Updated to 1.20
The Fortune enchantment is very useful to gather large amounts of materials. It does work only for certain kinds of materials though, and if applied on certain tools it doesn’t really bring many benefits.
But what does Fortune do on an Axe? Let’s find out!
What does Fortune do on an Axe?
With a Fortune enchanted Axe you won’t get more wood by chopping trees. The Fortune enchantment will increase the amount of Seeds and Saplings that you collect. It also increases the chances of Apples dropping.
What does Fortune do?
The Fortune enchantment increases the amount of drops that you obtain when you break certain blocks.
For example: if you want to get more Diamonds from a Diamond Ore, you can break that block with a Fortune enchanted Pickaxe. If you do so, there will be a chance to get more Diamonds from a single block.
Keep in mind that the block itself is not a drop: this means that you won’t get any extra Sand, extra Stone or Wood when you break them.
The Fortune enchantment goes from level I to level III. Each level gives you the following bonuses (when you break blocks using a tool enchanted with it):
- Fortune I gives a chance to multiply drops by 2
- Fortune II gives a chance to multiply drops by 2 or 3
- Fortune III gives a chance to multiply drops by 2, 3, or 4
Keep in mind that the chances to multiply your drops by 4 are less than the chances to multiply them by 3 or 2, and Fortune I has a 33% chance to mulitply your drops by 2.
If you want to know all the math and statistic behind the multiplying chance, you can check here. If instead you want to have a quick general idea, this video will provide the essential info.
What should you enchant with it?
You can enchant Pickaxes, Shovels, Axes and Hoes with the Fortune enchantment.
- The best tool to enchant with Fortune is definitely the Pickaxe. Considering how frustrating it is to mine Diamonds, the possibility to maximize the amount that you get (without spending more time mining) is enough to prove this point.
Other than Diamonds you can also multiply all the other Ores, like Gold and Iron (related: Is Gold stronger than Iron?). That’s why a Fortune III enchanted Diamond Pickaxe is super valuable. That’s why you should remember to repair it before it breaks. - Fortune is not very useful on Axes. That’s why Fortune was ranked 6th in the article Best Axe enchantments. In the article it is pointed out that you won’t get more wood by chopping trees with a Fortune enchanted Axe. You will increase the chances to find Apples and Saplings, but that is not enough to make it an exciting choice.
- For a similar reason, it is not a good choice on a Shovel either. You can’t get extra Sand, Dirt, Coarse Dirt or all the other blocks that you can mine with a Shovel. One interesting perk is that Gravel will have a 100% chance to drop Flint, so it maybe useful if you need to craft many Arrows, but that’s it.
- Enchantments on a Hoe are often a waste. You can use a Fortune enchanted Hoe to get more seeds, but you would be able to achieve the same using a Fortune enchanted Pickaxe to harvest your crops.
How to get it
We already covered how to get every enchantment in the article How to get Silk Touch easily. The methods explained in that article will work for Fortune as well.
If instead you want to get this enchantment using cheats, you just need to check below.
How to get it – commands
You can enchant a tool with the Fortune enchantment using cheats. To do so, keep the tool in your hand, open the commands and type:
/enchant @p fortune 3
If you want to enchant your tool with Fortune I or II you just need to change the ‘3’ with the level of the enchantment that you want.
Incompatibilities
Fortune enchanmtent is incompatible with Silk Touch, meaning that you can’t apply it to a Silk Touch enchanted tool.
The only way to have a Fortune and Silk Touch enchanted tool is to use commands. If you have a Fortune enchanted tool, you can apply Silk Touch with the commands. Vice versa, if you have a Silk Touch enchanted tool you can apply Fortune with the commands.
