Is the unbreaking enchantment beyond III effective?
In my singleplayer world, I was testing the difference between an Unbreaking III and an Unbreaking IV enchanted armour (using TooManyItems), but I didn't see much of a difference. I would like some help from the mathematicians of this website to tell me what at what level of unbreaking the enchantment stops being more effective. Also, does this calculation apply to all versions past 1.5.2?
Best Answer
Yes, but with rapidly diminishing returns
According to the wiki page on Enchanting1, the effect of Unbreaking is:
Increases durability
[...]
For armor,
(60 + (40/(Level+1)))%chance a use reduces durability. (In other words, each durability hit against “unbreaking” armor has a 20%/27%/30% chance of being ignored.) Thus, on average, armor lasts 25%/36%/43% longer.
You can see that the formula is different for armor, and even with the regular three levels, the chance to not lose durability when hit increases slower with higher levels. Extrapolating the "20%/27%/30%" using the formula given yields:
Unbreaking | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ... | 10 | ... | 20
Chance | 20 | 27 | 30 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | ... | 36 | ... | 38
Increase | 20 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ...
(Values are rounded in the table, but not in game). The chance converges to 40% for high values of Unbreaking, with diminishing returns the higher the enchantment level gets, to the point where is negligible.
If you directly compare an Unbreaking III Diamond Chestplate to an Unbreaking IV one, on average, the former breaks after 529*100/(60+40/4)=756 hits, the latter after 529*100/(60+40/5)=778. That is only a relative increase of 3% more hits.
1 While the page has changed, the game mechanics have been the the same since at least March 2013.
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Is Unbreaking 1 or 3 better?
The maximum level for the Unbreaking enchantment is Level 3. This means that you can enchant an item with up to Unbreaking III. The higher the level, the more powerful the enchantment.Is Unbreaking 3 better than mending?
Is Mending better than Unbreaking? Mending is better than unbreaking on any tool, weapon, or armor except bows. Bows will want infinity and mending conflicts with infinity. Unbreaking may increase the durability double, triple, or even quadruple, but that does not really compare with indefinite.Does Unbreaking 3 last forever?
This shows that an Unbreaking III Diamond Pick will last, on average, about 6,144 uses (four times as long as a normal Diamond Pick.) However there is also a chance it will break after only 6,000 uses. Similarly, there is a chance it will last for 6,500 uses.What is the best enchantment for Unbreaking?
In Minecraft, the highest level for the Unbreaking enchantment is level 3. This means that only items with the Unbreaking III enchantment will have the highest durability possible.How to Get and Use Unbreaking Enchantment in Minecraft! | Easy Minecraft Tutorial
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Answer 2
According to the wiki, Unbreaking IV cannot be acquired in Survival Mode.
Armor enchanted with Unbreaking has a 40 * (1 - 1/(Level+1))% chance to ignore durability damage.
Level | Chance to ignore (%) | Durability increase (%)
===========================================================
I | 20 | 25
II | 26.7 | 36
III | 30 | 42.9
IV | 32 | 47.1
V | 33.3 | 50
VI | 34.3 | 52.2
VII | 35 | 53.8
... | ... | ...
infinite | 40 | 66.7
You can see that Unbreaking IV only gives a 3.6 % relative improvement over Unbreaking III, so of course you wouldn't notice the difference with quick tests.
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