3 most useful enchantments in Minecraft: Java Edition (and 3 not so useful)

Enchantments are some of the best ways to improve players' experiences in Minecraft, whether they're gathering resources or battling enemy mobs. And although most enchantments are helpful for players in Minecraft, some are much more useful than others.

Each enchantment has its own use and application, but many are situational, while others can be universally employed and appreciated. Each player likely has their own preferences when it comes to top enchantments, but a few are widely commended for their usability and benefits.

The roster of available enchantments in the game has only grown over time. Sometimes, existing ones are even tweaked in patches, but the top enchantments have remained popular for years.

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Minecraft: Top 3 useful enchantments

#3 - Protection

Protection reduces damage dealt to players from most sources (Image via Mojang)

Minecraft worlds can be dangerous places, between hostile mobs, pits of lava, and dangerous ledges that can kill a player with fall damage. However, the Protection enchantment makes staying safe a little easier. Each rank of the Protection enchantment reduces damage from most sources by 4% in Java Edition and 5% in Bedrock Edition.

It won't protect players from every source of damage, but Protection will keep players upright in most cases, and that's what makes it incredibly useful.

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#2 - Efficiency

Efficiency speeds up block breaking and harvesting (Image via Mojang)

It's no secret that breaking blocks and gathering materials in Minecraft can be tedious and time-consuming. With Efficiency, players can pick up the pace of their tool usage. Applied to basic tools as well as shears, Efficiency increases the speed at which players use tools, leading to faster block breaking and material harvesting. As a bonus, applying Efficiency to an ax also increases the chance that the ax will disable a shield when striking it as a weapon.

This enchantment is great for collecting materials, but also exceptional when it comes to clearing out space for building.

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#1 - Fortune

Fortune increases the chance for certain materials to drop, leading to larger returns (Image via Mojang)

Minecraft players who have harvested precious resources like diamonds have likely wished they could get a little more from breaking a diamond ore block. With Fortune, this becomes much more possible. Applied to most mining and digging tools, Fortune increases the chances that more of certain items will drop from blocks.

This means more diamonds from diamond ore blocks, but also more drops from blocks such as melons, nether wart, sea lanterns, and most other ore blocks in the game.

Anything that yields more materials is a boon in Minecraft, and that's what makes Fortune so incredibly helpful for players.

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Minecraft: 3 Enchantments That Aren't Very Useful

#3 - Frost Walker

Frost Walker allows players to walk over water, turning it into ice (Image via Mojang)

An enchantment that is fairly situational, Frost Walker lets Minecraft players walk directly over any form of water by converting it into ice blocks. Furthermore, this enchantment removes the damage incurred from standing on blocks like magma blocks or campfires.

However, this doesn't really help players all that much unless they have a predisposition to stand on dangerous blocks. As for walking on water, it has some novelty to it, but when players can simply take a boat for travel, this enchantment doesn't offer much aside from some free ice.

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#2 - Curse of Vanishing

Curse of Vanishing is best avoided, especially on players' precious gear (Image via Mojang)

One of two curse enchantments that actively hinder the player, Curse of Vanishing is a nuisance that players likely don't want anywhere near their best weapons and armor. With Curse of Vanishing, in the event a player dies, the item enchanted with the curse will immediately de-spawn. This means that players won't be able to return to their death location and retrieve the enchanted item. Once a player dies, the item is gone forever. Naturally, this makes Curse of Vanishing an irritating enchantment to deal with.

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#1 - Curse of Binding

Curse of Binding prohibits players from removing the enchanted item (Image via Mojang)

An enchantment used quite often to prank other players, Curse of Binding is the second curse within Minecraft that causes problems for players. If players equip a piece of gear enchanted with the curse, they'll be unable to remove it. This is often used on blocks like carved pumpkins, which can be equipped on to player heads, obscuring their vision. This heavily inconveniences players as their field of view is diminished, and the only way to remove the cursed item is to die, which players obviously don't want to do.

It is the opposite of helpful in Minecraft, and as such, Curse of Binding is a dreaded enchantment to deal with.