Looting Enchantment: Extra Drops and Wither Skull Odds
Looting III adds up to 3 extra common drops and 3 points to rare drop odds, raising wither skeleton skulls from 2.5% to 5.5%. What Looting doesn't affect.
Looting makes mobs drop more loot. Each level raises the maximum number of common drops by one and adds 1 percentage point to rare and equipment drop chances. Looting III, the max, means a zombie can drop up to 5 rotten flesh instead of 2, and a wither skeleton has a 5.5% chance at its skull instead of 2.5%.
It goes on swords and spears and conflicts with nothing.
What Looting changes
| Drop type | Each Looting level | Example at Looting III |
|---|---|---|
| Common drops (bones, string, gunpowder, flesh, blaze rods…) | +1 to the maximum | Blaze: 0–4 rods instead of 0–1 |
| Rare drops (wither skulls; iron, carrots and potatoes from zombies) | +1 percentage point | Wither skull: 5.5% |
| Equipment the mob spawned with, like a drowned’s trident | +1 percentage point | 11.5% on Java |
Bedrock used to add 4 points per level to rare drops. Bedrock 1.21.0 cut it to 1 point, matching Java.
The main-hand rule
Looting counts for any kill that happens while the enchanted weapon is in your main hand, not just kills made with it. You can shoot an arrow and swap to your Looting sword before it lands, and the kill still gets Looting. On Java, firing a bow or crossbow from your off hand works too.
Kills by tamed wolves, by fire damage from Fire Aspect and by farms with no player involved don’t get Looting.
What Looting doesn’t affect
- Withers, iron golems, cats and snow golems
- Mobs with no drops, like bats, bees and endermites
- The number of fish dropped by fish mobs (guardians are an exception, so guardian farms love it)
- Wool from sheep
- Totems of undying from evokers, sponges from elder guardians, sculk catalysts from wardens
- The number of wither skeleton skulls (only the chance)
Getting Looting III
It rolls on the enchanting table for swords and spears, and books come from fishing, chests and librarians. Combine two Looting II books on an anvil to make III. Under the experimental Villager Trade Rebalance, only snowy librarians sell it.
Looting III is on every good sword. See best sword enchantments. For blocks, the matching enchantment is Fortune.
Common questions
Does Looting increase wither skeleton skull drops?
Yes. The base chance is 2.5%, and each Looting level adds 1 percentage point, so Looting III gives 5.5% per kill. It never makes one skeleton drop more than one skull.
Does Looting work with a bow?
Looting applies to any kill made while the Looting weapon is in your main hand. So you can shoot from the off hand on Java, or switch to the sword before the arrow lands, and still get the bonus.
Does Looting work on sheep wool?
No. Wool from killing sheep isn't affected. Use shears instead.
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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