Enchanting your gear is essential to success in Minecraft, and your helmet is one of the most important armor pieces to upgrade. To ensure you have the best protection possible, you need to use the best helmet enchantments you can get.
Best enchantments for helmets in Minecraft, ranked
There are 11 enchantments for helmets in Minecraft. Ideally, you want to have as many enchantments applied to your helmet as possible, though, some are mutually exclusive, and won’t allow others to coexist. All helmet types—which include leather, chainmail, turtle shell, gold, iron, diamond, and netherite—can be enchanted.
If you’re unsure where to begin or overwhelmed by the number of enchantments available, here’s a complete breakdown of all enchantments available for Minecraft helmets so you can spend your hard-earned levels wisely.
| Enchantment | Levels |
| Fire Protection | Four |
| Projectile Protection | Four |
| Blast Protection | Four |
| Protection | Four |
| Unbreaking | Three |
| Respiration | Three |
| Aqua Affinity | One |
| Thorns | Three |
| Mending | One |
| Curse of Binding | One |
| Curse of Vanishing | One |
And now let’s take a deeper dive into the enchantments themselves by ranking them and pointing out the scenarios in which they come useful.
1) Protection IV
For anyone that has played Minecraft for an extensive period of time, seeing Protection IV as one of the best helmet enchantment should be all but surprising. In fact, we unarguably believe it is the single most useful one to have on the helmet or any other piece of your armor.
There are four possible levels of Protection, but the usual rule in terms of Minecraft items is simple—the higher, the better. Obviously, if you’re unable to claim the fourth level, having the third or even the second will still save you in multiple situations, so don’t hesitate picking it.
There are three other specific Protection enchantments available: Projectile, Blast, and Fire. All three of them are more than useful on numerous occasions. However, the singular Protection enchantment combines all three of them, meaning it’s simply the best available helmet enchantment in Minecraft at the time of writing, helpful in any situation where you take damage.
Luckily, Protection can be discovered and enchanted by using the Enchanting Table. You don’t need any books or so to find and obtain it.
2) Unbreaking III
While Protection is the enchantment we’d love every piece of armor to have, there is another applicable to almost any item in the game—Unbreaking. It’s as essential as Protection for helmets, since it helps our items to stay fresh and usable for longer. In the end, one of the worst feelings in Minecraft is losing one of your favorite and strongest items because you forgot or wasn’t able to repair it.
With three levels of Unbreaking, one again—the higher you have, the more durability an item will have. Luckily, Unbreaking is also discovered and enchanted by using the Enchanting Table, without any additional resources or activities required.
3) Mending I
Have you ever thought about having a helmet with intense durability and replenishing it by itself? Well, with Mending, it’s possible. This enchantment is unique and one of the most valuable in the game. Mending I converts experience you gain into restored durability for the items it’s applied to. So, for example, if you kill a mob with a helmet with this enchantment on, it will automatically repair itself upon securing the experience orbs from the mobs.
It’s quite pivotal for helmets you aim to take into combat, since that’s when your armor will lose durability by taking damage. Unfortunately you won’t be able to find this enchantment by the table, but you can get it from an Enchanted Book, by fishing, looting a chest, or by the Anvil. The latter option is usually the fastest.
4) Respiration III
Minecraft has tons of biomes and worlds to explore, with oceans being one of them. However, as you will quickly realize by the start of each game, diving without proper equipment or potions is perilous. On the other hand, missing out on ocean ruins, shipwrecks, and underwater temples isn’t fun at all. That is why you should apply Respiration III on one of your armor pieces, most preferably on helmet.
Respiration has a maximum level of three and extends the amount of time you can breathe underwater. Each level adds 15 seconds, which means you have 45 additional seconds each time you’re diving with the third level. In most cases, that should be enough to reach the temple or a shipwreck, where you should be able to make yourself a breathable area by putting doors on the ground or mining the ceiling above you.
Respiration can be enchanted simply by using the Enchanting Table.
5) Aqua Affinity I
We couldn’t forget Aqua Affinity when speaking of exploring underwater treasures Minecraft has to offer. Although while Respiration is quite important, this enchantment is optional. That is because Aqua Affinity increases the speed of your mining underwater. If you find yourself exploring an underwater cave, it’s necessary to have this enchanted upon your helmet.
Aqua Affinity has only one level, and that is more than enough to increase your mining speed underwater. You can learn it by using the Enchanting Table.
