Minecraft Enchantments Showdown: Sharpness vs. Smite vs. Bane of Arthropods

The question of which sword enchantment reigns supreme in Minecraft—Sharpness, Smite, or Bane of Arthropods—is a common debate among players. The straightforward answer is that Sharpness is generally the best all-around choice. While Smite and Bane of Arthropods offer niche advantages, their limitations make them less versatile than Sharpness for most situations. Let’s break down each enchantment, their pros, cons, and how they fare against each other.

Understanding the Enchantments

Sharpness: The Versatile Damage Booster

Sharpness is arguably the most popular and useful of the three. This enchantment increases the base damage of your weapon against all mobs and players, including those with no special classifications. Every level of Sharpness increases the damage output by a flat amount. In Bedrock Edition, each level adds 1.25 extra damage. Therefore, Sharpness V is extremely powerful, making it highly effective in almost any combat scenario, whether you’re facing a horde of zombies, a pack of wolves, or other players on a server. It’s the most reliable option when you want your sword to consistently deal more damage.

Smite: The Undead Slayer

Smite is a powerful enchantment, but it has a very specific target: undead mobs. These include zombies, skeletons, wither skeletons, zombified piglins, the Wither boss, and other similar creatures. Each level of Smite adds 2.5 points of damage to the weapon when hitting an undead mob. This can be very useful if you are frequently facing undead enemies, making it ideal for tackling dungeons or exploring the Nether. At Smite V, you will deal an extra 12.5 damage to each undead mob. However, the downside is its total ineffectiveness against any other type of creature, making it useless in many situations, including player versus player (PvP) combat.

Bane of Arthropods: The Niche Option

Bane of Arthropods is another specialized enchantment, designed to inflict additional damage to arthropod mobs, such as spiders, cave spiders, silverfish, and now, creepers. This enchantment, like Smite, adds damage with each level of the enchantment but also provides a slowing effect for these mobs. It is an incredibly situational enchantment. At first glance, it might appear useful for spider farming, but it quickly loses its usefulness outside of these specific instances. Previously thought of as one of the most useless enchantments, recent changes to the game, now including creepers as arthropods, may make it slightly more viable. Still, it’s the least practical of the three enchantments.

Sharpness vs. Smite vs. Bane of Arthropods: The Comparison

Damage

• Sharpness provides a consistent damage increase against everything.
• Smite can inflict significantly more damage, but only against undead mobs.
• Bane of Arthropods adds more damage to arthropods, and also causes a slowness effect on them.

Versatility

• Sharpness is the most versatile, effective against every type of mob and player.
• Smite is only effective against undead mobs.
• Bane of Arthropods is only effective against arthropod mobs.

Practicality

• Sharpness is the best choice for most players, as it is always relevant in combat.
• Smite has limited practicality outside of specific areas and enemies.
• Bane of Arthropods is the least practical, as it affects the fewest mobs.

Incompatibilities

• Sharpness, Smite, and Bane of Arthropods are mutually exclusive. You cannot have more than one on the same sword or axe via normal gameplay.
• While console commands can bypass this restriction, the effects do not stack.

Final Verdict: Sharpness Triumphs

In most situations, Sharpness is the best choice. Its universal effectiveness ensures that your sword is always at its peak. While Smite can be powerful against undead, its utility is limited in comparison. Bane of Arthropods has very little use in the vast majority of gameplay, making it the least viable option.

If you were to get only one of these enchantments on your best weapon, choose Sharpness, as it will give you the highest return. Sharpness increases the overall damage of your sword, whereas smite just increases damage against undead mobs. You could argue Smite and Bane are for niche situations but, even then, Sharpness is usually the better option.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Does Smite do more damage than Sharpness?

Yes, Smite does more damage than Sharpness against undead mobs. However, it deals no extra damage to any other mob. At level V, Smite will do 12.5 extra damage against undead, while sharpness would only do 6.25 extra damage.

2. Can you have Sharpness 5 and Bane of Arthropods?

No, you cannot have both Sharpness and Bane of Arthropods on the same weapon in regular gameplay. These enchantments are mutually exclusive. However, you can use commands to bypass this. However the effects will not stack.

3. Is Bane of Arthropods good for an axe?

Yes, you can place Bane of Arthropods on an axe, but it’s not recommended. Sharpness is generally better for axes because it provides a consistent damage bonus against all mobs. This is even more true now that axes can disable shields when a target is hit.

4. Does Smite work on the Wither?

Yes, Smite works on the Wither, as the Wither is classified as an undead mob. This makes the enchantment a strong choice when fighting the boss.

5. Can you put Bane of Arthropods on a trident?

No, Bane of Arthropods cannot be put on a trident. This enchantment is exclusively for swords and axes.

6. What is the useless enchantment in Minecraft?

Curse of Vanishing is often considered a useless and negative enchantment. It causes the enchanted item to disappear upon the player’s death.

7. What enchantment kills Enderman faster?

Sharpness V along with a Strength II effect and a critical hit is the best way to one-shot an Enderman. Smite will not help you against an Enderman as it is not classified as an undead mob.

8. Are Endermen affected by Smite?

No, Endermen are not affected by Smite. They are not considered undead mobs.

9. Which mob drops the most experience?

The Ender Dragon drops the most XP, totaling 12,000 XP for the first kill and 500 for subsequent defeats. This makes it the greatest experience mob in the game by far. Out of normal mobs, slimes and magma cubes give a good amount of xp when split up.

10. Does Looting give more XP?

No, Looting does not give more XP. It only increases the quantity and rarity of item drops from killed mobs.

11. How much extra damage does Sharpness V do?

In Bedrock Edition, Sharpness V adds 6.25 extra damage.

12. Does Bane of Arthropods work on creepers?

Yes, in recent versions, Bane of Arthropods works on creepers, which are now considered arthropods. This makes the enchantment useful against them.

13. Can sweeping edge go with Bane of Arthropods?

No, Sweeping Edge and Bane of Arthropods are not compatible, as well as Sharpness and Smite. Sweeping edge does additional damage when your sword hits multiple mobs.

14. What is Aqua Affinity for?

Aqua Affinity speeds up mining underwater, making it as fast as mining on land. It’s used on a helmet.

15. Can Smite and Sharpness be combined?

No, Smite and Sharpness cannot be combined on the same weapon in regular gameplay. They are mutually exclusive.