 03
Check your levels before each step
Make sure you have at least the level cost of the next step. Doing the expensive steps when you have exactly enough levels wastes the least XP.
FAQ
Enchantment order questions
Why does the order of anvil steps matter?
Every anvil use adds a prior work penalty to the item (1, 3, 7, 15, 31 levels…) that is charged again on the next use. Merging books with each other first keeps the item's use count low, which saves many levels.
What does "Too Expensive!" mean?
In Survival an anvil step that costs 40 levels or more is refused. The calculator only returns orders where every step costs 39 levels or less.
Why are books cheaper than enchanted items?
When the right-hand item is an enchanted book, most enchantments use a lower cost multiplier than when you sacrifice an enchanted tool or armour piece.
Is the result the cheapest possible?
Yes, for a clean item and fresh single-enchantment books: the calculator checks every possible merge order and returns the one with the fewest total levels.
Does it work for Bedrock?
Yes. Switch to Bedrock: Sweeping Edge is removed and Impaling uses the cheaper Bedrock multiplier. Other costs are the same for fresh books on a clean item.
Which enchantments cannot be combined?
Protection types, Sharpness/Smite/Bane of Arthropods (plus Density and Breach on a mace), Fortune and Silk Touch, Depth Strider and Frost Walker, Infinity and Mending, Multishot and Piercing, and Riptide with Loyalty or Channeling.