6) Thorns III
Thorns is yet another pivotal enchantment you should have when going out to explore new mines, forests, or simply into combat. That is because it deflects the damage you take back onto your enemies. For example, if a Skeleton hits you with an arrow while you have Thorns enchantment equipped on one of your armor pieces, it will be immediately hit back with some of the damage they dealt. It has three levels, and the higher, the better.
However, having Thorns on your helmet is almost always worth it if you have Unbreaking or Mending on the item as well. Having both of these enchanted alongside Thorns would be the perfect scenario. That’s because Thorns enchantment breaks your armor more quickly. Therefore, having Unbreaking to extend the helmet’s durability and Mending to repair it while you gain experience is mandatory. With that in mind, make sure you always engage in activities that bring you experience while you have a Thorns enchantment equipped.
Thorns can be applied to the helmet only via Anvil or by the Enchanted Book.
7) Projectile Protection IV
The above six enchantments are undoubtedly the best possible ones in the game. Now, let’s take a look at the remaining ones, which are definitely inferior. The first one is Projectile Protection, which defends you from all kinds of projectiles, including arrows, Tridents, Shulker Bullets, and so on.
If you can’t have a standard Protection on your helmet, then having Projectile Protection instead is always a good call. That is especially true in the early game, when you’ll be facing a lot of Skeletons and Drowned. You can learn it via Enchanting table
8) Blast Protection IV
Speaking of early game, have you ever died from a Creeper explosion? Well, every Minecraft player has done so at least once. If you’re gearing up to face enemy players who have lots of TNT under their belt or Creepers, then Blast Protection should be engraved on your helmet or another armor piece. However, the usual Protection enchantment also comes with additional defense against explosions, so pick that instead if possible.
Blast Protection can be claimed via an enchanting table.
9) Fire Protection IV
We won’t be going much into detail here. Fire Protection, like the name suggests, protects you from fire elements. However, you should go for it if you’re preparing for a specific scenario including a lot of fire or if you don’t have the usual Protection enchantment available by your hand. It’s also obtainable via an Enchanting table.
10/11) Curse of Binding I and Curse of Vanishing I
We decided to combine Curse of Binding I and Curse of Vanishing I because they’re both similarly useless. The former prevents removing an item from its armor slot. So if you were to engrave it upon your helmet, you couldn’t take the latter off until its durability wears off, or you die. In the usual Minecraft gameplay, that’s unnecessary.
Curse of Vanishing, on the other hand, makes an item disappear from the world indefinitely upon your death. And unless you’re in a race against some other players in a PVP mode, what use is there of this enchantment? None, in our humble opinion.
You can find books for both of these enchantments by exploring End City, Jungle Temple, Strongholds, Ruined Portals, fishing, dropping it during raids, or by trading for it with a librarian.
How to enchant armor in Minecraft?
There are three ways to enchant armor in Minecraft. One of them requires an experienced Librarian to enchant specific books for Emerald or another currency. However, since that way is highly random, we won’t focus on that. The other two are through Anvil and Enchanting Table.
Enchanting Table is the most common one. It allows you to enchant your items in exchange for Lapis Lazuli and experience. Usually the highest and best enchants in Minecraft take around three levels in exchange. On top of that, when building and Enchanting Table, you have to place it among bookshelves. A total of 15 of them need to be placed around the Table to gain access to the best enchants in the game.
The third way of Enchanting requires an Anvil. However, while the Enchanting Table allows you to explore different enchantments, you need to have a specific book or an item this time around. You can apply Enchanted Books onto your items by using Anvil or combine two items with the same Enchantments. However, you won’t receive items with higher levels if they’re already at a maximum one.
How to quickly find resources for enchanting in Minecraft?
The most common resource you need for Enchanting in Minecraft is Lapis Lazuli, which can be found in mines. It spawns on different levels and there is no rule on where it’s best to look for it. One block usually drops between four to nine Lapis Lazuli. But, if you’re hunting for it, you better brink a Pickaxe with the Fortune III enchantment, which will increase that drop rate by up to 36 per block.
How to quickly level up in Minecraft to enchant your items?
There are dozens of ways to level up quickly. The best ones are usually to create a Farm of mobs, but for beginners it may be too complicated. If you’re starting a world, these are the ways to level up fast we advise.
- Hunt monsters at night
- Smelt sand, ores, stone and food
- Look for Spawners in mines
- Mine materials. Our personal favorite is Quartz in the Nether
- Breed animals
- Trade with Villagers
Alongside your powerful new helmet, you also need the best enchantments for every tool and weapon including Tridents, Pickaxes, and Axes. You also might consider venturing into the Deep Dark biome to take on the Warden now that you have the necessary protection to do so.