The Minecraft trident is a rare weapon found only through one method — enemy drops. You can’t craft a trident, nor can you discover it while exploring. That said, the trident is a powerful weapon that you’ll want to take advantage of.
If you’re a trident lover wanting to take it to the next level through enchantments, this guide has you covered.
Updated 7/11/2025
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What Is A Minecraft Trident?
Tridents are rare items that only drop from the Drowned enemy type. They have a melee attack you can use by pressing the left mouse button, though you can take advantage of its ranged attack by pressing and holding the mouse button.
Holding the mouse button increases the distance and the power of your ranged attack, with a fully charged attack doing significant damage. However, note that you’ll have to recover a thrown trident.
Melee trident hits deal nine hearts of damage, while ranged trident hits can do up to eight when fully charged.
How Do I Acquire A Minecraft Trident?
Acquiring a Minecraft trident can be difficult, as you cannot craft one. Instead, you must find a trident by defeating a Drowned that’s holding one.
The Drowned are underwater monsters that look a bit like zombies. They’re created when a zombie, well, drowns.
You can find a Drowned in any ocean biome, as well as in rivers and the dripstone caves biome. If you’re lucky, one will drop an enchanted trident instead of a normal one.
What Can I Do With A Trident?
As mentioned, the trident’s melee attack is quite powerful in its own right, while ranged trident hits also do significant damage.
Thrown tridents will stick into blocks or other items they hit, and successfully hitting a ranged or melee attack will cause durability damage.
Of course, you can make a trident even more powerful through trident enchantments.
How Do I Make A Trident Enchanted?
You can create trident enchantments via an Enchantment Table, craftable with obsidian, diamond, and a book.
1. Acquire materials
To create an Enchantment Table, you must acquire four obsidian, two diamonds, and a book.
2. Arrange the materials via a Crafting Table
Arrange the materials in this way to create an Enchantment Table.
3. Place the Enchantment Table
Place the Enchantment Table in an open space.
4. Surround it with bookshelves
Surround the Enchantment Table with bookshelves to increase its level. You must place the shelves at least one block away from the Enchantment Table for them to work.
5. Select an enchantment
Interact with the Enchantment Table and place the trident in it. You’ll see enchantments appear next to the trident. Sometimes, they are randomized, and sometimes, the table will reveal what they are. Select one of the enchantments to enchant the trident!
Congratulations! You have enchanted your trident! You can view your trident enchantments by hovering over them in your inventory.
Enchant Tridents with an Anvil
If you have an enchantment book, you can enchant a trident with an anvil.
Simply interact with the anvil, combine the two items, and you’ll enchant the trident.
Minecraft Trident Enchantments
Mending enchantment
Considering you can’t craft new tridents, a mending enchanted trident might be your best bet to keep the weapon around long term.
Mending allows you to repair an item using experience points, restoring them at a rate of two durability per experience point. This isn’t to mention that experience orbs contain multiple experience points, depending on how you acquire them. As a result, items with the mending enchantment are almost always at full durability.
That durability goes double for a trident since you’re almost always using the trident as a weapon. Enemies drop the most experience points, after all.
Unbreaking enchantment
Speaking of durability damage, a trident enchanted with unbreaking will periodically protect it from durability hits. This ensures a longer-lasting trident, especially as you level up the unbreaking enchantment.
This enchantment can go up to level three, with each level reducing the chances of a durability hit upon use.
Impaling enchantment
Impaling is the only one of the trident enchantments that increases its damage.
This enchantment ranges from levels one to five, with each level adding an extra 2.5 hearts of damage per hit — be it melee damage or thrown tridents.
However, note that an impaling trident deals damage only to underwater enemies. This enchantment will not impact enemies outside of water.
Riptide enchantment
The riptide enchantment is one of the unique trident enchantments in that it cannot apply to any other item.
A trident enchanted with riptide will carry a player as they throw it — making it one of the more effective ways to explore Minecraft.
That said, the riptide enchantment only works when it’s raining or the player is in water. A riptide trident will not apply if the player isn’t wet.
While above water, riptide tridents will carry a player six blocks multiplied by its enchantment level plus three. For example, a riptide III trident will throw a player 21 blocks (6×3+3), while a riptide II trident will throw them 15 blocks (6×2+3).
When underwater, thrown tridents will carry a player four blocks multiplied by its enchantment level plus three.
Channeling enchantment
Channeling trident hits create a lightning bolt when thrown at an enemy if it’s thunderstorming. A trident thrown at a lightning rod will also generate lightning if it’s enchanted with channeling.
Loyalty enchantment
A loyalty trident returns a thrown trident to the player’s hand, essentially allowing you to throw unlimited tridents.
Loyalty tridents begin at enchantment level one and can go up to level three. Each level decreases the trident’s return time.
However, this enchantment only works if you get a trident stuck in a block or an enemy. A loyalty-enchanted trident fired into an endless pit will not return.
Curse of Vanishing enchantment
Of all the trident enchantments, you don’t want the curse of vanishing enchantment on your trident. A trident with this enchantment disappears upon player death, meaning you’ll never see it again.
This enchantment can appear on a dropped trident, and you cannot remove it once applied.
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Max is a freelance writer with a love for gaming and technology. He’s always looking for the next big game to play and tinkers with tech in his remaining free time.
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