Swift Sneak

What Swift Sneak 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 Swift Sneak works

Sneaking normally drops you to 30% of your walking speed. Each level of Swift Sneak adds 15% of walking speed while you sneak. So level III lets you sneak at 75% of walking speed, which is more than twice as fast as normal.

It changes nothing else about sneaking. You still don't fall off edges, your name tag still hides behind walls, and your steps still make no vibrations.

Why it matters in the deep dark

Sneaking is the safe way to move through an ancient city. Steps made while sneaking don't set off sculk sensors, so they don't call the warden. Without Swift Sneak that safety is painfully slow. With level III you cross the city at close to walking speed and still stay quiet.

Breaking blocks, opening chests and landing from a jump still make vibrations. So Swift Sneak helps you move, but you still need wool to cover sensors and care when you loot.

Other uses

• Building on edges and bridging out over a drop while sneaking.
• Crossing magma blocks: sneaking stops their damage, and Swift Sneak keeps you moving.
• Walking past sculk sensors in your own base without setting them off.
• PvP, where sneaking makes you a harder target to read.

Getting it on your leggings

Swift Sneak only goes on leggings, and only from a book. It is a ×4 book on the anvil, so Swift Sneak III costs 12 levels on fresh leggings. That is one of the most expensive books, so put it on first, before the prior work penalty grows.

The usual max leggings are Protection IV, Swift Sneak III, Unbreaking III and Mending, with Thorns III as an option. The best leggings enchantments and leggings enchant order pages list the cheapest steps.

Building level III from lower books

Ancient city books come in different levels. Two Swift Sneak I books make level II, and two level II books make level III. Merge books with each other first, then put the finished book on the leggings once. That keeps the leggings' prior work penalty low.

Swift Sneak by level

• Level I: sneak at 45% of walking speed.
• Level II: sneak at 60% of walking speed.
• Level III: sneak at 75% of walking speed.

Even level I is a big change, because normal sneaking is so slow. Level III makes sneaking feel almost like walking. So any book you find is worth putting on, and two books of the same level merge into the next.

The deep dark kit

Swift Sneak is one part of a safe ancient city run. Bring wool to cover sculk sensors, since wool blocks vibrations. Carry plenty of torches and food, and avoid sculk shriekers, which call the warden after a few triggers. With Swift Sneak III you can move quickly between chests while staying quiet.

Swift Sneak on the anvil

Swift Sneak is a ×4 book, so every level adds 4 to the cost. Swift Sneak III costs 12 levels on fresh leggings, more than Protection IV. That is why the leggings enchant order puts it first.

Swift Sneak and building

Builders use sneaking all the time, since it stops you from falling off the edge of a block. With Swift Sneak III, edge work on big builds goes much faster. So even if you never visit an ancient city again, the enchantment keeps paying off.

Is Swift Sneak worth the trip?

Yes, if you are comfortable in the deep dark. The ancient city also holds other treasure, so a careful run gives much more than Swift Sneak books.

Swift Sneak and Thorns

Leggings can take Thorns too, and it does not conflict with Swift Sneak. So a max pair of leggings can carry Protection IV, Swift Sneak III, Thorns III, Unbreaking III and Mending.

Common mistakes

• Thinking it makes you silent. Only steps are silent while sneaking, and that is true with or without Swift Sneak.
• Running through the city to save time. Sprinting makes vibrations, and the warden hits very hard.
• Waiting to add Swift Sneak last. Its ×4 multiplier on top of a big penalty can push the step to Too Expensive.

Which items take Swift Sneak

Swift Sneak goes on 1 kind of gear in the calculator: leggings. 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 Swift Sneak, so it fits next to every other enchantment its items can take.

Anvil cost of Swift Sneak

Swift Sneak has an anvil multiplier of 8 from another item and 4 from a book. So a Swift Sneak III book costs 12 levels on a fresh item, and each lower level costs 4 less. Two fresh Swift Sneak II books merge into Swift Sneak 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

Swift Sneak is part of the max build for 1 item: best leggings enchantments. To put it on in the cheapest order, see the leggings enchant order.

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

How to get Swift Sneak

• Ancient city chests One of the places it reliably shows up, the same as in Java.

Swift Sneak is the rarest enchantment to collect. It only comes from chests in ancient cities, deep underground in the deep dark. It is never in the enchanting table, librarians never sell it, and fishing never gives it.

Ancient cities have many chests, so a careful, quiet search of one city can turn up several books. Bring wool to block sculk sensors and avoid the shriekers.

Tips

• It only drops from ancient city chests in the deep dark, so it is one of the rarest enchantments.
• Perfect for sneaking past the warden and for building on edges.

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
• Fire Protection
• Mending
• Projectile Protection
• Protection
• Thorns
• Unbreaking