Enchantments are one of Minecraft’s most practical features when it comes to giving yourself a gameplay advantage in doing certain things and exploring certain areas.
Although a lot of them are based on giving you a general upgrade to your gear, some of them, like Aqua Affinity, exist for a specific reason and can only be applied to one type of item. This article will help you clarify what the Minecraft enchantment Aqua Affinity is, how to obtain it, and where to use it.
How to obtain the Aqua Affinity enchantment
First, we should establish that you can only apply Aqua Affinity to helmets. Like all other enchantments in the game, Aqua Affinity can be obtained in a number of ways:
- by enchanting an existing item through the enchantment table
- by using an anvil to combine it with an enchanted book, or another helmet that already has it.
- by finding a helmet that contains the enchantment in the wilderness, for example in a loot chest in a dungeon
What does the Aqua Affinity enchantment do?
When you mine in Minecraft, mining underwater is significantly slower, regardless of which pickaxe you’re using. Aqua Affinity is meant to make that process easier.
More precisely, if you mine underwater, it will take you 5 times longer to mine the block than it would on the surface. So for example, if you’re mining a block of stone with a stone pickaxe, it should take you about 0.6 seconds. However, if you’re mining underwater, it would take you a whole 3 seconds instead.
Aqua Affinity removes this penalty entirely, allowing you to mine blocks at the same speed you would on the surface. This effect does not scale, so there is no point in higher-level enchantments like Aqua Affinity II.
It’s also important to mention that this effect applies to mining while floating as well, since the penalty for mining while floating is the same as the one for mining underwater.
Where can you use the Aqua Affinity enchantment?
Since its main purpose is to allow you to break blocks easier underwater, the Aqua Affinity enchantment can be really useful when you’re exploring Minecraft’s Underwater Temple structures. If you use it, you’ll be able to break through the temple walls much faster and escape any guardians chasing you.
The enchantment can also be useful if you’re trying to build something underwater, such as a base to easily hide you from mobs or other players. You can even break corals much faster, allowing you to collect them as cool blocks to use for decoration.
Key Takeaways
To summarize:
- Aqua Affinity is an enchantment in Minecraft that works only on the helmet item.
- You can obtain it the same way you can obtain all other items.
- It allows you to mine faster when you’re floating and underwater, making it the same speed as when you’re on the surface.
- There is only one effect for all levels of the enchantment, so enchantment levels beyond level 1 do not exist for this type of enchantment.
- It is useful for exploring Underwater Temples and building underwater.
