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This article is about the block. For the file format, see Anvil file format.

An anvil is a gravity-affected utility block used to rename items, combine enchantments and repair items without losing the enchantments. An anvil has limited durability, and as it is used or dropped too far, gradually becomes a chipped anvil, then a damaged anvil, then breaks into nothing.

Obtaining[]

Breaking[]

Anvils can be mined using any pickaxe. If mined without a pickaxe, they drop nothing.

Block Anvil
Hardness 5
Tool
Breaking time[A]
Default 25
Wooden 3.75
Stone 1.9
Iron 1.25
Diamond 0.95
Netherite 0.85
Golden 0.65
  1. Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

Natural generation[]

A damaged anvil generates in the "Forge room" of the woodland mansion.

Crafting[]

A total of 31 iron ingots (including 27 for three blocks of iron) are required to craft an anvil.

Ingredients Crafting recipe
Block of Iron +
Iron Ingot

Usage[]

Repairing and renaming items[]

Anvil GUI

The GUI of the anvil.

Main article: Anvil mechanics

Anvils have two modes to repair items that have a durability rating:

  • As with the grindstone, a player may repair items by combining two similar items. With the anvil, however, the target retains its enchantments and may gain new ones from the sacrificed items.
  • Alternatively, a player can use materials originally required in the crafting of the item (iron ingots for iron items with durability, diamonds for diamond items with durability) to repair a single item. One material can repair 25% of the target's maximum durability. This is a very good deal in the case of a chestplate, for example; a full repair (four materials) would total only half of the item's original cost (eight materials). In the case of tools and weapons, however, this may be a significantly less economical option; combining two diamond shovels would cost two diamonds in total, while up to four diamonds could be required to directly repair one. Still, it may be worth making the more expensive upgrade if the enchantments are considered difficult to obtain.

If the items are unable to be combined, a red "X" appears over the arrow pointing to the slot of the resulting item. Also, if the target item is at full durability and the sacrifice does not have any enchantments, the anvil will also refuse to combine the items, unless if renaming the item to a valid name.

In addition, the player can rename any item – not just items with durability – by using an anvil.

Repairing[]

See also: Repair
Anvil3

Example showing a repair of two diamond pickaxes.

Repairing with materials works for the most part, but not with all items: in general, repairing works for items with their material in the default name. For example, an anvil can repair an iron pickaxe with materials (iron in this case) while an anvil cannot repair bows or shears except with other bows or shears. Special cases: chain armor can be repaired with iron ingots, turtle shells can be repaired with scutes, and elytra can be repaired with phantom membranes. The repair does not need to be complete; one material repairs 14 of the item's maximum durability. Repair of an unenchanted item can cost more material than simply crafting a new item or combining damaged items. The exception is armor, which consumes less material at the cost of experience levels.

Repairing with a matching item works for any item with durability including bows, shears and so on. The items must be a matching tool and of a matching material. For example, a golden pickaxe cannot combine with a golden sword or iron pickaxe.

In both cases, the resulting durability is limited to the item's maximum, and there is no discount for "over-repair".

As a subset of repairing one item with another, the anvil can transfer enchantments from the sacrifice to the target. This can have a synergistic effect when both items share identical enchantments, or simply add to each other when they do not. Two Sharpness II swords can be combined to make a Sharpness III sword, for example, or a pickaxe with Efficiency can be combined with one that has Unbreaking. This can produce enchantments and combinations that are not possible with an enchanting table. But even so, some enchantments cannot be combined if they are similar, or contradicting, in terms of what they do. If the target is damaged, the player has to pay for the repair as well as the transfer.

Transferring high-level enchantments is more expensive, and renaming an item has an additional surcharge. The anvil has a limit of 39 levels; beyond that, repairs are refused. This limit is not present in Creative mode.

Every time armor or tools are repaired, the minimum experience cost doubles (e.g., 1 level, 2 levels, 4 levels, 8 levels, etc.).

Renaming[]

Any item or stack of items can be renamed at a cost of one level plus any prior-work penalty. If the player is only renaming, the maximum total cost is 39 levels. The maximum length for renaming is 30 characters‌[BE only] or 50 characters‌[JE only]. Some items have special effects when renamed:

Any name changes to items are applied to the data tag {Item:{tag:{display:{Name:"{\"text\":\"<name>\"}"}}}}. Similarly, this data tag can be accessed by the nbt argument using target selectors.

