Fortune Enchantment: Drop Rates for Diamonds and More

Fortune gives you a chance at extra drops from ores, crops and a handful of other blocks. Fortune III, the max, averages 2.2 items per diamond, coal, emerald, iron, gold or copper ore instead of 1. It goes on pickaxes, shovels, axes and hoes, and it can’t share a tool with Silk Touch.

Ores

For coal, diamond, emerald, lapis, iron, copper, gold, nether gold and nether quartz ores (and amethyst clusters), Fortune multiplies the normal drop:

Level	Possible multipliers	Average
None	1×	1×
I	1× (67%) or 2× (33%)	1.33×
II	1×, 2× or 3× (50/25/25%)	1.75×
III	1×, 2×, 3× or 4× (40/20/20/20%)	2.2×

So a vein of eight diamond ores averages about 17.6 diamonds with Fortune III. Copper ore already drops 2 to 5 raw copper, so Fortune III can give up to 20 from one block. Our diamond finding guide has the best Y levels to put it to work.

Fortune does nothing to ancient debris, which always drops itself.

Other blocks

• Redstone ore, glowstone, melons, nether wart, sweet berry bushes: Fortune raises the maximum drop by 1 per level, though glowstone caps at 4 dust and melons at 9 slices.
• Gravel: flint chance goes from 10% to 14% (I), 25% (II) and 100% (III). A Fortune III shovel turns every gravel block into flint.
• Leaves: higher chance of saplings, sticks and apples from oak and dark oak.
• Crops like wheat seeds, carrots, potatoes and beetroot seeds drop more when broken with a Fortune hoe or other Fortune tool.

Getting Fortune III

Fortune rolls on the enchanting table, comes from fishing and many loot chests (desert and jungle temples, strongholds, ancient cities, end cities, mineshafts, trial chamber vaults), and librarians sell it. Wandering traders can also sell it. Two Fortune II books make a III on an anvil.

With the experimental Villager Trade Rebalance enabled, taiga librarians sell Fortune III as their master-level special book.

How to use it alongside Silk Touch

Since they conflict, keep two pickaxes: a Fortune III one for ores and a Silk Touch one for glass, ice, bookshelves and ender chests. A neat trick: mine valuable ores with Silk Touch while caving, carry the blocks home, place them and break them with your Fortune pickaxe. The ore block doesn’t care which tool broke it last.

Put Efficiency V, Unbreaking III and Mending on the same pickaxe. For the sword-side version of extra drops, see Looting.