Mending, a treasure enchantment in Minecraft, restores the durability of any item that still has wear when you collect experience orbs.
What Makes Mending Stand Out
Unlike standard enchantments sold at the enchanting table, Mending can only be obtained through special loot or villager trades. It falls under the “treasure” category, meaning it never appears when you use a standard enchant table. This exclusivity has earned it the reputation of the most sought‑after enchantment for tools and equipment.
How Experience Resets Durability
For every single XP point gathered, Mending regenerates two points of durability on the equipped weapon, tool, or armor piece. The game prioritises items that are both on‑hand or in armor slots and are not at full durability. Any surplus experience goes to the player’s experience bar.
Common XP sources include fighting mobs, mining ores, trading, and running block‑based farms such as enderman or guardian farms. The mechanic guarantees that regular gameplay can continuously repair gear without additional crafting effort.
Image Credit: Minecraft/Mojang (Screenshot by Bipradeep Biswas/ Beebom)
Eligible Items and Where Repair Happens
Mending repairs one of the following items at a time:
- The armor you are wearing
- The tool or weapon in your main hand
- The item in your off‑hand
If multiple items are enchanted, the game selects a damaged one at random. Fully repaired items are ignored, so further experience will inflate your XP bar.
Restrictions and Design Choices
The only enchantment incompatible with Mending is Infinity. A bow can be enchanted with either Bows’ Mending for automatic repair or Infinity to fire arrows without consuming them, but not both. Because Mending focuses on durability restoration, it cannot resurrect items that have already broken completely; once the durability reaches zero, the item is lost forever.
Acquiring the Mending Enchantment
Players can obtain Mending through:
- Librarian trading – any level of the Librarian villager offers a book with Mending.
- Loot chests – found in Ancient Cities, Strongholds, Desert Pyramids, Jungle Temples, and Abandoned Mineshafts.
- Fishing – has a very small chance to drop a Mending book; AFK fishing farms can accelerate this process.
- Raid rewards – in Bedrock edition, pillager raid drops may include the enchantment.
Once secured, the book is bound onto an item using an anvil, granting it automatic durability repair.
Image Credit: Minecraft/Mojang (Screenshot by Bipradeep Biswas/ Beebom)
Given these mechanics, Mending represents the most efficient way to keep high‑value tools, like pickaxes, Elytra, or Netherite armor, operational for extended periods without the constant need for new materials.
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