How to Check the Durability of Your Items in Minecraft

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Everything you've wanted to know about Minecraft durability
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In Minecraft, there are a few ways to see an item's durability. It's always represented by a color-changing bar on the item's icon, or you can press F3 + H to see it in the item's tooltip (Java Edition only). In this article, we'll go over durability in Minecraft in depth, teaching you how to see the durability numbers in Java and Bedrock , mods that help you see durability more easily , and more info about item durability in general. Read on to learn more, including helpful tips from Minecraft specialist Zac Churchill.

How to See Durability in Minecraft

An item's durability is displayed as a bar on the item's icon. Full durability is green. As an item deteriorates it changes to an orange hue. Once it’s almost broken, it changes to red. Press F3 + H (or Fn + F3 + H ) to see the durability in the item's tooltip. You can also install mods to see durability more easily.

Section 1 of 6:

How to View Durability in Minecraft Java Edition

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  1. Most tools , weapons, or pieces of armor that have been used at least once will have a durability bar at the bottom of their icon that changes color as the item's durability decreases. The bar changes from green, to yellow, to orange, to red. Once the bar is empty, the item will break very soon.
    • One exception is items with the "unbreakable" tag. These items will not break and do not show a durability bar, even when used.
    • Buckets, clocks, compasses, leads, spy glasses, and recovery compasses don't have durability.
    • When using a bow, fishing rod, carrot on a stick, flint and steel, warped fungi on a stick, brush, or elytra to break a block, they will not lower in durability. These tools have their durability lowered in other ways.
  2. Once you press F3 , you will be presented with a screen of numbers that includes your coordinates and other values. But, when you press it with H , it will activate the advanced tool tips and display extra info in the tooltips for your items, including the numeric durability value of your tools, weapons, or armor. [1]
    • If you have a smaller keyboard, first press Fn + F3 , then release Fn . While still holding down F3 , press H . [2]
    • If the shortcut doesn't work, try it again with your inventory closed. Users have reported this shortcut doesn't work if you're in your inventory when you press it.
    • If the shortcut still doesn't work, go to your options.txt file in your Minecraft folder. Search for advancedItemTooltips and change false to true . Save the file, then try again.
    • If you're on Bedrock Edition, this shortcut will unfortunately not work.
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Section 2 of 6:

How to View Durability in Minecraft Bedrock Edition

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  1. Currently, there is no way to view the specific durability values of your items in standard Bedrock edition. But, you can download a resource pack like Durability Viewer to gain access to those features. Once you’ve downloaded the resource pack, open Settings and scroll down to Global Resources. From there, go to My Packs, locate Durability Viewer, and click Activate. [3]
    • To specify the range of your durability values, click the gear icon next to the Activate button and scroll through the four settings.
    • The four settings for the durability range include:
      • Round durability numbers above 500.
      • Round durability numbers in the thousands.
      • Round durability numbers in the hundreds & thousands.
      • Show all durability numbers.
Section 3 of 6:

Durability Mods

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  1. If you don’t want to use the F3 + H feature to see your durability, there are plenty of mods that you can use. These mods approach durability in different ways, giving you plenty of options that work best for your playstyle. Some of the most popular ones include:
    • Durability Tooltip adds durability to your item tooltips without having to do any keyboard shortcuts.
    • Durability101 adds an item's numeric durability value above its durability bar.
    • Durability Notifier notifies you when your item is low on durability.
    • Durability Show adds a section to your HUD that shows the remaining durability of your armor, tools, and weapons.
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Section 4 of 6:

Durability Values

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  1. Armor durability depends on its material and what armor piece it is. Each piece of armor has a specific number of uses depending on the type of material it is made out of. Those numbers and materials are as follows: [4]
    • Turtle Shell:
      • Helmet: 275
    • Leather:
      • Helmet: 55
      • Chestplate: 80
      • Leggings: 75
      • Boots: 65
    • Golden:
      • Helmet: 77
      • Chestplate: 112
      • Leggings: 105
      • Boots: 91
    • Chainmail:
      • Helmet: 165
      • Chestplate: 240
      • Leggings: 225
      • Boots: 195
    • Iron:
      • Helmet: 165
      • Chestplate: 240
      • Leggings: 225
      • Boots: 195
    • Diamond:
      • Helmet: 353
      • Chestplate: 528
      • Leggings: 495
      • Boots: 429
    • Netherite:
      • Helmet: 407
      • Chestplate: 592
      • Leggings: 555
      • Boots: 481
    EXPERT TIP

    Zac Churchill

    Minecraft Specialist
    Zac Churchill is a Minecraft Specialist based in Davidson, North Carolina. Zac has played Minecraft for over 10 years and has extensive knowledge of how to play Minecraft and how the game has changed over the different versions. Specifically, Zac has expert experience in survival worlds, large builds on creative mode, and server design/upkeep. He graduated in 2023 with a BA in Sociology and English from Tufts University.
    Zac Churchill
    Minecraft Specialist

    Don't throw away your Diamond gear once you start getting Netherite ingots. Netherite armor is the strongest and most durable armor in the game, but you must combine Netherite ingots with Diamond gear to make the Netherite version.

  2. The amount of times a tool can be used depends on its material. The number of uses each material provides before it breaks is as follows: [5]
    • Gold: 32 uses
    • Wood: 59 uses
    • Stone: 131 uses
    • Iron: 250 uses
    • Diamond: 1561 uses
    • Netherite: 2031 uses
  3. Special tools that aren't made of a specific material have their own maximum number of uses. Those tools include:
    • Carrot on a stick: 25 uses
    • Fishing rod, flint, and steel, brush: 64 uses
      • In Bedrock Edition, the fishing rod has 384 uses.
    • Warped fungus on a stick, sparkler, glow stick: 100 uses
      • The sparkler and glow stick are only available in Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education.
    • Shears: 238 uses
    • Trident: 250 uses
    • Shield: 336 uses
    • Bow: 384 uses
    • Elytra: 432 uses
    • Crossbow: 465 uses
      • In Bedrock Edition, the crossbow has 464 uses.
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Section 5 of 6:

How Durability Decreases

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  1. For every four hearts of incoming damage (rounded down), each piece of your armor loses one point of durability.
    • Armor durability can be decreased by the following types of damage: [6]
      • Melee attacks
      • Ranged attacks with an arrow, shulker bullet, trident, egg, snowball, llama spit, fireball, or wither skull
      • Guardian and elder guardian laser beams
      • Lightning strike
      • Falling anvils or stalactites
      • Touching a fire, lava, or magma block (unless wearing Netherite armor)
      • Touching a cactus
      • Moving inside a sweet berry bush
      • Explosions
      • Touching a pointed dripstone
    • Armor durability is not decreased by these types of damage: [7]
      • Fire damage over time
      • Suffocating inside a block
      • Hitting the world border
      • Drowning in water
      • Fall damage
      • Hitting a block while using elytra
      • Magic
      • Being in a powder snow block
      • Falling into the void
      • Using the /kill command
      • Starvation
      • The Warden's ranged sonic attacks
  2. This includes breaking blocks, attacking mobs, and other specialty actions for each type of tool. Using a tool for its intended use usually counts as 1 use. For example, using an axe to break a block of wood or using a hoe to till grass counts as 1 use. But using a tool for a purpose it isn’t intended for, like using an axe, pickaxe, shovel, or hoe to hit a mob, counts as two uses. [8]
    • For the most part, breaking blocks that break immediately count as 0 uses.
    • If a tool is used to break a block but you stop before the block is broken, it does not count as a use.
    • Using a specialty tool (i.e. flint and steel, fishing rods, etc.) for anything other than their intended purpose usually counts as 0 uses. But, breaking a block with shears counts as 1 use.
    • Specialty tools may use up more uses depending on how you use them. For example, the fishing rod can use anywhere from 1-5 uses, depending on how you use it.
  3. Like other tools, the durability of swords increases depending on the material it’s made out of. For example, a wooden sword isn’t as durable as an iron sword. Bows also calculate durability differently than swords. When you shoot an arrow, your bow loses 1 use, but when you hit a mob with your sword, you lose 2 uses. [9]
    • When you break a block with your sword, you lose 2 uses.
    • When you shoot a crossbow, you lose 1 use. When you shoot it with the multishot enchantment or a firework, you lose 3 uses.
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Section 6 of 6:

