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Template:Tool

Duncan Geere Mojang avatar

Axes were first added to Minecraft in January 2010, in version 0.31. They were double-headed to begin with, then one of the heads was removed, then it was put back and the other removed to get the tool that we have today. They’ve stayed much the same over the years – with the biggest changes in the combat update, tweaking damage and attack speed.

Duncan Geere[1]

An axe is a tool used to hasten the collection of wood-based items. It is also used as a weapon for melee attack.

Obtaining

Crafting

Ingredients Crafting recipe Description
Any Planks or
Cobblestone or
Iron Ingot or
Gold Ingot or
Diamond +
Stick

Netherite Ingot +
Diamond Axe


[upcoming: JE 1.16]
Damaged Matching Axe


The durability of the two axes is added together, plus an extra 5% durability.

Repairing

Grinding

Ingredients Grinding recipe Description
2x Damaged Wooden Axe or
2x Damaged Stone Axe or
2x Damaged Iron Axe or
2x Damaged Golden Axe or
2x Damaged Diamond Axe or
2x Damaged Netherite Axe
The durability of the two axes is added together, plus an extra 5% durability.

Unit repair

An axe can be repaired in an anvil by adding units of the corresponding material, each restores 25% its maximum durability, rounded down.

Mobs

Equipment

A vindicator spawns with an iron axe, and has an 8.5% (9.5% with Looting I, 10.5% with Looting II and 11.5% with Looting III) chance of dropping it upon death by the player. It usually has some amount of damage, and is sometimes enchanted.

Raid

In Bedrock Edition vindicators and pillagers that spawn in raids have a 4.1% chance (5.12% on hard) to drop a badly-damaged iron axe, which is sometimes enchanted with a random enchantment. It is possible for a vindicator to drop 2 iron axes, one from natural equipment and one from raid drops.

Trading

Novice-level Toolsmith villagers have a 25% chance to sell a stone axe for one emerald, journeyman-level Toolsmith villagers have a 25% chance to sell an enchanted iron axe for one emerald, and expert-level Toolsmith villagers have a 50% chance to sell an enchanted diamond axe for 12 emeralds.‌[Bedrock Edition only]

Novice-level Toolsmith villagers have a 40% chance to sell a stone axe for one emerald, journeyman-level Toolsmith villagers have a 40% chance to sell an enchanted iron axe for 7-22 emeralds, and expert-level Toolsmith villagers have a 23 chance to sell an enchanted diamond axe for 18-35 emeralds.‌[Java Edition only]

Novice-level Weaponsmith villagers sell an iron axe for 3 emeralds as one of their trades and master-level Weaponsmith villagers sell an enchanted diamond axe for 12 emeralds.‌[Bedrock Edition only]

Novice-level Weaponsmith villagers have a 23 chance to sell an iron axe for 3 emeralds. Master-level Weaponsmith villagers always offer to sell an enchanted diamond axe for 18-35 emeralds.‌[Java Edition only]

The enchantments are the same as the ones obtained from an enchantment table at levels 5–19.

Natural generation

Item Structure Container Quantity Chance
Java Edition
Wooden Axe Bonus chest Chest 1 75%
Bedrock Edition
Wooden Axe Bonus chest Chest 1 75%


Item Structure Container Quantity Chance
Java Edition
Stone Axe Bonus chest Chest 1 25%
Igloo Chest 1 14.7%
Underwater ruins Small ruins chest 1 30.2%
Bedrock Edition
Stone Axe Bonus chest Chest 1 25%
Igloo Chest 1 14.7%
Underwater ruins Small ruins chest 1 30.2%

In woodland mansions, a sealed room can appear that has a chest always containing an Efficiency I iron axe.

Usage

Chopping wood

An ахе is used to break logs and blocks derived from it faster than by using other tools. An axe uses 1 durability to break a block. For blocks that break instantly, it uses 0 durability.

Durability

Each different tier of axe has a different durability:

Material Durability
Wood 59
Stone 131
Iron 250
Diamond 1561
Golden 32
Netherite 2031

Speed

The following table summarizes the speed at which axes of different qualities perform.

