In this guide, we’re going to cover the Bane of Arthropods. This is part of our Minecraft Enchantments series.
What is Bane of Arthropods
The Bane of Arthropods is an Enchantment which can be applied to your weapons in Minecraft, specifically the Sword and Axe. It has a maximum level of 5.
What the Bane of Arthropods does is increases the amount of damage dealt to arthropod mobs. These include Spiders, Cave Spiders, Endermites, Bees and Silverfish.
For each level of the Enchantment, the amount of damage dealt will be increased by 2.5 per hit. These mobs will also be hit with a Slowness IV effect which has a random duration.
How to Get Bane of Arthropods
Like most Enchantments, Bane of Arthropods can be obtained through a Librarian, through an Enchanting Table or by Enchanting a standard Book.
How to Apply Bane of Arthropods
As previously stated, there are only two weapons which are compatible with the Bane of Arthropods. These are the Sword and Axe. You can place these items into an Enchanting Table, and there’s a small chance of receiving it. When using an Enchanting Table, hover over the Enchantments to see if you will receive it.

If instead, you have Bane of Arthropods as an Enchanted Book, then you will need to use an Anvil to apply it to your tools.

Once at an Anvil, place your Sword or Axe into the left slot. Then, place the Enchanted Book into the next slot. You can see an Enchantment Cost at the bottom of the window, which shows the amount of levels required to combine the items. When you remove your weapon from the right slow, it will have the Bane of Arthropods attached.
Bane of Arthropods IDs
Java Edition
Name | NamespaceID | Translation Key |
Bane of Arthropods | bane_of_arthropods | enchantment.minecraft.bane_of_arthropods |
Bedrock Edition
Name | NamespaceID | Numeric ID | Translation Key |
Bane of Arthropods | bane_of_arthropods | 11 | enchantment.damage.arthropods |