5 interesting things about impaling in Minecraft

Tridents are among the newest weapons in Minecraft, only beaten in this regard by crossbows. They are also the rarest weapon in the game, with an average of just more than 10% of drowned holding tridents when averaging out Java and Bedrock.

Also, each rare drowned only has an 8.5% chance of dropping tridents, increased by 1% for each level of looting used, if applicable.

Five unknown things about Minecraft's impaling enchantment

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1) Completely different effects for completely different versions

There are numerous differences between the Bedrock and Java Editions of Minecraft. There are too many to list here, but the one relevant now is how different the impaling enchantment is between the two versions.

In the Java Edition, the enchantment only allows tridents to deal extra damage to aquatic mobs. In Bedrock, the enchantment deals additional damage to all mobs and players when in contact with water.

This refers to either being in still water, underwater, flowing water or rain.

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2) Not everything in the sea

An ocean monument over a ravine (Image via Minecraft)

The impaling enchantment in the Java Edition doesn't apply to everything that spawns in the ocean. The complete list of mobs that it does apply to is:

• Axolotls
• Dolphins
• Guardians
• Elder guardians
• Squids
• Glow Squids
• Turtles
• All fish

Notably missing from this list, however, is the drowned since the game considers them undead mobs instead of aquatic mobs, although drowned can only naturally spawn in water.

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3) Combat Test 4

In a combat revision released only on Reddit in 2019, the aptly named Java Edition Combat Test 4 featured a version of the impaling enchantment identical to the Bedrock Edition version. However, this is not a guarantee of impaling being changed in the future.

The combat tests are just that: testing potential combat changes to spice up what can, at times, feel like an overly simplistic combat system.

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4) Rare enchantment

A basic enchanting setup (Image via Minecraft)

The impaling enchantment has an enchantment weight of two. This is the second-lowest in the game and a weight shared by 16 other enchantments. Some of these other enchantments are infinity, mending, and luck of the sea, so the two weight enchantments contain some of the best in the title.

There are 38 enchantments totally, meaning impaling is among the rarer enchantments in the game.

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5) Can be combined with Riptide

Riptide is another trident enchantment that allows players to fling themselves with this weapon. It can provide great horizontal movement in water or vertical movement in the rain.

Riptide can be combined with impaling to a significant effect, as Minecraft's combat system guarantees critical hits when users fall. This means they can fling themselves downward at an enemy in the rain and deal guaranteed critical damage.

This is over the 1.25 hearts of extra damage per level of impaling, to a maximum of 6.25 extra hearts of damage with impaling five.

Note: This article reflects the author's views.