Block Breaking time[A]
Default Wooden Stone Iron Diamond Netherite Golden
Wooden Trapdoors 4.5 2.25 1.15 0.75 0.6 0.5 0.4
Wooden Doors 4.5 2.25 1.15 0.75 0.6 0.5 0.4
Chest 3.75 1.9 0.95 0.65 0.5 0.45 0.35
Crafting Table 3.75 1.9 0.95 0.65 0.5 0.45 0.35
Trapped Chest 3.75 1.9 0.95 0.65 0.5 0.45 0.35
Fences 3 1.5 0.75 0.5 0.4 0.35 0.25
Fence Gates 3 1.5 0.75 0.5 0.4 0.35 0.25
Jukebox 3 1.5 0.75 0.5 0.4 0.35 0.25
Logs 3 1.5 0.75 0.5 0.4 0.35 0.25
Planks 3 1.5 0.75 0.5 0.4 0.35 0.25
Wooden Slabs 3 1.5 0.75 0.5 0.4 0.35 0.25
Wooden Stairs 3 1.5 0.75 0.5 0.4 0.35 0.25
Bookshelf 2.25 1.15 0.6 0.4 0.3 0.25 0.2
Banners 1.5 0.75 0.4 0.25 0.2 0.2 0.15
Jack o'Lantern 1.5 0.75 0.4 0.25 0.2 0.2 0.15
Melon 1.5 0.75 0.4 0.25 0.2 0.2 0.15
Pumpkin 1.5 0.75 0.4 0.25 0.2 0.2 0.15
Sign 1.5 0.75 0.4 0.25 0.2 0.2 0.15
Note Block 1.2 0.6 0.3 0.2 0.15 0.15 0.1
Wooden Pressure Plate 0.75 0.4 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.1 0.1
Beehive 0.9 0.45 0.25 0.15 0.15 0.1 0.1
Ladder 0.6 0.3 0.15 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.05
Bee Nest 0.45 0.25 0.15 0.1 0.1 0.05 0.05
Bed 0.3 0.15 0.1 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05
Cocoa 0.3 0.15 0.1 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05
Daylight Detector 0.3 0.15 0.1 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05
Mushroom Block 0.3 0.15 0.1 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05
Vines 0.3 0.15 0.1 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05
  1. Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

Stripped logs/wood

Using an axe on a log or wood block causes it to become a stripped log or a stripped wood block, respectively. This consume one point of durability from the axe.

Weapon

Java Edition

Damage done when using an axe as a weapon is more than that of a sword, though they take longer than a sword to recover. Axes lose 2 points of durability when used as a weapon, and deal different amount of damage and have different cooldown times based on the type:

Material Wooden Gold Stone Iron Diamond Netherite
Attack damage 7♥♥♥♥ 7♥♥♥♥ 9♥♥♥♥♥ 9♥♥♥♥♥ 9♥♥♥♥♥ 10♥♥♥♥♥
Attack Speed 0.8 1.0 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.0
Recovery time 1.25 seconds
25 game ticks
1 second
20 game ticks
1.25 seconds
25 game ticks
1.11 seconds
22.2 game ticks
1 second
20 game ticks
1 second
20 game ticks
DPS 5.6 7.0 7.2 8.1 9.0 10.0
Lifetime damage inflicted[note 1] 210♥ × 105 119♥ × 59.5 594♥ × 297 1134♥ × 567 7029♥ × 3514.5 10150♥ × 5075
  1. The formula to find the total lifetime damage is (durability ÷ 2) × damage per hit = minimum lifetime damage. The durability is halved because axes take double durability when used as a weapon. The formula also ignores enchantments and critical hits, and assumes the axe is at maximum charge.
Disabling shields

Attacking a shield user with an axe has a chance to disable the use of the shield for 5 seconds. The base chance is 25%, plus 5 percentage points per level of Efficiency on the axe, plus 75 percentage points if attacking while sprinting.

