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A Minecraft enchantment that increases an axe's damage and its ability to disable shields, Cleaving is a rare enchantment due to the fact that it's currently in development.
Over the course of several experimental snapshots for Minecraft: Java Edition, Mojang has been slowly but surely reworking the nuances of combat. This has included both melee and ranged battles as well as enchantments.
Cleaving is one of the results of these experimental snapshots, but it is not available to the player through conventional means during gameplay. As of Minecraft 1.18.2, Cleaving is still being developed and has an indeterminate release date for Java Edition while still being in the planning stages for Bedrock Edition.
Minecraft: What we know about Cleaving
Originally named "Chopping," Cleaving has already seen multiple revisions over the course of Minecraft: Java Edition's combat test snapshots. There have been approximately 12 combat update snapshots, which have centered on revamping the game's combat system for future Java Edition updates.
Given the experimental nature of these snapshots, many features have not been made available in the standard build of the game. Certain combat test aspects have been added and removed in subsequent updates, but as of now, Cleaving and many other experimental combat changes have not yet been announced for an official update.
At the moment, Cleaving is an axe-exclusive Minecraft enchantment that can be applied up to rank III. When applied, it is not compatible with the Sharpness, Smite, and Bane of Arthropods enchantments, meaning these enchantments cannot coexist alongside Cleaving without the use of commands.
Cleaving works in two ways: It increases the overall damage of the enchanted axe while also improving its ability to "stun" shields. Shield stun in this particular context relates to the amount of time a shield remains unusable after it is struck.
At the moment, Cleaving adds one damage (half of one heart) to the axe's base damage. Furthermore, depending on the rank of the enchantment, the axe can deal additional damage up to a maximum of three.
This extra damage is calculated by the formula 1 + 1 x (enchantment rank), meaning that the enchantment can increase its total damage by up to four damage points at Cleaving III. Though this may not seem like much, Cleaving's additional features bring additional incentives.
Specifically, striking a shield in Minecraft with a Cleaving enchanted axe will result in .5 seconds (10 in-game ticks) of shield stun per enchantment rank. This means that at the axe's maximum enchantment level, a Cleaving axe will be capable of disabling an opponent's shield use for 1.5 seconds, which is not an insignificant number in the heat of battle.
