Silk Touch

What is Silk Touch?

Silk Touch is a unique enchantment that lets you collect blocks in their original form instead of getting the normal drop. For example, a pickaxe with Silk Touch mining diamond ore drops the ore block itself instead of a diamond, glass can be picked up intact, and grass blocks can be collected as blocks. The enchantment opens up entirely new possibilities in the game, letting you precisely collect blocks that are normally unobtainable.

It is one of the most important utility enchantments in the game, essential for building, decoration and advanced mining strategies. Every player should have at least one Silk Touch pickaxe alongside a pickaxe with Fortune. These two pickaxes are the foundation of efficient mining in Minecraft.

Silk Touch has an enchantment weight of 1 (very rare), which means it shows up at the enchanting table less often than most other enchantments. Trading with a librarian is often the fastest way to get it. An ideal Silk Touch pickaxe should also have Efficiency V, Unbreaking III and Mending. You'll find more about the best enchantment sets in our enchanting guide.

Which blocks can you collect?

Silk Touch lets you collect the following blocks, which are normally unavailable or drop something else:

Key blocks

Blocks that don't work with Silk Touch

Some blocks can't be collected even with Silk Touch:

• Monster Spawner: it can't be collected by any method (Creative only).
• Budding Amethyst: the block that grows amethyst can't be moved.
• Reinforced Deepslate: a block from the Ancient City that can't be broken or collected.
• End Portal Frame: part of the End portal, unbreakable in survival.

How to get Silk Touch

Best strategies and uses

The collect-and-break strategy

One of the most powerful strategies: collect ores with a Silk Touch pickaxe, then break them with a pickaxe with Fortune III. That way you can carry ores compactly (1 stack of ore = 64 ores) and break them once you have your best Fortune pickaxe. The technique is especially valuable for diamonds, emeralds and lapis lazuli, because it lets you get the most out of every ore you find.

Building and decoration

Silk Touch is essential for collecting decorative blocks: glass (stained and plain), ice (for ice builds and decoration), corals (live coral instead of dead), grass blocks (for gardens) and ender chests (so they don't turn into 8 obsidian). These blocks are key when creating advanced builds and base decorations.

Ice highways in the Nether

Packed ice and blue ice are key to building ice highways in the Nether: boats sliding on these blocks reach speeds of up to 72 blocks per second, which is the fastest way to travel long distances. Silk Touch is what lets you mine these blocks. One block in the Nether equals 8 blocks in the Overworld, so ice highways let you travel at incredible speed.

Ice farm

Silk Touch lets you collect natural ice, which normally melts or disappears when broken. You can build ice farms over a frozen biome: collect ice with a Silk Touch pickaxe and use it for building or for crafting blue ice (9 ice = 1 packed ice, 9 packed ice = 1 blue ice). You'll find more about recipes in the crafting guide.

Moving grass blocks

A grass block needs Silk Touch to be moved, because it normally drops dirt. This is useful for creating gardens, decorations and animal farms in places without natural grass (for example in the Nether or on an island in the End). Builders often use this technique when creating bases in unusual locations.

Collecting ores for later

Since version 1.17, iron and gold ores drop raw iron and raw gold instead of the ore blocks. You can collect the ores with Silk Touch and break them later with Fortune III to get more raw materials. This strategy is especially valuable early in the game, when you don't have Fortune III yet: collect the ores and wait for a better pickaxe. You can get the experience for enchanting at XP farms.