Repair & Name
The order in words
Get all 4 books ready before you start, and keep at least 6 levels on hand. Then follow these steps on an anvil:
- Step 1: Put the crossbow in the left slot and the Unbreaking III book in the right. Neither side has been on an anvil yet, so you only pay for the enchantments: 3 levels.
- Step 2: Merge the Mending book with the Multishot 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 crossbow (now with Unbreaking III) in the left slot and the Multishot + Mending book in the right. You pay 4 levels for the enchantments plus 2 for prior work, so 6 in total.
- Step 4: Put the crossbow (now with Multishot + Unbreaking III + Mending) in the left slot and the Quick Charge III book in the right. You pay 3 levels for the enchantments plus 3 for prior work, so 6 in total. That finishes the crossbow.
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 crossbow needs at least 3 rounds on the anvil, and this order uses exactly that many.
The first step puts Unbreaking III straight on the crossbow for 3 levels. It is the dearest book in the build, so it goes on while the item has no penalty at all. The expensive books, Quick Charge III and Unbreaking III, cost 3 and 3 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.
Unbreaking III goes on first, then Mending and Multishot as one book, and Quick Charge III alone at the end. With four cheap books, no step comes anywhere near the limit.
Piercing IV costs 4 levels as a book, against 2 for Multishot. So the Piercing crossbow below costs a little more than this one.
Levels and experience
The full order costs 17 levels. If you do each step as soon as you have its levels, you spend about 187 experience points. Saving up to level 17 first would take 394 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 crossbow 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 Quick Charge III saves the most: the rest costs 11 levels instead of 17.
No Mending yet? Enchant the rest now for 12 levels, then add Mending later for 9 more. That is 21 levels in all, against 17 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Multishot | 12 | 5 |
| Quick Charge III | 11 | 6 |
| Unbreaking III | 11 | 6 |
| Mending | 12 | 5 |
If your crossbow was on an anvil before
A used crossbow costs more, because the anvil adds its prior work penalty to every step it is in:
| Earlier anvil uses | Cheapest total | Survival? |
|---|---|---|
| None (fresh) | 17 levels | Yes |
| 1 | 20 levels | Yes |
| 2 | 26 levels | Yes |
| 3 | 31 levels | Yes |
Many players start from a crossbow that already has Unbreaking III from the enchanting table. In that case the other 3 books cost 11 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
Java charges the full resulting level of every enchantment a book brings. So if your crossbow already has Quick Charge II, adding a Quick Charge III book costs 3 levels here. Bedrock charges only the levels you gain, so the same step costs 1 there. Merging two Quick Charge II books into one III costs 3 in Java and 1 in Bedrock.
For a fresh crossbow with one book per enchantment, no enchantment gains a level twice, so both rules give the same step costs. Java also charges 1 level for each clashing enchantment on a book, which Bedrock skips.
The books in this order
Multishot, Quick Charge III, Unbreaking III, Mending. Not sure which books to get? The best crossbow 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.
Other builds
Piercing: Piercing IV, Quick Charge III, Unbreaking III, Mending. 19 levels in 4 steps, 2 more than the max build. See the order in the calculator.
Questions
What is the best enchant order for a crossbow?
1. crossbow + book (Unbreaking III): 3 levels; 2. book (Mending) + book (Multishot): 2 levels; 3. crossbow + book (Multishot + Mending): 6 levels; 4. crossbow + book (Quick Charge III): 6 levels. Total: 17 levels.
Why is my crossbow too expensive?
Each anvil use raises the item's prior work penalty (0, 1, 3, 7, 15, 31…). A crossbow 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 crossbow 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 crossbow?
17 levels in total, spread over 4 steps. The dearest step costs 6, so you never need more than 6 levels at once.
Can I add Mending to my crossbow later?
Yes. Enchant the rest first for 12 levels, then add Mending for 9 more. That is 21 levels in all, against 17 if you wait and do everything at once.
Does Quick Charge go on a crossbow first?
It can go on in any step without trouble, because the whole order is cheap. The cheapest order adds it last, on its own.