If the item name field is left blank, or is only whitespace or non-breaking spaces (or a combination of both), the default name for that item is used instead. Also, if the item name is unchanged from its current name (which can occur when renaming an item for the first time and using any of the aforementioned blank parameters), a red "X" will appear on top of the arrow in the GUI.

Named items do not stack with unnamed or differently-named items of the same type.

Enchanted books[]

Enchanted books are used to enchant tools. Enchanted books themselves can be combined to create higher-tiered books. This makes an anvil an alternative to the enchantment table.

Falling anvils[]

Main article: Falling Block

When there is no supporting block below an anvil, the anvil falls in the same way sand, gravel, concrete powder, and dragon eggs fall. A placed anvil cannot be pushed or pulled by pistons,‌[Java Edition only] but a falling anvil can be pushed (though cannot be pulled), as it is an entity. This is different in Bedrock Edition where anvils can be pushed and pulled by pistons. Anvils make a metallic clang sound when they land.

A falling anvil damages any player or mob that it falls on. The damage amount depends on fall distance: 2♥ per block fallen after the first (e.g., an anvil that falls 4 blocks deals 6♥♥♥ damage). The damage is capped at 40♥ × 20, no matter how far the anvil falls. Wearing a helmet reduces the damage by 14, but this costs twice as much durability on the helmet as on other armor pieces. When a player dies by an anvil falling on them, the death message "<player> was squashed by a falling anvil" appears. However, if a player is merely touched by a falling anvil entity, no damage is dealt unless the falling anvil becomes an anvil block in the same block where the player is located.

If an anvil falls onto a block with a solid top surface, but the same block it is in cannot be replaced (torch, slab, etc.), it breaks and drops as an item.

An anvil can fall into the void if there is a straight path to it.

Maps[]

Main article: Map

In Bedrock Edition, an anvil can be used instead of a crafting table to zoom a map out, to clone a map, or to place a player position marker on a map.

Name Ingredients Anvil usage Description
Map or Locator Map (zoomed out) Map or Locator Map +
Paper
Repair & Name MapLocator Map


Bedrock Edition only.

Supplying 8 sheets of paper results in a zoomed-out version of the input map.

Map or Locator Map (cloned) Map or Locator Map +
Empty Map
Repair & Name MapLocator Map22


Bedrock Edition only.

Only one copy can be made at a time.

The input map must be a locator map for the output to be a locator map; an empty map has no effect.

Locator Map Map +
Compass
Repair & NameMapCompass


Bedrock Edition only.

Maps crafted with only paper do not show the location marker; to add it, a compass must be added to the map.

However, with the introduction of the cartography table, this feature became dispensable.

Becoming damaged[]

With each use, an anvil has a 12% chance to become damaged – degrading one stage at a time, first becoming chipped, then damaged, then eventually destroyed. An anvil typically survives for 25 uses on average or approximately one use per 1.24 iron ingots used in crafting the anvil.

An anvil can be damaged and destroyed from falling. If it falls from a height greater than one block, the chance of degrading by one stage is 5% × the number of blocks fallen.

The damage state does not affect the anvil's function, but only anvils of the same damage state can stack in inventory.

When an anvil is destroyed, the player automatically leaves the anvil GUI and it disappears.

Creative mode[]

In creative mode, the anvil functions a little differently than other game modes:

  • Any repair/enchant/rename operation may be done, regardless of the player's experience level.
    • The experience cost is not taken from the player.
  • The repair cost of tools does still increase.
    • It will keep doubling with each repair, past the usual limit of 39 levels.
    • When it reaches the capacity of signed 32-bit integers, no repair cost is shown and the "product" item cannot be taken out of the anvil. Tools in this state also cannot be renamed or enchanted.
  • Anvils are not damaged on use.

