Minecraft Dungeons 2 splits gear upgrades across two vendors, both found in Brave Haven and in other villages (the map shows them): the Blacksmith raises gear power, and the Enchantsmith applies enchantments from your library. Mix them up and you waste echo shards. This guide covers how each one works and what is still unclear.
Checked in-game on October 1, 2026.
Looking for a specific enchantment? Search it in our gear database.
How do you unlock the Enchantsmith?
Finish the quest “Training with the Enchantsmith,” the fifth core quest, which you pick up in Howling Woods from Little Howl. The Enchantsmith doubts you are ready for the Illager High Council, so you track down an Evoker and recover the stolen enchantment books. The quest rewards three books: Healing Smite, Piercing and Ancient Alchemy. Completing it opens the Enchantsmith, so do it before you spend any echo shards.
How does enchanting actually work in Minecraft Dungeons 2?
You don’t get a random enchantment the moment you pick up loot. Minecraft.net’s gameplay-systems article confirms that enchantment books found while exploring go into “a personal library of enchantments” first, and you choose when and where to use them at “the local enchantsmith,” applying an effect “on any gear slot of a player’s choice.” The first game rolled them onto whatever you found.
What is the Enchantsmith, exactly?
The Enchantsmith is the vendor who applies enchantments from your library onto your gear. Xbox Wire’s gamescom 2026 preview describes browsing the Enchantsmith’s options during a hands-on demo and finding combinations on the spot: an enchantment for extra dodge-roll charges, another that fires an arrow on dodge, and a third that sets those arrows alight, stacked together into one new ability combination.
Enchantments can also be leveled up over time rather than staying fixed once applied. Minecraft.net’s article says the system lets you “continually refine and strengthen your favorite builds,” so an enchantment you pick early isn’t a one-time decision.
From early access play, the mechanics behind that leveling are clearer: enchantment books are unlimited use once you own them, so a single book can be applied to as many pieces of gear as you want. Applying one costs both echo shards and enchantment points, and pricier, higher-rarity gear costs more enchantment points to enchant. Upgrading an enchantment’s level after it’s applied spends more points and shards on top of that. Unenchanting a piece of gear is free and refunds all the enchantment points you spent on it, though the echo shards are gone for good. The Enchantsmith also gates enchant tiers behind its own merchant level: a level 1 Enchantsmith can only apply tier 1 enchants, level 2 unlocks tier 2, and level 3 unlocks tier 3, with merchant levels themselves bought using echo shards.
What does the Enchantsmith cost?
Level 2 costs 30 echo shards and level 3 costs 60. Level 2 unlocks Tier II enchantments and level 3 unlocks Tier III, and the level is shared across every Enchantsmith you visit. Each application costs 1 echo shard plus enchantment points. The point cost depends on the gear’s rarity: common gear starts at 1 point and Unique gear starts at 3. Whether “powerful” enchantments are a separate class from regular ones is not confirmed, so we are not claiming one. Shards come from blue mobs, dungeons, rifts and Soul Storms, see the farming guide.
How is the Enchantsmith different from the Blacksmith?
They solve two different problems. The Blacksmith, per Xbox Wire’s gamescom preview, upgrades a piece of gear you already own “to the highest power level currently available,” and can also re-roll that item’s built-in effect for a fee. The Enchantsmith instead adds an enchantment slot effect drawn from your own collected library. One raises an item’s power and rerolls its innate effect; the other lets you choose an enchantment deliberately instead of hoping for one.
| Blacksmith | Enchantsmith | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Brave Haven and other villages (shown on the map) | Brave Haven and other villages (shown on the map) |
| What it does | Upgrades gear to current max power level; can re-roll a built-in effect | Applies enchantment books from your library to a gear slot you choose |
| Why use it | Keep a favorite weapon relevant instead of replacing it | Choose specific enchantment effects instead of relying on random drops |
| Confirmed to level up over time | Not stated | Yes, enchantments can be upgraded after being applied |
What enchantment effects have actually been shown?
Four functional effects have appeared in official previews without a confirmed name attached to any of them yet: an effect that leaves healing spots on the ground when you kill enemies, one that adds an extra dodge-roll charge, one that fires an arrow when you dodge, and one that sets your arrows alight. All four exist, but Mojang hasn’t published names for them in its own articles.
Three more have names now: Lightning Surge, which sends out a wave that deals 90% of your weapon damage and zaps enemies to make them weaker but faster; Bottomless Brew, which grants extra health potions; and Ancient Alchemy, which grants Souls whenever you drink a potion. Lightning Surge triggers off combos and jump attacks.
