Bane of Arthropods vs. Sharpness enchantment: Which one is better in Minecraft?

Bane of Arthropods and Sharpness are two very well-known enchantments in Minecraft. Both are combat-related powerups that players can apply on swords or axes. Both swords and axes are primary melee weapons and are frequently used, and extra powerups applied to them help them work better.

Enchantments are certain powerups that a player can apply to their weapons, tools, and armor. They can be applied to gear with the help of an enchanting table or from an enchanted book. If players place a sword or an axe on the table, there is a high chance that they will get one of these two powerups. However, one of them is much better than the other.

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Which is a better enchantment in Minecraft: Bane of Arthropods or Sharpness?

Bane of Arthropods

The bane of arthropods is a combat-related enchantment that can be applied to both a sword and an axe. It essentially increases the attack damage of the melee weapon when it is attacking any arthropod mob. It is quite a specific type of powerup that can only work on select mobs like cave spiders, spiders, bees, silverfish, and endermite.

It only works with arthropod mobs like spiders, bees, endermite, and silverfish (Image via Minecraft)

It has a total of 5 levels, with each level increasing the damage by 2.5 HP (1.25 hearts). This extra damage adds to the base attack of the melee weapon. Even though it is a powerup that increases the attack damage of the weapon, it is only effective against a few mobs. It is completely useless against other mobs, and being incompatible with sharpness, players will be stuck with the powerup.

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Sharpness

This is also a combat-exclusive enchantment that can only be applied to melee weapons like swords and axes. This is a great powerup as it increases the overall attack damage of the melee weapon. With these powerups, players can easily kill any mob a lot quicker.

This powerup can work on any mob and not only arthropod mobs (Image via Minecraft)

It has a total of 5 levels as well. The first level increases the damage by 1 HP (half heart). After this, the rest of the levels increase the damage by 0.5 HP. This adds to the base attack damage of the melee weapon itself. In Bedrock Edition, each level increases the damage by 1.25 HP. Players can easily find any level of this powerup in an enchanting table or in an enchanted book.

Because this enchantment works on all kinds of mobs, including boss mobs, sharpness is much better than the bane of arthropods. However, if players particularly want to kill loads of arthropod mobs, the first powerup has the upper hand.