How to Increase Durability

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  1. 1
    Combine two damaged items in a grindstone. If you have a duplicate of the item you’d like to repair, combine the two items in the top and bottom slots of a grindstone to repair one of them to full strength. This method takes away any enchantments on the original items, so be ready to re-enchant your item if you decide to use a grindstone. [10]
    • To craft a grindstone , place two sticks in the upper corners of the crafting table grid. In between them, place a stone slab. Place two wooden planks underneath the sticks, then grab the grindstone from the results tab. [11]
  2. If you have a duplicate of the item you’d like to repair, combine the two to get one that has full durability. Use iron to craft an anvil . Once you’ve crafted your anvil, place the two items into the two slots and take the repaired item from the third slot. [12]
    • This method only works if you have enough Experience Points (XP).
    • With this method, you’re able to keep your enchantments.
  3. 3
    Use the Mending enchantment. Mending is a rare enchantment that increases the durability of your item as you gain XP, making it so your item is virtually indestructible as long as you are gaining XP. You can obtain the mending enchantment by trying your luck and enchanting your item or enchanting a book. You can also search villages to see if one of the houses has an enchanted book with Mending. [13]
    • Churchill suggests you reach thirty levels of XP before enchanting tools, as they give you the highest chance at the strongest enchantments.
    • According to Churchill, a level thirty enchantment only takes away three levels of XP. So, once you reach level thirty once, it’s much easier to reach it again after enchanting items.
  4. If an item has the Unbreaking enchantment, it may not lose durability when being used. While this doesn't technically restore durability, it stops durability from being used up, increasing the number of times your item can take damage before breaking. [14]
  5. While this also technically doesn't increase durability, you can use a cheat code to give yourself items that never break. Note that you must be playing Java Edition to use this cheat code.
    • The code is /give <target> <item>[minecraft:unbreakable={}] where <item> is the name of the item you want.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://youtu.be/FwX7YhSBkfU?si=1ezBtgCCPzQm9SwD&t=14
      2. ↑ https://youtu.be/FwX7YhSBkfU?si=asH-_qhOuRvqCjZd&t=23
      3. ↑ https://youtu.be/ziMe25vgivA?si=_yeer1UrFrfONhWF&t=78
      4. ↑ https://youtu.be/TSzCfWhozJo?si=jXPQZFF1Zdq3K8EH&t=130
      5. ↑ https://youtu.be/QEZL1KVuH6w?si=ZQwJDaKATpZL_NiC&t=67
      6. ↑ https://youtu.be/TSzCfWhozJo?si=xKSm1IO7-Wqzlis9&t=74
      7. ↑ https://youtu.be/TSzCfWhozJo?si=xdznoxhZv0MgUggA&t=97
      8. ↑ https://youtu.be/QEZL1KVuH6w?si=nSO_sly1LEILguTO&t=302
      9. ↑ https://www.thegamer.com/minecraft-tool-armor-durability-guide/
      1. ↑ https://youtu.be/V41GY9N-104?si=Wm6jDPLPu4rWRm2n&t=62
      2. ↑ https://youtu.be/V41GY9N-104?si=y0UDSYpUqGp4LZcV&t=31
      3. ↑ https://youtu.be/TSzCfWhozJo?si=cTT--bimWojCnHwc&t=364
      4. ↑ https://youtu.be/TSzCfWhozJo?si=pSfBGqH24zo4lpjA&t=352
      5. ↑ https://youtu.be/TSzCfWhozJo?si=ZUpqyz8mVUB9Fzb8&t=298

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