In Minecraft, your best survival tool is your weapon, an Axe and a Sword to hack and slash your enemies. But the base variants only take you so far; this is where enchantments come in. There are various kinds of enchantments available based on the tool or weapon. For Swords and Axes, we have these enchantments- Bane of Arthropods, Fire Aspect, Knockback, Looting, Sharpness, Smite, Sweeping Edge, and Unbreaking.
Our focus today is on Smite and Sharpness. Each enchantment has power levels; the higher the level, the higher the potency.
Our focus today is on the Smite and Sharpness enchantments. Those two enchantments cannot be used simultaneously on the same weapon as they are incompatible with each other, so the player will have to pick one over the other. This article aims to help the player dispel doubts about these enchantments and make a choice.
What Do They Do?
Enchantments buff the weapon or armor they are being used on; these buffs are nothing to sneeze at; without these enchantments, the player will no longer possess a nose to sneeze with, as these make all the difference between carving a tree bark or engraving a tombstone. Enchanted gear makes life a lot easier for the players, be it against PvE mobs or PvP to hunt other players, whatever floats your boat.
Both Sharpness and Smite have five power levels, starting from I through V, and V is the strongest and the last level of enchantment.
Sharpness
Sharpness is an enchantment that can be applied to both Swords and Axes. It is a very commonly used enchantment and quite a useful one too. The buff that sharpness grants your weapon is extra damage. Now, who doesn’t like DPS, it is what weapons are all about, and Sharpness takes it to the next level.
Sharpness is so good that a single level of sharpness on an Iron sword can make its damage equivalent to that of a diamond sword. Now just imagine what five levels of Sharpness can do on a diamond sword or a Netherite sword; those will be dishing out crazy amounts of damage.
The player has to note that the sharpness buff changes depending on the Minecraft Edition. In the Java edition, sharpness adds +1 extra damage for the first level, and for every other consecutive level, it adds +0.5 additional damage. Meanwhile, the Bedrock edition has a stronger buff; it generously gives the player +1.25 extra damage for every level of the enchantment.
Sharpness cannot be combined with Smite or the Bane of Arthropods enchantments.
Smite
Smite, unlike Sharpness, is an uncommon enchantment; it too can be used on either sword or axe. This enchantment is kind of a specialist in one particular field. This would be the Paladins’ favorite enchantment in any other RPGs; it is the bane of the Nightwalkers; if you still haven’t figured out what it does, then may God help you.
It has one job and does it better than anything else; it does extra damage to the undead. Minecraft players should know better than to write off the undead because as the night sets in, hordes of Undead rise to roam the lands, dragging away any unsuspecting victims to the land of the dead.
Now the players should have a clear picture of how useful of an enchantment this can be. Smite works on the following undead mobs: Skeletons, Zombies, Zombie villagers, Withers, Wither skeletons, Zombified piglins, Skeleton horses, Strays, Husks, Phantoms, Drowned, and Zoglins.
Let us talk numbers now; I promise they are not complicated. Smite adds bonus damage of 2.5 for every power level, so with five levels, it effectively adds 12.5 damage to the weapon it is enchanted with.
Smite cannot be combined with Sharpness or the Bane of Arthropods enchantments. The other important thing the player must know is that the weapons enchanted with Smite will work just like ordinary weapons against enemies which are not Undead.
Which Is The Better Enchantment?
Which is the better cutlery, A Spoon or a Fork? What would you say? It is completely dependent on what you are eating, right? Exactly, in the same way, Smite and Sharpness each do their own thing; they are tailored to shine in certain situations.
Just like how swords and axes perform differently, swords do less damage than axes but are faster and can target multiple enemies, while axes are slower but hit harder and are single-target weapons. Sharpness works for everything, but when dealing with the undead or farming the undead, Smite is an invaluable enchantment in your arsenal.
How To Obtain Them?
The usual methods through which the enchantments can be obtained are by using either the enchantment table or the command line.
If the player already has an enchanted book, they can use it to enchant their weapons; if not, then they will have to use lapis lazulis and their exp at the enchantment table and hope to get the Smite and Sharpness enchantments.
Once they manage to get an enchanted book with either Smite or Sharpness, then they can combine their weapon with the book at the anvil to enchant their weapon. Players must note that in the Minecraft Java edition, they won’t be able to enchant their axe directly on the enchantment table; they will instead have to resort to using an enchanted book.
How To Obtain Them Using Commands?
Using the commands is another simple way to enchant your weapons with an enchantment of your choice instantly.
The player needs to have the cheats turned on in the world they are playing for the commands to work.
The following commands enchant the weapon held by the player at the time of using the command:-
/enchant @p sharpness 5
/enchant @p smite 5
Here using “@p” means that it will enchant the nearest player’s held weapon. Instead of “@p,” the player’s name can be used too. The next parameter specifies the type of enchantment the player wants. The last parameter, i.e., “5,” is the level of enchantment the player needs; they can change it to whatever level they need. If it is left blank, then an enchantment of level 1 will be applied.
Conclusion
Smite V is the way to go on Netherite swords instead of Sharpness, as it allows the players to one-shot all the undead mobs; the axe can be used with Sharpness V for the other neutral mobs. But while using a diamond, it is better to have Smite V on the axe and sharpness V on the sword.
