What is the sweeping edge enchantment ?
The sweeping edge enchantment is a powerful enchantment that increases the damage dealt by sweep attacks with your sword. It has been introduced in Minecraft 1.11.1, and significantly boosts the damage you deal to nearby enemies when performing a sweep attack. The max sweeping edge is level III, making it one of the most effective enchantments for crowd control in Minecraft. So if you want to deal massive damage to multiple enemies at once, you should definitely enchant your sword with sweeping edge.
How to enchant a sword with sweeping edge ?
1. Gather ingredients
- A sword (Wooden, Stone, Iron, Golden, Diamond, or Netherite)
- Optional: A Book
You can craft a sword using a variety of materials. The most common swords are made from iron, which is easily obtainable early in the game. Once you have got your own sword, you can enchant it with sweeping edge.
You can get a book from multiple sources. You can obtain it by breaking a book shelf, or by crafting a book directly in a crafting table.
2. Enchant the sword with sweeping edge
Set up an enchanting table
To get the best enchantments, you should surround your enchanting table with at least 15 bookshelves. This way, you'll get the best enchantments. Just make sure to be at least level 30 to get access to sweeping edge III.
Enchant the sword
Once you have a sword, use the enchanting table with Lapis Lazuli to enchant it with sweeping edge. If you can't find the sweeping edge enchantment, you can try to get it on a book.
We highly recommend to use a book to enchant the sword with sweeping edge, in particular if sweeping edge isn't displayed as the main enchantment of the sword. Once you give a book an enchantment, a new enchantment possibility will be displayed on the sword. Repeat this operation until you get access to the sweeping edge enchantment.
You can have sweeping edge and sharpness on the same sword, making it incredibly powerful for both single targets and groups of enemies.
How does sweeping edge work ?
Sweeping edge is exclusively available on swords in Java Edition. When you perform a sweep attack, this enchantment increases the damage dealt to nearby enemies significantly. The sweep attack occurs automatically when your attack recharge meter is at least 84.8% full and you are standing on the ground, moving slower than sprinting speed.
With Sweeping Edge, the damage you deal to nearby mobs is increased to 50% of your sword's attack damage at level I, 67% at level II, and 75% at level III. This means that each enemy hit by the sweep attack will take a substantial amount of damage, rather than just the minimal 1 heart of damage from a normal sweep attack.
Example: If you have an Iron Sword with Sharpness V and Sweeping Edge III, you'll deal 75% of your sword's attack damage to each mob hit by the sweep. That's 8.5 damage to every enemy within the sweep area, making it incredibly effective against multiple enemies at once.
The sweep attack affects all enemies within a 1 by 0.25 by 1 block area around the attacked mob, as long as their feet are at most 3 blocks away from your feet. The sweep attack is indicated by a gale particle effect and knocks back enemies, though the knockback is only 80% of normal knockback and doesn't benefit from the knockback enchantment.
Enchant a sword with commands
For Java Edition players, you can directly enchant your sword with the following commands:
- Sweeping Edge I:
/enchant @p sweeping_edge 1 - Sweeping Edge II:
/enchant @p sweeping_edge 2 - Sweeping Edge III:
/enchant @p sweeping_edge 3
Best uses for sweeping edge
Sweeping edge is useful when you want to hit multiple enemies at once, such as zombie hordes, skeleton groups, or during raids in a village. The way it is mainly used is in mob farms where enemies are grouped together, allowing you to take them out quickly with a few well-placed sweep attacks.
You must combine this enchantment with other ones like Sharpness, Fire Aspect, and Unbreaking. A sword with Sweeping Edge III becomes one of the most powerful weapons in Minecraft for crowds of enemies. The fact that you can damage multiple enemies simultaneously makes it really strong for survival mode and combat situations.
Conclusion
Sweeping edge is a powerful enchantment that can increase your damage a lot in combat versus multiple enemies. It is especially useful in mob farms, raids, and any situation where you are facing multiple of hostile mobs close to each other. The max sweeping edge level is III, and when combined with Sharpness, it becomes even more deadly for both single targets and groups of enemies.