Sounds[]

Generic[]

Java Edition:

SoundSubtitlesSourceDescriptionResource locationTranslation keyVolumePitchAttenuation
distance
Block brokenBlocksOnce the block has brokenblock.anvil.breaksubtitles.block.generic.break0.650.816
Block placedBlocksWhen the block is placedblock.anvil.placesubtitles.block.generic.place0.650.816
Block breakingBlocksWhile the block is in the process of being brokenblock.anvil.hitsubtitles.block.generic.hit0.16250.516
None[sound 1]Entity-DependentFalling on the block with fall damageblock.anvil.fallNone[sound 1]0.150.7516
FootstepsEntity-DependentWalking on the blockblock.anvil.stepsubtitles.block.generic.footsteps0.0451.016
  1. a b MC-177082

Bedrock Edition:

SoundSourceDescriptionResource locationVolumePitch
BlocksOnce the block has brokendig.stone1.00.8-1.0
BlocksWhen the block is placedrandom.anvil_land0.50.8-1.0
BlocksWhile the block is in the process of being brokenhit.anvil0.350.5
None[until BE 1.20.30]
Players[upcoming: BE 1.20.30]
Falling on the block with fall damage[sound 1][upcoming: BE 1.20.30]fall.anvil[until BE 1.20.30]
step.stone[upcoming: BE 1.20.30]
0.41.0
None[until BE 1.20.30]
Players[upcoming: BE 1.20.30]
Walking on the block[sound 1][upcoming: BE 1.20.30]step.anvil[until BE 1.20.30]
step.stone[upcoming: BE 1.20.30]
0.3[until BE 1.20.30]
0.6[upcoming: BE 1.20.30]
1.0
None[until BE 1.20.30]
Players[upcoming: BE 1.20.30]
Jumping from the block[sound 1][upcoming: BE 1.20.30]jump.anvil[until BE 1.20.30]
step.stone[upcoming: BE 1.20.30]
0.121.0
None[until BE 1.20.30]
Players[upcoming: BE 1.20.30]
Falling on the block without fall damage[sound 1][upcoming: BE 1.20.30]land.anvil[until BE 1.20.30]
step.stone[upcoming: BE 1.20.30]
0.221.0
  1. a b c d Due to MCPE-33139, this sound did not trigger

Unique[]

Java Edition:

SoundSubtitlesSourceDescriptionResource locationTranslation keyVolumePitchAttenuation
distance
Anvil destroyedBlocksWhen an anvil is destroyedblock.anvil.destroysubtitles.block.anvil.destroy1.00.9-1.016
Anvil landedBlocksWhen an anvil lands and survivesblock.anvil.landsubtitles.block.anvil.land0.30.9-1.016
Anvil usedBlocksWhen an anvil is usedblock.anvil.usesubtitles.block.anvil.use1.00.9-1.016

Bedrock Edition:

SoundSourceDescriptionResource locationVolumePitch
BlocksWhen an anvil is broken by using itrandom.anvil_break1.01.0
BlocksWhen an anvil lands and survivesrandom.anvil_land0.50.8-1.0
BlocksWhen an anvil is used and survivesrandom.anvil_use0.61.0

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierFormBlock tagsItem tagsTranslation key
AnvilanvilBlock & Itemanvilanvilblock.minecraft.anvil
Chipped Anvilchipped_anvilBlock & Itemanvilanvilblock.minecraft.chipped_anvil
Damaged Anvildamaged_anvilBlock & Itemanvilanvilblock.minecraft.damaged_anvil

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID FormItem ID[i 1]Translation key
Anvilanvil145Block & Giveable Item[i 2]Identical[i 3]tile.anvil.intact.name
tile.anvil.slightlyDamaged.name
tile.anvil.veryDamaged.name
  1. ID of block's direct item form, which is used in savegame files and addons.
  2. Available with /give command.
  3. The block's direct item form has the same id as the block.

Block states[]

See also: Block states

Java Edition:

Name Default value Allowed values Description
facingnortheast
north
south
west
An anvil pointing north or south is aligned with its long dimension pointing north–south.
An anvil pointing east or west is aligned with its long dimension pointing east–west.
This value is 90° clockwise from the direction a player faces while placing an anvil.

Bedrock Edition:

NameMetadata Bits Default value Allowed valuesValues for
Metadata Bits
Description
damage0x4
0x8
undamaged broken3 Broken Anvil (inaccessible, uses anvil base texture)
slightly_damaged1 Slightly Damaged Anvil.
undamaged0 Anvil.
very_damaged2 Very Damaged Anvil.
direction
(Deprecated)
0x1
0x2
00
1
2
3
0
1
2
3
The direction the anvil is facing.
  • 0: facing West
  • 1: facing North
  • 2: facing East
  • 3: facing South
minecraft:cardinal_directionNot Supportedsoutheast
north
south
west
UnsupportedAn anvil pointing north or south is aligned with its long dimension pointing north–south.
An anvil pointing east or west is aligned with its long dimension pointing east–west.
This value is 90° clockwise from the direction a player faces while placing an anvil.

