Sharpness
What is Sharpness?
Sharpness is the most widely used offensive enchantment in Minecraft. It increases the damage your sword or axe deals no matter what you hit: it works on zombies, skeletons and creepers just as well as on players, animals and bosses. That makes Sharpness the most versatile weapon enchantment in the game.
Its specialized alternatives pay off only against certain mobs: Smite works on the undead, and Bane of Arthropods on arthropods like spiders and silverfish. Sharpness, on the other hand, gives you a steady damage bonus in every situation. That's why it's the default pick for most players, especially if you don't want to carry several swords at once.
You can get Sharpness both at the enchanting table and as enchanted books from librarians. Thanks to its high enchantment weight (10), it shows up at the table often, which makes it one of the easier enchantments to get. Keep in mind, though, that the table won't give you Sharpness V directly: you usually get it by combining two Sharpness IV books on an anvil.
Damage at each level
Every level of Sharpness adds a fixed amount of extra damage. The formula is 0.5 + 0.5 × level extra damage points. Here are the exact numbers for the most popular weapons:
| Level | Extra damage | Diamond sword (total) | Netherite axe (total) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sharpness I | +1.0 (0.5 hearts) | 8.0 damage | 11.0 damage |
| Sharpness II | +1.5 (0.75 hearts) | 8.5 damage | 11.5 damage |
| Sharpness III | +2.0 (1 heart) | 9.0 damage | 12.0 damage |
| Sharpness IV | +2.5 (1.25 hearts) | 9.5 damage | 12.5 damage |
| Sharpness V | +3.0 (1.5 hearts) | 10.0 damage | 13.0 damage |
For comparison, Smite V adds a whopping +12.5 damage, but only against the undead. Sharpness V adds +3.0 damage, but it works on every enemy. In practice, Sharpness V on a netherite sword is enough to kill most mobs in 1-2 hits. Zombies and skeletons with 20 HP (10 hearts) go down after two fully charged hits.
How to get Sharpness
Sharpness is one of the easiest enchantments to get thanks to its high enchantment weight (10), which means it shows up often at the enchanting table. There are several proven ways to get it:
Enchanting table
Sharpness I-IV shows up regularly on a sword at level 30. For Sharpness V, combine two Sharpness IV items on an anvil (Sharpness IV + Sharpness IV = Sharpness V). Make sure you have 15 bookshelves around the table.
Villager trading
A librarian can offer enchanted books with Sharpness at different levels. Keep rerolling the trades (break and replace the lectern) until the level you want shows up. This method gets you exactly the enchantment you need.
Chests in structures
You can find enchanted books with Sharpness in the chests of dungeons, mineshafts, bastions in the Nether and End cities. Exploring these structures often turns up valuable enchantments.
Fishing
A fishing rod with Luck of the Sea III gives you a better chance of fishing up enchanted books, including ones with Sharpness. A rare but free source of enchantments.
Incompatible enchantments
Sharpness can't be combined with two other offensive weapon enchantments. An item can only have one of the three:
Sharpness combines without any trouble with all the other weapon enchantments: Fire Aspect, Looting, Knockback, Sweeping Edge, Unbreaking and Mending. You'll find more about which enchantments work together in our enchanting guide.
Best strategies and uses
The ideal PvE sword
The ideal sword for fighting mobs has Sharpness V + Looting III + Fire Aspect II + Knockback II + Sweeping Edge III + Unbreaking III + Mending. A sword like that kills most mobs in 1-2 hits, gets you the maximum drops and practically lasts forever thanks to Mending. You'll find the sword's crafting recipe in our guide to crafting weapons.
Sharpness vs Smite
Plenty of players argue about Sharpness versus Smite. Smite V deals more damage to the undead (+12.5 vs +3.0), but Sharpness is more versatile. If you want one sword for everything, go with Sharpness. If you have room for two swords, keep one with Sharpness (for general combat) and a second one with Smite (for fighting the Wither and for the Nether, where most mobs are undead). Remember that Smite also works on phantoms, drowned and zoglins.
Sharpness on an axe
Since version 1.9, an axe with Sharpness V deals more damage than a sword (13 for a netherite axe vs 10 for a diamond sword, see the table above), but it attacks much more slowly. In PvP, a Sharpness axe is powerful for the first hit (big damage plus disabling the shield), but in a longer fight a sword is better thanks to its faster attacks and its sweep attack. You can craft an axe by following our guide to crafting tools.
PvP tips
In PvP, Sharpness V on a netherite sword with Fire Aspect II is the standard build. Fire Aspect adds fire damage that ignores armor protection, and together with Sharpness V it makes a deadly combination. Be careful with Knockback: in PvP you're often better off without it, because an opponent you knock back can run away or regenerate at a distance. Many experienced PvP players skip Knockback for a more aggressive fighting style.
An XP farm for enchanting
To get Sharpness V, you need a lot of experience for enchanting and for combining books on an anvil. The best way to get it is to build an XP farm: an Enderman farm in the End gives the most experience per minute, while a zombie or skeleton spawner farm is easier to build early on. A Sharpness V sword also kills mobs on your farms faster, which creates a positive feedback loop.
Planning a sword build with lots of enchantments? Use the enchantment calculator to work out the best order for combining them on the anvil and avoid the "Too Expensive!" limit. Check out our full enchanting guide too.
