FREE ANVIL PLANNER · NO LOGIN · CLIENT-SIDE CALCULATOR
Minecraft Enchantment Calculator
Stop seeing “Too Expensive!”. Plan a lower-cost anvil order before spending levels in survival. Java Edition anvil planning for all 24 enchantable item types and 43 enchantments, including Spear + Lunge and the Mace additions.
Anvil Calculator
Optimal order · XP cost · Too-Expensive guardPick the gear you want to enchant. Books you add below will be merged onto it in the cheapest order we can find.
Start with these enchantment checks
Bow and mining enchantments are common places to waste levels. Use these pages to check max level, conflicts, compatible items, and a pre-filled anvil setup before combining books.
How anvil order cost works
Every Minecraft anvil combine costs experience levels based on a simple
formula: a base enchantment cost (the enchantment's per-level book
multiplier times the resulting level) plus a prior-work penalty of
2^n - 1 for each input. Hit 40 total
levels and survival mode refuses the combine - the dreaded
Too Expensive! message.
A lower-cost order is rarely obvious. Combining Sharpness V, Looting III, Unbreaking III and Mending onto a sword can cost anywhere from 18 to 42 levels depending on which book you bring to the anvil first. For smaller setups, the calculator searches legal merge trees; for larger setups, it uses a cost-aware fallback and keeps the cap visible at every step.
Need to repair a tool while preserving room for future enchantments?
Switch the mode to Least prior-work to prefer the plan
whose final item keeps the lowest 2^n
penalty for later combines.
Use the buttons above to plan combos for popular weapons - Sword, Pickaxe, Bow, Axe, Trident, Mace, Helmet, Chestplate, Leggings, Boots, Elytra, Shield - or jump to a specific enchantment such as Sharpness, Protection, Efficiency, Fortune, Unbreaking, Mending, Looting, Power, Infinity, Feather Falling, Smite, Silk Touch .
Calculator coverage
Java Edition model. The planner follows the Java Edition anvil-cost approach used by this tool.
1.21 mace data. Density, Breach, and Wind Burst are included with supported conflict checks. See the official 1.21 notes.
Verify edge cases. Mods, datapacks, snapshots, and Bedrock worlds can differ; confirm a valuable combine in game.
Headline enchantments
FAQ
- What is the Minecraft Enchantment Calculator?
- A free planner for the anvil. Tell it which item you want to enchant and which books or sacrificed gear you have, and it suggests a lower-cost order while showing 'Too Expensive!' risk.
- Why does Minecraft say 'Too Expensive!' on my anvil?
- Survival anvils refuse any combine whose total cost reaches 40 levels. Cost includes the per-level enchantment cost plus a prior-work penalty of 2^n - 1, where n is the number of previous anvil uses on either input. Re-order combines or use a fresh item to stay under 40.
- Does the calculator support 1.21 Mace enchantments?
- Yes. Density, Breach, and Wind Burst are included. Density and Breach cannot be combined with each other, Smite, or Bane of Arthropods, so the planner blocks those conflicting mace setups.
- Which edition does the calculator model?
- MinecraftCalc models Java Edition anvil planning with current spear and mace enchantment data. It does not claim to simulate Bedrock-specific math, mods, datapacks, or snapshot changes. Check the final combine in your own world before using rare books.
- How does the calculator pick an anvil order?
- It runs an exhaustive search over every legal merge tree when you have eight or fewer books (Catalan-bounded), and falls back to greedy cheapest-pair-first for nine or more. For 'Least prior-work' mode it picks the plan whose final item has the lowest 2^n penalty for future repairs.
- What about Curse of Binding and Curse of Vanishing?
- Both transfer like normal enchantments on the anvil but can never be removed - so the calculator treats them as one-way ingredients. Once added they stay through every subsequent combine.
- Can I share a plan with a friend?
- Yes - after you press Calculate, hit 'Copy share link'. Your item, books, prior-work values, and planning mode are encoded into the URL hash, so the recipient sees the same setup when they open it.
- Why don't I see the icon I expect on a book?
- We use a fan-made pixel icon set; we do not extract textures from Minecraft's official resource pack. Names match the in-game labels but icons are stylized.
- Is this affiliated with Mojang?
- No. MinecraftCalc is a fan project and is not approved by or associated with Mojang or Microsoft. See the footer disclaimer on every page.
- Is everything free?
- Yes. The calculator is 100% client-side; no account, no payment, no API call. Advertising is kept after the core calculator and explanatory content so it does not block the planning task.
Explore related pages
Continue your anvil plan
Use a practical guide when you need an explanation after calculating your own item and books.