Maximizing Your Minecraft Haul: A Guide to Fortune Enchantments
The Fortune enchantment is a game-changer in Minecraft, significantly boosting your resource acquisition. The ultimate answer to “What should I put Fortune on?” is quite simply, any tool you regularly use for mining minerals and certain other resources. Prioritize pickaxes for ores (diamonds, emeralds, coal, etc.), axes for wood and saplings, and even shovels for specific situations like clay. Understanding the nuances of Fortune across different tools and materials is key to optimizing your Minecraft experience and filling those chests!
Understanding the Power of Fortune
Fortune is an enchantment that increases the number of items dropped from certain blocks when mined or harvested. This can mean the difference between a slow trickle of resources and a flood of them, especially when you’re tackling large projects or trying to amass wealth in your world. Different levels of Fortune (I, II, and III) offer progressively better returns, making it an enchantment well worth investing in.
Primary Tool Focus: The Pickaxe
The pickaxe is undoubtedly the primary candidate for the Fortune enchantment. Its ability to multiply the yield from valuable ores makes it an essential addition to any serious miner’s arsenal.
- Diamonds: The most sought-after resource, Fortune on your pickaxe can turn a single diamond ore into a cascade of precious gems.
- Emeralds: Essential for villager trading, maximizing your emerald haul with Fortune is incredibly beneficial.
- Coal, Iron, Copper, Gold, Nether Quartz, Nether Gold: These are all important for crafting and progression, and Fortune significantly increases their availability.
- Lapis Lazuli, Redstone: While not as directly valuable as diamonds, these resources are crucial for enchanting and redstone circuitry, respectively. Fortune helps you gather them in abundance.
- Amethyst Clusters: Adding a touch of flair to your base has never been easier with Fortune, and you’ll have plenty to share with your friends!
Secondary Uses: Axes and Shovels
While the pickaxe is the star, don’t underestimate the utility of Fortune on other tools.
- Axe: When used to break leaves, a Fortune-enchanted axe increases the drop rate of apples, sticks, and saplings. This is particularly helpful for automating tree farms or simply replenishing your apple supply. Some players claim that it improves the drop rate of wood from logs, but that is false.
- Shovel: While not as universally useful, a Fortune-enchanted shovel can be beneficial when collecting clay. While Fortune does not directly increase clay ball drops, it can still be handy in specific farming scenarios.
Considerations for Fortune Levels
- Fortune I: Provides a modest boost, offering a 33% chance to double the drops of eligible ores. A good starting point if you’re limited on enchantment levels.
- Fortune II: Increases the potential yield, offering a chance to multiply drops by two or three.
- Fortune III: The highest level of Fortune significantly increases the potential yield, offering the chance to multiply drops by two, three, or even four times the original amount. This is the gold standard for maximizing your resource gathering efficiency.
Synergies and Incompatibilities
Understanding how Fortune interacts with other enchantments is just as important as knowing what tools to apply it to. Notably:
- Silk Touch: Fortune and Silk Touch are mutually exclusive. You can’t have both on the same tool. Silk Touch allows you to collect the entire ore block instead of its raw resource drops, while Fortune focuses on maximizing those drops. Choose the enchantment that best suits your current goal – Silk Touch for transporting ore blocks or Fortune for resource accumulation.
Optimizing Your Fortune Setup
- Enchanting Table: Use an enchanting table to get base enchantments on your tools.
- Anvil Combination: Combine multiple enchanted tools with similar enchantments using an anvil to level up your enchantments.
- Trading with Villagers: Villagers can offer enchanted tools or enchantment books, potentially including Fortune. This is a great way to acquire higher levels of Fortune.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Does Fortune work on all ores?
No. Fortune works on coal ore, diamond ore, emerald ore, lapis lazuli ore, redstone ore, iron ore, copper ore, gold ore, nether gold ore, nether quartz ore, and amethyst clusters. It does not affect other resources like stone or dirt.
2. Is Fortune 2 significantly better than Fortune 1?
Yes. While Fortune 1 gives a 33% chance to double drops, Fortune 2 gives a chance to multiply drops by 2 or 3, offering a higher potential yield overall. The higher the level of Fortune, the more it increases the amount of loot dropped.
3. Can you combine Fortune 2 and 2 to get 3?
No, you need to find or enchant a Fortune 3 book, or tool with fortune 3 already on it. Then, combine these using an anvil with a normal tool to add the Fortune 3 enchantment.
4. Is Fortune worth putting on an axe?
Yes, but primarily for increasing the drop rate of apples, sticks, and saplings from leaves. If your focus is on maximizing these drops, Fortune on an axe is a worthwhile investment.
5. Does Fortune increase XP gains?
No, Fortune does not affect the amount of XP you receive from mining or harvesting.
6. Should I put Fortune or Silk Touch on my pickaxe?
This depends on your needs. Silk Touch lets you collect entire ore blocks for later smelting or relocation. Fortune maximizes the number of resources you get immediately. If you’re building a base and want to move ore easily, go for Silk Touch. If you want to get the most resources possible, Fortune is the way to go.
7. Does Fortune work on melons or pumpkins?
No, Fortune does not affect the drop rate of pumpkins. Fortune will increase the maximum number of melon slices dropped when the melon is broken, increasing the average yield to 6.4314 slices with Fortune III.
8. Does Fortune work on sugarcane?
The article you provided does state that fortune works on the top and middle pieces of sugar cane, however this is not true. Fortune will not work on sugar cane.
9. Can you put Fortune and Silk Touch on the same tool using commands?
While technically possible using commands, Silk Touch will take precedence over Fortune for blocks affected by both enchantments. The game prioritizes Silk Touch in such cases.
10. Does Fortune 1 do anything noticeable?
Yes. Fortune 1 provides a 33% chance to double the drops of eligible ores, which is a noticeable improvement over mining without any enchantment.
11. Does Fortune work on clay blocks?
Destroying a clay block yields 4 clay balls. Destroying a clay block with a tool enchanted with Fortune does not increase the amount of clay dropped.
12. Does Fortune work on glowstone?
Fortune can be used for glowstone. If a tool with Fortune is used, it has a higher chance of dropping a large amount of glowstone dust—but never more than 4.
13. What’s the best way to get Fortune 3?
The best way to get Fortune 3 is through a combination of enchanting at an enchanting table, trading with villagers for enchanted books or tools, and combining enchanted tools with similar enchantments using an anvil. Experiment with different approaches to find what works best for you.
14. Does Fortune work on apples that drop from leaves?
Breaking leaves with a tool enchanted with the Fortune enchantment increases the chances of dropping an apple. With Fortune I it increases the apple drop rate to 0.556%, Fortune II is 0.625%, and Fortune III is 0.833%.
15. Can fortune be applied to shears?
Unfortunately, you can’t put fortune on shears.
By strategically applying Fortune to your tools, you can significantly boost your resource gathering efficiency and accelerate your progress in Minecraft. Experiment with different levels and tools to find the optimal setup for your playstyle and needs. Happy mining and crafting!
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