What Curse of Binding does
| Level | Effect | Book cost |
|---|---|---|
| I | the armor can't be removed until death or until it breaks | 4 |
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 Curse of Binding works
Once you put on an item with Curse of Binding, you can't take it off, swap it out or drop it. The item only leaves its slot when you die, when it breaks, or when you switch to creative mode.
It goes on everything you can wear: helmets, chestplates, leggings, boots, turtle shells, elytra, mob heads and carved pumpkins.
Why pumpkins and heads are the worst case
Carved pumpkins and mob heads have no durability. So a cursed pumpkin never breaks, and the only way out is to die. While you wear a pumpkin, it also blocks most of your view. That makes a cursed pumpkin a classic prank and a common trap in adventure maps.
Curses can't be removed
A grindstone removes every enchantment except curses. So grinding a cursed item strips the good enchantments and leaves the curse. An anvil can't remove it either. If you combine a cursed item or book with another item, the curse comes along.
Where cursed items come from
- Random enchanted books and gear from chests can carry curses.
- Fishing treasure can include cursed books and items.
- Librarians can sell Curse of Binding books.
- Mobs never spawn with cursed gear in normal play.
Before you wear armor from loot, hover over it and check for red curse lines.
Using it on purpose
- Adventure maps use it to lock a costume or a pumpkin onto the player.
- On servers, a cursed item makes sure a player keeps wearing their team armor.
- A dispenser can put armor onto a player in front of it, so a dispenser and a cursed pumpkin make a trap.
For normal survival play, keep it off anything you care about.
Checking loot for curses
Curses show up as red lines in the item's tooltip, below the normal enchantments. Always check armor from chests, fishing and trades before you put it on. A cursed helmet or elytra can lock you out of a better piece for a long time.
Why it has a ×8 anvil cost
Curse of Binding shares the highest anvil multiplier in the game, ×8 from an item and ×4 from a book. That cost applies whenever a cursed item or book goes through the anvil. So adding books to a cursed piece costs more than to a clean one.
Binding and the elytra
An elytra with Curse of Binding is the worst case for travel. You can't swap it for a chestplate, so you fight with no chest armor until it breaks or you die. Since an elytra with Mending never breaks, the curse can last a very long time. So check every elytra before you put it on.
Using a grindstone anyway
A grindstone can still help with a cursed item. It removes the good enchantments and gives back some XP, but the curse stays. That is only worth it if you want the experience back from an item you will never wear.
Which items take Curse of Binding
Curse of Binding goes on 5 kinds of gear in the calculator: helmet, chestplate, leggings, boots, elytra. 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 Curse of Binding, so it fits next to every other enchantment its items can take.
Anvil cost of Curse of Binding
Curse of Binding has an anvil multiplier of 8 from another item and 4 from a book. So the book costs 4 levels on a fresh item. That is one of the most expensive books. So put it on early, while the prior work penalty is still low.
Java charges the full resulting level every time, even when the item already has a lower level of it. 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
Curse of Binding can go on 5 items: best helmet enchantments, best chestplate enchantments, best leggings enchantments, best boots enchantments, best elytra enchantments. To put it on in the cheapest order, see the helmet enchant order, chestplate enchant order, leggings enchant order, boots enchant order.
More reading: Minecraft curses explained, Getting books from librarians, Every max enchantment level. You can make a Curse of Binding book with the command generator. The librarian price list shows what villagers charge for it.
How to get Curse of Binding
- Librarian villagers Librarians can sell it as an enchanted book at a higher price, because it is a treasure enchantment. Level I costs 10–38 emeralds plus a book.
- Random enchanted books It is also in the pool for the random enchanted books and gear in many chests and in fishing loot.
Curse of Binding is a treasure curse. It never appears in the enchanting table, but it can turn up on books and gear from chests and fishing. Librarians can also offer it. Nobody needs to look for it: the trouble is avoiding it.
Tips
- Used in maps and for pranks; avoid it on gear you care about.
- A grindstone can't remove curses.
Commands
Give yourself a Curse of Binding book or enchant the item in your hand. These work in Java 26.3 once cheats are on.
/give @p enchanted_book[stored_enchantments={binding_curse:1}]
/enchant @s binding_curse 1
/give @p netherite_helmet[enchantments={binding_curse:1}]Versions
Curse of Binding is in every Java version from 1.21 (when enchantments became data files) up to 26.3.
- 1.21.9: now goes on copper boots, copper leggings, copper chestplate, copper helmet.
Also see the update log for every change, and how this data is checked. Bedrock player? See Curse of Binding on Bedrock.
Questions
How do you remove Curse of Binding?
Die, let the item break, or switch to creative mode. Grindstones do not remove curses.
Does a grindstone remove Curse of Binding?
No. Grindstones remove every other enchantment but keep curses.
How do you get rid of a cursed pumpkin?
Die, or switch to creative mode. Pumpkins have no durability, so they never break.
Does Curse of Binding work on an elytra?
Yes. A cursed elytra stays on until it breaks or you die, so you can't swap it for a chestplate.
Can you get Curse of Binding from the enchanting table?
No. It is a treasure curse, so it only comes from loot, fishing and librarians.