Swift Sneak

Overview

Crouching is the only way to move without triggering a sculk sensor, and crouching is agonisingly slow — which is the design tension the deep dark is built on. Swift Sneak resolves it: at the top level you sneak at roughly three quarters of walking pace, which turns a warden-infested city from an hour of creeping into a manageable expedition. It exists specifically for that place and it is found only in that place. Ancient city chests are the sole source in the entire game: no enchanting table rolls it, no librarian sells it, and no mob drops it. That circularity is deliberate — you must survive one ancient city without it to make the next one easier. The enchantment goes on leggings, a slot with almost no competition, so there is no trade-off to weigh. Beyond the deep dark it has quieter uses: sneaking is how you avoid falling off edges while building, how you place blocks on containers, and how you move along a ledge safely, and doing all of that at near-walking speed is a genuine quality-of-life change on any large build.

Moving through the deep dark without waking a warden, and sneaking at near-walking speed while building along ledges or placing blocks on top of containers.

Lets you crouch at close to walking speed. Introduced with the Deep Dark, where sneaking past a Warden is the difference between escaping and dying.

Swift Sneak caps at III. Being treasure-only, it is off the enchanting table entirely; loot, fishing and librarians are what is left.

At weight 1 it is still off the enchanting table entirely — the weight applies to the book turning up in loot, in a catch or at a lectern.

How to get it

Ancient city chests only — 1 source in the entire game. No table, no villager and no mob provides it; level III is the maximum, and 2 level II books combine on an anvil if you find duplicates.

Tips

• Bring wool to muffle sculk sensors on your first city; the enchantment is the reward, not the entry ticket.
• It goes on leggings, where nothing else competes, so there is no reason to weigh it against anything.
• Darkness from a shrieker is your warning that the warden counter is climbing — leave rather than push on.
• It also makes ordinary building safer, since sneaking along an edge no longer costs you the pace.

What each level does

What each level actually gives you. The jump from I to III is where most of the value sits, and an anvil can combine two II books into one III.

Swift Sneak III brings sneaking to about 75% of walking speed.

Properties

The enchanting table will not roll it, and no villager trades it, which leaves loot chests and fishing.

What it can be applied to

Swift Sneak can be applied to Leggings.

• Leggings

Gear it goes on

Leather PantsChainmail LeggingsIron LeggingsDiamond LeggingsGolden LeggingsNetherite Leggings

How to get it

Ancient city chest loot only.

Because it is a treasure enchantment, the enchanting table is not a route at all. Loot chests, fishing with Luck of the Sea, and raid drops are what is left, and the librarian is by far the most reliable of the three.

Command

Cheats on: the first command enchants what is in your hand with Swift Sneak III, and the second spawns the finished item. The component syntax below replaced the old NBT tag in 1.20.5.

Guides and tools that cover this

• GuidesThe Complete Minecraft Enchanting Guide (1.21.4)→
• ToolsEnchantment Order Calculator→

Frequently asked questions