Can you put Fortune and Silk Touch on a pickaxe?

Why not

Fortune and Silk Touch can each go on a pickaxe, just not together. Here is what a pickaxe can take instead: Curse of Vanishing, Fortune, Silk Touch, Efficiency, Unbreaking, Mending.

What that means in practice

Fortune and Silk Touch change a block's drop in opposite ways. Fortune multiplies the normal drop, while Silk Touch drops the block itself. That is why the game lets a pickaxe hold one of them. Both work with Efficiency, Unbreaking and Mending.

Which one to pick

Fortune for more ores, Silk Touch for collecting blocks themselves. Most players keep one pickaxe of each.

• Diamond and lapis mining. Fortune III. It averages 2.2 diamonds per ore and multiplies lapis, coal, emerald and quartz too.
• Branch mining far from home. Silk Touch if your inventory fills fast. Ore blocks stack to 64, then you break them with Fortune back at base.
• Building blocks. Silk Touch. Glass, ice, packed ice, blue ice, grass blocks, mycelium and bookshelves only drop themselves with it.

The Fortune vs Silk Touch comparison goes through every situation, with the numbers for both.

Why the game says no

Both enchantments can go on a pickaxe on their own. Each one lists the other as incompatible, though, and that is enough to block the pair. So the anvil skips the second one and never puts both on the item. Also, the enchanting table never offers both in one roll.

Bedrock keeps these rules in its own built-in lists. The full list of clashes is on the incompatible enchantments page.

The max build with each

With Fortune, a max pickaxe has Fortune III, Efficiency V, Unbreaking III and Mending. In the cheapest order it costs 23 levels over 4 anvil steps, and no step goes above 8. Open it in the calculator.

With Silk Touch, a max pickaxe has Silk Touch, Efficiency V, Unbreaking III and Mending. In the cheapest order it costs 21 levels over 4 anvil steps, and no step goes above 7. Open it in the calculator.

The best pickaxe enchantments page explains every book, and the pickaxe enchant order shows each anvil step.

Where Fortune and Silk Touch go

• Fortune goes on axe, pickaxe, shovel and hoe. The enchanting table can offer it on all of them.
• Silk Touch goes on axe, pickaxe, shovel, hoe and shears. The enchanting table offers it on the axe, pickaxe, shovel and hoe, while the shears need a book. Related questions: Silk Touch on shears.

Commands and creative mode

The /enchant command refuses the second enchantment, because the pair is incompatible. Bedrock's /give can't add enchantments either, so there is no command shortcut. The command generator writes the right syntax for your edition.

Java and Bedrock

As far as the item list goes, the answer is also the same in Java and Bedrock. The anvil differs, though: Bedrock only charges for the levels a book adds. This page follows Bedrock 26.60.

About Fortune

Fortune gives extra drops from ores, crops and some other blocks. On ores like diamond, Fortune III averages about 2.2 drops per block.

Fortune has a max level of III. If you need a book, you can get it from the enchanting table, librarian villagers, trial chamber vaults and enchanted loot from fishing and chests. Before you buy, read everything about Fortune, including what each level does.

About Silk Touch

Silk Touch makes blocks drop themselves instead of their usual drop: ores, glass, ice, grass blocks, bookshelves and more. Blocks mined this way give no experience.

Silk Touch has a max level of I. If you need a book, you can get it from the enchanting table, librarian villagers, trial chamber vaults and enchanted loot from fishing and chests. Before you buy, read everything about Silk Touch, including what each level does.

What else a pickaxe can take

Besides Fortune and Silk Touch, a pickaxe can take Efficiency, Unbreaking and Mending. Then the best pickaxe enchantments page ranks them and gives the max build.

Related questions: Mending on pickaxe.

Related

• Best pickaxe enchantments
• Fortune
• Silk Touch
• Mending on pickaxe
• Silk Touch on shears