Bane of Arthropods vs Smite in Minecraft: How different are the two enchantments?

There are many different enchantments that Minecraft players can equip onto their weapons. They can place enchantments on items using two ways. Both methods require the player to have high XP levels.

Players will need an enchanted book in order to enchant items using an anvil. Bane of arthropods and Smite are two enchantments that can be placed on weapons in Minecraft. Although these enchantments are somewhat similar, they share a big difference.

In this article, players will learn the difference between Smite and Bane of Arthropods enchantments in Minecraft.

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What is the difference between Smite and Bane of Arthropods in Minecraft?

How are they alike?

Before the differences are stated, players should know how these two enchantments are similar.

Bane of Arthropods and Smite are both enchantments that pertain to only one specific group of mobs. Both of these are exclusive to certain mobs in the game, similar to how some enchantments are only tailored for certain items.

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What does Bane of arthropods do?

Bane of Arthropods (Image via Minecraft)

The Bane of Arthropod enchantment allows the player's weapon to deal additional melee damage to arthropod mobs only. These mobs include: Spiders, Bees, Silverfish, Cave spiders and Endermites.

This enchantment will not work on any other mobs besides arthropods.

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What does Smite do?

Smite enchantment (Image via Mojang)

Smite is an enchantment that is used to increase the amount of damage that is dealt to undead mobs in Minecraft. This enchantment is specific to undead mobs only, and will not work on any other enemies.

The Smite enchantment will work on mobs such as Zombies, Skeletons, Zombie Villagers, Wither bosses, Wither Skeletons, Zombified Piglins, Skeleton Horses, Strays, Husks, Phantoms, Drowned and Zoglins.

So, the Smite enchantment and Bane of Arthropods enchantment are different because of the group of mobs that they are exclusive to. Bane of Arthropods is specific to arthropod mobs only, while Smite strictly affects undead mobs.