Axes are essential tools in Minecraft that serve multiple purposes, from chopping wood quickly to functioning as powerful weapons in combat. Whether you’re just starting your Minecraft journey or looking to upgrade your toolkit, this comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know about crafting axes in Minecraft, from the basic wooden axe to the mighty netherite version.
Understanding Axes in Minecraft
Before diving into crafting recipes, it’s important to understand what axes are used for in Minecraft and why they’re such valuable tools.
Primary Uses of Axes
Axes in Minecraft serve several important functions:
- Wood Harvesting: Axes speed up the process of chopping wood blocks, making them essential for gathering building materials.
- Combat: Axes can be used as weapons, dealing significant damage to enemies.
- Shield Disabling: When used in combat, axes have a chance to temporarily disable an opponent’s shield for 5 seconds.
- Log Stripping: Right-clicking on a log with an axe strips it, creating a different texture which is useful for decorative building.
- Block Breaking: Axes can break certain blocks faster than other tools, such as melons, pumpkins, and hay bales.
Axe Tiers in Minecraft
Minecraft features six different tiers of axes, each with increasing durability and efficiency:
| Axe Type | Material Required | Durability | Attack Damage | Attack Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wooden Axe | Wood Planks | 59 | 7 (3.5 hearts) | 0.8 |
| Stone Axe | Cobblestone/Blackstone | 131 | 9 (4.5 hearts) | 0.8 |
| Iron Axe | Iron Ingots | 250 | 9 (4.5 hearts) | 0.9 |
| Golden Axe | Gold Ingots | 32 | 7 (3.5 hearts) | 1.0 |
| Diamond Axe | Diamonds | 1561 | 9 (4.5 hearts) | 1.0 |
| Netherite Axe | Netherite Ingot + Diamond Axe | 2031 | 10 (5 hearts) | 1.0 |
As you progress through these tiers, your axe becomes more durable and, in most cases, more effective. The golden axe is a special case – it has the lowest durability but the fastest attack speed, making it somewhat of a specialty tool.
How to Make a Wooden Axe
The wooden axe is likely to be one of the first tools you’ll craft in Minecraft. Here’s how to make one:
Materials Needed for a Wooden Axe
To craft a wooden axe, you’ll need:
- 3 wood planks (any type)
- 2 sticks
Step-by-Step Crafting Process
- Gather wood: Punch trees to collect wood logs.
- Craft planks: Place the logs in your crafting inventory to convert them into wooden planks (1 log = 4 planks).
- Make sticks: Place 2 planks vertically in your crafting grid to make 4 sticks.
- Craft the axe: Open your crafting table and arrange the materials as follows:
- Place 2 planks in the top-left and top-middle slots
- Place 1 plank in the middle-left slot
- Place 1 stick in the middle slot
- Place 1 stick in the bottom-middle slot
The result will be a wooden axe that you can add to your inventory.
How to Make a Stone Axe
The stone axe is a significant upgrade from the wooden axe, offering better durability and slightly improved performance.
Materials Needed for a Stone Axe
To craft a stone axe, you’ll need:
- 3 cobblestone blocks (or blackstone as an alternative)
- 2 sticks
Step-by-Step Crafting Process
- Gather cobblestone: Use your wooden pickaxe to mine stone, which will drop cobblestone.
- Craft the axe: Open your crafting table and arrange the materials as follows:
- Place 2 cobblestone blocks in the top-left and top-middle slots
- Place 1 cobblestone block in the middle-left slot
- Place 1 stick in the middle slot
- Place 1 stick in the bottom-middle slot
The result will be a stone axe with enhanced durability compared to the wooden version.
How to Make an Iron Axe
The iron axe provides a significant durability upgrade and is an excellent middle-tier tool.
Materials Needed for an Iron Axe
To craft an iron axe, you’ll need:
- 3 iron ingots
- 2 sticks
Step-by-Step Crafting Process
- Mine iron ore: Find iron ore underground and mine it with a stone pickaxe or better.
- Smelt the ore: Place the iron ore in a furnace with fuel to create iron ingots.
- Craft the axe: Open your crafting table and arrange the materials as follows:
- Place 2 iron ingots in the top-left and top-middle slots
- Place 1 iron ingot in the middle-left slot
- Place 1 stick in the middle slot
- Place 1 stick in the bottom-middle slot
The iron axe has 250 durability points, making it much more durable than stone (131) or wooden (59) axes.
How to Make a Golden Axe
While not the most practical due to its low durability, the golden axe has some unique properties that make it interesting for specific uses.
Materials Needed for a Golden Axe
To craft a golden axe, you’ll need:
- 3 gold ingots
- 2 sticks
Step-by-Step Crafting Process
- Find gold ore: Mine gold ore, which is found deeper underground, using an iron pickaxe or better.
- Smelt the ore: Place the gold ore in a furnace with fuel to create gold ingots.
