Should You Put Mending on an Axe in Minecraft? A Comprehensive Guide

The short answer is a resounding yes, absolutely! Putting Mending on your axe is one of the smartest enchantments you can make in Minecraft, significantly improving its longevity and saving you valuable resources in the long run. Axes, crucial for both combat and resource gathering, are constantly subjected to wear and tear. Mending ensures that as you gain experience points, your axe repairs itself, making it practically unbreakable. This is especially crucial for high-tier axes like diamond and netherite, which require significant investment to create. Let’s delve into why Mending is so beneficial and explore some other key aspects of enchanting your axe.

The Power of Mending on Axes

Infinite Durability

The primary benefit of Mending is its ability to restore durability. Each time you collect experience orbs, a portion of the durability of the item in your hand (or equipped armor) is repaired. This makes your axe virtually indestructible, as long as you are actively engaged in tasks that earn you experience. Gone are the days of constantly crafting new axes or painstakingly repairing them on an anvil.

Resource Conservation

As mentioned above, axes, especially those made of diamond or netherite, require precious materials. With Mending, you only need to invest in crafting one high-quality axe. The enchantment removes the need to constantly replace a worn-out tool, effectively saving you significant amounts of diamonds, netherite scraps, and other valuable resources over time.

Peace of Mind

Beyond practical benefits, Mending brings peace of mind. Knowing your axe won’t break in the middle of a vital task, like felling a large forest or fighting a challenging mob, is incredibly valuable. It frees up mental bandwidth, allowing you to focus on exploring, building, and enjoying the game.

Other Essential Axe Enchantments

While Mending is critical for longevity, several other enchantments synergize with it to make your axe even more potent:

Efficiency

Efficiency dramatically increases the speed at which you can break blocks. With Efficiency V, you can chop down trees and break other wooden blocks extremely quickly. This is arguably the most important enchantment after Mending, as it directly improves your resource gathering capabilities.

Unbreaking

Unbreaking increases the durability of an item, making it last longer before needing repair. When combined with Mending, Unbreaking III makes your axe incredibly robust, minimizing the amount of experience needed to fully repair it. Although Mending is ultimately superior to Unbreaking alone, they are a powerful combination.

Sharpness or Smite

For combat purposes, you will want either Sharpness or Smite on your axe. Sharpness V increases overall damage against all mobs, making it a versatile choice. Smite V, on the other hand, increases damage specifically against undead mobs, such as skeletons, zombies, and wither skeletons. Choose the enchantment that better suits your primary combat focus. While axes are slower than swords, their high base damage makes them effective combat tools when properly enchanted.

Silk Touch

Silk Touch is a more niche enchantment but is incredibly useful in specific situations. It allows you to collect blocks such as stone, grass, and mycelium in their raw form, rather than as their dropped item. For example, you will obtain a whole block of stone rather than cobblestone when you use Silk Touch. This is particularly valuable for building projects, moving spawners, and acquiring specific resources.

How To Get Mending on Your Axe

There are a few ways to obtain Mending:

• Librarian Villagers: The most reliable way is to trade with swamp librarian villagers. It is important to note that only swamp villagers sell Mending. You may have to break and replace their lectern several times to get the specific trade that you are seeking.
• Fishing: Although rare, you can find enchanted books, including Mending books, while fishing.
• Dungeon Chests: Similarly, Mending books can occasionally be found in loot chests within dungeons, temples, and other structures.

Once you have a Mending book, use an anvil to apply it to your axe.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are 15 common questions about using Mending on axes, providing further clarity on this topic:

1. Is Mending Level 1 really enough?

Yes, Mending I is all you need. The repair rate is consistent regardless of the level, so there is no need for a higher level.

2. Should I put Mending on every tool?

Ideally, yes. Mending is incredibly useful on almost every tool, especially high-tier ones like diamond or netherite pickaxes, shovels, and hoes, as well as armor. Prioritize the tools you use most frequently.

3. What tools shouldn’t I put Mending on?

Mending is useful on almost everything, with the main exception being bows. Mending cannot be applied to a bow if it is also enchanted with Infinity.

4. Is Unbreaking useless if I have Mending?

No. While Mending provides infinite durability through repair, Unbreaking makes your axe more durable overall. This means less experience is required to fully repair it with Mending, saving you time.

5. Can my axe repair itself if it’s in my inventory?

No. You must have the item you want to mend in your hand or have it equipped as a piece of armor for the repair process to activate when you gain XP.

6. How do I get a Mending villager?

You will need to find a swamp biome and obtain a villager from there. Once you have your villager, you need to place a lectern in front of it. If it is a librarian, it has a chance to trade Mending. You may need to re-roll the trades by breaking and replacing the lectern.

7. Is Mending a high-tier trade from a villager?

No, Mending can be offered as a first-tier trade from a villager. You don’t need to level up the villager to unlock the trade.

8. Is there a limit to how much an item can mend at once?

Yes. Only 2 durability is restored per experience orb.

9. Can I combine Mending with other enchantments on an anvil?

Yes, you can freely combine Mending with other enchantments you find using an anvil.

10. How rare is it to get a mending book from fishing?

The chances of getting a Mending book from fishing are quite low, making it an unreliable method of obtaining the enchantment.

11. Is Sharpness or Smite better for my axe?

It depends on your combat focus. Sharpness increases damage against all mobs, while Smite is more effective against undead enemies. Sharpness is generally the more versatile option.

12. Can I get Looting on an axe?

No. Looting is an enchantment exclusive to swords.

13. Is Mending overpowered in Minecraft?

Some may consider Mending overpowered due to its ability to make tools last indefinitely. However, it is also a challenging enchantment to obtain, which balances its power.

14. What is the maximum level for Mending?

The maximum level for Mending is I.

15. Is a netherite axe with Mending the best axe possible?

Yes, a netherite axe enchanted with Mending, Efficiency V, Unbreaking III, and either Sharpness V or Smite V, along with Silk Touch if you desire, represents the absolute pinnacle of axe power and durability in the game.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Mending is an indispensable enchantment for your axe. Its ability to self-repair using experience makes it a game-changer, saving you time, resources, and frustration. When combined with other essential enchantments such as Efficiency and Unbreaking, your axe becomes a truly powerful tool that will serve you well on your Minecraft adventures. So, the next time you are enchanting, make sure Mending is at the top of your list!