Ranking every pickaxe enchantment for Minecraft (2022)

The vast and nearly endless worlds of Minecraft are filled with nothing but a plethora of blocks. Most are obtainable, but players need to use various tools to collect them. Most of them can be mined using a pickaxe.

The pickaxe is the first tool Minecrafters craft in a new world. It has been in the game since the early development versions were released back in 2009. They are among the first few items to receive enchantments in the game. However, the tool has barely received any new enchantments since its official launch.

Players already have lots of great enchantments for pickaxes. After making some progress, players should definitely try to get one for their pickaxe. One may be confused about which one to get first. Here are the rankings of all enchantments for pickaxes in Minecraft.

Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the writer's views.

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Worst to best enchantments for pickaxe in Minecraft

6) Curse of Vanishing

Curse of Vanishing enchantment (Image via Mojang)

It is no surprise that Curse of Vanishing is the worst enchantment for a pickaxe. It despawns when it is dropped due to the player’s death. The enchanted tool is only useful in multiplayer servers where players prefer not to hand over their items to enemies.

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5) Mending

Mending enchantment (Image via Mojang)

Mending is a quality-of-life enchantment in Minecraft. Every tool, weapon, and armor has a fixed amount of durability points. Once an item runs out of points, it breaks and is lost forever. With Mending enchantment, players can restore their pickaxe’s durability using experience points.

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4) Unbreaking

Unbreaking III enchantment (Image via Mojang)

The pickaxe is the most common tool and is used most of the time. Due to continuous wear and tear, it loses its durability pretty quickly. Players are recommended to enchant it with Unbreaking to make it last longer. The enchantment makes an item less likely to lose durability points when used.

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3) Silk Touch

Silk Touch enchantment (Image via Mojang)

Certain blocks cannot be obtained in Minecraft without the Silk Touch enchantment. To name a few, glass blocks get destroyed when mined with a regular pickaxe, stone turns into cobblestone, melon drops melon slices, and so on.

With Silk Touch enchantment, players can obtain all blocks in their original state. It is a must-have for players who love to build. They can use this to get grass, ores, mycelium, sculk blocks, and more.

Silk Touch enchantment is incompatible with Fortune in Minecraft. Players cannot have both on a single pickaxe. Due to this, many players prefer to carry two pickaxes to use Silk Touch and Fortune enchantment wherever needed.

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2) Fortune

Fortune enchantment (Image via Mojang)

Fortune has to be one of the most broken enchantments in Minecraft. When a block is mined, it increases the number and chances of specific items dropping. Players can use the Fortune effect on the following blocks:

• coal ore
• diamond ore
• emerald ore
• lapis lazuli ore
• redstone ore
• iron ore
• copper ore
• gold ore
• nether gold ore
• nether quartz ore
• amethyst clusters
• glowstone
• melons
• nether wart
• sea lanterns
• sweet berries

With the recent Caves & Cliffs update, Fortune has become a lot better, as it works on iron ore and gold ore. Players can use Fortune pickaxes to get more resources from ores.

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1) Efficiency

Efficiency enchantment (Image via Mojang)

Efficiency is the best enchantment for pickaxes in Minecraft. It is a simple one that increases the mining speed. It takes a set amount to mine any block in the game.

While some blocks like stone break instantly, breaking sturdy ones like obsidian may seem like forever.

Besides the Haste effect from beacons, Efficiency enchantment is the only way to increase mining speed. Players should prioritize getting it for pickaxe as it would save a ton of time when mining ores, building structures, or anything involving breaking blocks.

Efficiency has a max level of five. At this level, it increases the mining speed by 45%. Players also need to know that the speed boost only works when the pickaxe is used on the appropriate block, like stones, bricks, and more.