What Is Smite in Minecraft and How You Can Get It?

Braving Minecraft’s massive sandbox world can be a dangerous endeavor. Hostile mobs may be lurking around every corner–even the undead. 

So, what if there was a way to gain an advantage against these enemies? 

If you’re familiar with the fantasy genre, you know the power Smite wields against anything undead. But what is Smite in Minecraft, specifically, and how can you get it? 

What Is Smite in Minecraft?

Smite is an enchantment rather than a spell. Sword enchantments in Minecraft are something you put on your weapon to gain certain benefits. There are several ways to get and use it, which I’ll explore later in this article.

But first things first.  

What Does it Do? 

The Smite enchantment increases a weapon’s damage against the undead. It has 5 levels, with the strength increasing as it scales up.

I’ll tell you all about levels and scaling in a bit. First, let’s talk about the enemies Smite can help you against. I’ve prepared a list of the 7 most common undead mobs in Minecraft.

Undead mobs

Zombies: These guys are among the most common hostile mobs you’ll meet. They spawn everywhere and usually turn up in groups. 

Drowned: Underwater zombies. You find them in rivers and oceans. A regular zombie can also become a Drowned if they… drown. 

Skeletons: Also very common, they show up in any Overworld biome. Skeletons are especially pesky since they usually carry a bow to shoot you. 

Husks: A rarer zombie type that’s only found in desert biomes. Husks are unique because they don’t burn in the sun, unlike their regular zombie cousins. 

Phantoms: These undead birds start spawning if you haven’t slept for more than 3 in-game days. They can be difficult to hit with a bow, but a well-timed melee will do the trick. 

Zombie villagers: If a villager dies to a zombie, they may end up reanimating themselves. You can cure a zombie villager with a golden apple – if you have one. 

Stray: Skeletons that spawn in snowy or frozen biomes only. 

Damage levels 

As I said before, there are different Smite levels. Your overall damage is determined by your enchantment and your weapon of choice.

I’ve prepared a thorough comparison below. The tables show the amount of damage based on your level of enchantment. The number in parentheses represents a critical hit. 

Minecraft sword damage: 

Minecraft axe damage: 

How to Get Smite 

If you’re looking for an answer to the question – “What is Smite in Minecraft?”, now you have it.

But we’re just getting to the good part. I’m going to show you three different ways of enchanting your weapon. 

Enchanting table

The most obvious way of getting an enchanted sword in Minecraft is your enchanting table. 

Before you approach the table, make sure you have a few lapis lazuli on you. You can farm the beautiful blue stones in the depths of the Overworld, usually close to bedrock. 

With that in hand, approach your enchanting table. Put the weapon you’re enchanting in one slot and the lapis lazuli in the other. 

Once you do that, you’ll get three enchantment options on the right. Each one costs up to 3 lapis lazuli and a certain level of experience.

Remember to boost your enchanting table by surrounding it with bookcases. You can benefit from up to 15 bookshelves. However, they need to be exactly 1 block away from the table.  

You can arrange them like this:

You’ll notice you get access to higher-tier enchantments. They demand higher levels, so stock up on XP! 

Once you have all of that, just keep trying until you get Smite. In Minecraft, enchanting involves a fair bit of RNG, but you’ll get it eventually.  

Command-line 

Don’t feel like making a table and cave diving for lapis blocks? You can also get sword enchantments in Minecraft with a single console line.

Of course, this only works if you enable cheats when creating your world. 

The Minecraft Smite command you want is: 

/give @a diamond_sword{Enchantments:[{id:"smite",lvl:5}]}

Copy that into your console for a Smite diamond sword. You can change the weapon type and enchantment level according to your preference. 

Anvil

Another way to get enchantments for your sword is the anvil. It lets you take two items and combine their effects. So, take a normal sword and an enchanted book, then merge them into an enchanted sword. 

You can also combine identical items to level them up. In the picture below, I’m merging two level 3 diamond sword enchantments to get a level 4. 

Smite vs Sharpness

So Smite turns you into a zombie’s worst enemy. Cool. 

Although it doesn’t help if spiders or a Creeper are giving you trouble. Could there be better sword enchantments out there? 

One option comes to mind. The Sharpness vs Smite debate is very real in Minecraft circles. 

Let’s go over the main differences.

Sharpness’ selling point is that it affects everything. It adds [0.5 * your level + 0.5] damage to every hit, regardless of who it is. That makes it a great overall – but not the master.

What Smite does, it does best. It adds 2.5 damage per level to undead mobs, putting it noticeably ahead. 

It depends on you and what you’re fighting – nothing is stopping you from enchanting 2 weapons to get the best of both worlds. 

Wrap Up

When all is done and said, what is Smite in Minecraft? It’s an anti-undead weapon enchantment. 

It can be tricky to get, especially if you aren’t using cheats. But with everything I’ve shown you, it should be within your grasp by now.

No pesky reanimated corpse is going to stand in your way ever again!