What is the highest Protection in Minecraft?

Minecraft might seem like a peaceful game during the day, where you can just build structures and farm animals as well as crops. But if you go out at night without any weapons, you will realize that this title is anything but peaceful. Thankfully, the game has armor and weapons that offer protection from hostile mobs, and players can make their protective gear even stronger and more effective by using different enchantments on them.

Of all the available power-ups, perhaps the Protection enchantment is the most used. It comes in different levels, starting from level 1 and going all the way to 4. So the highest Protection enchantment level is 4.

This power-up reduces the damage suffered from almost all attacks from hostile mobs, except the Warden’s sonic attack. However, it doesn't lower the damage taken from hunger.

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How effective is the highest Protection level in Minecraft?

The highest level of protection in Minecraft is IV (Image via Mojang Studios)

There is a simple formula that explains how much protection these enchantments offer in the game. The amount of damage reduction offered by this power-up is calculated by multiplying the enchantment's level by 4. So it goes like (Protection level x 4)%.

This means that a chestplate with level 4 Protection would offer 16% damage protection. That might not sound too impressive, but remember that we are talking about a single armor piece.

If the level 4 version of this enchantment was used on all gear pieces such as the helmet, chestplate, leggings, and boots, we'd get a total damage reduction of (16% x 4) 64%. This is the maximum damage reduction players can have using this enchantment.

But that’s not all; this power-up can be stacked with some other enhancements such as Fire Protection, Blast Protection, Projectile Protection, and even Feather Falling. Adding all of these together can grant a protection of 80%, which is beyond impressive.

The other great thing about the Protection enchantment in Minecraft is that it is very easy to acquire. It can be obtained from the enchanting table and via loot chests placed in areas such as abandoned mineshafts and the newly added trial chambers. However, it is recommended that players get this enchantment from an enchanting table.

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There are ways to make this enchantment even stronger and mods can completely overhaul its effect, but when it comes to the Vanilla game, the best a player can get is level 4 Protection in Minecraft.