Anvil Cost Reference
The penalty doubles every use. Build the book first, touch the tool last.
BFCBrilliance · bfcbrilliance.com/tools/minecraft-anvil-cost-calculator
This combine
- Item
- Anvil uses on item
- Anvil uses on book
- Enchant cost
- Renaming?
- PENALTY
- TOTAL COST
- Headroom to 40
- New anvil count
- Next penalty
The penalty sequence
- 0 anvil uses
- penalty 0
- 1 use
- penalty 1
- 2 uses
- penalty 3
- 3 uses
- penalty 7
- 4 uses
- penalty 15
- 5 uses
- penalty 31
- ⚠ 6 uses
- penalty 63 — OVER THE LIMIT
- Formula
- 2^(uses) - 1
- ⚠ Too Expensive at
- 40 levels (Java)
- Result's count
- higher of the two, PLUS ONE
- 4 books one at a time
- 11 levels of penalty
- 4 books merged in pairs
- 5 levels
- 8 books one at a time
- 247 — impossible
- 8 books merged in pairs
- 17
- ⚠ Anvil repair
- counts as a use
- Mending repair
- does NOT — no penalty ever
- Grindstone
- resets to 0, strips ALL enchantments
Plan the merge order
| Step | Left item | Right item | Cost | Result count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Doing it cheaply
- Every enchantment collected as a BOOK first
- Books paired up evenly, not added one at a time
- Pairs merged into pairs, tournament-style
- The finished super-book applied to the tool LAST
- Tool freshly crafted, or as low a count as possible
- Renaming done in the SAME combine, not a separate one
- Mending applied so future repairs cost nothing
- Anvil repairs avoided once Mending is on
- Incompatible enchantments checked before spending levels
- A grindstone considered for a tool already past saving
- Enough levels banked before starting
Why the sixth use always fails
The penalty is 2^uses - 1, so it reaches 63 on the sixth anvil use — already past the 40-level refusal. No amount of XP helps, and no cheap enchantment sneaks under it. Five operations is the hard ceiling.
Build the book, then touch the tool
Four books added one at a time cost 11 in penalties; merged in pairs first, 5. Eight books: 247 against 17. Merge books into one super-book and apply it once — the tool ends up with a count of 1.
Mending is the real answer
Anvil repairs raise the counter and double the penalty. Mending repairs through XP orbs, which is not an anvil operation and never touches it. That is why a Mending tool lasts forever and a patched one eventually dies.