What does Fire Protection do in Minecraft?

One of the most useful enchantments to have on armor in Minecraft is a form of Protection, and each type of Protection enchantment can save a player from different events in a game.

Protection enchantments are some of the most sought-after enchantments found in the entire game of Minecraft, alongside Feather Falling, Aqua Affinity, and more. It is one of the most useful, everyday enchantments a player can have on their armor, and it reduces damage a player receives by a great amount.

Here is an overview of how Minecraft's Fire Protection enchantment works and everything a player needs to know to use this enchantment to its fullest potential.

What is Minecraft's Fire Protection enchantment?

Minecraft's Fire Protection enchantment can be placed on all articles of armor, including all forms of helmet ( the turtle shell helmet), chestplate, leggings, and boots.

This enchantment works to protect players from any form of fire damage, lessening the loss of hearts players take from fire and lava interaction. It helps a lot when players have to spend time in the Nether around lava and when battling with blazes and ghasts.

The enchantment lessens the effect of fire by 8% with each level of enchantment. For example, Fire Protection I on a single article of armor will give a player 8% less fire damage, Protection II will provide 16% less damage, so on and so forth.

Fire Protection enchantment levels

The Fire Protection enchantment has four attainable levels in vanilla Minecraft: I, II, III, and IV.

Fire Protection IV is the most potent version of the enchantment, allowing players to almost swim through lava, as it reduces a player's fire damage by 36% if found on a single item.

Fire Protection IV on all four pieces of armor will reduce a player's fire damage by 80%, allowing them to swim through lava for a short period of time without dying. With this enchantment, falling in lava in the Nether isn't as big of an issue as it is with any other enchantments.

Like most enchantments, the easiest way to build up to the highest level of the Fire Protection enchantment is to combine objects—whether that be enchanted armor or books—with the same level of the Fire Protection enchantment together in an Anvil.

This is a straightforward way to build up enchantments without wasting too many materials, although it is slightly time-consuming to collect all the necessary levels.

Does Fire Protection have any incompatibilities?

Fire Protection, unfortunately, does have a few incompatibilities when it comes to enchanting armor.

Since Minecraft Update 1.14, Protection enchantments have been deemed mutually exclusive. This means that players cannot have stacked Protection enchantments on a piece of armor in vanilla Minecraft without using commands.

This is due to the fact that stacked Protection enchantments at level IV are incredibly overpowered, making a player basically unkillable without a lot of force.

Putting these enchantments on diamond—let alone netherite—armor will make one player basically undefeatable, making the game lose its difficulty and entertainment aspects.

How useful is Minecraft's Fire Protection?

Minecraft's Fire Protection enchantment is a very good enchantment that is frequently regarded as the second-best form of Protection enchantment.

These enchantments are no longer stackable. However, most players will aim to have Protection IV on their armor as it is the most useful and overarching form of the enchantment.

Protection on its own does protect players from fire damage in addition to projectile and blast damage, just not to the extent to which their individual pieces protect.

Fire Protection is an amazing enchantment, though, and should still bring excited gazes to players who find it on their armor.

Edited by Shaheen Banu