Aqua Affinity is one of the most useful enchantments if you do any underwater building or mining. It removes the slowdown you normally get when breaking blocks underwater, letting you mine at full speed even below the surface.
What Does Aqua Affinity Do
When you wear a helmet enchanted with Aqua Affinity, breaking blocks underwater takes the same time as breaking them on land. Without this enchantment, you mine way slower underwater, which gets annoying fast if you’re working on an underwater base or gathering resources from the ocean floor.
How to Get Aqua Affinity
You can add Aqua Affinity to a helmet three ways:
Enchanting Table
Place a helmet in an enchanting table and look for Aqua Affinity in the list. It usually shows up at lower levels, so you shouldn’t need many bookshelves if you want to find it.
Anvil
Combine a helmet with an enchanted book that has Aqua Affinity using an anvil. You can find these books from fishing, looting structures, or getting them from trading with librarian villagers.
Command
Use the command below to instantly enchant the helmet you’re holding:
/enchant @s aqua_affinity 1
Which Helmets Work
Aqua Affinity works on any helmet:
- Leather Cap
- Chain Helmet
- Iron Helmet
- Golden Helmet
- Diamond Helmet
- Netherite Helmet
- Turtle Shell
- Enchanted Books
You can also dye leather caps before enchanting them if you want a specific color.
Enchantment Details
| Name | Aqua Affinity |
|---|---|
| ID (Java) | minecraft:aqua_affinity |
| Max Level | Level 1 |
| What It Goes On | Helmets only |
| Effect | Mine underwater at normal speed |
How to Use It
Once you have a helmet enchanted with Aqua Affinity, just equip it. Move the helmet to your helmet slot (top-left of your inventory screen) or press the helmet hotkey. You’ll see your character put it on.
Now jump in the water and start mining. You’ll notice blocks break way faster than they did before.
Pairs Well With
Aqua Affinity works great alongside Respiration, which lets you breathe underwater longer. Use both together for serious underwater construction or deep ocean exploration.