In Minecraft, players can survive the night with nothing but a wooden sword if they are skilled and careful enough. That said, it is in the best interest of players to invest in getting some better gear as they play. Enchantments allow players to specialize against certain types of threats, and can be extremely useful for players that know what they are getting themselves into ahead of time. The Bane of Arthropods enchantment is one such case, as it only works in extremely specific circumstances, but is very powerful when that circumstance does arise. For those wondering what Bane of Arthropods is and how it works, here's everything players need to know about the enchantment.
The first step to getting the Bane of Arthropods enchantment on a weapon is to craft an enchanting table. Without one, players are very limited in their ability to enchant items. Minecraft players can craft an enchanting table with four Obsidian, two Diamonds, and a Book. After placing the enchanting table, players will want to surround it with bookshelves, as this increases the level of enchantments that it can produce.
Bane of Arthropods is a weapon enchantment, meaning it can only be applied to swords and axes. Each level of Bane of Arthropods that is on a weapon increases its damage by 2.5 (or 1.25 hearts), but this damage is only applied when attacking an Arthropod mob. In addition to the damage, it also applies Slowness to these mobs, making much easier to avoid or escape. There aren't a lot of these kinds of mobs, so this is a pretty hefty restriction. For reference, the Sharpness enchantment increases damage by only 1.5 per level to everything, so Bane of Arthropods is actually a lot better when players encounter Arthropod mobs. This enchantment will affect spiders, cave spiders, bees, silverfish. and endermites.
The Bane of Arthropods enchantment can go all the way up to level 5, and with Bane of Arthropods 5 applied to a weapon, it deals an additional 12.25 damage to Arthropod creatures. For comparison's sake, that means that a Wooden Sword with Bane of Arthropods 5 against an Arthropod will do more damage than a Netherite Sword without any enchantments, and on top of that it will even slow them down. Players should remember that it is impossible to get Bane of Arthropods and Sharpness on the same sword or axe, as weapon damage enchantments like these are mutually exclusive.
Players can get the Bane of Arthropods enchantment by enchanting a sword or axe at the enchanting table. This will require the expenditure of the player's levels as well as some Lapis Lazuli, and even then it is random which enchantments are available. If the player completely surrounds their enchanting table with bookshelves, then there is a chance that they can get Bane of Arthropods 5 straight from the enchanting table.
Minecraft is available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
