Soul Speed

What Soul Speed does

Book cost is the anvil cost of putting that book on a fresh item. However, already-used items add their prior work penalty: work it out in the calculator.

How Soul Speed works

Soul sand normally slows you down, while soul soil walks like normal ground. Soul Speed removes the soul sand slowdown and adds a speed bonus on both blocks. So instead of crawling through a soul sand valley, you run across it faster than on normal ground.

While the bonus is active you leave a trail of soul particles, and the boots slowly lose durability. Off soul blocks, the boots take no extra wear and give no bonus.

Where it helps

• Soul sand valleys, which are full of soul sand, soul soil, skeletons and ghasts.
• Nether fortresses, which often stand on or near soul sand.
• Your own roads: soul soil is easy to collect, so you can pave a fast path through your Nether base.
• Escaping ghasts and skeletons in the open, where speed matters more than armor.

Bartering with piglins

Piglins give Soul Speed in two forms: as an enchanted book and on a pair of iron boots. Throw or hand them gold ingots, and each ingot gives one random barter. Wear at least one piece of gold armor so the piglins stay calm.

A gold farm makes this easy. Since every barter costs one gold ingot, a stack of ingots usually turns up at least one Soul Speed item.

Moving Soul Speed to better boots

An anvil only merges two items of the same kind, or an item with a book. So Soul Speed iron boots can't pass the enchantment to diamond or netherite boots. Use a Soul Speed book for your main boots, or merge two pairs of Soul Speed iron boots to raise the level.

In a build

Soul Speed has no conflicts. It goes on the max boots next to Protection IV, Feather Falling IV, Depth Strider III or Frost Walker II, Unbreaking III and Mending. The book is ×4 per level on the anvil, so Soul Speed III costs 12 levels on fresh boots. Add it early in the boots enchant order.

Soul Speed by level

Each level adds more speed on soul blocks. Level I already removes the slowdown and adds a bonus, so even one level makes soul sand valleys easy to cross. Level III is the fastest. Since piglins give random levels, merge two books of the same level to climb toward III.

Build roads from soul soil

Soul soil works with Soul Speed just like soul sand, but it does not slow down anyone. So a soul soil road is fast for you and normal for everyone else. Collect it in soul sand valleys with a shovel and pave your main Nether paths with it. Soul torches and soul lanterns fit the look.

Is Soul Speed worth it?

If you spend time in soul sand valleys or build Nether roads from soul soil, yes. If you mostly travel through the Nether roof or on ice roads, it does little. It is still part of the max boots build, so most players add it once they have a book.

Soul Speed and bastion chests

Bastion remnants hold several chests, and any of them can hold Soul Speed books or gear. Bastions are full of piglin brutes, though, which attack even if you wear gold. Bring full armor, food and blocks to wall them off.

Soul Speed on the anvil

Soul Speed III and Thorns III each cost 12 levels from a fresh book. Follow the calculated order for your complete boots build instead of choosing the first book by multiplier alone.

Soul Speed and piglin brutes

Brutes guard bastion treasure rooms and attack even if you wear gold. Soul Speed helps you get away across soul blocks, but bastions are mostly blackstone. So bring armor and food, not just speed.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting the gold armor before bartering. Piglins attack players without it.
• Wearing Soul Speed boots without Mending. The extra wear on soul blocks adds up on long trips.
• Expecting it to work on normal netherrack. It only helps on soul sand and soul soil.

Which items take Soul Speed

Soul Speed goes on 1 kind of gear in the calculator: boots. It is a treasure enchantment, so on every item it comes from an enchanted book and an anvil, never from the enchanting table.

Nothing conflicts with Soul Speed, so it fits next to every other enchantment its items can take.

Anvil cost of Soul Speed

Soul Speed has an anvil multiplier of 8 from another item and 4 from a book. So a Soul Speed III book costs 12 levels on a fresh item, and each lower level costs 4 less. Two fresh Soul Speed II books merge into Soul Speed III for 4 levels. Building it from scratch takes 4 level I books and 3 merges, 14 levels in all. That is one of the most expensive books. So put it on early, while the prior work penalty is still low.

Bedrock only charges for the levels a book adds. So upgrading a lower level costs only the difference. Every step also adds the prior work penalty of both items. The enchantment calculator finds the cheapest order for your whole set of books.

Builds, questions and guides

Soul Speed is part of the max build for 1 item: best boots enchantments. To put it on in the cheapest order, see the boots enchant order.

More reading: All treasure enchantments, Every max enchantment level. You can make a Soul Speed book with the command generator.

How to get Soul Speed

• Bastion remnant chests One of the places it reliably shows up, the same as in Java.
• Piglin bartering Piglins can give it in exchange for gold ingots, as in Java.

Soul Speed is the only enchantment you get almost entirely from piglins. It is never in the enchanting table, librarians never sell it, and fishing never gives it. The two sources are piglin bartering and the chests in bastion remnants.

Bartering is the reliable route, because you can repeat it as often as you have gold. Bastion chests are a bonus on the way.

Tips

• Only piglins give it: barter gold with them or loot bastion remnant chests. Villagers never sell it.
• Mending keeps the durability drain in check.

Commands

Hold the item and run this command in Bedrock 26.60 with cheats on. Bedrock's /enchant only goes up to the max level. Its /give command can't add enchantments.

Goes well with

• Blast Protection
• Curse of Binding
• Curse of Vanishing
• Depth Strider
• Feather Falling
• Fire Protection
• Frost Walker
• Mending
• Projectile Protection
• Protection
• Thorns
• Unbreaking