Loyalty vs Riptide

The difference

Loyalty brings the trident back after a throw, and it works with Channeling. Riptide launches you with the trident when you throw it in water or rain. A Riptide trident can't be thrown normally at all. They exclude each other, and Riptide also excludes Channeling.

Rain is the catch with Riptide. Deserts, savannas and badlands never get rain, and snowy biomes get snow instead. So Riptide only works there while you stand in water.

Level by level

On a fresh trident, Loyalty III costs 3 levels and Riptide III costs 6 levels. Channeling, the usual partner for Loyalty, adds 4 levels more as a book.

Which to pick, situation by situation

• Drowned hunting. Loyalty. You throw, hit and catch the trident again without diving after it.
• Ocean monuments. Loyalty with Impaling. In Java, Impaling adds damage against guardians, which are aquatic.
• Thunderstorms. Loyalty with Channeling. Lightning turns creepers charged, villagers into witches and pigs into zombified piglins.
• Travel. Riptide. In the rain, Riptide plus an elytra is one of the fastest ways to cross the map.
• Ocean exploring. Riptide works in any water, rain or not. It is great for crossing deep ocean quickly.
• Dry biomes. Loyalty. In a desert or snowy biome, Riptide only works in water.

Max build with each

Here is what a full trident costs with each option, books combined in the cheapest order on a fresh trident:

Open the Loyalty build or the Riptide build in the calculator. The trident enchant order walks through every anvil step. The best trident enchantments page explains each book in the build.

Which items take each

• Loyalty goes on trident. The enchanting table can offer it there directly.
• Riptide goes on trident. The enchanting table can offer it there directly.

What each one does

Loyalty

Loyalty makes a thrown trident fly back to you. Each level makes it return faster.

• It excludes Riptide: Loyalty for throwing, Riptide for travelling.
• Channeling works together with Loyalty, so a thunderstorm trident can strike and come back.

Riptide

Riptide launches you along with the trident when you throw it in water or rain. You can't throw a Riptide trident normally.

• With an elytra in the rain it is one of the fastest ways to travel.
• It excludes Loyalty and Channeling.

Where to get them and what they cost

• Loyalty: max level III, from the enchanting table, librarian villagers, trial chamber vaults and enchanted loot from fishing and chests. Once you have one, a max book costs 3 levels on a fresh item. Librarians sell a Loyalty III book for 11 to 45 emeralds.
• Riptide: max level III, from the enchanting table, librarian villagers, trial chamber vaults and enchanted loot from fishing and chests. Once you have one, a max book costs 6 levels on a fresh item. Librarians sell a Riptide III book for 11 to 45 emeralds.

They are incompatible, so you choose one per item. Both can go on the trident. Whichever you pick, combine the books in the cheapest order with the enchantment calculator or follow the trident enchant order.

Good to know

Unbreaking, Mending and Impaling fit on both builds. In Java, Impaling only adds damage against aquatic mobs.

Riptide can still hurt mobs. If you fly into one during the launch, a spin attack hits it. However, Riptide is a travel enchantment first, and few players fight with it. Many keep it next to an elytra for rainy days.

How each one feels to use

A Loyalty trident works like a reusable spear. You throw it, it hits, and then it flies back to your hand. Higher levels bring it back faster, which matters most in a fight. A Riptide trident works like a jetpack instead. You hold use, let go, and fly in the direction you face. Higher levels throw you further, so Riptide III covers a lot of ground in one launch. Neither one changes the trident's melee damage, which stays the same for every build.

Common mistakes

• Taking Riptide to a dry biome. Without rain or water, a Riptide trident can't be used at all.
• Expecting Channeling with Riptide. Riptide excludes Channeling as well as Loyalty.
• Grinding a rare trident. Drowned drop tridents now and then. So a second trident is often easier than a rebuild.

Switching from one to the other

An anvil never swaps Loyalty for Riptide. If you put a conflicting book on an item, the anvil shows no result at all. So the only way to switch on the same item is a grindstone. It strips every enchantment except curses, then you enchant the item again from scratch.

Drowned drop tridents, so a second trident is easy to come by. Keep one with Loyalty and Channeling, and one with Riptide. If you do grind an item, the Java grindstone also clears its prior work penalty, so the rebuild costs the same as on new gear.

Java and Bedrock differences

In Java 26.3, Loyalty and Riptide are incompatible. Impaling, the trident's damage enchantment, only hits aquatic mobs in Java. In Bedrock it hits any mob in water or rain. The anvil also differs between the editions. Java charges the full new level of every book, plus 1 level for each conflicting enchantment it skips. Commands work with one /give in Java, using the enchantments component. This page shows the Java 26.3 numbers.

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