Minecraft Wiki

The Minecraft Wiki has moved from Fandom; see the linked discussion page for details.

READ MORE

Minecraft Wiki
Advertisement
Crafting Table
This article describes content that may be included in a future update. 
This content has appeared in development versions, but the full update containing it has not been released yet.

An Anvil is a block that uses the new item repair interface to repair, rename, and combine enchantments on items.

Crafting

Ingredients Input » Output
Block of Iron +
Iron Ingot
Template:Grid/Crafting Table

History

u
7th October, 2012Dinnerbone tweets the first images of the anvil's interface.
10th October, 2012Dinnerbone tweets the first screenshot of the anvil itself.
12w41aAnvils added to the game

Usage

The main purpose of Anvils is repairing and renaming items. Unlike repairing items by combining them in a crafting area, anvils can both retain enchantments and expand on them. The player can also rename any item - not just tools or armor - using this method. This costs levels proportional to what is given. Simply renaming an item will cost 5 levels for a non-tool/armor item, whereas renaming and repairing an enchanted tool/armor is substantially more. As it is used, the anvil will become damaged. On its last use, taking the item will cause the GUI to close and anvil to disappear, dropping the item on the ground.

When an anvil lands on a non-solid block (like torches, rails, etc.), it will destroy that item instead of dropping itself as an item like sand, gravel, and dragon eggs do. When dropped on a pressure plate, a boat, cobwebs, a slab, a sign, a cake, a lily pad, closed trapdoor or opened fence gate, the anvil will drop as an item. When dropped on a flower pot, the flower pot is destroyed without a drop. When dropped on a head, the head is dropped as an item. It will also inflict damage when dropped on players or mobs. Damage amount depends on fall altitude.

The amount of damage dealt is calculated by this equation
Anvil Damage = MAX(Fallen blocks - 2, 0) * 1.5

A player dying by an anvil falling on them will receive this message: "Player was squashed by a falling anvil." However if a player is touched by an anvil entity, or falling anvil, no damage will result until the anvil becomes a block in the gridspace where the player is. So anvils can be shot with a TNT Cannon, and pass right through a player, and not damage him/her. Anvils have the same blast resistance as obsidian making this anvil block blast proof. Despite this, they can still be mined quickly with a pickaxe. Although the player is provided with three types of anvils depending on damage, they all share the same block ID. This only pertains to damage values.

Bugs

  • As anvils are not an eight-way symmetrical shape and Falling Sand retains a single orientation, no matter which direction an anvil was facing before it fell, it will default to a specific orientation while falling.
  • When "Punching" with a anvil the below of the top part is invisible. When its placed, however, it is not there.
  • When you place down the anvil it will not work and give you a blank screen.
  • When you place it down you are unable to "rename" or "repair" any items.

Gallery

Trivia

  • It takes a total of 55 iron ingots to craft an anvil.
  • The anvil's secondary purpose to inflict damage by falling on a mob or player can be traced back to early cartoons, where anvils were used to harm others by landing on them.
  • Similarly to obsidian, bedrock and End Portal Frames, Anvils cannot be pushed or pulled by pistons.
  • Placing down a renamed placeable item will not retain the name if the item is picked back up again.
  • The anvil has the same blast resistance as obsidian and enchantment table.
  • Anvils being affected by physics may be a reference to classic cartoons, in which anvils were used in traps that usually backfired, causing the anvil to fall onto, and severly hurt, the antagonist.

References

Advertisement