Template:Tool
The specific instructions are: Bedrock's netherite sword uses a different texture
A sword is a melee weapon that is mainly used to deal damage to mobs and/or players. Swords are also useful for mining cobwebs.
Obtaining
Crafting
| Ingredients | Crafting recipe | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Any Planks or Cobblestone or Iron Ingot or Gold Ingot or Diamond + Stick |
||
| Damaged Matching Swords | The durability of the two swords is added together, plus an extra 5% of the tool type's total durability. |
Upgrading
Diamond Sword +
Netherite Ingot +
Netherite Sword
| Ingredients | Crafting recipe | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Diamond Sword + Netherite Ingot |
[upcoming: BE 1.16.0] |
Repairing
Grinding
| Ingredients | Grinding recipe | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 2x Damaged Wooden Sword or 2x Damaged Stone Sword or 2x Damaged Iron Sword or 2x Damaged Golden Sword or 2x Damaged Diamond Sword or 2x Damaged Netherite Sword[upcoming: JE 1.16 & BE 1.16] |
The durability of the two swords is added together, plus an extra 5% durability. |
Unit repair
A sword can be repaired in an anvil by adding units of the tiers' repair material, with each repair material restoring 25% the sword's maximum durability, rounded down.
Mobs
Some monsters can spawn with a sword and have an 8.5% chance of dropping them upon death by player. This chance is increased by 1% per level of Looting, up to a maximum of 11.5% with Looting III. Zombies and husks can drop iron swords, zombie pigmen and piglins can drop golden swords, and wither skeletons can drop stone swords. The dropped sword is usually badly damaged and may be enchanted. Stone swords dropped by wither skeletons are never enchanted.
A vex wields an iron sword that normally has a 0% chance of dropping, because their main hand's HandDropChances is 0. However, this chance increases by 1 percentage point per level of Looting. It is never damaged[Java Edition only] and may be enchanted.
In Bedrock Edition, pillagers and vindicators that spawn from raids have a 4.1% chance (5.12% chance on hard) of dropping an iron sword, badly damaged although it can be enchanted with a random enchantment.
Trading
The Diamond Sword trade of the weaponsmith.
Apprentice-level weaponsmith villagers sell enchanted iron swords for 2 emeralds, and expert-level weaponsmiths sell enchanted diamond swords for 8 emeralds.[Bedrock Edition only]
Novice-level weaponsmith villagers have a 2⁄3 chance of selling an enchanted iron sword for 7-22 emeralds. Master-level weaponsmiths offer to sell an enchanted diamond sword for 11-27 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 | ||||
| Iron Sword | Buried treasure | Chest | 1 | 25% |
| Stronghold | Altar chest | 1 | 12% | |
| Village | Weaponsmith's chest | 1 | 25.6% | |
| Bedrock Edition | ||||
| Iron Sword | Stronghold | Altar chest | 1 | 11.6% |
| Village | Weaponsmith's chest | 1 | 25.6% | |
| Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Java Edition | ||||
| Golden Sword | Bastion remnant | Generic chest | 1 | 9.8% |
| Bridge chest | 1 | 11.2% | ||
| Nether fortress | Chest | 1 | 19% | |
| Bedrock Edition | ||||
| Golden Sword | Bastion remnant | Generic chest | 1 | 9.8% |
| Bridge chest | 1 | 11.2% | ||
| Nether fortress | Chest | 1 | 19% | |
Unknown item enchanted-iron-sword.
| Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
|---|
Unknown item enchanted-diamond-sword.
| Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
|---|
- Notes
Usage
Attacking
Pressing attack while holding a sword inflicts damage on both mobs and other players. Upon damaging a mob or player, the sword's durability decreases by 1.
Attacking a boat or a minecart with a sword instantly destroys it, without decreasing the sword's durability.
Sweep attack
If the attack recharge meter is 84.8% or above, and the player is standing or moving no faster than walking speed, the sword performs a "sweep" attack that can hit nearby enemies. Enemies near the hit enemy are knocked back and damaged by 1
from the slashing attack. The Sweeping Edge enchantment increases the damage dealt by 50% of the normal hit damage for level I, 67% for level II, and 75% for level III. The amount of knockback is 80% that of the knockback due to Knockback I (in other words, 2.8 blocks), and does not benefit from that enchantment. All enemies within 1 block horizontally and 0.25 blocks vertically of any part of the attacked mob and within up to 4 blocks of the player are knocked back. It is impossible to perform a sweep attack at the same time as a critical hit or sprint-knockback attack. A sweep attack is performed only when the player swings downward; hitting an entity above the player's head does not perform a sweep attack.
Damage
Java Edition
Swords have an attack speed of 1.6 and take 0.625 seconds to recover.
| Material | Wooden | Gold | Stone | Iron | Diamond | Netherite[upcoming: JE 1.16] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Damage | 4 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
| Attack Speed | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.6 |
| Damage/Second (DPS) | 6.4 | 6.4 | 8 | 9.6 | 11.2 | 12.8 |
| Durability | 59 | 32 | 131 | 250 | 1561 | 2031 |
| Lifetime damage inflicted[note 1] | 236 |
128 |
655 |
1500 |
10927 |
16248 |
- ↑ The formula to find the total lifetime damage is Durability × Damage per hit = Lifetime damage minimum. It ignores enchantments and critical hits, and assumes the sword is at maximum charge
Bedrock Edition
In Bedrock Edition, swords have no attack cooldown or sweep attack and do the following damage:
| Material | Wooden | Gold | Stone | Iron | Diamond | Netherite |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Damage | 5 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
| Durability | 60 | 33 | 132 | 251 | 1562 | 2032 |
| Lifetime damage inflicted[note 1] | 300 |
165 |
792 |
1757 |
12496 |
18288 |
- ↑ The formula to find the total lifetime damage is Durability × Damage per hit = Lifetime damage minimum. It excludes enchantments and critical hits
The most amount of damage that a diamond sword enchanted with Sharpness V can do is 10 in Java Edition and 14.5 in Bedrock Edition, without critical hits.
Knockback
In Bedrock Edition, the knockback inflicted by swords is a bit higher than other melee items, especially while sprinting.
Sword breaking times
A sword can also be used to destroy certain blocks more quickly than with fists. Using a sword to destroy any block that doesn't break instantly decreases its durability by 2.
If a sword is enchanted with Silk Touch, either using Creative or commands, it can collect cobwebs rather than getting the string drop. This is due to the sword being classified as the proper tool for cobwebs.
The following table shows the time it takes to break blocks on which swords have any effect. Colors indicate what gets dropped:
- White: an original block.
- Blue: block's normal drop (e.g. seeds, sapling, apple).
- Red: nothing.
| Block | Fists | Sword | Proper/fastest tool | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cobweb | 20 s | 0.4 s | 0.4 s | |
| Jack o'Lantern | 1.5 s | 1 s | 0.125 – 0.75 s | |
| Melon | 1.5 s | 1 s | 0.125 – 0.75 s | |
| Pumpkin | 1.5s | 1 s | 0.125 – 0.75 s | |
| Cocoa | 0.3s | 0.2s | 0.025 – 0.15 s | |
| Leaves | 0.3 s | 0.2 s | 0.02s | |
| Vines | 0.3 s | 0.2 s | 0.025 – 0.15 s | |
| 0.02 s | ||||
| Hay Bale[upcoming: JE 1.16] | 1s | 0.8s | ||
Swords can also be used for instant breaking of bamboo.[Java Edition only]
Safety around constructions
In Creative mode, swords are unable to break most blocks. However, they can "break" (put out) fire, which are considered blocks.[1][until JE 1.16] Care must also be taken around minecarts, paintings, item frames and armor stands, which are also not safe with swords in Creative.[2][3]
Enchantments
Swords can receive the following enchantments:
| Name | Max Level | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Fire Aspect | II | 2 |
| Looting | III | 2 |
| Unbreaking | III | 5 |
| Sharpness[note 1] | V | 10 |
| Smite[note 1] | V | 5 |
| Bane of Arthropods[note 1] | V | 5 |
| Knockback | II | 5 |
| Mending[note 2] | I | 2 |
| Curse of Vanishing[note 2][JE only][upcoming: BE 1.16] | I | 1 |
| Sweeping Edge[JE only] | III | 2 |
Fuel
Wooden swords can be used as a fuel in furnaces, smelting 1 item per sword.
Smelting ingredient
| Name | Ingredients | Smelting recipe |
|---|---|---|
| Iron Nugget or Gold Nugget |
Iron Sword or Golden Sword + Any fuel |
Sounds
| Sound | Subtitle | Namespaced ID | Subtitle ID | Source | Pitch | Volume | Attenuation distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No subtitle | entity.player.attack.crit
|
(Plays during some attacks) | ? | ? | 0.7 | 16 | |
| No subtitle | entity.player.attack.knockback
|
(Plays during some attacks) | ? | ? | 0.7 | 16 | |
| No subtitle | entity.player.attack.nodamage
|
(Plays during some attacks) | ? | ? | 0.7 | 16 | |
| No subtitle | entity.player.attack.strong
|
(Plays during some attacks) | ? | ? | 1, 2, 3, 4 = 0.6; 5, 6 = 0.7 | 16 | |
| No subtitle | entity.player.attack.sweep
|
(Plays during some attacks) | ? | ? | 0.7 | 16 | |
| No subtitle | entity.player.attack.weak
|
(Plays during some attacks) | ? | ? | 0.7 | 16 | |
| Item breaks | entity.item.break
|
subtitles.entity.item.break
|
? | 0.9 | 1.0 | 16 |
Data values
ID
| Item | Namespaced ID | Numeric ID[BE only] |
|---|---|---|
| Wooden Sword | wooden_sword
|
268 |
| Stone Sword | stone_sword
|
272 |
| Iron Sword | iron_sword
|
267 |
| Diamond Sword | diamond_sword
|
276 |
| Golden Sword | golden_sword
|
283 |
| Netherite Sword[upcoming: JE 1.16 & BE 1.16.0] | netherite_sword
|
- |
Video
Note: This video is outdated. Since Java Edition 1.9, swords can no longer block attacks. Instead, shields are used. Along with the introduction of netherite swords which are an upgraded tier to diamond
Achievements
| Icon | Achievement | In-game description | Actual requirements (if different) | Gamerscore earned | Trophy type (PS4) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS4 | Other | |||||
| Time to Strike! | Use planks and sticks to make a sword. | Pick up any type of sword from a crafting table output. | 10G | Bronze | ||
| Overkill | Deal nine hearts of damage in a single hit. | Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have nine hearts of health overall. | 30G | Bronze | ||
History
| “ |
|
„ | |
| — Duncan Geere[4] |
- Blocking
Previously, since the Adventure Update, all types of swords could be used to parry to block some forms of damage. If the player is using a sword when attacked, the sword deflects 50% of the incoming melee, non-magical projectiles like arrows and explosion damage, plus a bit of knockback. The sword is held in front of the player and its durability is not reduced by blocking.
As Combat Update release, this functionality was replaced by blocking with shields and due to the dual wield. The player also moves at a slower rate than sneaking if blocking with a sword, nevertheless, it blocks instantly, unlike the shields, which have a 0.25 seconds cooldown period of activation.
This contradictory change was heavily criticized by the playerbase. With this update, the method of PvP combat using swords where all players needed to do was spam click the attack button has essentially vanished, with the game punishing said tactic with reduced damage. However, the old combat system still remains on servers that never update past 1.9, and the Legacy Console Editions of Minecraft also have the spam attacking system of combat since swords were added.
| indev | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.31 | 20100129 | ||||
| 20100130 | |||||
| 20100201-1 | Swords now take damage when being used. | ||||
| Better swords now last longer. | |||||
| 20100206 | |||||
| alpha | |||||
| v1.2.0 | release | Zombie pigmen now hold golden swords. | |||
| beta | |||||
| 1.2 | Swords, like all tools, now have more durability. | ||||
| Prior, diamond swords had 1024 durability, iron swords had 128, stone swords 64 and wood and gold had 32 durability. | |||||
| 1.8 | Pre-release | Added the ability to block with a sword, giving the player more options in combat. | |||
| ? | Swords no longer inflict more damage than bows. | ||||
| ? | Added blocking to swords. | ||||
| Java Edition | |||||
| 1.0.0 | Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3 | Sword damage has been reduced to make way for enchanting. A diamond sword's damage has been reduced from 10 | |||
| Iron swords are now found in the new stronghold altar chests. | |||||
| Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4 | Swords can now be enchanted in the enchantment table. | ||||
| 1.1 | 12w01a | Iron swords are now found in village blacksmith chests. | |||
| 1.2.1 | 12w06a | The player now has a rare chance of obtaining iron swords by killing zombies and golden swords from zombie pigmen from the addition of rare drops. These swords have a 20% chance of being enchanted. | |||
| 1.3.1 | 12w18a | Wooden swords can now be used as fuel in a furnace. | |||
| 12w21a | Blacksmith villagers now sell diamond swords for 12–13 emeralds, and iron swords for 7–10 emeralds. | ||||
| With the trading implementation, renewable items such as wheat can now be sold to buy a diamond sword. This has now made all swords renewable. | |||||
| 1.4.2 | 12w32a | Zombies may sometimes wield iron swords, dealing extra damage. | |||
| 12w34a | If a player has dyed leather armor equipped and selected a sword of any kind, it appears in the color of the dye applied to the armor, when switching to second or third person view. | ||||
| 12w36a | Added wither skeletons, which hold stone swords. | ||||
| 1.4.6 | 12w49a | Unbreaking can now be applied to a sword with an enchanted book. | |||
| 1.6.1 | 13w18a | Golden swords are now found in the new chests in nether fortresses. | |||
| 13w25b | In Creative mode, swords are no longer able to break blocks, and no sound plays when they're hit with one. | ||||
| 1.6.2 | ? | ||||
| Instead of replacing the barehanded damage (1 | |||||
| 1.8 | 14w02a | Weaponsmith villagers now sell enchanted diamond swords for 12–15 emeralds, and iron swords for 9–10 emeralds. Unenchanted swords are no longer sold. | |||
| 1.9 | 15w31a | Enchanted iron and diamond swords can now be found in end city ship chests. | |||
| 15w33c | Swords no longer block attacks. Instead, shields are used. | ||||
| 15w34b | Swords now use the attack speed attribute. The attack speed of a sword is 1.25 or 0.8 seconds. | ||||
| 15w34c | Swords now do one less damage and have an attack speed of 1.45, or 0.69 seconds. | ||||
| Swords can now do a sweep attack when moving at walking speed or slower, which knock back mobs near the one hit. The attack speed meter must be filled for it to work. | |||||
| 15w36a | Each Sharpness level now adds 1 | ||||
| 15w37a | Swords now have an attack speed of 1.6, or 0.63 seconds. | ||||
| 15w43a | The average yield of golden swords in nether fortress chests has been decreased. | ||||
| 15w49a | Sweep attack now does 1 | ||||
| 1.11.1 | 16w50a | Golden and iron swords now smelt down into one of their respective nuggets. | |||
| Added Sweeping Edge enchantment. | |||||
| 1.13 | 17w47a | Prior to The Flattening, these items' numeral IDs were 268, 272, 267, 276 and 283. | |||
| 18w10a | Swords can now generate in buried treasure chests. | ||||
| September 10, 2018 | |||||
| 1.14 | 18w43a | ||||
| Swords now break bamboo instantly. | |||||
| Upcoming Java Edition | |||||
| Combat Tests | 1.14.3 - Combat Test | The attack speed for all swords has been increased to 3. | |||
| The damage for all swords has been increased by 1 | |||||
| The attack reach of swords has been increased to 3.5 blocks. | |||||
| Combat Test 2 | The attack speed of all swords has been decreased to 2.5. | ||||
| Combat Test 3 | The attack speed of all swords has been changed from 2.5 back to 3.0. | ||||
| The attack key can now again be held down to automatically attack when the attack meter is full. | |||||
| Attacks now happen only when the sword is at 120% charge, slower than if attacks were timed. | |||||
| 1.16 | 20w06a | ||||
| Netherite swords are obtained by combining one diamond sword and one netherite ingot in a crafting table. | |||||
| 20w09a | |||||
| 20w10a | |||||
| Netherite swords can no longer be crafted. | |||||
| Netherite swords are now obtained by combining one diamond sword and one netherite ingot in a smithing table. | |||||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| 0.2.0 | |||||
| 0.3.0 | |||||
| 0.3.2 | |||||
| 0.9.0 | build 1 | Iron swords can now be found in stronghold altar chests and inside blacksmith chests. | |||
| 0.11.0 | build 11 | Wooden, stone, golden and diamond swords are now available in the creative inventory. | |||
| build 12 | Wooden, stone, golden and diamond swords have been removed from creative. | ||||
| build 13 | All swords are available in creative mode again. | ||||
| 0.12.1 | build 1 | In creative mode, swords are no longer able to break blocks, and no sound plays when they're hit with one. | |||
| Golden swords can now be found in nether fortress chests. | |||||
| Zombies now rarely spawn holding an iron sword that have a chance to dropped. | |||||
| Golden swords are now rarely dropped by zombie pigmen. | |||||
| Stone swords are now rarely dropped by wither skeletons. | |||||
| 0.15.0 | build 1 | Iron swords are now sometimes dropped by husks that spawn holding an iron sword. | |||
| Pocket Edition | |||||
| 1.0.0 | alpha 0.17.0.1 | Enchanted iron and diamond swords can now be found in end city chests. | |||
| 1.0.4 | alpha 1.0.4.0 | Iron swords and enchanted diamond swords are now sold by weaponsmith villagers. | |||
| 1.1.0 | alpha 1.1.0.0 | Iron and golden swords are now smeltable. | |||
| Added vexes, which rarely drop an iron sword if killed using Looting enchantment. | |||||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | ||||
| Iron swords are now found in plains village weaponsmiths. | |||||
| 1.11.0 | beta 1.11.0.1 | Iron swords can now be found in savanna, snowy taiga, taiga and desert village weaponsmiths. | |||
| beta 1.11.0.4 | Pillagers and vindicators that spawn in raids can now drop iron swords upon death. | ||||
| Trading has been changed. Iron swords sold by weaponsmith villagers now cost 2 emeralds while diamond swords cost 8 emeralds as part of their fourth tier trades. | |||||
| Upcoming Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.16.0 | beta 1.16.0.51 | ||||
| Netherite swords are obtained by combining one diamond sword and one netherite ingot in a crafting table. | |||||
| Golden swords are now sometimes dropped by piglins that spawn holding a golden sword. | |||||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU1 | CU1 | 1.0 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | |
| TU5 | Added the ability to block, giving the player more options in combat. | ||||
| TU53 | CU43 | 1.49 | Patch 23 | 1.0.3 | Iron and golden swords are now smeltable. |
| PlayStation 4 Edition | |||||
| 1.90 | |||||
| New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
| 0.1.0 | |||||
Issues
Issues relating to "Sword" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia
- The sword's texture came from Notch's abandoned RPG, Legend of the Chambered. The iron sword's texture was created first, as it was from the game, and the other swords followed.
- With the introduction of netherite swords[upcoming: JE 1.16], it is possible to one-hit kill all undead mobs in the game (except withers and zombies/skeletons with random armor) using a sword with the Smite V enchantment, without the need to perform a critical hit (this was previously only possible with a Smite V stone, iron, or diamond axe). This may make the Smite enchantment more desirable.






