Impaling

What Impaling 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.

Which mobs Impaling hurts

In Java, Impaling adds damage against aquatic mobs: guardians, elder guardians, squid, glow squid, dolphins, turtles, axolotls and fish. Drowned do not count, because the game treats them as undead.

Each level adds 2.5 damage, so Impaling V adds 12.5. It works on thrown tridents and on melee hits alike.

A trident hits for 9 in melee and 8 when thrown. With Impaling V that becomes 21.5 and 20.5 against a guardian, which has 30 health. So two hits kill it either way.

Where Impaling shines

• Ocean monuments, full of guardians and three elder guardians.
• Clearing a guardian farm by hand.
• Squid and glow squid farms for ink sacs.

In a build

Impaling goes on tridents only, and it works with both trident builds. A Loyalty trident takes Loyalty III, Channeling, Impaling V, Unbreaking III and Mending. A Riptide trident swaps Loyalty and Channeling for Riptide III. The best trident enchantments page shows both.

Impaling is a ×2 book in Java, so Impaling V costs 10 levels on a fresh trident. That makes it the most expensive book on the trident.

Impaling vs Smite on tridents

Tridents can't take Smite or Sharpness. So Impaling is the only damage enchantment a trident can carry.

Impaling by level

Each level adds the same 2.5 damage, so level V is five times as strong as level I. The trident has few books to add, so it is worth going straight to Impaling V.

Impaling and Loyalty underwater

Tridents fly well underwater, unlike arrows. So a trident with Impaling and Loyalty is the best ranged weapon in the ocean. Throw it at guardians from a distance, let it return, and throw again. Pair it with Respiration and Depth Strider for long dives.

Impaling on the anvil

The trident has few enchantments, so its anvil order is simple. Put Impaling and Channeling on first, since they are the pricier books. Then add Loyalty or Riptide, and finish with Unbreaking and Mending. The trident enchant order shows each step.

Where to get a trident

Tridents only come from drowned. So if you want an Impaling trident, look for drowned holding one near rivers and oceans, or build a drowned farm. Then enchant it at the table or with books.

Is Impaling worth it?

Yes, on every trident. The trident has no other damage enchantment, so Impaling is the only way to make it hit harder.

Which items take Impaling

Impaling goes on 1 kind of gear in the calculator: trident. An enchanting table can roll it on the trident.

It can't share an item with Sharpness, Smite, Bane of Arthropods, Density or Breach. If an item already has one of those, the anvil skips the Impaling book. Java still charges 1 level for it.

Impaling from the enchanting table

The level you can roll depends on the item's enchantability. A material with a higher value reaches higher levels from the same level 30 enchant. This table shows the best Impaling each trident can get from a level 30 enchant with 15 bookshelves.

Anything higher has to come from a book instead. Then the enchanting table calculator shows the exact chance for every level.

Anvil cost of Impaling

Impaling has an anvil multiplier of 4 from another item and 2 from a book. So an Impaling V book costs 10 levels on a fresh item, and each lower level costs 2 less. Two fresh Impaling IV books merge into Impaling V for 10 levels. Building it from scratch takes 16 level I books and 15 merges, 116 levels in all. That is a middling cost, so the order still matters once you combine several books.

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

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

More reading: Getting books from librarians, How to enchant in Minecraft, Every max enchantment level. You can make an Impaling book with the command generator. The librarian price list shows what villagers charge for it.

How to get Impaling

• Enchanting table It can appear when you enchant a supported item at an enchanting table. However, higher levels need more bookshelves and a level 30 enchant.
• Librarian villagers Librarians can sell it as an enchanted book. Level I costs 5–19 emeralds plus a book.
• Trial chamber vaults This loot table names it directly, so it is one of the most reliable places to look.
• Random enchanted books It is also in the pool for the random enchanted books and gear in many chests and in fishing loot.

Impaling is a rare roll at the enchanting table, and a level 30 enchant on a trident can reach level IV or V. Librarians sell it, and trial chamber vaults can give it too.

Enchanting power and librarian prices

The power column is the hidden enchanting value each level needs. A level 30 enchant on a trident reaches power 36 at most. That already includes the enchantability bonus and the random spread. The price column shows what a librarian can ask for each book. Curing a zombie villager or the Hero of the Village effect lowers it.

Tips

• Impaling V adds 12.5 damage to guardians: ideal for ocean monuments.
• In Java it does not help against drowned (they are undead, not aquatic).

Commands

Give yourself an Impaling book or enchant the item in your hand. These work in Java 26.3 once cheats are on.

Versions

Impaling is in every Java version from 1.21 (when enchantments became data files) up to 26.3.

Its costs, levels and items have not changed in that time.

Also see the update log for every change, and how this data is checked. Bedrock player? See Impaling on Bedrock.

Goes well with

• Channeling
• Curse of Vanishing
• Loyalty
• Mending
• Riptide
• Unbreaking