- Craft the axe: Open your crafting table and arrange the materials as follows:
- Place 2 gold ingots in the top-left and top-middle slots
- Place 1 gold ingot in the middle-left slot
- Place 1 stick in the middle slot
- Place 1 stick in the bottom-middle slot
The golden axe has the fastest mining speed among all axe types, but with only 32 durability, it breaks quickly.
How to Make a Diamond Axe
The diamond axe is a high-tier tool with excellent durability, making it a worthy investment for long-term use.
Materials Needed for a Diamond Axe
To craft a diamond axe, you’ll need:
- 3 diamonds
- 2 sticks
Step-by-Step Crafting Process
- Find diamonds: Mine diamond ore deep underground (usually near lava level) using an iron pickaxe or better.
- Craft the axe: Open your crafting table and arrange the materials as follows:
- Place 2 diamonds in the top-left and top-middle slots
- Place 1 diamond in the middle-left slot
- Place 1 stick in the middle slot
- Place 1 stick in the bottom-middle slot
With 1561 durability points, the diamond axe is the second most durable axe in the game and a worthy upgrade for serious players.
How to Make a Netherite Axe
Introduced in the Nether Update (Minecraft 1.16), the netherite axe is the ultimate axe with the highest durability and damage.
Materials Needed for a Netherite Axe
To craft a netherite axe, you’ll need:
- 1 diamond axe
- 1 netherite ingot
- 1 smithing template (added in Minecraft 1.20)
Step-by-Step Crafting Process
- Craft a diamond axe: Follow the steps outlined above.
- Find ancient debris: Travel to the Nether and mine for ancient debris, usually found between Y levels 8 and 22.
- Smelt ancient debris: Use a furnace to smelt ancient debris into netherite scrap.
- Craft netherite ingots: Combine 4 netherite scrap with 4 gold ingots to create 1 netherite ingot.
- Find a smithing template: Locate a smithing template in the Nether (starting with Minecraft 1.20).
- Use a smithing table: Place the diamond axe, netherite ingot, and smithing template in a smithing table to upgrade to a netherite axe.
The netherite axe boasts 2031 durability points and doesn’t burn in lava if dropped, making it the ultimate axe in Minecraft.
General Crafting Pattern for All Axes
The crafting pattern for axes in Minecraft follows a consistent shape. For all axe types, the crafting grid should be arranged as follows:
MM_
MS_
_S_
Where:
- M = Material (wood planks, cobblestone, iron ingots, gold ingots, or diamonds)
- S = Stick
- _ = Empty slot
This consistent pattern makes it easy to remember how to craft axes once you’ve done it a few times.
Axe Combat and Mechanics
Axes in Minecraft aren’t just tools for resource gathering; they’re also potent weapons with unique combat mechanics.
Axes vs. Swords
In Java Edition, axes generally deal more damage per hit than swords of the same material, but they attack slower. Here’s a comparison:
| Material | Axe Damage | Sword Damage | Axe Attack Speed | Sword Attack Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wood/Gold | 7 | 4 | 0.8 | 1.6 |
| Stone | 9 | 5 | 0.8 | 1.6 |
| Iron | 9 | 6 | 0.9 | 1.6 |
| Diamond | 9 | 7 | 1.0 | 1.6 |
| Netherite | 10 | 8 | 1.0 | 1.6 |
In Bedrock Edition, swords deal more damage than axes, making the combat dynamic different between game versions.
Shield Disabling
One of the unique combat features of axes is their ability to disable shields. When a player with an axe attacks another player who is using a shield, there’s a 25% chance that the shield will be disabled for 5 seconds. This percentage increases to 100% when sprint-attacking, making axes particularly useful in PvP situations.
Durability in Combat
It’s worth noting that when used as weapons, axes lose 2 durability points instead of 1, meaning they wear out twice as fast in combat compared to when used for breaking blocks. This is an important consideration when deciding whether to use your axe as a primary weapon.
Enhancing Your Axe with Enchantments
Enchanting your axe can significantly improve its functionality. Here are some of the best enchantments for axes in Minecraft:
Efficiency
Efficiency increases the speed at which your axe breaks blocks. This enchantment can go up to level V (5) and is particularly useful for wood harvesting. Each level of Efficiency makes the axe break blocks about 30% faster.
Unbreaking
Unbreaking reduces the chance that your axe will lose durability when used. This enchantment has three levels, with each level reducing the chance of durability loss. At Unbreaking III, your axe will last, on average, about 4 times longer.
Mending
Mending is one of the most valuable enchantments for any tool. When you collect experience orbs with a Mending tool equipped, those experience points repair the tool instead of going to your experience bar. This can potentially make your axe last indefinitely if you regularly gain experience.
