What Does Mending Do in Minecraft? (Best Enchantment Explained)

Short answer: Mending in Minecraft is an enchantment that repairs your gear using XP orbs you collect. Whenever you pick up an XP orb while a Mending-enchanted item is in your hotbar, off-hand, or armor slots, the XP is converted into durability repair on that item instead of going into your XP bar. The conversion rate is 1 XP point = 2 durability repaired. Mending is widely considered the single most valuable enchantment in the game because it makes your best tools, weapons, and armor effectively permanent.

Mending was added in update 1.9 and is available on almost every enchantable item — swords, pickaxes, axes, shovels, hoes, bows, crossbows, tridents, fishing rods, all armor pieces, the Mace, elytra, and shears. This guide covers exactly how Mending works, where to get it, and the best ways to keep your gear repaired forever.

Quick Answer Table

Question	Answer
What does Mending do?	Repairs items using collected XP (1 XP = 2 durability)
Max level	I (just one level — no Mending II)
Items must be where?	Hotbar, off-hand, or armor slots — not deep inventory
From enchanting table?	No — books only, no direct table enchant
Main sources	Librarian villager trades, fishing, chest loot
Mutually exclusive with	Infinity (on bows only)
Works on?	Almost every enchantable item
Stacks with Unbreaking?	Yes — recommended to use both together

How Mending Actually Works

The mechanic is simple but specific. When you collect an XP orb (from killing mobs, smelting, mining ores, breeding, etc.), the game checks:

1. Is any item in your hotbar, off-hand, or armor slots enchanted with Mending AND damaged?
2. If yes — choose one such item at random.
3. The XP orb's value is converted to durability repair on that item (1 XP = 2 durability).
4. If the repair fully heals the item with leftover XP, the leftover goes into your XP bar.
5. If no damaged Mending items are equipped, the XP goes into your XP bar normally.

The crucial part: only ONE item gets repaired per XP orb, chosen randomly among eligible items. If you have 5 damaged Mending items equipped, each XP orb has a 1/5 chance to repair each one. To repair a specific item fastest, equip only that item (and unequip other Mending items temporarily).

Where to Get Mending

Method 1: Librarian villager trades (most reliable)

Librarians have a chance to offer Mending enchanted books at their "Master" level (5 books traded). The price is typically 20–30 emeralds for one Mending book.

1. Build a lectern next to an unemployed villager. They become a librarian.
2. Trade with them. If they offer Mending at master level, you're done.
3. If they don't offer Mending, break the lectern and rebuild it — their trade pool resets, and you have another chance.
4. Repeat until you get a Mending offer.

This is the most reliable way to get unlimited Mending books — once you have a Mending librarian, trade them for as many books as you need.

Method 2: Fishing

Mending books appear in fishing's "treasure" loot table at roughly a 0.8% chance per catch. With Luck of the Sea III, this increases to about 1.9%. Painfully slow but no villager required.

Method 3: Chest loot

Mending books occasionally appear in: Jungle Temple chests, Dungeon chests, Stronghold library chests, Ancient City chests, Trail Ruin chests. Random rare drop.

Method 4: Trial Chamber Vaults (1.21+)

Ominous Vaults in Trial Chambers can drop Mending books at modest rates. If you're already farming Trial Chambers for a Mace, this is a side benefit.

You cannot get Mending from an enchanting table directly — there's no level/lapis combination that produces it.

How to Apply Mending to Your Gear

1. Open an Anvil.
2. Place the item in slot 1.
3. Place the Mending book in slot 2.
4. Pay the XP cost (5–10 levels per item, depending on existing enchantments).
5. Take the now-Mending item from the output.

Combine Mending with Unbreaking III on the same item for maximum durability — Unbreaking slows the rate of damage, Mending repairs whatever damage gets through. Together they make items effectively permanent if you keep collecting XP.

Best Mending Repair Sources

To efficiently keep your Mending gear repaired, set up a steady XP source:

• Furnace XP — when you remove smelted items from a furnace, XP orbs spawn. Each item: 0.1–1.0 XP. A super smelter is a constant slow drip of repair.
• Mob farm — XP from killed mobs. Best for armor + sword Mending.
• Bottle o' Enchanting — throw these to release XP orbs. Great for emergencies.
• Mining — each ore drops XP when mined.
• Breeding animals — every successful breed gives 1–7 XP.
• Fishing — small XP per catch, plus you might fish up another Mending book.

Common Questions

Is Mending compatible with Infinity?

No. On bows, Mending and Infinity are mutually exclusive. Most players choose Mending — infinite arrows are nice but a Mending bow + 64 arrows lasts effectively forever. Crossbows don't have Infinity, so this isn't an issue there.

Can items lose Mending?

No, the enchantment stays on the item forever (until the item itself breaks, which Mending prevents anyway).

Does Mending work in the off-hand?

Yes. Items in your off-hand, hotbar, and armor slots are all eligible for the XP-to-durability conversion.

What if my XP bar is empty?

Mending uses XP orbs as they're picked up — it doesn't drain your existing XP level. You can be at level 0 and still be repairing items, as long as new orbs are being collected.

Can I get Mending in Bedrock Edition?

Yes. Mending works identically in Java and Bedrock as of 1.21.

Why is Mending so highly valued?

Without Mending, your best gear eventually breaks — even Unbreaking III + Netherite armor. With Mending, every XP orb you collect is repair fuel. Once you have a Mending librarian, you never lose another tool.

Should I prioritize Mending or Unbreaking?

Both — use them together. They stack perfectly. Unbreaking III reduces damage taken by the item by ~75%; Mending repairs whatever damage gets through.

Putting It All Together

The workflow for permanent gear:

1. Build a librarian breeder or set up multiple lecterns in a village.
2. Cycle librarian trades until one offers Mending. Lock them in (place an emerald block nearby and rename them).
3. Trade for as many Mending books as needed (one per gear piece).
4. Apply Mending + Unbreaking III to your main pickaxe, sword, bow, armor set, and any other heavily-used gear.
5. Set up an XP source — mob farm or furnace XP farm — and grind XP near your Mending gear.
6. Your gear is now effectively immortal.

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

If you're building a circular XP farm or an enchanting room, our Minecraft circle generator can blueprint the layout. And if you want your Mending gear safe on a long-running multiplayer server, see our best Minecraft server hosting comparison.

That's everything you need to know about Mending in Minecraft. Pick up XP, repair gear, never lose a Netherite pickaxe again. Happy enchanting!