There are features in Minecraft designed to make your experience easier, such as enchantments. These are bonuses you can apply to certain items you own to get special effects.
Some enchantments give bonuses that are based on damage increases. One such enchantment is Sharpness, which you can read more about below.
How to obtain the Sharpness enchantment in Minecraft
Sharpness is an enchantment primarily applied to axes and swords in Minecraft. However, in Java Edition, it is a secondary enchantment for axes and primarily only for swords.
You can obtain this enchantment the same way most other enchantments in the Minecraft are obtained. There are two main methods. One involves putting the item you want to enchant on an enchantment table and picking Sharpness from the selection. The other involves finding an enchanted book that you will combine with the item on an anvil.
Sharpness is incompatible with the enchantments Smite, Cleaving, and Bane of Arthropods. This means that you can’t have two or more of these enchantments on the same item at the same time.
What does the Sharpness enchantment do in Minecraft?
Simply put, Minecraft Sharpness increases the damage done by swords and axes on hit. The numbers are different for Bedrock Edition and Java Edition.
In Java Edition, Sharpness adds 0.5 x max(0, level – 1) + 1 extra damage. In Bedrock Edition, the formula is a lot simpler, with each level adding 1.25 extra damage. To get a better example, Sharpness 1 in Java Edition would deal one damage, and in Bedrock Edition, it would deal 1.25 damage.
There are five levels of Sharpness. To get Sharpness 5 on most weapons, you need an anvil. However, iron and diamond swords with Sharpness 5 can be randomly found in end city and bastion remnant chest. Weapons made of gold can get Sharpness 5 through regular enchanting.
Where can you use the Sharpness enchantment?
Because it gives a flat damage increase, this enchantment is useful for all kinds of combat situations. However, it is sometimes an inferior choice to Smite, Cleaving, and Bane of Arthropods, since those types of damage are both higher but also more specific.
Generally, Sharpness is the better option when you want a general damage increase rather than damage for a specific purpose.
Key Takeaways
To make proper use of this enchantment, you should remember the following key takeaways:
- In Bedrock Edition, Sharpness is a primary enchantment for both axes and swords. However, in Java Edition, it is a primary enchantment only for swords and a secondary enchantment for axes.
- It is mutually exclusive with Smite, Cleaving, and Bane of Arthropods, meaning you can’t have two or more of those enchantments on the same item.
- Both versions give a flat damage increase. However, Java Edition has a more complicated formula, while Bedrock Edition is a flat 1.25 per level increase in damage. Generally, Bedrock Edition has higher increases.
- Sharpness 5 is the max level, and that’s a bit harder to obtain. For most weapons, you need to use an anvil, but for diamond and iron swords, you can find them in chests in the wild.
- It is a useful enchantment when you want a non-specific damage increase for general combat.