Silk Touch vs. Fortune
These two enchantments are mutually exclusive, meaning you can only have one of them on an axe:
- Silk Touch: Allows you to collect blocks exactly as they are without transforming them. For an axe, this is particularly useful for harvesting bookshelves, melon blocks, and mushroom blocks intact.
- Fortune: Increases the number of drops from certain blocks. While Fortune on an axe isn’t as versatile as on a pickaxe, it can be useful for increasing drops from apples, sticks from leaves, and certain crops.
Combat Enchantments
If you’re using your axe for combat, these enchantments can be valuable:
- Sharpness: Increases damage dealt to all mobs (up to +3 damage at level V).
- Smite: Increases damage specifically against undead mobs like zombies and skeletons (up to +12.5 damage at level V).
- Bane of Arthropods: Increases damage specifically against arthropod mobs like spiders (up to +12.5 damage at level V).
Note that these three enchantments are mutually exclusive; you can only have one of them on an axe.
Alternative Ways to Obtain Axes
While crafting is the most common method to obtain axes in Minecraft, there are other ways to acquire them:
Villager Trading
Toolsmith and Weaponsmith villagers can sell axes in exchange for emeralds:
- Novice Toolsmiths may sell stone axes
- Journeyman Toolsmiths may sell enchanted iron axes
- Expert Toolsmiths may sell enchanted diamond axes
- Novice Weaponsmiths may sell iron axes
- Master Weaponsmiths may sell enchanted diamond axes
Natural Generation
Axes can sometimes be found in various structures throughout the Minecraft world:
- Wooden or stone axes in bonus chests
- Stone axes in igloo basements
- Efficiency I iron axes in woodland mansion rooms
Mob Drops
Some mobs can drop axes when defeated:
- Vindicators have an 8.5% chance to drop their iron axe
- Piglin Brutes have an 8.5% chance to drop their golden axe
- These drop chances increase slightly with the Looting enchantment
Tips for Axe Usage and Management
To make the most of your axes in Minecraft, consider these practical tips:
Efficiency Tips
- Tool Switching: Use the right tool for the right job. While axes are great for wood, they’re not efficient for stone or other materials.
- Repair vs. Craft: Once you have access to an anvil, it’s often more resource-efficient to repair damaged axes rather than crafting new ones.
- Inventory Management: Carry multiple axes for different purposes (e.g., a combat axe with Sharpness and a harvesting axe with Efficiency).
Advanced Techniques
- Critical Hits: Jump and hit on the way down to perform a critical hit, dealing 50% more damage with your axe.
- Strategic Shield Disabling: In PvP, use your axe to disable an opponent’s shield, then switch to a sword for faster follow-up attacks.
- Log Stripping: Right-click on logs with an axe to strip them, creating unique textures for decorative building.
FAQ About Making Axes in Minecraft
What is the best axe in Minecraft?
The netherite axe is the best axe in Minecraft in terms of durability and damage. It has 2031 durability points, deals 10 attack damage, and won’t burn in lava if dropped. However, if you’re still in early game stages, the iron axe offers a good balance of accessibility and performance.
Can I repair my axe when it breaks?
Axes cannot be repaired once they completely break. However, damaged axes (that still have some durability left) can be repaired in an anvil using materials of the same type (e.g., iron ingots for an iron axe) or by combining two damaged axes of the same type. You can also use the Mending enchantment to repair axes automatically as you collect experience orbs.
Which enchantments should I put on my axe?
The best enchantments for an axe depend on its primary use:
- For wood harvesting: Efficiency, Unbreaking, and Mending
- For combat: Sharpness (or Smite), Unbreaking, and Mending
- For special block collection: Silk Touch, Unbreaking, and Mending
Is an axe better than a sword for combat?
In Java Edition, axes deal more damage per hit than swords but attack slower. This makes axes better for hit-and-run tactics or initial strikes, while swords are better for sustained combat due to their faster attack speed. Additionally, axes can disable shields, which swords cannot do. In Bedrock Edition, swords generally outperform axes in combat.
Can I use an axe to mine stone or ores?
While you can technically use an axe to mine stone or ores, it’s highly inefficient and may not drop the block as an item. Always use the appropriate tool for the job: pickaxes for stone and ores, shovels for dirt and gravel, and axes for wood and wood-related blocks.
Conclusion
Mastering axe crafting in Minecraft is an essential skill that will serve you well throughout your gameplay. From the humble wooden axe that helps you gather your first serious wood supply to the mighty netherite axe that can fell trees and foes with equal efficiency, axes are versatile tools worth investing in.
As you progress through your Minecraft journey, remember to upgrade your axe as resources allow, enhance it with appropriate enchantments, and keep it in good repair. Whether you’re building a grand structure, defending against hostile mobs, or engaging in PvP combat, a well-crafted axe will be one of your most valuable companions.
Happy crafting, and may your axes always be sharp and your wood plentiful in the vast, blocky world of Minecraft!
