Durability

Item durability is a property to which certain crafted items, including all tools, weapons and armor, as well as certain other usable items, are subject. It represents the number of useful actions an item can perform and depletes upon item use. For tools and weapons, item durability represents the number of available uses before the tool is destroyed. For armor, it represents the amount of damage that can be absorbed before the armor is destroyed.

The remaining durability of any item can be seen by looking at the item's durability bar on the bottom of the item icon in the inventory and action bar. An item that has not once been used will not display a durability bar. As the item's durability decreases, the bar's colored area shortens right to left, changing color from green to red and leaving an empty grey part. When the item has only small number of uses left, the durability bar is represented as empty, due to rounding to the nearest pixel 1-down.

The numeric durability of your items can be displayed in game by pressing +. (This enables various additional information in the tooltips for items in the player's inventory.) Note that the durability value displayed there is one less than the actual durability of the item: after the value hits 0, the item can be used one last time.

Only players can reduce the durability of items. Weapons or tools picked up by mobs that are used against a player will not lower in durability; it will remain the same as when the weapon or tool was first picked up by the mob.

Armor durability
Armor durability is based on the armor's type (head, torso, legs, feet) and material (leather, gold, chain mail, iron, diamond). Any time you take damage, each piece of armor you are wearing loses one point of durability.

Armor durability only decreases when its wearer takes damage that the armor is capable of reducing. This includes:
 * Direct attacks from mobs and other players
 * Getting hit with an arrow, snowball or fireball (either Ghast or Blaze)
 * Touching a block of fire, lava, or cactus
 * Explosions (deals more than one point of durability)
 * The Thorns enchantment

The following types of damage are not reduced by ordinary armor and have no effect on the armor's durability. Some enchantments can protect against them, but they still don't damage the armor.
 * Ongoing damage from being on fire
 * Suffocating inside a block
 * Drowning in water
 * Starvation
 * Fall damage
 * Falling into the Void
 * Poisoning e.g. from a Cave Spider bite or a Potion of Poison
 * Instant harm from a Potion of Harming

Values represent the number of points of durability damage this armor must take before it is destroyed.

Note that every time the player takes damage that armor is capable of reducing (see above), it counts as one point of durability damage for every worn armor piece. Armor with the Thorns enchantment automatically loses another point of durability, and two more (for a total of four) if it reflects damage to the attacker.

Tool durability
Some tools are not block-breaking tools: This includes hoes, bows, fishing rods, carrots on sticks, and flint and steel. Such tools are no better than bare fists at breaking blocks, but they do not take damage from doing so—they only take damage by being used in their own various manners.

For block-breaking tools, a use is counted only if a player completely breaks apart one block or hits a mob. If a block is partially broken this is not counted as a full use.

Items with an Unbreaking Enchantment do not always lose durability when used; for a given enchantment level, the chance that they will use durability is 1 in (1+level). The result is that they will last an extra level times their original durability, give or take a few.

Note that certain uses cause either no damage or extra damage to the tool:

Proper use of tools will maximize their durabilities. Assuming a player uses a tool appropriately, the following list shows the maximum durabilities for tools of each material type.
 * Axes, pickaxes, and shovels:
 * Breaking a block that breaks instantly counts as 0 uses.
 * Breaking other blocks counts as 1 use.
 * Tilling a grass block using a shovel to make grass path counts as 1 use.
 * Hitting a mob (hostile, neutral or farm animal) counts as 2 uses.
 * Hoes:
 * Tilling dirt or grass counts as 1 use.
 * Hitting a mob counts as 1 use.
 * Breaking a block counts as 0 uses.
 * Shears:
 * Shearing a sheep counts as 1 use.
 * Breaking cobweb, leaves, tall grass, tripwire, wool and vines counts as 1 use.
 * Breaking other blocks or hitting a mob count as 0 uses.
 * Swords:
 * Breaking a block that breaks instantly counts as 0 uses.
 * Breaking other blocks counts as 2 uses.
 * Hitting a mob counts as 1 use.
 * Fishing Rods:
 * Breaking a block or hitting a mob count as 0 uses.
 * Casting the line and reeling it in empty, counts as 0 uses.
 * Reeling in an item counts as 1 use.
 * Catching the bobber/hook on a block, then reeling it in, counts as 2 uses.
 * Using the line to yank on a mob counts as 3 uses.
 * Carrot on a Stick
 * Breaking a block or hitting a mob count as 0 uses.
 * Holding it for a certain amount of time while riding a pig counts as 1 use.
 * Using the boost counts as 7 uses.
 * Flint and steel
 * Breaking a block or hitting a mob count as 0 uses.
 * Using it to light a Nether portal counts as 1 use.
 * Using it to set blocks on fire counts as 1 use.
 * Bow
 * Firing an arrow counts as 1 use.
 * Elytra
 * Flying for one second counts as 1 use.
 * All other tools can be used indefinitely.