Falling block entity[]

Main article: Falling Block
  • Dynamic block entity data
      • Tags common to all entities
    •  BlockState: The falling block represented by this entity.
    •  CancelDrop: 1 or 0 (true/false). Whether the block will be cancelled from being placed when it lands on a solid block. When true, it also prevents the block from dropping as an item (regardless of what the DropItem tag is set to). However, if true and the falling block's Time tag goes to 0 before landing on a solid block, it will still destroy itself and drop itself as an item (or not, respective to what the DropItem tag is set to). CancelDrop defaults to false for summoned and naturally occurring falling blocks (except for Suspicious Blocks).
    •  DropItem: 1 or 0 (true/false) – true if the block should drop as an item when it breaks. Any block that does not have an item form with the same ID as the block does not drop even if this is set.
    •  FallHurtAmount: Multiplied by the FallDistance to calculate the amount of damage to inflict. By default this value is 2♥ for anvils, and 6♥♥♥ for pointed dripstone.
    •  FallHurtMax: The maximum hit points of damage to inflict on entities that intersect this falling block. For vanilla falling blocks, always 40♥ × 20.
    •  HurtEntities: 1 or 0 (true/false) – true if the block should hurt entities it falls on.
    •  TileEntityData: Optional. The tags of the block entity for this block.
    •  Time: The number of ticks the entity has existed. When Time goes above 600, or above 100 while the block is below Y=1 or is outside building height, the entity is deleted.

Achievements[]

Icon Achievement In-game description Actual requirements (if different) Gamerscore earned Trophy type (PS4)
PS4 Other
Organizational WizardName a Shulker Box with an Anvil30GBronze

History[]

Java Edition Indev
February 5, 2010Anvils were mentioned by Notch.
Java Edition
October 7, 2012Dinnerbone tweets the first images of the anvil's interface.
October 10, 2012Anvil (N) (pre-release) Dinnerbone tweets the first screenshot of the anvil.
1.4.212w41aAnvil (N) JE1 BE1 Chipped Anvil (N) JE1 BE1 Damaged Anvil (N) JE1 BE1 Added anvils. All anvil damage levels are available in the Creative inventory.
Anvils currently require one iron ingot and six blocks of iron:
Ingredients Crafting recipe
Block of Iron +
Iron Ingot

12w42aAnvils now have an easier crafting recipe.
Ingredients Crafting recipe
Block of Iron +
Iron Ingot

