How to Get Mending in Minecraft: Librarian, Fishing, Loot

Mending is the one enchantment every serious Minecraft player wants on their best gear. Instead of wearing out, a tool or armor piece with Mending repairs itself from the experience orbs you collect, so your diamond pickaxe, elytra, or netherite sword can last forever if you look after it. The catch is that you cannot get Mending from an enchanting table, no matter how many bookshelves you place around it. If you want to know how to get mending in minecraft, you need villagers, fishing, or loot chests instead. This guide ranks every method, explains the odds in plain terms, and shows you the fastest route to your first Mending book.

What Mending Actually Does

Mending is a treasure enchantment, which is the game's label for enchantments that never appear on an enchanting table. When you gain experience while holding or wearing a Mending item, the experience first repairs that item, restoring 2 durability for every experience point, and only the leftover experience goes to your level bar. If the item is already fully repaired, all the experience goes to your levels as normal. Mending works on almost every kind of gear: tools, weapons, armor, elytra, fishing rods, and more. It does not make an item unbreakable, though. If durability reaches zero, the item still breaks, so keep an eye on heavily used gear and top it up with experience before it gets critical.

How to Get Mending in Minecraft: Every Method Ranked

There are three real ways to learn how to get mending in minecraft, and they are not equal. Ranked from best to worst, they are librarian villagers, fishing, and loot chests. Here is how each one works and which one you should start with.

1. Librarian Villagers: The Best Method

Trading with a librarian villager is the only reliable, repeatable way to get a Mending book, and it is the method most experienced players use. Place a lectern near an unemployed villager and it will take the librarian job. Check its first trade: if it offers an enchanted book, look at which enchantment it is. If it is not Mending, break the lectern and place it again to reroll the trade. You can repeat this until the villager offers a Mending book, but only before you trade with it for the first time, because the first trade locks its offers in place.

A Mending book is an expensive trade, so stock up on emeralds first. Paper from sugar cane, or books from a cow and sugar cane farm, trade well with librarians and give you a steady emerald income. If you cure a zombie villager first, you can also unlock big discounts, which makes the Mending trade far cheaper. Once you have your librarian, you can buy more Mending books whenever you need them, which is why this method beats every other option. For players asking how to get mending in minecraft on a fresh world, this is the answer to aim for.

2. Fishing: The Patient Method

Fishing can reward you with enchanted books as treasure catches, and Mending is one of the enchantments those books can carry. The chance of a treasure catch is small, but a fishing rod with Luck of the Sea III raises it noticeably, and Lure III shortens the wait between bites. This method costs almost nothing to start, which makes it a good early game option while you set up villagers. The downside is luck: you might fish for an hour and catch nothing but fish and junk, or you might land a Mending book on your tenth cast. If you enjoy relaxed play, or you want to learn how to get mending in minecraft without building a trading hall, fishing is a fair way to try.

3. Loot Chests: The Lucky Find

Enchanted books turn up in loot chests all over the world: dungeons, desert temples, jungle temples, mineshafts, strongholds, woodland mansions, ancient cities, and End cities. Any of these chests can hold a Mending book, and End cities are a particularly good late game hunting ground because their chests often carry strong enchanted gear and books. Treat this method as a bonus, not a plan. You cannot control what a chest contains, so exploring for a Mending book can take many trips. Still, if you are already out raiding structures, always check the chests: many players find their first Mending book this way. Players searching for how to get mending in minecraft often overlook this method, but it costs nothing extra if you are exploring anyway.

4. Methods That Do Not Work

Save yourself wasted effort: the enchanting table never offers Mending, even at level 30 with full bookshelves. You also cannot craft a Mending book, and wandering traders do not sell enchanted books. If a guide promises Mending from enchanting, it is wrong. Treasure enchantments only come from trading, fishing, loot, or combining books you already own.

How to Use Mending Once You Have It

Combine the book with your gear on an anvil and pay the experience level cost. For the best value, put Unbreaking III on the item first, since a higher durability pool means fewer repairs overall. After that, just use the item: every experience orb you pick up while holding or wearing it repairs it automatically. Mining, smelting, breeding animals, and killing mobs all produce experience, so normal play keeps Mending gear topped up. One warning: a grindstone strips enchantments, so never grind a Mending item unless you mean to remove the enchantment. And remember that experience repairs one item at a time, so if you wear several Mending pieces, spread your play across them rather than expecting one orb to fix everything. This is the part of learning how to get mending in minecraft that matters most: the book is only half the job, and using it well is the other half.

Which Gear Deserves Mending First

Put Mending on the gear you use most and would hate to lose. For most players that means an elytra first, then a pickaxe, then a sword, then armor. Elytra are expensive to replace and break fast when flying, so Mending turns them from a luxury into a permanent tool. Your pickaxe comes next because you use it constantly, and a Mending pickaxe with Fortune or Silk Touch is a long term investment.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Do not trade with a librarian before checking its book offer, or you will lock in the wrong trade. Do not try to combine Mending with Infinity on a bow, because those two enchantments conflict and the anvil will refuse the combination. Do not let a favorite item sit at nearly zero durability while you chase experience, since one more use can break it. And do not ignore Unbreaking: Mending repairs damage, but Unbreaking slows damage down, and together they make gear last many times longer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you get Mending from an enchanting table?

No. Mending is a treasure enchantment, so it never appears on an enchanting table at any level.

What is the easiest way to get Mending?

Rerolling a librarian villager's book trade with a lectern is the easiest reliable method, and it works in both Java and Bedrock editions.

Does Mending work on netherite gear?

Yes. Mending works on netherite tools, weapons, and armor, and it is one of the best enchantments to put on netherite.

Can a bow have both Mending and Infinity?

No. Mending and Infinity conflict, so a bow can only have one of them. Most players pick Mending for a bow they use heavily, or Infinity for a bow they use casually.

Does Mending repair gear automatically?

Yes, as long as you hold the tool or wear the armor while collecting experience orbs. If you want to know how to get mending in minecraft and keep your gear forever, this automatic repair is the payoff.

Final Thoughts

Now you know how to get mending in minecraft, from librarian rerolls to lucky fishing catches. Mending changes how you play: once your best gear repairs itself, you stop worrying about durability and start building bigger projects. Start with a librarian trading hall, fish while you gather emeralds, and check every loot chest you pass. On the BD ZONE Survival server, a Mending pickaxe is one of the first upgrades veteran players recommend, so join us at PLAY.BDZONEMC.COM, ask for trading tips on Discord at https://discord.gg/QzhjgYZNGs, and get your first Mending book this week.