It can be difficult to decide the best Minecraft armor enchantments for your sparkling new diamond set. You’ve managed to find all 24 diamonds needed for it in the mines, and you’ve very carefully carried them back to the enchanting table, but what do you do then?
Not all of the enchantments are useful, and with the different levels of enchantments, it can quickly become overwhelming trying to juggle all of them. Luckily the enchantments themselves are universal, meaning the best list is the same whether it’s for diamonds, netherite, or anything else.
This guide will break down the best choices for each piece, as well as the cheapest way to combine all of them into the books. Not all of them can be achieved with the enchanting table, some of them will need the anvil, so make sure that you have both available before you begin. For more Minecraft help, we also have guides on the best Minecraft mods to install, the latest on Minecraft Legends, and our choices for the best mouse for Minecraft.
Best Minecraft armor enchantments
Below, we've broken down the best Minecraft armor enchantments by type of armor, to make it easier for you to organise the best options.
Helmet enchantments
Mending - This is arguably the most important Minecraft armor enchantment to get on your diamond armour and tools alike. Whenever you earn XP orbs in the game, from fishing or defeating mobs for example, then the armour will automatically repair itself.
With some careful durability management, your armour won’t break and disappear. This means that you won’t have to go through the entire enchantment process again. This particular enchantment must be done with an anvil, and is easiest to get from trading with villagers.
Protection IV - (or Projectile Protection IV or Blast Protection IV or Fire Protection IV): This will reduce the damage taken from all sources in the game, except for hunger, the void, and the Warden's sonic boom attack. If this proves difficult to obtain through the enchantment table, then any of the protection books can prove an adequate substitute. Of course, their damage reduction is more specialised, but any protection is better than none.
Unbreaking III - This enchantment will give an item increased durability, meaning that you’ll need to repair it less often. A sturdier piece of armour is always a good thing, and this is generally quite a common enchantment that appears on the table.
Respiration III - Respiration will extend the time that you can breathe underwater, adding +15 seconds per level. This is important when you consider the loot that can be found on the ocean floor, as well as the new updates that have made caves flooding all the more likely.
We've also detailed some optional helmet enchantments that you may also want to try out.
Aqua Affinity: When a player is underwater, their mining speed becomes painfully slow. While this has little use outside of this niche aspect, it can be a great help when you do need it.
Thorns III: While this does consume extra durability from the armour, it will cause attackers to take damage whenever they hurt the wearer. The probability of the enchantment activating does stack if present on other pieces of armour. It will also affect all damage types, whether it was melee or ranged.
There is an optimal way of creating this set.
- Combine Helmet with Protection IV.
- Combine Respiration III with Aqua Affinity.
- Combine Helmet with Respiration III and Aqua Affinity.
- Combine Thorns III with Mending.
- Combine Thorns III and Mending with Unbreaking III.
- Combine Helmet with Mending, Thorns III and Unbreaking III.
Chestplate Armor Enchantments
Mending - Allows armour to mend itself through XP
Protection IV - (Projectile Protection IV or Blast Protection IV or Fire Protection IV): Reduction in damage taken. Stacks with other enchanted armour pieces.
Unbreaking III - Improves the durability of the armour.
Again, there some other optional chestplate armor enchantments that could be good.
Thorns III - This causes any mob who causes the player damage to take damage themselves. Stacks with other enchanted armour pieces.
The optimal way to combine these.
- Combine Chestplate with Protection IV.
- Combine Chestplate with Thorns III.
- Combine Unbreaking III with Mending.
- Combine Chestplate with Mending and Unbreaking III.
Leggings
Mending - Allows armour to mend itself through XP.
Protection IV - (or Projectile Protection IV or Blast Protection IV or Fire Protection IV): Reduction in damage taken. Stacks with other enchanted armour pieces.
Unbreaking III - Improves the durability of the armour.
There are some optional enchantments for leggings too:
Thorns III - This causes any mob who causes the player damage to take damage themselves. Stacks with other enchanted armour pieces.
Swift Sneak III - This enchantment can only be obtained from looting chests in ancient cities. It increases the speed at which the player can move while sneaking, which can be useful when building and going undetected by hostile mobs.
The optimal way to combine these.
- Combine Leggings with Protection 4.
- Combine Swift Sneak III with Mending.
- Combine Leggings with Mending and Swift Sneak III.
- Combine Thorns III with Unbreaking III.
- Combine Leggings with Thorns III and Unbreaking III.
Boots
Mending - Allows armour to mend itself through XP.
Protection IV - (or Projectile Protection IV or Blast Protection IV or Fire Protection IV): Reduction in damage taken. Stacks with other enchanted armour pieces.
Unbreaking III - Improves the durability of the armour.
Depth Strider III - (or Frost Walker II): Similar to Aqua Affinity, this enchantment will increase your overall movement while underwater. This is preferred over Frost Walker, which turns any water that you walk on into ice because it is easier to use and has more situations in which it’s needed.
Feather Falling IV - This is a unique enchantment type to boots, and it will reduce any kind of fall damage taken. This is a very important one to have, especially in survival-mode worlds.
Finally, there are some optional choices for boots enchantments.
Soul Speed III - This is another niche enchantment, in that it causes you to walk faster over Soul Speed blocks. Outside of using Soul Speed walkways to traverse over difficult terrain, this use is limited.
Thorns III - This causes any mob who causes the player damage to take damage themselves. Stacks with other enchanted armour pieces.
The optimal way to combine these.
- Combine Boots with Soul Speed.
- Combine Thorns III with Feather Falling IV
- Combine Boots with Thorns III and Feather Falling IV.
- Combine Depth Strider and Protection IV.
- Combine Unbreaking III and Mending.
- Combine Depth Strider and Protection IV with Unbreaking III and Mending.
- Combine Boots with the above book.
As and when more Minecraft armor enchantments are added to the game, we'll update this list with any changes to the best options.