Protect your Goodies with Minecraft Unbreaking

You have a lovely day in Minecraft, tending to your garden, breeding some wolves or some chicken, defeating an entire raiding party on your own, et cetera, et cetera. But then it happens: Your armor or tool or weapon reaches 0 durability and is completely destroyed. The shock! The horror! How could such an injustice come to pass?

But worry not, citizens! The magic of the enchantment called Minecraft unbreaking is here to free you from this misery. Or to at least delay it for a bit, you know, because the game is balanced around reducing the usage you get out of your tools, so taking that mechanic completely away would throw the whole game out of balance. And yet, reducing the reduction of your gear’s durability we shall nonetheless!

How to get Unbreaking in Minecraft

Just like all good stories, this one starts with a book. Or, well, sometimes it does. You see, in the world of enchantments in the realms of Minecraft, unbreaking is like white bread. Nobody really dislikes having it, but it's not a lot of people's favorite either. And that is because of 2 factors. For one, Minecraft unbreaking is one of the enchantments that is compatible with any other enchantment, meaning you can slap it onto any piece of armor, weapon or tool that you want. Aside from this universal acceptance, the Minecraft unbreaking enchantment is relatively easy to find.

The easiest method to get unbreaking in Minecraft is to start enchanting your stuff at an enchantment table. Of course, this may take a while, as the enchantments you get are selected at random… But hey, nothing good comes easy, right?
The other method to find the Minecraft unbreaking enchantment is exploration. By searching for and finding different enchanted books throughout the world’s biomes, like in shipwrecks, ancient cities and trial chambers, you steadily increase the chance that a Minecraft unbreaking book will be among them. Again, it’s not guaranteed that you will have Minecraft unbreaking there but what can you do?

Finally, we should tell you that unbreaking in Minecraft comes in 3 different power levels, aptly named unbreaking I, II and III. So, if you are really, and we mean really, lucky, you can even find a Minecraft unbreaking 3 book out here, instantly giving you the maximum level of this beautiful enchantment.

What can You Enchant with Minecraft Unbreaking?

As we already mentioned, Minecraft unbreaking is one of the enchantments with the highest utility in the game. As such, it comes as no surprise that it can be applied to almost any piece of gear in your possession. And yes, we know what you’re going to ask: Yes, you can even make a fishing rod unbreaking. But to be clear, because of the mechanics behind Minecraft unbreaking, you can apply it to any tool, weapon or item that loses durability when it’s used.

How does Minecraft Unbreaking Work?

Good question. Unfortunately, answering it involves math. Like a lot of math. And a good understanding of the game’s underlying mechanics. So keep in mind that we’re going to simplify some things for the sake of accessibility. Cool? Cool.

So, the basic mechanic that Minecraft unbreaking applies to is durability. Every piece of equipment you have that interacts with something has some durability. Be it swords, armor, and yes, even fishing rods. Heck, even flint-and-steel or the legendary elytra have a durability meter. Whenever you use one of these items, they gradually lose durability. For armor, this means receiving attacks from mobs, for pickaxes, this means breaking blocks and for fishing rods, this means fishing, flying for the elytra and so on and so on. Once the durability of these objects reaches 0, they take a break and do not come to work in time at 8 o’clock in the morning anymore, greatly upsetting everyone who’s waiting for them at the staff meeting. Because they don’t work anymore. Get it?

Anyway, Minecraft unbreaking now introduces another cool concept of math: chances! To be precise, a chance not to lose durability when they should. That chance increases with the enchantment level, so that unbreaking III promises a staggering 75% chance for tools & weapons and a 30% chance for armor that any instance that would reduce durability simply doesn’t. On average, this trick increases the lifespan of any tool/weapon enchanted with Unbreaking III by 300%. Not bad for such a universal enchantment, right? For armor, it’s only 70%, but that’s still pretty impressive, at least in our eyes.

Tips for Using Minecraft Unbreaking

Of course, we understand that having all of these possibilities right below your fingertips can be quite intimidating. But there is something we absolutely need to make you understand: While Minecraft unbreaking is very much useful on gear made of simple materials like wood, iron, gold or stone, its true potential comes with high-end gear. For example, putting Minecraft unbreaking 3 on a wooden pickaxe gives you an average number of around 240 uses before durability depletes. That’s not bad, right? Especially when compared to the fixed 59 durability you get for an unenchanted wooden pickaxe, at least in Java Edition.

But here comes the real kicker: look at what happens when you give a diamond pickaxe Minecraft unbreaking 3. Durability shoots through the roof! The regular diamond pickaxe already boasts a durability of 1,561. By slapping Minecraft unbreaking 3 on this bad boy, you get an average durability of, get this: 6,248! And running the numbers for the rarest and most desirable material, netherite, is even more impressive! From the fixed 2,032 starting durability, unbreaking III increases the average durability to 8,128. Let that sink in. And we’re talking about a pickaxe that can break any ore block in the entire game without losing the materials inside. And that is exactly why Minecraft unbreaking is one of the best enchantments in Minecraft.

Is There an Unbreaking 5 Book?

Huh? What do you mean? We said it already, but Minecraft unbreaking only has 3 levels, not 5. Of course, you could use commands or cheats to artificially increase the level of your Minecraft unbreaking enchantment. What? You think you can make your gear truly unbreakable with this technique? Well, think again! The Minecraft unbreaking enchantment only reduces the chance of lowering the durability; it cannot make it 0. Even if you create an unbreaking 5 book, it would only lower the chance of losing durability to 16.67% for tools/weapons and 33.34% for armor.

But to be perfectly honest, the lower the chances to lose your gear, the better. And what better place to find out what kind of Minecraft unbreaking gear you like best than a Minecraft server from G-Portal? Here, you can frolic through the countryside, chasing mobs along the way with your (almost) unbreakable swords. So what are you waiting for? Come on in and reduce your boredom’s durability today!