Can you put Mending on a shield?

How to add it

Mending is a treasure enchantment, so the enchanting table never offers it. Instead, combine an enchanted book with the shield on an anvil: Mending costs 2 levels on a fresh shield.

Plan it in the calculator

What it does on a shield

A shield loses durability when it blocks a hit of 3 damage or more, and bigger hits cost more. Mending repairs it in either hand, so XP from a fight refills it while you block. A shield has 336 durability. Without Mending, you repair it with planks on an anvil.

Step by step

1. First, get Mending as an enchanted book. Sources: a librarian villager (10–38 emeralds for a top-level book), fishing, chest loot or trial chamber vaults.
2. Then put the shield in the left slot of an anvil and the book in the right slot.
3. Finally, pay the cost shown: 2 levels on a fresh shield, plus any prior work penalty the shield already has.
4. If the shield is getting more books, plan the order first so no step costs 40 levels or more.

Why it works

Mending lists shield among its supported items. That matters because each enchantment's data file lists the items it supports, and the anvil checks that list. The enchanting table never offers Mending on a shield, so it has to come from a book.

It conflicts with nothing else a shield can take, so it fits into any shield build.

What it costs on the anvil

First, the base price: on a fresh shield, Mending costs 2 levels. Java charges the full new level of each book, so upgrading later costs the whole level again. Each anvil use also raises the item's prior work penalty for the next step.

Order matters. Say your shield already has Unbreaking III, put on in the cheapest order. That took 1 anvil use, so adding Mending last costs 3 levels: 1 for the prior work penalty plus 2 for the book. Planning everything from the start costs 6 levels in total, with no step above 3.

Plan your own version in the calculator. The prior work penalty calculator shows how the penalty grows.

Where Mending goes

• Mending goes on helmet, chestplate, leggings, boots, elytra, sword, axe, spear, mace, trident, bow, crossbow, pickaxe, shovel, hoe, fishing rod, shears, brush, flint and steel, shield, carrot on a stick and warped fungus on a stick. The enchanting table never offers it, so every one of them needs a book. Related questions: Mending on bow, Mending on elytra, Mending on trident, Mending on spear, Mending on mace, Mending on crossbow, Mending on fishing rod, Mending on shears, Mending on pickaxe, Mending on helmet, Mending on flint and steel, Mending on brush.

Commands and creative mode

In creative or with cheats, one command does it: /give @p shield[enchantments={mending:1}]. Holding the item, /enchant @s mending 1 works too. Creative mode also ignores the anvil's 40-level limit. 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: Java charges the full new level of every book. This page follows Java 26.3.

About Mending

Mending repairs an item with experience orbs. When you pick up experience while holding or wearing a Mending item, the XP goes into repairing it first, at 2 durability per XP point.

Mending has a max level of I. If you need a book, you can get it from librarian villagers, trial chamber vaults and enchanted loot from fishing and chests. A librarian sells a Mending book for 10 to 38 emeralds. Before you buy, read everything about Mending, including what each level does.

What else a shield can take

Besides Mending, a shield can take Unbreaking. Then the best shield enchantments page ranks them and gives the max build.

Related questions: Protection on shield.

Related

• Best shield enchantments
• Mending
• Mending on bow
• Mending on elytra
• Mending on trident
• Mending on spear
• Mending on mace
• Mending on crossbow
• Mending on fishing rod
• Mending on shears
• Mending on pickaxe
• Mending on helmet