Many Minecraft players wonder about the purpose of Smite in Minecraft. The name suggests it has something to do with a powerful attack with fists or weapons. However, anyone that played video games, watched supernatural or horror TV shows, or dabbled in religion may connect it to killing unholy creatures or exorcising evil creatures from flesh. While we know this is fiction and entertainment, it truly has a similar use, but reserved to hostile mobs in-game. It won’t destroy or exorcise them, but damage them. The harm depends on its power. We understand everyone’s confusion, so let’s answer the question, “what does Smite do in Minecraft?”
What is Smite in Minecraft?
Smite is a Minecraft enchantment that can be applied to swords or axes and increases damage to undead hostile creatures. These undead mobs include skeletons, zombies, withers, zombie villagers, wither skeletons, strays, zoglins, drowned, phantoms, husks, zombie horses, skeleton horses, and zombified piglins. Smite, like many other enchants, has 5 levels, from 1 (Smite I) to 5 (Smite V) in the game. Each level adds damage progressively, more precisely, every level adds 2.5 points of damage (1.25x ♥) to the weapon, but only to undead mobs. Smite V is powerful enough to one-shot skeletons and zombies, even. Other mobs will still take expected “normal” damage from the sword or axe unless another enchant is applied.
As mentioned in our Minecraft enchanting guide, you can add Smite to your weapon using an anvil, an enchanting table, or an in-game Minecraft command. It’s important to mention that you cannot have Smite and Bane of Arthropods and Smite and Sharpness on the same weapon. Some internal testing and data analysis from planned snapshots suggest that Smite and Cleaving may become incompatible as well. However, that only applies to regular enchantment methods (table and anvil), and adding these via an in-game command makes the effects stack.
That means you can enter the following /give commands /give @p diamond_axe{Enchantments:[{id:smite,lvl:5},{id:sharpness,lvl:1}]} 1 or /give @p diamond_pickaxe 1 0 {ench:[{id:17,lvl:5},{id:16,lvl:3}]}
You would get both effects while doing that with in-game tools won’t make them work in unison.
How does Smite affect weapon damage in Minecraft?
You came to the right place because we have a breakdown of Smite damage per hit. You do not have to memorize these numbers, only remember that each level differs by 2.5 points of damage (2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5) compared to the base damage.
Explanation — The tables below assume that the target does not have armor to mitigate damage and that a sword attack is fully charged. That applies to Java Edition only. With that said, the first number applies to damage in Bedrock Edition, while the second calculation applies to Java Edition. The numbers in the brackets represent critical damage of the attack.
We will start with the calculations for the damage of axes enchanted with Smite:
| Weapon | Base damage | Smite I | Smite II | Smite III | Smite IV | Smite V |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wooden axe | 3 (6) 7 (10.5) | 6.5 (8.5) 9.5 (13) | 9 (11) 12 (15.5) | 11.5 (13.5) 14.5 (18) | 14 (16) 17 (20.5) | 16.5 (18.5) 19.5 (23) |
| Stone axe | 4 (7) 9 (13.5) | 7.5 (9.5) 11.5 (16) | 10 (12) 14 (18.5) | 12.5 (14.5) 16.5 (21) | 15 (17) 19 (23.5) | 17.5 (19.5) 21.5 (26) |
| Iron axe | 5 (9) 9 (13.5) | 8.5 (11.5) 11.5 (16) | 11 (14) 14 (18.5) | 13.5 (16.5) 16.5 (21) | 16 (19) 19 (23.5) | 18.5 (21.5) 21.5 (26) |
| Gold axe | 3 (6) 7 (10.5) | 6.5 (8.5) 9.5 (13) | 9 (11) 12 (15.5) | 11.5 (13.5) 14.5 (18) | 14 (16) 17 (20.5) | 16.5 (18.5) 19.5 (23) |
| Diamond axe | 6 (10) 9 (13.5) | 9.5 (12.5) 11.5 (16) | 12 (15) 14 (18.5) | 14.5 (17.5) 16.5 (21) | 17 (20) 19 (23.5) | 19.5 (22.5) 21.5 (26) |
| Netherite axe | 7 (12) 10 (15) | 10.5 (14.5) 12.5 (17.5) | 13 (17) 15 (20) | 15.5 (19.5) 17.5 (22.5) | 18 (22) 20 (25) | 20.5 (24.5) 22.5 (27.5) |
We will finish with the Smite damage breakdown for swords based on their type and enchantment level
| Weapon | Base damage | Smite I | Smite II | Smite III | Smite IV | Smite V |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wooden sword | 4 (7.5) 4 (6) | 7.5 (10) 6.5 (8.5) | 10 (12.5) 9 (11) | 12.5 (15) 11.5 (13.5) | 15 (17.5) 14 (16) | 17.5 (20) 16.5 (18.5) |
| Stone sword | 5 (9) 5 (7.5) | 8.5 (11.5) 7.5 (10) | 11 (14) 10 (12.5) | 13.5 (16.5) 12.5 (15) | 16 (19) 15 (17.5) | 18.5 (21.5) 17.5 (20) |
| Iron sword | 6 (10.5) 6 (9) | 8.5 (13) 8.5 (11.5) | 11 (15.5) 11 (14) | 13.5 (18) 13.5 (16.5) | 17 (20.5) 16 (19) | 19.5 (23) 18.5 (21.5) |
| Gold sword | 4 (7.5) 4 (6) | 7.5 (10) 6.5 (8.5) | 10 (12.5) 9 (11) | 12.5 (15) 11.5 (13.5) | 15 (17.5) 14 (16) | 17.5 (20) 16.5 (18.5) |
| Diamond sword | 7 (12) 7 (10.5) | 10.5 (14.5) 9.5 (13) | 13 (17) 12 (15.5) | 15.5 (19.5) 14.5 (18) | 18 (22) 17 (20.5) | 20.5 (24.5) 19.5 (23) |
| Netherite sword | 8 (13.5) 8 (12) | 11.5 (16) 10.5 (14.5) | 14 (18.5) 13 (17) | 16.5 (21) 15.5 (19.5) | 19 (23.5) 18 (22) | 21.5 (26) 20.5 (24.5) |