You've spent hours mining. Your chests are overflowing with diamonds, but your gear still feels... basic. Then, you find it. Tucked away in a dusty stronghold chest or fished out of a murky swamp: a glowing, purple-hued tome. It’s an enchanting book. But now what?
Honestly, if you’re staring at that book and wondering how do you use an enchanting book in minecraft, you aren’t alone. The game doesn't exactly give you a manual. You can’t just "read" it to get stronger. It’s a specialized tool, a way to store raw magical power until you’re ready to fuse it onto your favorite sword or pickaxe. Using these books is actually the most efficient way to build "god-tier" gear because it bypasses the randomness of the enchantment table.
Why You Need an Anvil (and Plenty of XP)
You cannot use an enchanting book at an enchantment table. That’s a common mistake. If you try to slap a book onto a table with your chestplate, nothing happens. To actually transfer the magic from the pages to your gear, you need an Anvil.
Anvils are pricey. You’ll need three blocks of iron and four iron ingots. That’s 31 iron total. Once you place it, the process is straightforward but costs Experience Levels. You put your tool in the first slot, the enchanting book in the second slot, and—if you have enough levels—the enchanted item appears in the output slot.
The cost isn't fixed. It depends on how many times that specific item has been modified before. Minecraft tracks something called "Prior Work Penalty." Every time you use an anvil on an item, the level cost for the next time doubles. If you’re not careful, you’ll see the dreaded "Too Expensive!" message, and your item will be stuck as it is forever.
👉 See also: GTA Vice City Cheat Switch: How to Make the Definitive Edition Actually Fun
The Specific Steps to Use Your Book
- Craft or find an Anvil. Seriously, keep a spare. They break after about 25 uses on average.
- Check your XP bar. Most basic enchantments like Unbreaking III or Sharpness IV cost between 4 and 9 levels. High-tier combos can cost 30+.
- Open the Anvil interface. 4. Place the item to be enchanted in the left-most slot. This can be a weapon, tool, armor piece, or even another book.
- Place the enchanting book in the middle slot.
- Pull the finished product from the right slot. It sounds simple. It is simple. But the nuance comes in when you start combining books to make better ones.
Combining Books: Leveling Up Your Magic
Sometimes you find a Power II book, but you really want Power V. Did you know you can combine books? If you put two Power II books together in an anvil, they merge into one Power III book. This is how pros get the best enchantments without relying on the luck of a level 30 enchantment table.
There are rules, though. You can't combine a Sharpness book with a Smite book. They’re "incompatible." Minecraft forces you to choose how you want to deal damage. You either hurt everything a little bit more (Sharpness) or absolutely wreck undead mobs like zombies and skeletons (Smite). You can't have both on one sword.
Also, the order matters. Swapping the position of the items in the anvil can sometimes save you 2 or 3 XP levels. Before you click that output item, try flipping the items in the first two slots. You might find it's cheaper one way than the other.
The Mystery of Mending and Treasure Enchantments
This is the big one. Some enchantments only exist in book form. You will never, ever see "Mending" or "Frost Walker" appear on an enchantment table. These are called Treasure Enchantments.
✨ Don't miss: Gothic Romance Outfit Dress to Impress: Why Everyone is Obsessed With This Vibe Right Now
Mending is widely considered the most important "buff" in the game. It uses your picked-up XP orbs to repair your tools instead of adding to your level bar. Since you can't get it from a table, knowing how do you use an enchanting book in minecraft becomes a survival skill. You have to find the book via trading with a Librarian villager, raiding a Jungle Temple, or through lucky fishing, and then apply it via an anvil.
Avoiding the "Too Expensive" Trap
If you keep adding small books to a diamond sword—let’s say you add Unbreaking, then Mending, then Sharpness, then Looting, one by one—the sword's "work count" rises. Eventually, the game just stops letting you touch it.
To avoid this, use a "Pyramid" method. Combine your books together first.
Merge Book A and Book B.
Merge Book C and Book D.
Then merge those two resulting books.
Finally, apply that one "super book" to your sword. This counts as only one "work" session for the sword, keeping the future repair costs low.
It’s a bit of a math headache, but it’s the difference between a sword that lasts forever and one that becomes a paperweight after ten hours of play.
🔗 Read more: The Problem With Roblox Bypassed Audios 2025: Why They Still Won't Go Away
Which Items Take Which Books?
Not every book works on every item. Most are obvious (you can't put "Efficiency" on a pair of boots), but some are weird.
- Shields: Can only take Unbreaking and Mending.
- Elytra: Can only take Unbreaking, Mending, and Vanishing/Binding curses.
- Shears: Can actually take Efficiency, making them tear through leaves and wool instantly.
- Carrot on a Stick: Only Unbreaking and Mending.
If you try to put a Protection book on a Sword, the anvil will show a red "X" over the arrow. It won't let you waste your levels on a combination that does nothing.
Actionable Tips for Master Enchanting
Stop wasting your diamonds. If you want a perfect set of armor, don't just roll the dice at the table. Use the book system to your advantage.
- Set up a Villager Trading Hall. This is the "infinite" way to get books. A Librarian villager can be "reset" until they offer Mending or Sharpness V for emeralds.
- Fish during thunderstorms. You get better loot rates, and enchanted books are a common "treasure" catch.
- Use a Grindstone. If you find an enchanted book with a curse (like Curse of Binding) and a good enchantment, you can't remove the curse. But if you have an item with bad enchantments, run it through a grindstone to get some XP back before using a book to start over.
- Rename your gear. While you're using the anvil to apply a book, you can rename your item in the text box at the top. It costs one extra level, but it makes your gear feel personal. "The World-Ender" sounds a lot better than "Diamond Pickaxe."
The real secret to mastering how do you use an enchanting book in minecraft is patience. Don't rush to use a Sharpness I book on a Netherite sword. Wait. Combine those books, build your XP, and apply the best possible version of the spell so you don't hit that "Too Expensive" cap prematurely.
Start by gathering enough iron for an anvil and hunting for a Librarian villager. Once you have a steady supply of Mending and Unbreaking III books, you've essentially reached the Minecraft endgame. Your gear won't break, your efficiency will skyrocket, and the game changes from a struggle for survival into a quest for total world optimization.