Before there were spears, there was the trident. This unorthodox weapon breaks all of the established rules of combat in Minecraft. You can’t craft one, it's both a melee and ranged weapon, and it has not one, not two, but four exclusive enchantment options available.
And while it’s not the absolute most difficult weapon to get your hands on – which is an honor held by the mace – it’s still not exactly easy staying stocked up on tridents. That means that whatever enchantments you do have on it need to matter. So, instead of leaving you to worry about which enchantment to commit to, we’ve organized every option into a clean and easy ranking.
And if even a fully enchanted trident doesn’t quite scratch that itch for the ultimate weapon, don’t worry. We’ve also included some of our favorite addons sure to kick things up a notch.
1. Loyalty
The worst thing about ranged combat, no matter where it happens, is always the struggle to stay stocked on ammo. As each fight drags on, your supply of ammo dwindles more and more. That’s especially the case with the trident, where most players will only have one or two available.
That’s why the trident-exclusive Loyalty enchantment is so good. Now, your trident will automatically return to you after throwing it. This allows you to repeatedly take full advantage of the trident’s damage output without having to risk going without a weapon, or worse, losing it entirely.
Loyalty comes in 3 levels, with each level further boosting the speed at which the trident will return. This means that it’s generally not worth the extra resources. With that said, this enchantment can make the trident a viable weapon for large mob groups or even when fighting the Ender Dragon, making it all the more important.
Note: Loyalty cannot be added alongside Riptide.
2. Riptide
Most weapons in Minecraft don’t really have cool special abilities, even when enchanted. That’s why the Riptide enchantment is just so fun. Another trident exclusive, performing the throw action while in water (or in rain) will launch you forward in a spiraling charge.
The distance you’re launched is not to be understated, either. You can spear past a little over 20 blocks in less than a second with this ability. And should you collide with a mob, it deals damage on impact, turning you into a cannonball fighter.
But the real magic happens when you use it with an Elytra. The speed boost compounds to your flight speed, assuming you’re in rain. Do it right, and you can reach speeds of over 500 blocks a second! That’s more than 14 times the speed a firework rocket would give you.
Note: Loyalty and Channeling cannot be added alongside Riptide.
3. Mending
The Mending enchantment is, frankly speaking, great for literally any item.
While holding the trident, any experience orbs you collect are converted into regained durability. Repairing items using an anvil gets more and more expensive every time you do it, eventually exceeding what the game allows, so Mending is the only way to ensure a trident can last forever.
This is especially important with the trident as the only way to get them is when they’re dropped by drowned zombies. And no, you can’t really craft them as they don’t even have a designated repair material. In fact, the only way to repair a trident is by using another trident! Maybe you have a trident farm built, but for everyone who doesn’t, repairs will always range from difficult to impossible. Mending avoids all of that.
4. Unbreaking
Unbreaking is to Luigi as Mending is to Mario. Sure, it’s good at protecting durability, but it just can’t compete with its cooler brother. This enchantment adds a percentage chance to not take durability loss when used. And while Unbreaking III can make a trident last four times longer, it will still break eventually.
With that said, the above-average difficulty in repairing a trident does mean that Unbreaking is especially valuable here, and even more so if already paired with Mending. Using Mending and Unbreaking together means the item is essentially taking less damage, and so less experience points are wasted on repairing it.
5. Channeling
Returning to the trident-exclusive enchantments, Channeling is an extremely cool ability that you’ll just never get to really use. If you’re in a thunderstorm and you throw the trident, striking a mob or a lightning rod will cause lightning to strike at that location. Apart from being an absolute blast to witness first-hand, this also deals extra damage and lights the target on fire.
The main problem with Channeling, though, is that it’s completely at the whim of the weather. Thunderstorms aren’t very common and it also won’t work underground, or in either the Nether or End dimensions. This in our modest opinion is the main limitation that holds it back from being one of the top-tier trident enchantments.
