Best Boots Enchantments

Boots carry more enchantments than any other piece of armor, and they’re the piece that changes how you move. Feather Falling, Depth Strider, Frost Walker and Soul Speed don’t go on anything else, and between them they decide how you deal with a big fall, an Ocean, and a Soul Sand Valley. There are 13 enchantments available for Boots, and some of them can’t be applied together.

Below, all 13 are ranked, with what each level actually does for you. After that you’ll find the pair most players end up wearing, a second pair built around Frost Walker, and a calculator that works out the cheapest Anvil order for both.

All 13 Boots Enchantments, Ranked

Every enchantment that fits on Boots is listed here, ranked by how much it changes the pair. Protection sits at the top, as it works against nearly everything and adds to the rest of the set, and Feather Falling comes straight after it, as armor does nothing against fall damage.

Enchantments Explained

Protection (I to IV)

Protection cuts the damage you take from nearly everything, after the armor itself has already done its part. On the Boots alone each level is worth 4% off, so Protection IV is 16%, and it adds up with the same enchantment on the other 3 pieces.

With Protection IV on all 4 you take 64% less, and the game caps the whole set at 80%. The 3 specialized types, Fire, Blast and Projectile Protection, are worth 8% per level against their own kind of damage, and none of the 4 can share a pair of Boots.

Feather Falling (I to IV)

Feather Falling is worth 12% off fall damage per level, so Feather Falling IV cuts it by 48% on its own, and it’s added to whatever Protection the whole set gives. With Protection IV on the other 3 pieces it hits the 80% cap, and a fall that would kill you from full health does 4 damage in that set, which is 2 hearts. It doesn’t conflict with anything, so there’s no reason to leave it off.

Depth Strider and Frost Walker

These 2 can’t be on the same pair of Boots, so most players pick Depth Strider for the pair they wear every day. Each level makes you faster in water, and at Depth Strider III you move through the sea almost as fast as you do on land. That’s what makes Ocean Monuments and shipwreck diving bearable.

Frost Walker turns the water under your feet into Frosted Ice as you walk, in a circle around you that’s wider at level II. It also stops Magma Blocks and lit Campfires hurting you when you stand on them.

Soul Speed (I to III)

Soul Speed removes the slowdown from Soul Sand, then adds speed on Soul Sand and Soul Soil alike, so at Soul Speed III you cross a Soul Sand Valley faster than you walk on grass. The catch is that the Boots lose durability as you use it, which is why it’s normally paired with Mending.

Thorns (I to III)

Thorns gives the Boots a 15% chance per level to deal 1 to 5 damage back to whatever hit you. Each time it triggers, the Boots lose 2 extra durability, and Thorns is one of the most expensive books to combine on an Anvil, which pushes the rest of the pair towards Too Expensive. Boots already carry more books than any other piece, so Thorns is the one to leave off.

Unbreaking and Mending

A pair of Netherite Boots has 481 durability, and every hit you take costs it some. Unbreaking does less on armor than it does on a tool, as it only skips 3 durability hits in 10 at level III rather than 3 in 4, so the Boots last about 1.4 times as long. It’s still worth having, but Mending is what keeps the pair alive, as it repairs the Boots with the experience orbs you pick up at 2 durability for every point.

The 2 curses

The Curse of Binding stops the Boots being taken off once they’re worn, until they break or you die, and the Curse of Vanishing destroys them when you die rather than dropping them. Both turn up on Boots found in loot chests, so a found pair is worth reading the tooltip on, and a Grindstone can’t remove either.

How to Enchant Boots

The Enchanting Table is a good start for Boots, and Netherite rolls slightly higher than Diamond. With 15 Bookshelves around the table, the level 30 slot can offer Protection IV, Depth Strider III and Unbreaking III, and more than a third of rolls give you 2 of them together. Feather Falling IV almost never shows up at level 30, but with 11 Bookshelves the bottom slot costs 22 to 24 levels and offers it about 1 time in 3.

The 3 treasure books, Mending, Soul Speed and Frost Walker, go on at an Anvil, and so does anything the table didn’t give you. Boots take more books than any other piece, so the order you combine them in matters. Enchantments survive the Smithing Table, so a Diamond pair can be enchanted and upgraded to Netherite afterwards without losing anything.

The table column is what the level 30 slot can reach with 15 Bookshelves, and a book that says Anvil only never rolls on the Boots itself, only on a Book or a different item.

Java or Bedrock

The numbers on this page come from Java Edition 26.2, and Bedrock Edition can behave differently.

The Best Boots Setup

The pair most players end up wearing carries Protection IV, Feather Falling IV, Depth Strider III, Soul Speed III, Unbreaking III and Mending, which is 6 books and everything Boots can hold that helps. Frost Walker is the only thing left out, as it can’t share a pair with Depth Strider, so it goes on a second pair with Protection IV, Feather Falling IV, Unbreaking III and Mending that comes out for crossing lakes.

Combining 6 books on an Anvil is where a lot of people hit the Too Expensive wall. Every job done on the Boots before makes the next one cost more. The trick is to pair some of the books up with each other first, rather than adding them to the Boots one at a time. The calculator below opens with the standard pair loaded and shows the cheapest order, and the second button swaps it for the Frost Walker pair.

Give commands for both pairs

On a world with cheats on, or a server where you’re an operator, these hand you each pair already built. The way enchantments are written into a command changed in 1.21.5, so pick the pair that matches your version. These first 2 are for 1.21.5 and everything after it, including the current release.

Where the Books Come From

Protection, Feather Falling, Depth Strider, Thorns and Unbreaking can all be rolled on the table as books, and a Librarian can sell any of them, so the usual Lectern trick works for the one you’re missing. It’s the 3 treasure books that take some finding. Mending and Frost Walker come from Librarians at double the usual price, from chests in places like Dungeons, Mineshafts and Strongholds, and from fishing. Soul Speed is the odd one, as no Villager sells it, and it only comes from the Bastion Remnant chests or from bartering Gold Ingots with Piglins.

Frequently Asked Questions