What Does Looting Do in Minecraft? (Sword Enchantment Explained)

Short answer: Looting in Minecraft is a sword and Mace enchantment that increases the number of items mobs drop when killed, and increases the chance of rare drops. Each level of Looting adds +1 to the maximum number of regular drops (e.g., spider eyes from spiders, rotten flesh from zombies) and adds approximately 1% to rare drop rates (e.g., wither skeleton skulls, ghast tears, ender pearls from Endermen). The maximum level is Looting III.

Looting was added in update 1.0 and is one of the most useful enchantments for farming mob loot — XP farms, raid farms, ghast farms, and especially anything where you want rare drops. This guide covers exactly what Looting does, the math behind it, and when to choose Looting over Sharpness.

Quick Answer Table

Question	Answer
What does Looting do?	Increases mob drop quantities and rare drop chances
Max level	III
Per-level effect	+1 to max drops, ~1% to rare drop rate
Works on?	Swords and Maces (not bows, axes, etc.)
From enchanting table?	Yes
Affects block drops?	No — that's Fortune
Affects XP drops?	No — only items
Mutually exclusive with	None — stacks with Sharpness, Fire Aspect, Mending, Unbreaking, etc.

How Looting Actually Works

Looting has two effects: it boosts quantity of common drops, and it boosts rate of rare drops.

Effect 1: Common drop quantity (+1 per level)

For each level of Looting, the maximum number of items dropped increases by 1. Examples:

Spider normally drops 0–2 string. With Looting III, drops can be up to 5 string.
Zombie normally drops 0–2 rotten flesh. With Looting III, up to 5 rotten flesh.
Skeleton normally drops 0–2 arrows + 0–2 bones. Looting III boosts each maximum by 3.
Blaze normally drops 0–1 blaze rods. Looting III drops can be 0–4.

The minimum drop quantity stays the same (still possible to get 0 drops). Looting only affects the upper bound.

Effect 2: Rare drop chance (+1% per level)

For mobs that have a chance to drop something rare, Looting adds 1% per level to that base chance:

Wither Skeleton skull — base 2.5%. Looting III: 5.5%. Often called the best Looting use case.
Ender pearl from Enderman — base 50% drop quantity boost (Endermen drop 0–1 normally, Looting III max is 0–4).
Ghast tear from Ghast — base 50%, Looting III: ~80%.
Music disc from Skeleton vs Creeper — base 8.5%. Looting III improves slightly.
Trident from Drowned (Java) — base 8.5%. Looting III: 11.5%.
Diamond from Zombified Piglin Bartering — wait, that's bartering. Not affected by Looting.

The most famous Looting use case: farming wither skeleton skulls for the Wither boss fight (you need 3 skulls). Without Looting, you'd need ~120 wither skeleton kills on average for 3 skulls. With Looting III, ~55 kills on average. A huge time saver.

How to Get Looting

Method 1: Enchanting table (most common)

Looting appears as an option in the enchanting table, usually requiring 15+ levels and 3 lapis. Easy and reliable. If the enchant offered isn't Looting, swap in a different item or use an enchanting bookshelf trick (place/remove bookshelves) to refresh.

Method 2: Librarian villager trades

Librarians offer Looting enchanted books at various levels. Looting III books are typically 15–20 emeralds.

Method 3: Chest loot + fishing

Looting books occasionally appear in stronghold libraries, dungeon chests, and fishing's treasure loot.

Looting vs Sharpness: Which One?

This is a common question. The answer is both, on different swords:

Sharpness sword for general combat and PvP — kills mobs faster, deals more damage to players
Looting sword for farming sessions — gives more loot per mob killed

Looting and Sharpness can technically coexist on the same sword. There's no mutual exclusivity. But for optimal play, separate sword roles is more flexible.

Best Targets for a Looting III Sword

Build a Looting III sword for these farming targets:

Wither Skeleton — for skulls to spawn the Wither
Enderman — for ender pearls (for transport and end portal)
Ghast — for ghast tears (Regeneration potions)
Blaze — for blaze rods (potions, end portal)
Drowned — for tridents (Bedrock has lower base rate)
Spider — for spider eyes (potions, armadillo food)
Zombified Piglin — for gold nuggets (in pre-bartering eras)

Common Questions

Does Looting work on bows or crossbows?

No. Looting is sword-only (and Mace in 1.21+). For ranged weapons, there's no equivalent — bow drops use the base drop rates.

Does Looting affect block drops?

No. To increase block drops (diamonds, redstone, etc.), you need Fortune on a pickaxe.

Does Looting increase XP drops from mobs?

No. Looting only affects item drops, not XP. XP per mob is fixed.

Does Looting work on Wither Boss?

The Wither itself doesn't drop more with Looting — it always drops a Nether Star. Looting doesn't affect single-drop bosses.

Does Looting work in mob farms with traps?

Only if the player delivers the killing blow with a Looting sword. Mobs killed by fall damage, suffocation, or cactus give base drops only. Mob farm designs that funnel mobs to a 1-shot kill chamber maintain Looting benefits.

Does Looting help with the Ender Dragon?

Slightly — but it doesn't increase the Dragon Egg drop or main rewards. The Dragon's killing blow XP burst is unaffected.

Can mobs killed by my Wolf give me Looting drops?

Wolves' kills don't carry Looting. To get the bonus drops, you need to deal the killing blow yourself with the Looting sword.

Putting It All Together

The workflow for a serious mob farmer:

Get a sword (Diamond minimum, Netherite preferred).
Enchant or trade for Looting III, Sharpness V, Unbreaking III, and Mending.
Combine all on an Anvil for one elite farming sword.
Build or visit your target mob farm (wither skeleton farm, ghast farm, raid farm).
Deliver killing blows with the Looting sword.
Collect significantly more drops than you would with a plain sword.

For more enchantment guides, see our other posts: What Does Mending Do, What Does Fortune Do, What Does Silk Touch Do, and Mace-specific Density, Breach, Wind Burst.

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That's everything you need to know about Looting in Minecraft. More drops, more rare loot, faster wither summons. Happy farming!