A simple way to plan your first enchant
Since books go into a library instead of rolling automatically, you can afford to wait before spending one. A workable early approach based on what’s confirmed:
- Keep exploring and let enchantment books stack up in your library rather than rushing to slot the first one you find.
- Decide which weapon or armor piece you actually plan to keep before applying anything, since the Enchantsmith applies effects to gear you choose, not gear it picks for you.
- Look for effects that combine, the way the gamescom preview’s dodge-roll, arrow-on-dodge and flaming-arrow trio did, instead of picking enchantments in isolation.
- Use the Blacksmith to keep that same piece of gear at max power level as you level up, instead of replacing it and losing your applied enchantments.
How do merchant levels, echo shards and emeralds fit together?
Emeralds buy things and echo shards level things up. That’s the whole economy, and players say to keep the two straight from the first hour.
Echo shards drop from the tough blue mobs. Spend them on levelling your merchants, and each level opens rarer stock. You pay emeralds to buy from the town merchant, and shards to raise its level so the good items show up. Levels and stock are per player, so in co-op every friend levels their own merchant and sees their own shelves. The story unlock order is the Town Merchant (quest: The Lost Merchant), then the Enchantsmith (Training with the Enchantsmith), then the Blacksmith (The Missing Note Blocks). Merchant level 2 costs 10 shards and level 3 costs 15. Shards are pricey for villagers, so don’t burn them on a level you don’t need yet.
| Job | Pay with | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Buy gear | Emeralds | Stock is your own, not shared with the party |
| Level a merchant | Echo shards | Unlocks rarer items and enchant tiers |
| Enchant gear | Enchantment points and echo shards | One point per level up |
| Salvage an item | Nothing, you get emeralds | Turns spare gear into cash |
| Reroll a gear effect | Echo shards | Done at the Blacksmith |
Salvaging is how most people fund the next purchase. Anything you won’t wear, salvage for emeralds instead of hauling it around. The Town Merchant’s stock refreshes by itself every 30 minutes, and a manual Refresh Now costs 3 echo shards, which is worth it when the current stock has nothing for your build. Echo shards cap at 100.
The number to watch is 9,999. That’s the emerald cap, and anything you earn past it is lost. Emeralds are easy to come by, so spend them. The campaign walkthrough has a habit checklist that includes this, and the gear database is a good place to decide what to buy.
Before your first shard goes anywhere, finish the Enchantsmith quest described above, since it is what opens the vendor in the first place.
What do we know about the Training with the Enchantsmith quest?
The quest starts in Little Howl, in Howling Woods, after you clear the village’s rift trouble and talk to the cleric. He says the Illager High Council has been lurking around the Deep Dark caves, and the Enchantsmith has seen them. You then track down an Evoker and retrieve the enchanted books, which means clearing a dungeon. Dungeons give books on their own, and the last book sits near the end of the run, behind ambushes.
Finishing the quest unlocks the Enchantsmith and hands you your first books. Players saw Piercing come out of the first batch, and the game explains that echo shards and enchantment points apply books to gear, with echo shards also levelling the enchantment up. From then on, books you find go into your library and you can disenchant freely. The full reward list is above, and Piercing was the one players saw on screen. Step-by-step objectives beyond the Evoker dungeon are not documented yet.
Quick FAQ
Do enchantments roll randomly onto loot in Minecraft Dungeons 2? No. Confirmed enchantment books go into a personal library first, and you choose which gear slot to apply them to at the Enchantsmith.
Can I remove an enchantment once it’s applied? Yes. Unenchanting through the Enchantsmith is free and refunds the enchantment points you spent, though the echo shards you paid don’t come back.
Is the Enchantsmith the same vendor as the Blacksmith? No. They are two separate smiths, each with its own spot on the map in Brave Haven and other villages, with different jobs: one upgrades gear power, the other applies enchantments.
Do enchantments have levels? Yes, Minecraft.net confirms enchantments “can also be upgraded and leveled up over time” after being applied.
Not confirmed yet
Whether powerful enchantments are a separate class from regular ones is unknown. The total number of enchantment slots per item hasn’t been published by Mojang or Xbox. Some guide sites published tier-ranked enchantment lists before launch. We don’t repeat them, because they were guesses.
For the full confirmed gear picture these smiths work with, see our confirmed weapons and gear guide, and for where these smiths are located, see our Sift and Brave Haven explainer. Our beginner tips cover the same system in brief for a first-hour checklist.