Mending is one of the most sought-after enchantments in Minecraft, and for good reason: it lets your favorite tools, weapons, and armor repair themselves as you play. In short, Mending uses the experience orbs you collect to automatically restore durability on a held or worn item, at a rate of 2 durability points for every 1 experience point. This guide covers exactly how it works in Java Edition, which items can use it, how to obtain it, and whether it deserves a slot on your gear.
Want to plan out a full enchantment loadout before you commit resources? Try our Minecraft Enchantment Calculator to map out combinations. And for a complete overview of every enchantment in the game, see our All Minecraft Enchantments list.
How Mending Works
When you collect experience orbs from any source — mob kills, mining, breeding animals, smelting, trading with villagers, throwing bottles o’ enchanting, and so on — that XP is diverted to repair any Mending-enchanted item you’re holding or wearing instead of being added to your XP bar. The repair ratio is fixed:
- Durability restored = 2 × the XP in the orb.
- XP consumed = the durability repaired ÷ 2 (rounded up to the nearest whole point).
If an item needs less durability than an orb provides, the leftover XP is simply added to your normal XP total, so nothing is wasted. If you have multiple Mending items equipped at once, each individual XP orb repairs one randomly chosen item that isn’t already full — there is no fixed priority order. To funnel repairs to a specific item, hold or wear only that Mending item while gathering XP.
One important limit: Mending only intercepts incoming XP orbs. It cannot draw down experience you’ve already banked into levels, so you can’t stand still and drain your level bar to repair gear — you need a fresh source of orbs.
What Items Can Get Mending
Mending can be applied to essentially any item that has a durability bar. That includes:
- Armor: helmet, chestplate, leggings, boots, turtle shell (turtle helmet), and elytra
- Tools: pickaxe, shovel, axe, hoe, shears, brush, flint and steel, fishing rod
- Weapons: sword, trident, mace, bow, crossbow
- Utility items: shield, carrot on a stick, warped fungus on a stick
Because Mending fits so many item types, it pairs naturally with the picks in our guides on the best pickaxe enchantments, best armor enchantments, and best elytra enchantments.
Max Level and How to Get It
Mending has a single level: Mending I. There are no higher tiers to chase. It is a treasure enchantment (weight 2) and a “secondary” enchantment, which means the enchanting table will never offer it. You have to find it elsewhere as an enchanted book (or, occasionally, on a pre-enchanted item). The main sources are:
- Villager trading — librarians can offer Mending books. Breaking and replacing a librarian’s lectern lets you reroll its trades until it offers a cheap Mending book.
- Fishing — Mending is part of the treasure loot pool you can reel in.
- Chest and structure loot — including trial chambers and vaults, strongholds, End cities, ancient cities, mineshafts, bastion remnants, and desert and jungle temples.
The best fishing rod enchantments can make fishing for treasure books far more efficient if that’s your chosen route.
Is Mending Worth It?
For gear you use constantly — a main pickaxe, your armor set, or an elytra — Mending is close to essential. It effectively makes an item last indefinitely as long as you keep collecting XP, saving you from re-crafting or grinding new enchants. A common setup is keeping a mob grinder or a stash of bottles o’ enchanting on hand to top gear back up on demand. An elytra with Mending, kept charged with firework rockets, is the standard long-term durability solution for flight.
The one place you have to make a choice is the bow. Mending and Infinity are mutually exclusive on a bow through normal gameplay — you can only run one of them. Infinity suits a dedicated combat bow that never runs out of arrows, while Mending suits gear you use and wear down constantly. Weigh that trade-off against the picks in our best bow enchantments guide before committing.
| Property | Mending |
|---|---|
| Max level | I (1) |
| Repair ratio | 2 durability per 1 XP |
| Enchanting table? | No (treasure enchantment) |
| Incompatible with | Infinity (on bows) |
How to Apply It
Since Mending cannot be rolled at an enchanting table, you apply it using an anvil:
- Obtain a Mending enchanted book from trading, fishing, or loot.
- Place your durable item in the first anvil slot and the Mending book in the second slot.
- Take the combined result. You can also combine two Mending books on an anvil.
If you’re on a world where commands are enabled, you can grant it directly with /enchant — for example, /enchant @p mending 1. It can also be added through item components/NBT with the /give command. Running your own Minecraft server hosting makes testing enchant combinations with commands quick and painless before you commit rare books on survival gear.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you get Mending from an enchanting table?
No. Mending is a treasure enchantment, so the enchanting table will never offer it. You must find it as an enchanted book through trading, fishing, or loot, then apply it on an anvil.
How much durability does Mending repair?
Each experience point restores 2 durability. Conversely, every 2 points of durability repaired consumes 1 XP, and any surplus XP from an orb goes to your normal experience total.
Does Mending use my banked XP levels?
No. Mending only intercepts incoming XP orbs. Experience already stored in your level bar cannot be spent on repairs, so you need a fresh source of orbs like a grinder or bottles o’ enchanting.
What happens with multiple Mending items equipped?
Each XP orb repairs one randomly chosen item that isn’t already full — there’s no fixed priority. To repair a specific item, wear or hold only that Mending item while collecting XP.
Can I have Mending and Infinity on the same bow?
Not through normal gameplay. The two are mutually exclusive on a bow, so you have to pick one. Infinity fits a dedicated combat bow, while Mending fits gear you wear down constantly.
Ready to build the perfect loadout? Head over to our Enchantment Calculator, then explore related guides like what Unbreaking does and the best sword enchantments to round out your gear.
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