Mending in Minecraft comes down to three reliable methods: trading with a librarian villager, opening loot chests in certain structures, or fishing. Mending is one of the rarest and most useful enchantments in the game, since it lets your gear repair itself using XP. This guide covers every way to get it.
- Mending is a treasure enchantment and cannot come from an enchanting table.
- The most reliable source is trading with a librarian villager.
- You can also find Mending books in loot chests or while fishing.
- Mending repairs gear using XP orbs, at a rate of 2 durability per XP point.
- Mending cannot be used together with Infinity on the same item.
What Is The Mending Enchantment In Minecraft?
Mending is an enchantment that repairs the durability of your gear automatically. Whenever you collect an experience orb, that XP is used to fix an item with Mending instead of going straight to your XP bar. Each point of XP repairs two points of durability.
Mending works on any item that has durability, including swords, pickaxes, bows, armor, tridents, and shields. As long as the item is in your hand, off-hand, or armor slot, it can be repaired.
Why Mending Is So Important
Without Mending, every tool and weapon eventually breaks no matter how strong it is. Repairing items at an anvil works, but it gets more expensive each time due to the “too expensive” penalty. Mending fixes this problem permanently. As long as you keep gaining XP, your enchanted gear never has to be replaced.
How To Get Mending From A Librarian Villager
Trading with a librarian villager is the most reliable way to get Mending in Minecraft. Here is how to do it step by step.
Step 1: Find Or Create A Librarian
Any unemployed villager can become a librarian if you place a lectern near them. Make sure no other job block is closer and that the villager has a clear path to reach the lectern.
Step 2: Check The Trades
Once the villager becomes a librarian, open their trade menu. At Novice level, they offer basic trades along with a chance for an enchanted book.
Step 3: Reroll If Needed
If the librarian does not offer Mending, break the lectern and place it again. This resets their trades. Repeat this process until Mending appears in their list.
Step 4: Buy The Mending Book
Once Mending shows up, trade emeralds for the enchanted book. Do not trade with the villager before this, since trading locks in their job and removes the reroll option.
If you are on Bedrock Edition with the Villager Trade Rebalance experiment turned on, a Master-level swamp librarian offers Mending as a guaranteed trade, which makes this method even easier.
How To Get Mending From Loot Chests
Mending enchanted books can spawn naturally in chests across several structures. These include:
- Strongholds
- Ancient cities
- Jungle pyramids
- Desert pyramids
- Mineshafts
- Bastion remnants
- End cities
- Trial chambers
- Woodland mansions
- Vaults
Strongholds and ancient cities tend to have the best odds among these locations. This method is random, so it works best as a bonus while exploring rather than your main strategy.
How To Get Mending From Fishing
Fishing gives you a small chance of catching an enchanted book, including Mending. The base chance is low, around 0.8 percent per catch. You can improve your odds by adding the Luck of the Sea enchantment to your fishing rod. Fishing during a thunderstorm also increases your overall catch rate, which gives you more chances over time.
How To Use Mending Once You Have It
Once you have a Mending book, place it on an item using an anvil.
- Put the item you want to enchant in the first slot.
- Put the Mending book in the second slot.
- Press the plus symbol to combine them.
- Collect the newly enchanted item from the output slot.
From this point on, any XP you collect while that item is equipped or in hand will repair its durability.
Mending Vs Infinity: Why You Can’t Use Both
Mending and Infinity cannot be applied to the same item in survival mode. Infinity gives unlimited arrows on a bow, while Mending repairs durability using XP. Since both enchantments solve different problems on a bow, you have to choose one based on your playstyle. Most players pick Infinity for bows and save Mending for other gear like swords, pickaxes, and armor.
Tips To Get Mending Faster
- Set up multiple lecterns near villagers so you have several librarians to check at once.
- Build a small XP farm so you always have orbs ready to repair Mending gear.
- Prioritize giving Mending to your most-used tools, like your main pickaxe or sword.
- Explore structures like ancient cities and strongholds anyway, since the loot there is valuable even without Mending.
Wrapping Up
Getting Mending in Minecraft takes a bit of effort, but trading with a librarian villager is by far the fastest and most reliable method. Loot chests and fishing can work too, but they rely more on luck. Once you have Mending on your favorite gear, you will never have to worry about durability again.
For more useful guides, check out the official Minecraft website or download the game on Google Play and Xbox.
