Can you put Sharpness on a spear?

How to add it

The surest way is to combine an enchanted book with the spear on an anvil: Sharpness V costs 5 levels on a fresh spear.

Plan it in the calculator

What it does on a spear

The spear shares Sharpness with the sword, and its melee hits get the same bonus per level. Sharpness V adds +6.25 damage per hit in Bedrock. It fits alongside Lunge, Looting, Fire Aspect and Knockback, so a max spear has room for all of them. It only excludes the other damage enchantments, Smite and Bane of Arthropods.

Step by step

1. First, get Sharpness V as an enchanted book. Sources: a librarian villager, an enchanting table (on a plain book), fishing, chest loot or gear worn by trial chamber mobs, trial chamber vaults.
2. Then put the spear in the left slot of an anvil and the book in the right slot.
3. Finally, pay the cost shown: 5 levels on a fresh spear, plus any prior work penalty the spear already has.
4. If the spear is getting more books, plan the order first so no step costs 40 levels or more.

Why it works

Sharpness lists spear among its supported items. That matters because Bedrock checks a built-in list of items for each enchantment.

On a spear it rules out Smite or Bane of Arthropods, so choose before you buy books.

What it costs on the anvil

First, the base price: on a fresh spear, Sharpness V costs 5 levels. Bedrock only charges for the levels a book adds, so small upgrades stay cheap. Each anvil use also raises the item's prior work penalty for the next step.

Order matters. Say your spear already has Lunge III, Fire Aspect II, Knockback II, Looting III, Unbreaking III and Mending, put on in the cheapest order. That took 3 anvil uses, so adding Sharpness last costs 12 levels: 7 for the prior work penalty plus 5 for the book. Planning everything from the start costs 46 levels in total, with no step above 13.

Plan your own version in the calculator or follow the spear enchant order. The prior work penalty calculator shows how the penalty grows.

Where Sharpness goes

• Sharpness goes on sword, axe and spear. Books on an anvil work on all of them. Related questions: Sharpness on axe, Sharpness on mace, Sharpness on trident.

Commands and creative mode

With cheats on, hold the spear and run /enchant @s sharpness 5. Bedrock's /give can't add enchantments, so /enchant is the way. The command generator writes the right syntax for your edition.

Java and Bedrock

Sharpness is stronger in Bedrock: +6.25 at level V, against +3 in Java. The anvil also differs: Bedrock only charges for the levels a book adds. This page follows Bedrock 26.60.

About Sharpness

Sharpness adds melee damage against every mob and player. In Bedrock Edition each level adds 1.25 damage, for +6.25 at Sharpness V.

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

What else a spear can take

Besides Sharpness, a spear can take Lunge, Smite, Bane of Arthropods, Fire Aspect, Knockback, Looting, Unbreaking and Mending. Of those, Smite and Bane of Arthropods conflict with Sharpness. Then the best spear enchantments page ranks them and gives the max build.

Related questions: Mending on spear, Looting on spear.

Related

• Best spear enchantments
• Sharpness
• Mending on spear
• Sharpness on axe
• Sharpness on mace
• Sharpness on trident
• Looting on spear