Between crafting new weapons and armor, brewing potions, and enchanting items, Minecraft offers players many different ways to get stronger. Enchantments in particular allow players to specialize against certain types of threats, and can be extremely useful for players that know what they are getting themselves into ahead of time. The Smite enchantment is one such case, as it is very specific but very powerful in that circumstance. Players wondering what exactly it does and how to get it need look no further, as putting high level Smite enchantments on weapons is actually relatively easy.
Before the player does any enchanting, they will need to get an enchanting table. Minecraft players can craft these with four Obsidian, two Diamonds, and a Book. After placing the enchanting table, players will want to surround it with bookshelves, as this increases the level of enchantments that it can produce.
Smite is a weapon enchantment, meaning it can only be applied to swords and axes. Each level of Smite that is on a weapon increases its damage by 2.5 (or 1.25 hearts), but this damage is only applied when attacking an undead mob. Since there are quite a few of these in Minecraft, it's usually not a bad tradeoff. For reference, the Sharpness enchantment increases damage by 1.5 per level to everything, meaning Smite is actually quite a bit better when facing off against undead. This enchantment will affect skeletons, zombies, zombie villagers, withers, wither skeletons, zombified piglins, skeleton horses, zombie horses, strays, husks, phantoms, drowned, and zoglins.
The Smite enchantment can go all the way up to level 5, and with Smite V applied to a weapon, it deals an additional 12.25 damage to undead creatures. For comparison's sake, that means that a Wooden Sword with Smite V will do more damage to undead than a Netherite Sword without any enchantments. From there it becomes easy to see how this enchantment would be useful. It's important to note that it is impossible to get Smite and Sharpness on the same sword or axe, as weapon damage enchantments like these are mutually exclusive.
Players can get the Smite enchantment by enchanting a sword or axe at the enchanting table. This will require the expenditure of the player's levels as well as some Lapis Lazuli, and even then it is random which enchantments are available. If the player completely surrounds their enchanting table with bookshelves, then there is a chance that they can get Smite V straight from the enchanting table.
Minecraft is available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.