Anvil Planner

The cheapest order to put your enchanted books on, so you never see “Too Expensive!”

1 · Your item

Weapons

Tools

Armor

2 · Enchantments

Times this item has been on an anvil

0 for a new item. Every earlier use makes the next one dearer.

3 · Your plan

49levels in total

Most at once: 14 levels
Books: 7
Anvil uses: 7

Step 1Combine two books
- Looting III
- Unbreaking III
- Looting III
- Unbreaking III
Enchantment Cost: 3
Step 2Combine two books
- Sharpness V
- Mending
- Sharpness V
- Mending
Enchantment Cost: 2
Step 3Combine two books
- Fire Aspect II
- Knockback II
- Fire Aspect II
- Knockback II
Enchantment Cost: 2
Step 4Put on your sword
- Sword
- Sweeping Edge III
- Sweeping Edge III
Enchantment Cost: 6
Step 5Put on your sword
- Sweeping Edge III
- Looting III
- Unbreaking III
- Sweeping Edge III
- Looting III
- Unbreaking III
Enchantment Cost: 11
Step 6Put on your sword
- Sweeping Edge III
- Looting III
- Unbreaking III
- Sharpness V
- Mending
- Sweeping Edge III
- Looting III
- Unbreaking III
- Sharpness V
- Mending
Enchantment Cost: 11
Step 7Put on your sword
- Sweeping Edge III
- Looting III
- Unbreaking III
- Sharpness V
- Mending
- Fire Aspect II
- Knockback II
- Sweeping Edge III
- Looting III
- Unbreaking III
- Sharpness V
- Mending
- Fire Aspect II
- Knockback II
Enchantment Cost: 14

Put the left item in the anvil's first slot and the right one in the second. Costs are Minecraft Java 26.2's, and each book should hold only the one enchantment shown. Renaming adds a level — do it on the last step if you want to.

Why the order matters

Every time something goes through an anvil it picks up a penalty that doubles with each use — 1, 3, 7, 15, 31 levels — and both items' penalties are added to the next price. Put books on one at a time and the item's penalty climbs until the anvil refuses. Merging books into pairs first keeps every piece young, which is why the plan often combines books before touching your item.

What it does

Finds the cheapest order out of every possible one, not a rule of thumb

Every step shown as the anvil screen you'll see, with the exact level cost

Never plans a step of 40 levels or more, so you never hit “Too Expensive!”

Swords, axes, maces, spears, tridents, bows, crossbows, tools, armor and elytra

Handles items that have already been on an anvil

Costs read straight from Minecraft Java Edition's own enchantment data

Questions

Why does the order I combine books in matter?

Every anvil use gives the result a penalty that doubles each time — 1, 3, 7, 15, 31 levels — and the penalties of both things you put in are added to the price. Adding books to an item one by one makes that item's penalty climb fast. Merging books together first, in pairs, keeps every piece's penalty low, which is how the planner keeps the total down and every single step under 40 levels.

What does “Too Expensive!” mean?

In Survival the anvil refuses any combination that would cost 40 levels or more. It is almost always the penalty from earlier anvil uses that gets you there, which is why a good order matters so much. The planner never includes a step that would be refused, and tells you when no order can work.

Are these the real costs?

Yes. Each step is priced the way Minecraft Java Edition prices it: the penalty of both items, plus each enchantment's anvil cost times its level — halved when it comes from a book — using the anvil costs in the game's own enchantment data. The numbers match what the anvil screen shows.

Does this work for Bedrock Edition?

It is built on Java Edition's anvil. Bedrock prices some enchantments differently, so its totals can come out a little different.

Why can't I choose both Fortune and Silk Touch?

Some enchantments can never share an item — Fortune and Silk Touch, the four kinds of Protection, Sharpness with Smite and Bane of Arthropods, Infinity and Mending, Depth Strider and Frost Walker, Riptide with Loyalty or Channeling. Choosing one of them swaps out the other.

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