Bedrock Edition

In Bedrock Edition, axes always attack instantly (without a cooldown) and do less damage than a sword of the same quality:

Material Attack damage
Wooden 3♥♥
Golden
Stone 4♥♥
Iron 5♥♥♥
Diamond 6♥♥♥

Enchantments

An axe can receive the following enchantments:

Name Max Level
Fortune[note 1] III
Silk Touch[note 1] I
Efficiency V
Unbreaking III
Sharpness[note 2][note 3] V
Smite[note 2][note 3] V
Bane of Arthropods[note 2][note 3] V
Chopping[upcoming: JE Combat Tests][note 2][note 3] III
Mending[note 3] I
Curse of Vanishing[note 3][JE only] I
  1. a b Silk Touch and Fortune are mutually exclusive.
  2. a b c d Sharpness, Smite, Bane of Arthropods and Chopping are mutually exclusive.
  3. a b c d e f Available only from using enchanted books with an anvil.

Fuel

Wooden axes can be used as a fuel in furnaces, smelting 1 item per axe.

Smelting ingredient

Name Ingredients Smelting recipe
Iron Nugget or
Gold Nugget
Iron Axe or
Golden Axe +
Any fuel


Sounds

Sound Subtitle Namespaced ID Subtitle ID Source Pitch Volume Attenuation distance
Debarking log item.axe.strip subtitles.item.axe.strip
? 0.85, ? 0.9 16
Item breaks entity.item.break subtitles.entity.item.break ? 0.9 1.0 16

Data values

Item Namespaced ID Numeric ID‌[BE only]
Wooden Axe wooden_axe 271
Stone Axe stone_axe 275
Iron Axe iron_axe 258
Diamond Axe diamond_axe 279
Golden Axe golden_axe 286
Netherite Axe netherite_axe ???

Achievements

Icon Achievement In-game description Actual requirements (if different) Gamerscore earned Trophy type (PS4)
PS4 Other
MOAR ToolsConstruct one type of each tool.Construct one pickaxe, one shovel, one axe, and one hoe with the same material.15GBronze

Video

Note: This video is outdated, since as of 15w34c axes actually deal more damage than a sword.

