Any Minecraft adventurer aspiring to take over their own world will need to craft an enchantment table and get the best enchantments they can. They might even discover a few good enchanted items and enchantment books in loot or while trading with villagers. However, caution is advisable, given that not all enchantments grant positive effects.
The Curse of Vanishing is a unique enchantment often marked in red on any item it's on. This enchantment isn't a boost; it's a literal curse. While not as bad as the Curse Of Binding, having it on a powerful and expensive item is a headache to deal with and a huge risk to take. This mysterious curse has more background to it than you can imagine.
Updated December 4, 2021 by Michael Caruso: Throughout the plethora of enchantments in Minecraft, the Curse Of Vanishing enchantment stands out because of its effect. You don't gain any bonuses with the Curse Of Vanishing; instead, you can only use this item until you die with it in your inventory. With such a unique enchantment, it's no surprise that there are many things about it that you may not have learned about while playing Minecraft. Here are a few more useful facts about the Curse Of Vanishing enchantment.
14 You Can Store Curse Of Vanishing Items Inside Chests Indefinitely
If you find an item with the Curse Of Vanishing useful, then you should put it inside a chest. Equipment with the Curse Of Vanishing never disappears while inside a chest, so it's a safe place to store an item.
Since chests are easy to craft, they're a great way to avoid losing your item upon an accidental death. If you store Curse Of Vanishing items inside a chest, then be careful about when you take them out. Only use one of these rare items when necessary and place it into a chest quickly after using it.
13 Mobs Can Carry Items With The Curse Of Vanishing
Mobs such as zombies often carry weapons or wear armor. If you kill a mob with equipment, you may receive the item as a reward. The equipment can also have enchantments on it, including the Curse Of Vanishing.
However, if a mob drops an item with the Curse Of Vanishing, it won't disappear from the world. It's strange that Curse Of Vanishing items only disappear when the player dies, but it's beneficial for you if you happen to encounter one of these hostile mobs. You can use an item dropped by a mob as a standard piece of equipment, but you'll still lose it if you die while it has the Curse Of Vanishing.
12 The Curse Of Vanishing's Effect Is Pointless In Hardcore Mode
Hardcore Mode offers the most difficult challenge in Minecraft because you don't respawn when you die. Since you only have one life, you lose everything you have collected throughout the map when you die through any method.
Curse Of Vanishing items only last until you die, but so does a Hardcore Mode map, which means that a Curse Of Vanishing item is essentially the same as a regular weapon in Hardcore Mode. Worrying about losing your equipment is frustrating, so it's good that you don't have to worry about this in Hardcore Mode.
11 Curse Of Vanishing Items Won't Disappear If You Manually Drop Them Before Dying
One of the most important things you should know about Curse Of Vanishing items if you acquire one is that you can drop the item before dying to preserve it. Depending on the cause of your character's death, you may have time to enter your inventory and drop the item.
The item will stay on the ground until you return to the area if you drop it from your inventory; however, it will disappear if you don't pick it up after five minutes, so return to it quickly. This is one of the only ways to keep Curse Of Vanishing equipment after dying.
10 The Developers Added The Curse Of Vanishing In The Exploration Update
The Curse Of Vanishing wasn't always something you needed to worry about necessarily. In fact, it was first in the game around 1.11 during what was dubbed the Exploration Update. This was the first time the developers introduced an enchantment with negative effects into Minecraft.
The Curse Of Vanishing was most likely added to this update to balance out some of the loot that you could gain from exploring the world. For once, you could find what at first glance was fantastic loot, only to realize it had a curse all along.
9 Its Effects Are Devastating
So what are the effects of having the Curse Of Vanishing on an item? The initial misconception is that it makes an item wear out faster, which isn't true. A lot of the loot the enchantment is on is already mostly broken anyway, which might perpetuate this idea.
The Curse Of Vanishing makes it so that upon death, the item with the curse will always disappear, and you can't pick it up off the ground even if you make it back to the place of your death in under five minutes. This means that it's always a big risk to carry any powerful gear or weapons with this curse.
