Looting vs Fortune: Which enchantment is better in Minecraft?

Looting and Fortune enchanted book (Image via Minecraft)
Looting and Fortune enchanted book (Image via Minecraft)

Looting and Fortune enchantments in Minecraft are pretty similar to each other. Both increase the overall number of items dropped when a player interacts with a block or a mob. They are great for players if they want more items from a particular block or mob. However, one is better than the other.

Enchantments are certain powerups that allow players to strengthen their gears and items. It can be applied via an enchanting table or from an enchanted book.

These enchantments can help players in several dire situations and overall make survival easy. Though both these enchantments are excellent in their ways, one is better than the other.


Which enchantment is better in Minecraft, Looting or Fortune?

Looting

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Looting is an excellent enchantment that can only be applied to swords. Essentially, it causes mobs to drop more items and increase the chances of dropping rarer items.

For example, if players kill wither skeletons with the enchanted sword, they will have a higher chance of dropping a wither skull, which is quite rare. Mobs also drop XP points, but these won't be affected by the powerup.

It has a total of three levels, and with each level, the item drop of a mob increases by one, and the chance of dropping a rare item increases by 1%.

Mainly affects the amount of normal drop (Image via Minecraft)
Mainly affects the amount of normal drop (Image via Minecraft)

In Java Edition, players can affect the mob with looting even without killing them with the particular sword. For example, if a player kills a mob with a normal arrow but switches to looting enchanted sword before the mob dies, the effect gets applied, and the mob will drop more items, even if they are killed with an arrow.

Certain mobs like Wither, Elder Guardian, Guardian, Evokers, Iron Golems, Sheep, etc., are not affected by this enchantment.


Fortune

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This enchantment is well-known by nearly all Minecraft players. It can be applied to pickaxes, axes, shovels, and hoes. This essentially increases the number of items dropped by a single block while breaking them with a particular tool.

For example, if a player is mining a diamond ore block, a fortune pickaxe will increase the number of diamonds dropped by one block. However, it will not increase the XP points.

It increases the number of dropped items from any block (Image via Minecraft)
It increases the number of dropped items from any block (Image via Minecraft)

This enchantment has a much more detailed structure of levels and how it works. There are three levels. However, the number of items dropped depends on which type of block the player is breaking.

For all kinds of ore blocks, the first level increases the drops by 33%, the second level by 75%, and the third level by 120%. However, this is average; the percentage of increments may vary randomly.


These are some of the best powerups players can put on a pickaxe as it increases the number of valuable materials they get, like diamonds, iron, and emeralds. However, it does not affect ancient debris.

Overall, both of them are great enchantments in their ways. If players want to get more items from a mob, they must use looting, whereas fortune is a great option if they want more items from blocks.

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