An anvil refuses any operation costing 40 or more experience levels, showing "Too Expensive" instead. The cost is driven mainly by the prior work penalty, which doubles every time an item passes through an anvil: 0, 1, 3, 7, 15, 31, 63. The seventh operation on an item is always impossible.
Everything about using anvils well is about keeping that counter low.
What an anvil does
- Repairs an item using its base material — one diamond restores 25% of a diamond pickaxe's maximum durability.
- Combines two of the same item, merging enchantments and adding their durability plus a 12% bonus of the item's maximum.
- Applies enchanted books to items.
- Renames items, for at least 1 level.
It costs 31 iron ingots — 3 iron blocks and 4 ingots — and it is affected by gravity, so it falls if the block beneath it is removed and damages anything it lands on.
Every use has a 12% chance to degrade the anvil by one stage: anvil, chipped anvil, damaged anvil, then destroyed. Expect roughly 25 uses per anvil. Keep a spare stack of iron.
The prior work penalty
Every item stores a hidden counter of how many anvil operations it has been through. The penalty added to any future operation is:
| Prior anvil uses | Penalty added |
|---|---|
| 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 3 |
| 3 | 7 |
| 4 | 15 |
| 5 | 31 |
| 6 | 63 — always too expensive |
Both the item in the left slot and the item in the right slot contribute their own penalties to the total cost. When two items are combined, the result's counter becomes 2 × max(left, right) + 1, which is why the penalty grows so fast when you combine already-worked items.
The cost of applying an enchantment
The level cost of an enchantment is multiplier × level. Applying from a book uses half the multiplier that applying from an item does, which is the whole reason to enchant books rather than tools.
| Enchantment from a book | Multiplier | Cost at max level |
|---|---|---|
| Protection, Sharpness, Efficiency, Power, Unbreaking, Feather Falling | 1 per level | 3–5 |
| Mending, Fortune, Looting, Fire Aspect, Respiration, Lure | 2 per level | 2–6 |
| Silk Touch, Infinity, Thorns | 4 per level | 4–12 |
So a full pickaxe set — Efficiency V (5), Fortune III (6), Unbreaking III (3), Mending (2) — is 16 levels of enchantment cost before any penalties. The penalties are what push it over 39.
Combining in the right order
The rule: combine books with books first, in balanced pairs, and touch the tool as few times as possible.
Wrong order — applying four books to a pickaxe one at a time:
- Pickaxe + Efficiency V → penalty 0, tool counter now 1
- Pickaxe + Fortune III → penalty 1, counter 3
- Pickaxe + Unbreaking III → penalty 3, counter 7
- Pickaxe + Mending → penalty 7, counter 15
The tool ends at a counter of 15, and the fourth step already costs 7 levels of pure penalty. A fifth would cost 15.
Right order — building one book, then one application:
- Efficiency V book + Unbreaking III book → one book, counter 1
- Fortune III book + Mending book → one book, counter 1
- Combine the two books → one book, counter 3
- Pickaxe + that book → one operation on the tool, tool counter 1
The total level cost is similar, but the tool has been through the anvil once, so you can still add something later. This "binary tree" ordering is the standard technique and it is the difference between a tool you can extend and one that is finished forever.
Two further rules:
- Put the more valuable item on the left. The left slot's enchantments are kept; the right slot is consumed.
- Rename early. Renaming costs 1 level plus the item's current penalty, so naming a fresh item is cheap and naming a fully enchanted one is not.
Getting past "Too Expensive"
Once an item shows "Too Expensive" for everything, your options are:
A grindstone. It strips all non-curse enchantments and resets the prior work penalty to zero, returning some experience. The item comes back blank but workable. This is the only in-game reset.
Start again with a fresh item. Often cheaper than it sounds: enchant a new diamond pickaxe at level 30, apply a pre-combined book, done in two anvil operations.
Plan not to get there. Decide the final enchantment set before the first anvil use, build it entirely in books, and apply it once.
Note that Mending repairs an item without an anvil, which means a properly enchanted tool never needs another anvil operation for durability. That is why Mending is worth more than any two other enchantments combined: it takes your tool permanently off the penalty treadmill.
Repairing without an anvil
| Method | Cost | Penalty effect |
|---|---|---|
| Mending | Experience only, 2 durability per XP point | None |
| Anvil + material | 1 level per unit, plus penalty | Increases penalty |
| Anvil + second item | Levels, plus penalty | Increases penalty |
| Grindstone + second item | Free | Resets penalty, removes enchantments |
Mending converts experience directly into durability at 2 durability per point, and it takes priority over filling your experience bar whenever a Mending item is damaged. Wearing a full Mending set means most collected experience goes into repairs instead of levels, so keep one unenchanted slot free if you are trying to reach level 30 for the enchanting table.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my anvil say "Too Expensive" when the item is barely enchanted?
Because the cost is dominated by the prior work penalty, not the enchantment. An item that has been through the anvil five times carries a 31-level penalty before anything else is added. Run it through a grindstone to reset the counter, or start with a fresh item.
Does the 39-level limit apply in Creative mode?
No. The cap is a survival-mode restriction; in Creative the anvil performs the operation regardless of cost. This is why tutorials filmed in Creative sometimes show combinations that are impossible in a survival world.
Can I combine two different enchanted books?
Yes, and you should — it is the cheapest way to build a set. Combining two books produces one book with both enchantments, provided they are not mutually exclusive (Silk Touch with Fortune, Infinity with Mending, the four protection types with each other). Combine in balanced pairs rather than adding one at a time.
Does repairing with a material remove enchantments?
No. Anvil repair with the base material keeps every enchantment and simply restores durability, at 25% of maximum per unit. What it does do is increase the prior work penalty, which is why Mending is the better long-term answer. A grindstone is the one that strips enchantments.
How many anvils will I go through?
At a 12% degradation chance per use, an anvil lasts about 25 operations on average across its three stages. Building a full enchanted set for tools and armour will typically cost two or three anvils, which is 60–90 iron ingots. An iron farm makes this a non-issue; before that, budget for it.