8 You Can Obtain Curse Of Vanishing Items From Specific Places
Curses are very special enchantments. Just like Mending, which is actually one of the most powerful enchantments in Minecraft, you can't get it by using an enchantment table, even with a full bookshelf set up. The Curse Of Vanishing enchantment is common as loot, like buried treasure.
Additionally, you can occasionally purchase the Curse Of Vanishing from a librarian villager who is selling an enchantment book with this curse. Desert and jungle temples, as well as fishing, also have a chance of yielding items or books with the Curse Of Vanishing on them.
7 The "Keep Inventory" Game Rule Nullifies The Curse Of Vanishing
With how the developers revamped the world creation feature, it's easier than ever to avoid this insanely annoying enchantment if it really becomes a problem. Previously, you could simply alter the game rules to ensure that you keep your inventory after death. Now, you can activate "Keep Inventory" in the game rules before loading a new world.
There are some non-command ways to work around the Curse Of Vanishing, too. For instance, any items that you store in Shulker Boxes won't disappear when you die.
6 It Only Comes In One Level
Many enchantments have different levels, which specify how strong the enchantment is. This is usually true for positive enchantments like Protection, Sharpness, or Feather Falling.
There are, however, exceptions to this. Mending only comes in one level, and similarly, the Curse Of Vanishing only comes in one level as well. One could only imagine how devastating this annoying enchantment would be if it came in two or three different levels of difficulty.
5 The Curse Of Vanishing Is One Of Two Negative Curses In Minecraft
As of right now, Minecraft has only introduced two negative enchantments into the game, both of which are curses. The Curse Of Vanishing is one, but the developers introduced it along with the Curse Of Binding, which has an even more annoying side effect to it.
Rather than allowing an item to disappear upon death, the Curse Of Binding binds a piece of armor to your character that you can't remove. The primary way to get rid of an item with this effect is to die in-game, which isn't always an option if you're at a high-level. Curse Of Binding items can break while you're using them, which removes the curse.
4 You Can't Remove The Curse Of Vanishing With A Grindstone
At this point, you might already be planning on other ways to simply purge your items from the Curse Of Vanishing and defeat the curse altogether. Sadly, this is an impossible task. While it would be cool to see something that could remove curses in the future, it's impossible to do so in Minecraft currently.
The grindstone is everyone's go-to for removing enchantments, but this object doesn't work for curses. The best way is to simply accept the curse or tweak the game rules, especially if the item in question is important to you.
3 You Can Get Carved Pumpkins With The Curse Of Vanishing
The Carved Pumpkin is a helmet, which means it can accept enchantments from the anvil. Many players have played pranks by enchanting their pumpkin heads with Curse Of Binding before giving it to their friends.
The Curse Of Vanishing works as well, and you can place it on a Carved Pumpkin through the anvil if you have an enchantment book that carries the curse. However, there's no beneficial reason to enchant a Carved Pumpkin with the Curse Of Vanishing
2 1.16 Allows It On Compasses
With 1.16 out and the new Nether in Minecraft, there haven't been any major changes to how the Curse Of Vanishing works. The enchantment is still a nuisance and requires you to be extra cautious with your belongings.
Now, it even affects compasses, which are essential for adventurers who have a bad tendency to get lost (or who consider using the F3 view cheating). Losing that precious compass might be the difference between finding home and getting eaten by zombies, so never bring along a compass with such an enchantment on it.
1 You Could Previously Remove The Curse Of Vanishing By Combining Items At An Anvil
Combining items is one of the best features of Minecraft's crafting system. It allows you to be more sparing with your resources, as well as combine worn items into a single, better one. Moreover, it briefly allowed you to get rid of annoying enchantments if you had a duplicate item.
Although it was great for purging the Curse Of Vanishing, it also removes any other enchantments, and you can't use it to rid the item of the curse itself anymore. Hopefully, you can remove curses through other means in future updates.