Repair & Name
The order in words
Get all 4 books ready before you start, and keep at least 9 levels on hand. Then follow these steps on an anvil:
- Step 1: Put the fishing rod in the left slot and the Lure III book in the right. Neither side has been on an anvil yet, so you only pay for the enchantments: 6 levels.
- Step 2: Merge the Unbreaking III book with the Mending book, the first one on the left. Neither side has been on an anvil yet, so you only pay for the enchantments: 2 levels.
- Step 3: Put the fishing rod (now with Lure III) in the left slot and the Unbreaking III + Mending book in the right. You pay 5 levels for the enchantments plus 2 for prior work, so 7 in total.
- Step 4: Put the fishing rod (now with Lure III + Unbreaking III + Mending) in the left slot and the Luck of the Sea III book in the right. You pay 6 levels for the enchantments plus 3 for prior work, so 9 in total. That finishes the fishing rod.
Why this order is the cheapest
Each repair or enchantment combination increases prior work. Rename-only operations do not. So the order keeps the penalties low by merging books with each other in pairs. With 4 books, the fishing rod needs at least 3 rounds on the anvil, and this order uses exactly that many.
The first step puts Lure III straight on the fishing rod for 6 levels. It is the dearest book in the build, so it goes on while the item has no penalty at all. The expensive books, Luck of the Sea III and Lure III, cost 6 and 6 levels on their own, so the order adds them while their penalty is still low. Cheap books like Mending can ride along later, when the penalty has grown.
Lure III goes on the bare rod first, Unbreaking and Mending join as one book, and Luck of the Sea III goes on alone at the end. Both fishing books cost 6 levels on a fresh rod, so one of them has to take the step with the higher penalty.
Still fishing for your Mending book? Put Lure and Luck of the Sea on first. The extra cost of adding Mending later is small, as shown below.
Levels and experience
The full order costs 24 levels. If you do each step as soon as you have its levels, you spend about 314 experience points. Saving up to level 24 first would take 828 points, because each level costs more XP the higher you climb. So enchant in small batches and keep your levels low. The XP calculator converts any level into points.
After the last step the fishing rod has been on the anvil 3 times. Its prior work penalty is now 7, so a later repair or rename starts at that cost. Check a single step with the prior work penalty calculator.
If you skip a book
You don't need every book on day one. Leaving out Luck of the Sea III saves the most: the rest costs 15 levels instead of 24.
No Mending yet? Enchant the rest now for 19 levels, then add Mending later for 9 more. That is 28 levels in all, against 24 if you wait and do it in one go. The extra cost is small, so using the item early is usually worth it.
| Book left out | Total for the rest | Levels saved |
|---|---|---|
| Luck of the Sea III | 15 | 9 |
| Lure III | 15 | 9 |
| Unbreaking III | 18 | 6 |
| Mending | 19 | 5 |
If your fishing rod was on an anvil before
A used fishing rod costs more, because the anvil adds its prior work penalty to every step it is in:
| Earlier anvil uses | Cheapest total | Survival? |
|---|---|---|
| None (fresh) | 24 levels | Yes |
| 1 | 28 levels | Yes |
| 2 | 34 levels | Yes |
| 3 | 42 levels | Yes |
Many players start from a fishing rod that already has Unbreaking III from the enchanting table. In that case the other 3 books cost 18 levels in 3 steps, because a table enchant adds no prior work penalty.
Enter your own item's enchantments and uses in the calculator.
Java and Bedrock costs
Bedrock charges only the levels an enchantment gains. So if your fishing rod already has Lure II, adding a Lure III book costs 2 levels here. Java charges the full resulting level, so the same step costs 6 there. Merging two Lure II books into one III costs 2 in Bedrock and 6 in Java.
For a fresh fishing rod with one book per enchantment, no enchantment gains a level twice, so both rules give the same step costs. Bedrock also charges nothing for a clashing enchantment on a book, while Java adds 1 level for each.
The books in this order
Luck of the Sea III, Lure III, Unbreaking III, Mending. Not sure which books to get? The best fishing rod enchantments page explains each one and where to find it. If the anvil refuses a step, read Too Expensive! for the fixes. The anvil guide covers repairs and renaming.
Questions
What is the best enchant order for a fishing rod?
1. fishing rod + book (Lure III): 6 levels; 2. book (Unbreaking III) + book (Mending): 2 levels; 3. fishing rod + book (Unbreaking III + Mending): 7 levels; 4. fishing rod + book (Luck of the Sea III): 9 levels. Total: 24 levels.
Why is my fishing rod too expensive?
Each anvil use raises the item's prior work penalty (0, 1, 3, 7, 15, 31…). A fishing rod that has already gone through the anvil several times, for combining or repairs, reaches the 40-level limit quickly. Combine the books with each other first, then put the finished book on the fishing rod in as few steps as possible.
Do I need all the books at the same level?
Use books at the final level you want. Two books of the same level merge into the next level (two Sharpness IV make Sharpness V), but that costs an extra anvil step.
How many levels do I need for a max fishing rod?
24 levels in total, spread over 4 steps. The dearest step costs 9, so you never need more than 9 levels at once.
Can I add Mending to my fishing rod later?
Yes. Enchant the rest first for 19 levels, then add Mending for 9 more. That is 28 levels in all, against 24 if you wait and do everything at once.
Lure or Luck of the Sea first?
Either works, because both books cost the same. The cheapest order puts Lure on first and Luck of the Sea last.