There are many Enchantments in Minecraft that can be used to help enhance your gameplay.
From Enchantments for your Weapons and Armor that will help you fight Mobs and Bosses easier, to those that help with mining and gathering.
There’s even curses that can make things harder for you too. Though, there is no Enchantment like the Silk Touch Enchantment.
What is Silk Touch
Silk Touch is an Enchantment that can be placed on most mining Tools and it is used to prevent certain blocks for being turned into drops when destroyed. Instead they will drop as themselves.
There’s many blocks in Minecraft that, when destroyed, will not be dropped as themselves. Instead they get destroyed and turn into something else.
The best example are Ore Blocks. When an Iron or Coal Ore Block is destroyed with a Pickaxe it drops as the Raw Ore itself; An Iron Ingot or Coal Ore.
When using Silk Touch on an Ore Block it will not drop the Ore. Instead the block will drop as a block of Stone with the Ore still inside it rather than the Ore itself. Same with using it on a Campfire. The Campfire won’t be destroyed or drop the usual Charcoal.
Not every block usually drops items when destroyed, but the majority of blocks are compatible with the Silk Touch Enchantment. Those that aren’t still get destroyed without dropping anything.
Here are some of the items that Silk Touch does not work on:
- Crops (Carrots, Beetroot, Melon Stem, Pumpkin Stem, etc)
- Double Slabs
- Fire
- Mob Spawners
- Inverted Daylight Detector
- Dirt Path (Java Edition Only)
- Farmland
Most of the time the Silk Touch Enchantment is used for mining Smooth Stone so it doesn’t turn into Cobblestone or using it to mine Glass and Glass Panes.
It is also a very good Enchantment to have when you’re farming Ice as it prevents the Ice from being fully destroyed.
The full list of blocks that Silk Touch can be used on can be found on the official Minecraft Wiki.
How to Get The Silk Touch Enchantment
You can get many Enchantments in various different ways in Minecraft.
Some of them can be picked up as Loot from killed Mobs (Enchanted Weapons or Armor), but many can also be fished out using a Fishing Rod. An easy way to get Experience and Enchantments is using an AFK fishing farm in Minecraft.
The Silk Touch Enchantment is an uncommon one, so your best chances of getting it may be via Villager trades or through the Enchantment Table.
In Villager trades, unless you have a discount (which can be gained by finishing a Raid), the Silk Touch Enchantment book costs 12 Emeralds.
If you’re using the Enchantment Table make sure to have Bookshelves surrounding it. The more Bookshelves you have the higher chance you have at getting rarer and stronger Enchantments overall.
For Silk Touch to appear on the Table you need to have at least 9 Bookshelves and 17 levels.
However, if luck isn’t in your favor and you are struggling to find it you can also use commands.
/enchant <targets> <enchantment> [level]
The <target> syntax refers to the player who holds the tool you wish to Enchant. <Enchantment> is for the Silk Touch, while the level can just be written as 1 since there’s only a single level for the Silk Touch Enchantment.
So a proper example of the command would be
/enchant MinecraftPlayer silk_touch 1
Using Silk Touch Enchantment
Silk Touch can only be used on mining Tools, those being:
- Pickaxe
- Axe
- Shovel
- Hoe
- Shears (Bedrock Edition only)
My personal suggestion is to use the Enchantment on Iron grade Tools or better.
If you were using an Enchantment Table then your Enchantment will be applied to the Tool you’ve placed into the Table.
Though, if you have bought an Enchanting Book from a Villager or looted it, then you will need to use an Anvil to apply the Enchantment. This will cost you Experience Levels, but it will also allow you to combine the Enchantment with another one.
There’s only one Enchantment that Silk Touch isn’t compatible with and that is the Fortune Enchantment. Otherwise, it can be added to any of the mentioned Tools with any other Enchantment.
When you use a command to apply the Silk Touch Enchantment to a Tool there is a possibility of forcing it on a Tool with an Enchantment it’s not compatible with.
In those cases, if the Silk Touch is on the same tool as the Fortune Enchantment, the Silk Touch takes precedence.