How to Enchant Gear with an Anvil in Minecraft

Put the gear you want to keep in the left slot of an anvil and an enchanted book in the right slot. If the enchantment fits and you have enough experience levels, take the item from the output slot. The preview is the safest place to catch a bad combination, especially when a single book carries several enchantments.

1. Craft and place an anvil

Gather 31 iron ingots. Turn 27 of them into three iron blocks and keep the other four as ingots. On a crafting table, fill the top row with the three blocks, put one ingot in the center slot, and fill the bottom row with the remaining three ingots. Place the finished anvil on a solid floor near the chest where you keep your books and spare equipment.

Anvils wear out with use. A chipped or damaged anvil can still work, so you can finish your current upgrades if it survives the operation. Keep spare iron available when you plan to apply books to several pieces of gear. Anvils fall when unsupported, so place one directly on the floor when setting up your station.

2. Choose a book for the item

Read the enchantments on the item and the book before opening the anvil. For example, use a Feather Falling book on boots. If you are building a long-term pickaxe, an Unbreaking book and a Mending book are both useful candidates. A bow requires a choice between Mending and Infinity in normal survival.

A multi-enchantment book can work even when some of its effects cannot transfer. If you apply a book with both a boot enchantment and a tool enchantment to boots, you will consume the whole book even though the tool effect cannot appear on the boots. If the part you care about is missing from the preview, take the inputs back and save the book.

3. Apply the book and check the result

1. Open the anvil and put the piece of equipment in the left input.
2. Put the enchanted book in the right input.
3. Hover over the result and read its full enchantment list.
4. Check the displayed level cost against your current experience level.
5. Take the output once it shows the upgrade you want.

You can close the preview or remove the ingredients before taking the output if the cost is higher than expected. Once you take the result, the book is used up and the displayed number of levels is deducted. Lapis lazuli stays in your storage for this operation. It is used at an enchanting table.

4. Plan multiple upgrades before spending levels

Previous anvil operations affect the price of future work. If you add several separate books to the same item one by one, you keep bringing back a target that has already been worked. For a fresh piece of gear, try pairing compatible books first, then preview the paired books against the gear. You can compare the costs before you take the outputs.

You can also combine two books carrying the same level of an enchantment to reach the next level, provided that enchantment has a higher level available. Try this when you have two lower-level books and specifically want that upgraded effect. Inspect the combined preview before committing, because the game can also try to transfer other effects on the second book.

5. Diagnose a blocked or expensive result

If the output is empty, confirm that the item is in the left slot and that at least one effect on the book applies to it. Check for conflicts with enchantments already on the gear. A sword with Smite already has a damage enchantment that conflicts with Sharpness. More experience levels will not resolve an incompatibility.

If an output is visible but the cost exceeds your current level, collect more experience and try the same operation again. If the anvil says Too Expensive!, the operation has reached the survival cap and collecting extra experience will not make it available. In Java Edition, an operation priced at 40 levels or more normally hits that cap. Try a different combination order with fresh books and equipment. The old item can still serve as a spare while you build its replacement.

An early Mending book can help you keep a finished piece of gear working without repeated anvil repairs. After applying it, equip or hold the item while collecting experience orbs to repair it. For a pickaxe you use every session, this preserves the upgrades you already paid for.