History

indev
0.3120100111-1File:Iron Axe Revision 1.png Added iron axes.
An axe is used to gather wood 400% faster than by hand.
When starting in a new world the player is given one of each tools.
20100122File:Iron Axe Revision 2.png The texture of axes has now been changed. Half of the axe head has now been removed.
20100124File:Iron Axe Revision 3.png The texture of axes has now been changed. The other axe head is now used instead.
A complete toolset is no longer given to the player on starting a new world. Instead there are multiple chests in the later called "Indev House" containing a stack of every available block/item including tools.
20100128An axe held by the player now appears more 3d like.
20100129File:Wooden Axe Revision 1.png File:Stone Axe Revision 1.png File:Diamond Axe Revision 1.png Tools now have tiers, in addition to iron, axes can now be made from wood, stone and diamond.
A crafting recipe for iron axes has now been added, as well as the newly introduced variants.
20100130File:Golden Axe Revision 1.png Axes can now be made out of gold.
20100201-1Tools now take damage when being used. Better tools last now longer.
20100206File:Golden Axe Revision 2.png The texture of golden axes has now been slightly changed.
beta
1.2Gold tools, including axes, now remove blocks faster than diamond tools.
Java Edition
1.3.112w16aWooden and stone axes are now found in the new bonus chests.
12w18aWooden axes can now be used as fuel in a furnace.
12w21aBlacksmith villagers now sell 1 diamond axe for 9–11 emeralds, and 1 iron axe for 6–7 emeralds.
1.814w02aWeapon smith villagers now sell 1 enchanted diamond axe for 9–12 emeralds, and 1 iron axe for 6–8 emeralds. Unenchanted diamond axes are no longer sold.
1.915w34aAxes now use the attack speed combat mechanic meter. The time it takes for the meter to fill up for an axe is 1.2 seconds.
15w34bAxes now have an attack speed of 0.8, taking about 1.25 seconds to fill the attack meter.
15w34cAxes do 4 more damage than previously.
Axes now have an attack speed of 0.85.
Axes can now temporarily disable shield use.
15w35aThe damage of axes has now been reduced by one.
The speed of axes has now been increased to 0.9.
15w37aStone and diamond axes now both do 9 damage, instead of the previous 8 and 10 respectively.
Axes now have attack speed based on the tier, with wooden and stone having a speed of 0.8, iron having a speed of 0.9, and diamond having a speed of 1.
15w43aStone axes may now be found in igloo basement chests.
15w44aThe average yield of stone and wooden axes from bonus chests has now been decreased.
1.11.116w50aGolden and iron axes now smelt down into one of their respective nuggets.
1.1317w47aPrior to The Flattening, these items' numeral IDs were 271, 275, 258, 279 and 286.
18w07aUsing an axe on bark or a log now turns it into a stripped log.
18w09aStone axes now can generate in the chests of underwater ruins.
pre2Using an axe on a bark now turns it into a stripped bark.
1.1418w43aWooden Axe Stone Axe Iron Axe Golden Axe Diamond Axe The textures of all axes have now been changed.
Upcoming Java Edition
Combat Tests1.14.3 - Combat TestThe attack speed for all axes has now been increased to 2.
All axes now deal 1♥ more damage than their sword counterparts.
Combat Test 3The Chopping enchantment has now been added for axes, which adds 1 damage and 0.5 seconds (10 game ticks) of shield stunning per level and is mutually exclusive with Sharpness.
Axes now always disable shields for 1.6 seconds (32 game ticks), instead of having a 25% to disable them for 5 seconds (100 game ticks).
Axes now take 1 damage when attacking instead of 2.
1.1620w06aNetherite Axe JE1 Added netherite axes.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.2.0File:Stone Axe Revision 1.png Added stone axes.
0.3.0File:Wooden Axe Revision 1.png Added wooden axes.
0.3.2File:Iron Axe Revision 3.png File:Golden Axe Revision 2.png File:Diamond Axe Revision 1.png Added iron, golden and diamond axes.
0.11.0build 11All axes are now available in the creative inventory.
build 12All axes have now been removed from creative.
build 13All axes have now been re-added to creative mode.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0alpha 0.17.0.1Stone axes now can be found inside igloo basement chests.
1.0.4alpha 1.0.4.0Weaponsmith villagers now sell iron axes for 6-8 emeralds as part of their first tier trades and enchanted diamond axes for 9-12 emeralds as part of their third tier trades.
1.1.0alpha 1.1.0.0Iron and golden axes are now smeltable.
Iron axes with the Efficiency I enchantment can now be found inside chests in woodland mansions.
Added vindicators, who rarely drop iron axes.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0beta 1.2.0.2Wooden and stone axes can now be found in bonus chests.
1.4.0beta 1.2.13.8Using an axe on a log now turns it into a stripped log.
beta 1.2.20.1Stone axes can now be found inside underwater ruins chests.
1.10.0beta 1.10.0.3Wooden Axe Stone Axe Iron Axe Golden Axe Diamond Axe The textures of all axes have now been changed.
1.11.0beta 1.11.0.4Vindicators and pillagers that spawn in raids can now drop an iron axe.
Trading has now been changed, weaponsmith villagers now sell iron axes for 3 emeralds and enchanted diamond axes for 12 emeralds as part of their fourth tier trades.
Stone axes, enchanted iron and diamond axes can now be bought from toolsmith villagers.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1CU1 1.00 Patch 11.0.1File:Wooden Axe Revision 1.png File:Stone Axe Revision 1.png File:Iron Axe Revision 3.png File:Golden Axe Revision 2.png File:Diamond Axe Revision 1.png Added axes (all five types).
TU53CU43 1.49 Patch 231.0.1.0.3Iron and golden axes are now smeltable.
PlayStation 4 Edition
1.90Wooden Axe Stone Axe Iron Axe Golden Axe Diamond Axe The textures of all axes have now been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0File:Wooden Axe Revision 1.png File:Stone Axe Revision 1.png File:Iron Axe Revision 3.png File:Golden Axe Revision 2.png File:Diamond Axe Revision 1.png Added axes.

Issues

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

Trivia

Gallery

Enchanted Axes

See also

References

  1. "Taking Inventory: Axe" – Minecraft.net, February 6, 2020
  2. 1.8/assets/minecraft/lang/en_US.lang, line 915: item.hatchetIron.name= Iron Axe
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