How to Make & Use an Enchanting Table in Minecraft

The Enchanting Table in Minecraft is used to randomly apply Enchantments to your tools, weapons, and armor. This will empower it, which might give specific effects in combat or increase luck in gathering resources.

The process is slightly expensive, but it’s a surefire way to make your damage and survivability go from mediocre to powerful.

How to Make an Enchanting Table

To craft an Enchanting Table in Minecraft, you’ll require 4 Obsidian, 2 Diamonds, and 1 Book. Obsidian can easily be obtained from Ruined Portals without finding a Lava Pool, and Books can be created from 3 Paper and 1 Leather.

Once the Enchanting Table has been crafted, it can be placed in your chosen location. Ideally, it would help if you decided somewhere you can easily access, with some space surrounding it as we also need to place Bookshelves.

Placing Bookshelves

With just an Enchanting Table placed down, the levels of Enchantments you can receive will be low. To increase the levels, Bookshelves should be placed around the Enchanting Table, with a 1-block gap of air between them.

For maximum level Enchantments (level 30), 15 Bookshelves will be required around the Enchanting Table. Without a Bookshelf, the maximum level an Enchantment requires is 8.

The layout of the Bookshelves can be however you’d like. All that matters is that there are 15 wrapped around the Enchanting Table and a one-block gap with nothing in between. Above is a slider showcasing some popular and efficient layouts for the Enchanting Table.

Layout 1 shows an Enchanting Room that is only one block high and utilizes all 15 Bookshelves. The second layout also uses 15 Bookshelves for efficiency and adds empty spaces for design, Chests, etc.

Although most players use the third layout, which can use 18 to 22 Bookshelves instead, it’s more compact and clean, but note that the extra Bookshelves don’t affect Enchanting at all.

How Enchanting Works

After opening an Enchanting Table, the item you wish to enchant can be placed in the left slot. Some Lapis Lazuli (which can be mined) will need to be placed in the space next to it. Usually, five or so is enough.

Once your item is added, three different options will appear. Hovering over each of them will show you at least 1 Enchantment you’re guaranteed to get, with more being possible.

The numbers on the right side show the required level to select that Enchantment. Whereas the numbers on the left next to the Experience Orb will show how many levels will be taken from you if you choose that Enchantment.

If one of the options is greyed out, you likely don’t meet the level requirement to unlock it. Higher-level Enchantments might not appear if you don’t have enough Bookshelves connected to the Enchanting Table.

Enchantments are pre-determined. Removing and adding your item to the Enchanting Table multiple times won’t change the outcome; you’ll always receive the same Enchantments. When you’ve made your choice, click the Enchantment, and the item will be re-added to your inventory.

List of Enchantments

Below is a list of items that can currently be Enchanted in Minecraft and what Enchantment options are available.

Even though all these Enchantments are listed above, there’s no guarantee you’ll get them, as it all comes down to randomness and luck. Some Enchantments can’t be received together either.