It is now possible to repair tools using anvils, by using more of the material it is made of (such as adding diamonds to a nearly broken diamond pickaxe).
Items that are renamed now have item names that appear as italic text or orange text in Console Edition.
The # Levels information inside anvils has been renamed to Enchantment cost.
1.4Added new sounds for the anvil.
The level cap for anvils for creative mode have been removed.
1.4.612w49aEnchanted books have been added, which can be used only with the anvil.
12w50aEnchanting non-tools with enchanted books using the anvil now works only in creative mode.
Silk Touch can now be applied to shears by using the anvil, meaning cobwebs can now be harvested.
1.513w02aMobs spawned from renamed spawn eggs, from using the anvil, have the name of their spawn egg, and their names appear in the death message of them killing a player.
Mobs that are spawned from renamed spawn eggs, from using the anvil, can now display their custom name as nametag using an NBT tag.
Brewing stands, chests, dispensers, enchantment tables, furnaces and trapped chests that are renamed using anvils now display their new name in their GUI where the normal name used to appear.
13w04aMobs now show the name given to them (either by renaming their spawn egg using an anvil or by external editors) above their head when the player looks directly at them within hitting range.
1.6.11.6Renaming a spawn egg "Dinnerbone" or "Grumm" using an anvil now causes the mob to spawn upside down (this also works with renaming name tags).
1.7.413w48bRenaming a sheep spawn egg to jeb_ using an anvil now causes the sheep to spawn with multicolored wool (this also works with renaming name tags).
1.814w02aThe costs of using anvils have been reduced to balance out with the new enchanting system.
Renaming items using anvils now costs only 1 level.
Repairing costs using anvils have been reduced, 1 level per raw material or sacrifice regardless of durability restored.
Extra costs for repairing an enchanted tool using anvils have been eliminated. Costs for combining enchantments have been reduced.
Repairing costs while using anvils can no longer be kept down by renaming items.
14w04aPrior work cost increase while using anvils has been changed from linear (1 per repair) to exponential (times 2 plus 1 per repair).
Repairing with a "sacrifice" while using anvils now costs 2 levels rather than only 1.
14w10aAnvil (N) JE2 Chipped Anvil (N) JE2 Damaged Anvil (N) JE2 The models of anvil have been changed.
1.915w42aRenaming an item while using anvils no longer incurs a prior work penalty.
1.1116w32aAnvils now give sounds when they break.
16w35aRenamed items from anvils now keep their name when picked back up.
16w39aA damaged anvil now generates in woodland mansions.
1.11.1releaseAnvils no longer allow enchanted books to apply to items, if no change in enchantments would take effect. This can occur if all enchantments on the book are incompatible with existing enchantments on the item – or if the enchanted book has no enchantments.
1.1317w47aThe different anvil damage block states for the anvil ID have been split up into their own IDs.
"Slightly Damaged Anvil" and "Very Damaged Anvil" renamed to "Chipped Anvil" and "Damaged Anvil", respectively.
Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 145.
1.1418w43aAnvil (N) JE3 Chipped Anvil (N) JE3 Damaged Anvil (N) JE3 The textures of anvils have been changed.
1.1721w19aThe maximum length of names in the anvil UI has been increased from 35 to 50.
1.18Pre-release 5The texture of GUI hammer has been changed.
1.20Pre-release 5Falling anvils no longer destroy item entities.[1]
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.12.1build 1Anvil (N) JE1 BE1 Chipped Anvil (N) JE1 BE1 Damaged Anvil (N) JE1 BE1 Added anvils. All anvil damage levels are available in the Creative inventory.
v0.14.0build 1Anvils are now needed to add the markers onto maps by putting a map and a compass in.
v0.15.0build 1Anvils can now be moved by pistons.
Pocket Edition
?Renamed items using anvils now keep their name when picked back up.
1.1.0alpha 1.1.0.0Very damaged anvils now generate in woodland mansions.
Bedrock Edition
?Broken Anvil (N) BE1 Added broken anvils.
1.2.13beta 1.2.13.5Anvil (N) BE2 Chipped Anvil (N) BE2 Damaged Anvil (N) BE2 Changed models of anvils. The models of anvils now also use top texture on top face of the raised portion. Mirrored textures vertically on sides.
1.10.0beta 1.10.0.3Anvil (N) BE3 Chipped Anvil (N) BE3 Damaged Anvil (N) BE3 Broken Anvil BE2 The textures of anvils have been changed.
1.20.30beta 1.20.30.20Anvils now use the minecraft:cardinal_direction block state instead of direction.
Legacy Console Edition
TU14CU1 1.05 Patch 11.0.1Anvil (N) JE1 BE1 Chipped Anvil (N) JE1 BE1 Damaged Anvil (N) JE1 BE1 Added anvils. Unlike other editions, only the undamaged anvil can be obtained inside the Creative inventory.
TU31CU19 1.22 Patch 3Anvil repairing has been rebalanced as per Java 1.8 changes.
1.90 Anvil (N) JE3 Chipped Anvil (N) JE3 Damaged Anvil (N) JE3 The textures of anvils have been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0Anvil (N) JE1 BE1 Chipped Anvil (N) JE1 BE1 Damaged Anvil (N) JE1 BE1 Added anvils. All anvil damage levels are available in the Creative inventory.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Anvil" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

  • If placed on top of exploding TNT blocks, the explosion does not affect the surrounding area. This is because the anvil falls into the space the TNT entity is occupying, and since the TNT's explosion power is not high enough to destroy the anvil, no blocks are destroyed.
  • Before they were added to Minecraft, anvils were already present in Minicraft.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. MC-120158 — "Anvils and other falling_blocks with HurtEntities set to true kill items and xp orbs" — resolved as "Fixed".
  2. https://twitter.com/Dinnerbone/status/254689806309797888
  3. https://twitter.com/Dinnerbone/status/255956096693440512

External links[]

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