Minecraft Enchanting Table Setup: Bookshelves, Lapis and Level 30

An enchanting table takes 4 obsidian, 2 diamonds and 1 book. Put the book in the top middle of the crafting grid, the diamonds on either side of the middle row with obsidian in the centre, and the remaining three obsidian along the bottom row.

A book is three paper and one leather, and paper comes from sugar cane. If you do not have obsidian yet, our guide to building a Nether portal explains how to get it with a bucket of water and some lava.

Each bookshelf placed near the table raises the strength of the enchantments it offers. With 15 bookshelves, the bottom option reaches the highest possible cost of 30 levels. More than 15 does nothing extra.

A bookshelf is 6 planks and 3 books, so 15 shelves need 45 books: 135 paper and 45 leather. Sugar cane and cows are the bottleneck, which is why a small sugar cane farm by the water and a pen of cows are worth setting up before you start.

Place the table, then leave exactly one block of empty space around it in every direction. The bookshelves go in the ring just outside that gap, on the same level as the table or one block higher. The easiest version is a 5x5 square with the table in the middle: put shelves around the edge, two high, and leave one spot open as a doorway.

That empty ring has to stay empty. A torch, a carpet, a slab or any other block in the gap stops the shelf behind it from counting. If your table is not reaching level 30, look for something sitting in the gap first. Light the room with lanterns on the walls or glowstone in the ceiling instead.

The table shows three options. The number on the right is the experience level you need to have, not the amount you pay. The top option takes 1 level and 1 lapis lazuli, the middle one 2 levels and 2 lapis, and the bottom one 3 levels and 3 lapis. So a level 30 enchantment needs you to be at level 30 or above, but only costs 3 levels.

That makes it worth waiting until you reach level 30 and then using the bottom option every time. Mine lapis whenever you see it, since you will go through a lot of it.

Hovering over an option shows only one of the enchantments you will receive, and the item can get more. If none of the three options look good, you do not have to accept them. Enchanting anything, even a cheap book with the top option, shuffles the offers for every item you put in next.

You can also enchant books instead of tools. An enchanted book can be combined with any matching item on an anvil, so you can save a good book for the diamond pickaxe you have not made yet.

Enchanting at low levels wastes lapis on weak results; collect experience first by mining, smelting or killing mobs. Do not enchant your first diamond tool with a random level 8 offer, because the enchantment cannot be removed except with a grindstone, which wipes it entirely. And keep your enchanting room away from mob farms or redstone you might change later, because a single block dropped into the gap can quietly lower every offer.

For the enchantments a table can never give, such as Mending, you need villager trading. Our villager trading guide explains how to reroll a librarian until it offers one.