How the Fortune enchantment works in Minecraft

A mining or digging tool with the Fortune enchantment in Minecraft will grant players who use it to break certain blocks, either an increased chance to recieve the item it drops, and/or an additional number of those same items.

There are lot of valuable resources that can be obtained in the world of Minecraft, from diamonds to flint. However, players are typically limited to a certain number of resources that they can obtain by breaking a single block.

The Fortune enchantment obliterates those limitations, and will increase the likilhood for players to receive certain items and possibly increase the maximum number that they can receive.

With Fortune III, players can get up to four diamonds from mining a single block of diamond ore. In terms of mining gravel for flint, Minecraft players have a 100% chance to get flint if they use a proper Fortune III enchanted tool.

This article breaks down how the Fortune enchantment works in Minecraft, as well as explains how players can obtain the enchantment for themselves in-game.

How the Fortune enchantment works in Minecraft

The Fortune enchantment can be placed on any of the four main tools in Minecraft, which are pickaxes, axes, hoes, and shovels. Minecraft players who do not have one of these items yet, can make one relatively easily through crafting.

A full guide on how to make the four main tools in Minecraft can be found here.

The Fortune enchantment has three levels of power, which progressively will either increase the number of drops of an item and/or increase the likelihood of an item to drop.

In terms of mining ore, the Fortune enchantment will both increase the maximum number of resources that a player can get and amplify their chances for receiving addittional ore.

The math behind drop distribution when using the Fortune enchantment to mine ore in Minecraft (Image via minecraft.gamepedia.com)

The Fortune enchantment can also be used to attempt to get additional glowstones, melons, netherwarts, redstone ores, sea lanterns, and sweet berries. Players who do this will increase the maximum number of items that they can receive by one item, per level of the enchantment.

However, some items, such as glowstone, prismarine crystals, and melons, have a capped amount that they can drop, which can not be surpassed by the Fortune enchantment.

Minecraft players should note that they will not be able to use the Silk Touch enchantment with the Fortune enchantment on the same item. These enchantments work completely differently, and the game will typically not let players place both enchantments onto a single item.

If players supersede normal conditions by using console commands to place both enchantments on one item, the Silk Touch enchantment will work instead of the Fortune enchantment.

Minecraft players can get higher than level three of the Fortune enchantment by using console commands.

Getting the Fortune enchantment in Minecraft

An enchanting table in Minecraft (Image via Sportskeeda/Minecraft)

Fortune can be placed on any pickaxe, axe, hoe, or shovel by paying a visit to an enchanting table. Once at the table, players have the opportunity to put the enchantment on an appropriate item by expending experience and a bit of lapis lazuli.

In order to have access to higher levels of the Fortune enchantments, players will need to surround their enchanting table with bookshelves. Something that players should be aware of is that higher level enchantments do cost more experience.

Minecraft players who have obtained a corresponding enchantment book, can use an anvil in order to place the Fortune enchantment onto their preferred appropriate item.

Players who are interested in learning more about enchantments in Minecraft, can find a full guide on that subject here.