V 1.0.0 IS HERE
YOUR ANVIL CALCULATOR
In which order do the books go onto the sword so it costs the fewest levels – and never hits “Too Expensive!”? The Anvil Calculator tries every order with the rules from the Minecraft code and shows you each step.
BEST ORDER
NEVER TOO EXPENSIVE
43 ENCHANTMENTS
STEP BY STEP
What should it be?
Item
Leave it at 0 for new items. Every anvil use (renaming too) makes the next step more expensive.
Enchantments
Pick the enchantments that should be on it in the end – each as its own book.
Best order
How the anvil works it out
- Enchantments: each costs its anvil cost × level – from a book only half (at least 1). Sharpness V from a book costs 5 levels that way, Mending 2.
- Prior work penalty: every item and book remembers how often it was in an anvil. The penalty is 0, 1, 3, 7, 15, 31 … levels – both sides count.
- “Too Expensive!”: from 40 levels the anvil refuses in survival. That is why combining books with each other first beats putting everything onto the item one by one.
- Incompatible enchantments (e.g. Sharpness and Smite) cost 1 extra level each and are not carried over.
The rules come from AnvilMenu.createResult in Minecraft 26.3, the anvil costs from the game’s enchantment files.
Rather by command?
Give the finished item directly
Format for 1.21.5 and newer (incl. 26.x). Custom names, lore and levels up to 255 are in the Item Generator.