So you finally mined enough iron to craft that 31-ingot beast. Honestly, the first time you see the recipe for an anvil, it feels like a total scam. Three full blocks of iron just for the top? That’s 27 ingots right there, plus the four at the base. But the second you need to put Mending on your favorite diamond pickaxe, you realize the crafting table just won't cut it.
The anvil is easily one of the most misunderstood blocks in Minecraft. It’s not just a heavy decoration or a way to crush a stray creeper. It’s a complex calculator that tracks every single time you’ve messed with an item. If you aren't careful, you’ll end up staring at a screen that says "Too Expensive!" while your gear sits there, half-finished and useless.
Understanding how to use a minecraft anvil for repairs
Most players think the anvil is just a glorified grindstone. It isn't. While a grindstone strips enchantments and gives you a little XP back, how to use a minecraft anvil correctly involves keeping those enchantments alive while fixing the durability.
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You’ve got two ways to fix things. First, you can smash two of the same items together. If you have two damaged enchanted bows, put them in the two slots. The anvil combines their durability and adds a small 12% bonus. The catch? It also tries to combine their enchantments. This is where people get tripped up. If both bows have Power III, you’ll get a Power IV bow. But if they have conflicting enchantments—like Infinity and Mending—one of them is going to disappear into the void.
The second way is using raw materials. This is usually "cheaper" in terms of item loss but gets pricey in terms of experience levels.
- Iron tools need iron ingots.
- Diamond gear needs diamonds.
- Elytra requires phantom membranes.
- Turtle shells need scutes.
Each unit of material restores about 25% of the item’s total durability. It sounds simple, but every time you do this, the "work penalty" goes up.
The math behind the "Too Expensive" nightmare
Here is the thing about anvils: they have a memory. Every time you use an item in an anvil—whether you're renaming it, repairing it, or adding a book—the game adds a "prior work penalty."
The math is brutal. The penalty starts at zero. After one use, it’s 1. Then 3. Then 7, 15, and 31. Once that penalty hits 31, you’re basically on your last legs. If the next operation costs more than 39 levels, the anvil simply gives up and displays "Too Expensive!" in red text. In survival mode, you cannot bypass this. You’re done. That sword is now a literal antique you can never touch again unless you have Mending.
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How to beat the system
You have to be smart about the order. Don't just slap one book at a time onto your sword. If you have six books to add, and you add them one by one, the sword's penalty will skyrocket before you’re halfway through.
Instead, use a "tree" method. Combine Book A with Book B. Combine Book C with Book D. Then combine those two combined books together. Now you have one super-book that only counts as one "use" when you finally put it on your sword. It saves you dozens of levels and keeps your gear usable for much longer.
Renaming and the one-level trick
Renaming is probably the best part of how to use a minecraft anvil. You can name your sword "The Orphan Maker" or your shovel "Dirt Muncher" just for the fun of it.
Normally, renaming costs a base of 1 level. However, if the item already has a high work penalty from previous repairs, that "1 level" rename can suddenly cost 30 levels.
Pro tip: Rename your gear the very first time you put it in the anvil. If you rename it while you're also adding an enchantment or repairing it, the rename cost is often just folded into the total, and it doesn't add an extra "step" to the work penalty in the same way a repair does.
Gravity, traps, and accidental suicide
Anvils are one of the few blocks in Minecraft that follow the laws of gravity, alongside sand, gravel, and dragon eggs. This makes them hilarious weapons.
If you break the block underneath an anvil, it falls. If it hits a mob (or your friend), it deals damage based on how far it fell.
- It starts at 2 hearts of damage.
- After falling 6 blocks, it hits for 4 hearts.
- The damage caps out at 20 hearts (40 points of damage), which is enough to one-shot a player in full iron if they aren't wearing a helmet.
Wearing a helmet actually reduces falling anvil damage by 25%, but it also damages the helmet. Also, watch out where they land. If an anvil falls on a non-full block—like a torch, a slab, or even soul sand—it won't sit there. It often breaks or behaves weirdly.
Maintenance and breaking points
Anvils aren't forever. They have a 12% chance to degrade every time you use them. You’ll see it happen in three stages:
- Anvil (brand new).
- Chipped Anvil (showing some cracks).
- Damaged Anvil (looks like it’s about to crumble).
On average, you get about 25 uses. Sometimes you get lucky and it lasts for 50. Sometimes you're cursed and it breaks after 10. There is no way to repair an anvil. You just have to smelt more iron and build a new one. It’s a cycle of iron consumption that never really ends until you’re late-game and drowning in resources.
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To make the most of your iron, always check the "output" slot before you click. If the anvil shows a cost of 35 levels for a simple repair, it might be better to just craft a new tool and transfer the enchantments rather than wasting the levels on a piece of gear that’s one repair away from being "Too Expensive" anyway.
Your Anvil Checklist
- Always combine books together before applying them to your gear to save on the work penalty.
- Check if a grindstone is better; if you just want to fix durability and don't care about enchantments, use a grindstone or the 2x2 crafting grid. It's free.
- Keep a "mending" villager nearby. Mending is the only way to truly bypass the anvil's "Too Expensive" limit because it repairs via XP orbs rather than the anvil interface.
- Don't leave anvils hanging in the air. Seriously. It’s funny until you’re the one who walks under it.
Instead of trying to repair that old pickaxe for the tenth time, start a fresh one and use the "tree" method for enchantments. It'll last you five times longer and won't drain 40 levels of XP in one go.