ITEMS · WEAPON
Best Crossbow Enchantments in Minecraft (2026)
Plan the optimal anvil order for your crossbow - avoid “Too Expensive!” and reach a 6-enchantment endgame loadout without burning a stack of XP bottles.
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.
All Crossbow Enchantments
| Enchantment | Max Level | Book Cost | Conflicts | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multishot | 1 | 4/lvl | Piercing | vanilla |
| Piercing | 4 | 1/lvl | Multishot | vanilla |
| Quick Charge | 3 | 2/lvl | - | vanilla |
| Unbreaking | 3 | 2/lvl | - | vanilla |
| Mending [treasure] | 1 | 4/lvl | Infinity | vanilla |
| Curse of Vanishing [curse] [treasure] | 1 | 8/lvl | - | vanilla |
Best Crossbow Combos
The right combo depends on what you do with your crossbow. Below are three loadouts we tested in 1.20+ and Legacy worlds; the calculator above will give you the optimal order once you press Calculate.
PvP / Combat
- Sharpness V
- Fire Aspect II
- Looting III
- Unbreaking III
Maximum melee damage on most mobs. Skip on raiders if you want Smite V instead.
Survival / All-purpose
- Sharpness V
- Looting III
- Unbreaking III
- Mending
Self-repairing daily driver. Trade Fire Aspect away to keep Mending viable.
Speedrun / Mob farms
- Sharpness V
- Knockback II
- Sweeping Edge III
- Unbreaking III
Kill cobwebs of mobs in single sweeps. Pairs well with iron golem farms.
Step-by-step anvil order
Apply books in the order the calculator above prints. As a heuristic: the cheapest books first (Unbreaking, Mending), the per-level multiplier-1 enchants next (Sharpness, Efficiency, Power), then the high-cost ones (Looting, Fortune, Thorns, Silk Touch).
On 1.20+ the cap is still 40 levels and the prior-work penalty is
still 2^n - 1. The relative savings
of book-pairing versus item-pairing did shift, so toggle the version
switch above to match your world.
How to get the best crossbow enchantments
- Villager trading: Librarian villagers offer single enchanted books for emeralds; trap two villagers and reroll until you have one each of Mending and Unbreaking III.
- Enchanting table: Build 15 bookshelves around a level 30 table for the strongest single enchant. Combine the result onto your crossbow via the anvil.
- Loot & structures: Trial chambers, ancient cities, and bastions reliably drop high-level books.
- Fishing: With a Luck of the Sea III rod you can pull enchanted books on roughly 1% of catches.
Bedrock vs Java differences
Bedrock anvil math closely tracks Java, but two quirks matter: Sweeping Edge does not exist on Bedrock, and Impaling deals bonus damage to all mobs in water rather than just aquatic mobs. The calculator above produces the same cost numbers for both editions because the underlying cost formula is identical; you may simply not be able to apply a Java-only enchantment on Bedrock.
FAQ
- What enchantments can I put on a Crossbow in Minecraft?
- A Crossbow accepts 6 enchantments: Multishot, Piercing, Quick Charge, Unbreaking, Mending, Curse of Vanishing.
- What is the maximum number of enchantments on a Crossbow?
- You can stack up to 5 enchantments on a single crossbow via anvil combines. Conflicting enchantments such as Sharpness/Smite/Bane of Arthropods or Silk Touch/Fortune cannot share the same item.
- Why does my crossbow say 'Too Expensive!' on the anvil?
- Each anvil use raises the item's prior-work penalty (2^n - 1 XP levels). Combined with the per-level enchantment cost, hitting 40 total levels triggers the Too Expensive cap on survival mode. Use the calculator above to plan an order that stays under 40.
- How do I repair a crossbow?
- Repair a crossbow on the anvil using string. Or apply Mending and let absorbed XP repair it passively.
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