ENCHANTED IRON SWORD

The budget entry into pre-enchanted weapons. A Weaponsmith puts Enchanted Iron Sword on offer the moment he claims a grindstone, 7 to 21 emeralds, well below what the diamond version costs once he has traded his way to his top tier. Enchanted Diamond Sword hits harder, but this one gets an enchantment onto a blade you can carry on day one.

It draws from the same equipment enchantment pool a diamond blade would, so Sharpness, Looting, Fire Aspect, Knockback and Sweeping Edge are all fair outcomes. The iron core just means less damage per hit for the same range of possible enchantments.

Only a Weaponsmith sells it, and he can do it from novice onward, the day he takes the job. He asks 7 to 21 emeralds, a range set by which enchantment he rolled rather than by anything you negotiate.

Enchanted Iron Sword sells for anywhere between 7 and 21 emeralds, from the Weaponsmith at the Novice tier, and 1 of the other 4 costs less. That is a rolled price rather than a fixed one, so the Weaponsmith you happen to find matters more than the tier does.

The Weaponsmith at its novice tier asks 7 emeralds for an enchanted iron sword, on its cheapest roll. 8 of the 72 villagers that pay emeralds, emptied out:

7 diamonds against 182 potatoes for the same 7 emeralds, 26 times the carrying, and the shortest wait is the Leatherworker at 4.4 real minutes of shelf, gathering not counted.

The offer locks after 12 sales, and a restock is allowed twice a Minecraft day, so 24 swords is what one grindstone can move before it runs dry.

Unlike most of the trades on this site, there is no ladder to climb first. Any unemployed villager standing next to a grindstone becomes a Weaponsmith and this offer is already on his sheet at novice, no prior trading required.

The price is rolled per villager, 7 to 21 emeralds, a 14 emerald spread between the cheapest sword and the most expensive one. Breaking and replacing his grindstone rerolls both the enchantment and the price, but only until he has traded with you once. How re-rolling works.

12 swords clears the slot, and the grindstone needs 2 real minutes to refill it. A Minecraft day runs 20 real minutes, enough for exactly two of those refills.

A full day on one Weaponsmith clears 24 swords, worth 168 to 504 emeralds depending on the rolls. Because the offer is on his opening tier, this is also the fastest of the enchanted weapons to start clearing: no earlier trades to push through first.

One Weaponsmith clears 12 swords a slot, 84 to 252 emeralds for the full run, before he has to restock at his grindstone.

Fund it with what he pays for: coal sold to the same Weaponsmith turns straight into the emeralds you are about to hand back.

Curing him first is worth doing before clearing a whole slot. The zombie discount applies to every trade he offers afterward, this sword included, and it never wears off. How curing works.

The same grindstone also sells iron ingot, bell, flint, diamond, enchanted diamond axe and enchanted diamond sword, the rest of the ladder this one villager can grow into.

An iron sword with Sharpness closes most of the gap to a plain diamond one, and it costs a fraction of the emeralds. For clearing mobs around a farm that is the sensible purchase, since the sword will be replaced long before its durability runs out anyway.

Looting is the roll worth waiting for. More drops from every kill is what turns a mob farm into a supply of gunpowder, string and rare items, and it applies whatever the sword is made of, so an iron blade with Looting outperforms a diamond one without it.

Two damaged iron swords combined on an anvil give one sword with the durability of both and the enchantments of both, which is the cheap way to keep a traded weapon alive without spending a book on Mending.

Each anvil use raises the cost of the next one, though. A sword that has been repaired several times eventually says too expensive and stops accepting anything, which is the real limit on this trick.

Iron also repairs with plain ingots, one at a time, and that route keeps the enchantment as well. It costs a level, which is the only reason anybody hesitates.