Overview
A Golden Sword is a trap and a tool at the same time. It deals only 4 damage — the same as wood — and breaks after 32 uses, the lowest durability of anything in the game, so as a fighting weapon it is genuinely the worst option available. What makes it interesting is enchantability: gold sits at 22, far above every other material, which means a golden sword taken to a level-30 enchanting table has by far the best chance of rolling top-tier enchantments like Sharpness V, Fire Aspect II and Looting III. Players who farm enchantments do exactly that, then transfer the result onto a decent blade with an anvil and a book, or simply accept a very good sword that lasts one fight. Gold's second quirk is that mobs are noticeably more willing to pick up dropped gold gear, which matters for zombie and piglin farms. Otherwise, treat gold armour and gold weapons as the enchanting lottery ticket they are, and keep the diamonds for the sword you actually swing. The material is worth more in a piglin's hands than in yours, and that is the honest summary of the whole item.
Rolling high-tier enchantments cheaply thanks to gold's enchantability of 22 — a lottery ticket at the enchanting table, not a weapon to take into a cave.
Golden Sword is one of the 6 variants of this shape in the game. What changes between them is the material, and with it the hardness, the drops, the durability and the recipe — so every figure on this page is this variant's own. Stone Sword is the same shape in a different material.
In Minecraft, Golden Sword is a weapon item. Expect 32 uses before it breaks. Repair it on an anvil with Gold Ingot, or combine two damaged copies.
It accepts enchantments at an enchanting table or anvil. Every copy occupies a full inventory slot. It drops from Piglin and Zombified Piglin.
You make it with Gold Ingot and Stick. The one thing it makes is Gold Nugget.
About the golden tool set
How to get it
Craft 1 from 2 Gold Ingots and 1 Stick. Its 32 uses are the fewest of any tool, and 1 gold ingot on an anvil restores a quarter of them.
Tips
- Enchant gold, then move the result onto iron or diamond with a book and an anvil rather than fighting with it.
- 32 durability is roughly one cave fight; never take a golden sword anywhere you cannot get back from.
- Piglins ignore your gold sword — only gold armour worn on your body stops them attacking in the Nether.
- Bartering with piglins is a far better use of gold ingots than crafting weapons out of them.
Damage and attack speed
Golden Sword deals 4 damage per hit and swings 1.6 times a second, which works out at 6.4 damage per second when every swing is fully charged.
A swing that lands before the cooldown bar refills deals a fraction of that, so waiting for the bar is worth more than clicking faster.
That is 5 hits to kill a zombie or a creeper, the same for a skeleton, and 4 hits for a spider.
Properties
Golden Sword lasts 32 uses before it breaks, and Gold Ingot repairs it on an anvil. Two worn copies can also be merged, on an anvil or a grindstone. Unbreaking III roughly quadruples the lifespan, and Mending replaces the repair cost with experience. Its enchantability of 22 decides how good the enchanting table's offers are: the higher the number, the more often a level-30 table offers the top-tier enchantment rather than a weak one. Golden Sword does not stack — each one occupies an inventory slot of its own.
- Damage per second
- 6.4
- Enchantability
- 22
- Repaired with
- Gold Ingot
- Renewable
- Yes
- Category
- Weapons
How it compares to the rest of the set
Every tier of sword in the game, side by side, so the trade-off is visible in one place: Golden Sword sits 4 of 6.
Gold is the outlier: it enchants better than anything else (enchantability 22) and breaks almost immediately, which is why gold gear is enchanted and then upgraded rather than used.
| Item | Durability | Attack damage | Attack speed | Enchantability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wooden Sword | 59 | 4 | 1.6 | 15 |
| Stone Sword | 131 | 5 | 1.6 | 5 |
| Iron Sword | 250 | 6 | 1.6 | 14 |
| Golden Sword | 32 | 4 | 1.6 | 22 |
| Diamond Sword | 1,561 | 7 | 1.6 | 10 |
| Netherite Sword | 2,031 | 8 | 1.6 | 15 |
Crafting recipe
Crafting Table
Golden Sword
Dropped by
2 mobs drop Golden Sword: Piglin and Zombified Piglin. Looting raises the maximum on most of them.
Used to craft
Golden Sword is an ingredient in 1 recipes, producing Gold Nugget.
Enchantments it can take
9 enchantments can be applied to Golden Sword: Bane of Arthropods, Fire Aspect, Knockback, Looting, Mending, Sharpness, Smite, Sweeping Edge, and Unbreaking.
Mending is a treasure enchantment and never appears at an enchanting table — they come from loot chests, fishing or villager trades only.
Guides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
How do you make Golden Sword in Minecraft?
Golden Sword is crafted from Gold Ingot and Stick.
What is the stack size of Golden Sword?
Golden Sword does not stack at all. Every one you carry takes an inventory slot of its own, which is the practical limit on how many you take on a trip.
How much damage does Golden Sword do?
4 damage per fully charged hit, at 1.6 attacks per second — 6.4 damage per second. Sharpness V adds 3 damage on top of that, and Strength II adds 6 more.
How much durability does Golden Sword have?
Golden Sword has 32 durability, and can be repaired on an anvil with Gold Ingot.
Can Golden Sword be enchanted?
Yes — 9 enchantments apply to it, at an enchanting table with fifteen bookshelves, or from an enchanted book on an anvil. Mending is usually the one worth hunting for, because it removes the repair cost entirely.
The rest of the set
Golden Sword is one of 6 variants of the same shape. The others are made from different materials, so their numbers differ:
