Best Elytra Enchantments: Only Unbreaking and Mending
Elytra take only Unbreaking, Mending and the two curses in survival. Flight time per Unbreaking level, Mending repair speed, and the Riptide trick.
The best elytra enchantments are Unbreaking III and Mending, and those are the only two useful ones. In survival, elytra can take Unbreaking, Mending, Curse of Binding and Curse of Vanishing, nothing else. The enchanting table can’t enchant elytra at all, so both go on with books on an anvil.
Unbreaking III: four times the flight time
Elytra lose one durability for every second you glide, and they have 432 durability.
| Unbreaking level | Average gliding time before breaking |
|---|---|
| None | 7 min 12 s |
| I | 14 min 24 s |
| II | 21 min 36 s |
| III | 28 min 48 s |
Elytra use the tool formula for Unbreaking, not the weaker armor one, so you get the full 4× benefit.
Mending: fly forever
With Mending, XP you pick up repairs the elytra, 2 durability per XP point, as long as they’re equipped. Since elytra sit in your chestplate slot, they compete with your other Mending gear for XP orbs. Taking off fully repaired armor or standing at an XP farm with only the elytra damaged fixes them fast.
Without Mending, you repair elytra on an anvil with phantom membranes from phantoms, each restoring 25%. That works, but the anvil cost climbs each time.
Why there’s no Protection
Protection, Thorns and the other armor enchantments can’t go on elytra in survival. That’s the real cost of flying: you give up a Protection IV chestplate. Most players carry a netherite chestplate and swap it in for fights. Feather Falling on your boots still helps with hard landings, but it doesn’t reduce damage from flying into a wall.
Faster flight: the Riptide trick
No enchantment on the elytra makes you faster, but a Riptide trident does. In rain or over water, Riptide launches while gliding beat firework rockets by a huge margin. Fireworks are still the normal way to fly, and they don’t use any extra elytra durability.
If you haven’t found elytra yet, our guide on how to get elytra covers the End city trip.
Common questions
Can you put Protection on elytra?
Not in survival. An anvil won't accept Protection books on elytra. Only commands or Creative anvil tricks can add it.
How long can you fly with Unbreaking III elytra?
About 28 minutes and 48 seconds of gliding on average, compared to 7 minutes and 12 seconds without Unbreaking.
How do you repair elytra without Mending?
Combine them with phantom membranes on an anvil. Each membrane restores a quarter of the durability.
Sources & verification
Facts on this page are checked against these references and in-game behavior for the stated edition(s). how we verify.
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