Minecraft Mending: How to Obtain the Mending Enchantment

Mending is the most coveted enchantment in Minecraft. It allows you to automatically repair an item by consuming the experience orbs you collect: each XP point restores 2 durability points. With Mending, your tools, weapons, and armor pieces become virtually indestructible as long as you gain experience. It's an essential enchantment for any player who wants to keep their enchanted gear without replacing it.

Problem: Mending in Minecraft is a "treasure" enchantment, meaning it cannot be obtained via an enchantment table. You must use other methods. Here are the three main ones, from the most reliable to the most random.

What is Mending?

The Mending enchantment works simply. When an item enchanted with Mending is equipped (main hand, off-hand, or armor slot), the XP orbs you collect are first used to repair that item instead of fueling your experience bar. The repair rate is 2 durability points per XP point.

If multiple items with Mending are equipped simultaneously, the game randomly chooses one for each orb collected. Items already at maximum durability are ignored in the selection. The remaining XP after repair is normally added to your experience bar.

Two important things to remember. First, Mending is incompatible with the Infinity enchantment on bows: you must choose one or the other. Second, Mending in Minecraft only exists at level I (there is no Mending II or III).

Method 1: Librarian Villager (the most reliable)

This is the recommended and by far the most effective method to obtain a Mending book in Minecraft. A librarian villager can offer any enchanted book in the game in their trade offers, including Mending. The goal is to force this offer to appear using the trade reset technique.

Prepare the Librarian

To transform an unemployed villager into a librarian, place a lectern nearby. The villager must have access to the lectern (no block between them and the workstation) and must not already be linked to another job block. Once converted, they immediately offer their Novice level trades. For a complete guide on villager mechanics and their professions, check out our Minecraft Villager Guide.

Trade Reset

If the librarian does not offer Mending in the first trade, simply break the lectern and replace it. The villager loses their profession and then regains it with new offers generated randomly. You can repeat this operation as many times as necessary, without any resource cost.

Essential condition: the reset only works if you have never traded with this villager. Once you make a first trade, their offers are permanently locked. Always check the offers before trading.

In practice, it takes an average of twenty attempts to obtain Mending, but it can vary from 2 to 50 tries depending on luck. The process generally takes between 5 and 15 minutes. Once the book is obtained, the base price is about 5 to 64 emeralds depending on the librarian's level and any discounts (zombification/cure, Hero of the Village effect).

Multiplayer tip: on a server, you can set up multiple lecterns in a trading hall to prepare several librarians each selling Mending. This allows all players to equip themselves quickly. For a stable and high-performance server, check out our Minecraft hosting offers with an intuitive management panel.

Method 2: Structure Chests

The Mending enchanted book can naturally appear in chests of certain generated structures. The structures concerned are: strongholds, jungle temples, ancient cities (deep dark), End cities, dungeons, abandoned mines, bastion remnants, and woodland mansions.

The chances of finding a Mending book in a given chest remain low (the game randomly chooses from all possible enchantments). This method is therefore not reliable for specifically targeting Mending. It is mainly useful at the beginning of the game, before having access to a village and a librarian, or as a bonus during exploration.

Method 3: Fishing

Fishing with a rod enchanted with Luck of the Sea III allows you to obtain enchanted books as "treasure." Mending is one of the possible enchantments, but the probability is very low: you must first obtain a treasure (about 5% of catches with Luck of the Sea III), then that treasure must be an enchanted book, and then the enchantment must be Mending among all the enchantments in the game.

In practice, it takes several hours of AFK fishing to hope to obtain a single book. This method was popular before the changes in version 1.16 that reduced the effectiveness of AFK fishing by requiring the line to be exposed to the sky and a minimum water area of 5×5. Today, the librarian remains largely preferable.

On Which Items to Apply Mending

Mending can be applied to any item with durability. But some items benefit much more than others. Here are the recommended priorities:

The most important items to enchant first are the netherite (or diamond) pickaxe, as it is the most used tool and the most expensive to replace, then the elytra, which cannot be crafted and is only obtainable in End cities (Mending is the only way to keep it indefinitely). Check out our dedicated guide to learn all about the elytra and its enchantments.

Next are the sword or combat axe, then the four pieces of armor. To optimize repair, always combine Mending with Unbreaking III: this enchantment reduces durability consumption per use (averaged by 4 for tools), meaning each XP orb "lasts" four times longer. The combination of Mending + Unbreaking III turns any item into virtually eternal equipment.

Mending FAQ

Does Mending work in the inventory?

No. The item must be in your main hand, off-hand, or an armor slot. An item with Mending placed in your inventory will not be repaired by collected XP.

Can you put Mending and Infinity on the same bow?

No, these two enchantments are mutually exclusive. You must choose: either a bow that does not consume arrows (Infinity) or a bow that repairs with XP (Mending). Most players prefer Mending because arrows are easy to mass-produce while a perfectly enchanted bow is costly to replace.

How to get Mending in Minecraft quickly?

The fastest method is the librarian reset. Place a lectern, check the offers, break and replace the lectern if Mending does not appear. On average, 10 to 15 minutes are enough. No other method is as fast or as reliable.

Is Mending useful in multiplayer?

Absolutely. On a multiplayer server, equipment is even more valuable because the risks of loss (PvP, raids, collective exploration) are higher. Setting up a trading hall with librarians selling Mending is one of the first infrastructures to establish on a survival server.

Does Mending repair the item held in hand as a priority?

No. Since version 1.16, the game randomly selects an item among all equipped ones with Mending that are not at maximum durability. There is no slot priority. That's why it's advised to remove already repaired armor pieces when you want to focus all XP on a specific tool.