We will give credit where credit is due, however. The rare and dangerous supercharged creeper only appears when a creeper is struck by lightning. With Channeling, you can actively make that happen yourself. Now, you have a way to get the even more rare mob head item: a wearable helmet only dropped when a mob is killed in a supercharged creeper explosion.
Note: Channeling cannot be added alongside Riptide.
6. Impaling
Last (and likely least), we have an enchantment almost as bad as Bane of Arthropods. Are you ready for it? Impaling deals bonus damage against… fish. Exciting, we know.
To be fair, It actually deals bonus damage to any underwater mob type in the game. That includes dolphins, turtles, axolotls, and yes, fish. Most importantly, it does include guardians and elder guardians. So, it does make the trident a particularly effective weapon when raiding ocean monuments.
There is a saving grace to this enchantment, at least. That bonus damage is also applied whenever your target is wet. That includes shallow water or rain combat. This makes it a lot more appealing on the surface, weather permitting. Still, with all of the benefits the other enchantments have, we feel this one just doesn’t measure up.
Invoke Your Inner Poseidon With These Trident Addons
Tridents are a great example of just how expansive Minecraft could be if more items in the game had this level of unique function and creative attention. Fortunately, the Minecraft community is more than ready to give it that attention through addons.
These convenient content packs allow you to customize your game however you want, including expanding on the existing weapon and combat system. The below list includes some of our favorite examples.
1. Raiyon’s More Enchantments
The trident already is a top dog when it comes to unique enchantments. But don’t you want more? The “Rayon’s More Enchantments” expands on the enchantment system by adding in an entire second tier of power. Craft the unique enchanting table and unlock options like “leeching”, “glowing”, and “double jump”!
That’s right, it’s not just weapons that get a boost – there are new and interesting enchantments for tools and armor as well. They’re hard to unlock, and pretty expensive, but each effect is so worth it, you won’t know how you lived without them.
2. Trident Crafter — Crash Your Own Trident!
How to Install Minecraft Addons
You can add Bedrock addons automatically from the official Minecraft Marketplace or download and install them manually from CurseForge’s Bedrock addons browser.
If you pick the second option, make sure to open the linked project page of each of the addons above and download its associated “.mcaddon” file. Running the downloaded file should then launch Minecraft and begin the import.
After the import finishes, don’t forget to edit the world and check both "Behavior Packs" → "Available" and "Resource Packs" → "Available". If all went well, activating the packs included with the addon should add its features to that world. If the project lists an experiment under "Requirements", you should enable it as well before loading the world.
For a complete walkthrough, check out our guide on how to install Minecraft Bedrock addons.
Common Issues and Quick Fixes
I can’t find my trident after throwing it
The good news is that, unlike Java Edition where tridents despawn after 60 seconds, a trident will never despawn on Bedrock. That means you have all the time in the world to find it.
If it’s missing, a mob might have actually picked it up. Search the area for zombies or skeletons and see if they’re holding it. Defeat them and they’ll drop the trident back down.
The best way to avoid this from happening is to enchant it with Loyalty. Otherwise, try to avoid aiming high up or over ledges and cliffs when throwing it.
I can’t throw my trident
There are two reasons you likely can’t throw a trident.
- The trident is enchanted with Riptide, which replaces the throw action.
- The trident has one point of durability remaining. Since throwing it costs one durability, this is a safety measure to not throw something that's going to break immediately.
We recommend either using a different trident, removing the Riptide enchantment, or repairing your trident accordingly.
I can’t add the enchantment I want to my trident
Like most weapons, tridents have some mutually exclusive enchantments. That means that having one will prevent you from having the other. In this case, Riptide will prevent Channeling and Loyalty, and vice versa.
It’s worth noting that Channeling and Loyalty are based on throwing the trident, while Riptide removes the ability to throw a trident. This is likely the reason you can’t have both of them on the same weapon.