Minecraft Dungeons Gear: How to Pick Weapons and Armor
This is a guide to choosing weapons, armor and artifacts in Minecraft Dungeons.
Rather than listing individual item stats, it covers how to decide between the items you actually have. It is written for players who read a “best gear” ranking and still could not make a choice.
▼ Minecraft Dungeons guides on this site
✅ Beginner Guide: What to Do First
✅ How to Level Gear Without Grinding
✅ How to Pick Weapons, Armor and Artifacts
✅ How Enchantments Work and Where to Spend
✅ Farming Emeralds and Using the Merchants
✅ Difficulty Levels and When to Move Up
✅ Multiplayer and Why There Is No Matchmaking
✅ All 6 DLC Packs and What to Buy First
▼ Minecraft Dungeons II articles
What can you equip in Minecraft Dungeons?
The answer: six slots total — one melee weapon, one ranged weapon, one piece of armor, and three artifacts.
▼ The six slots
① Melee weapon — your main damage. Attack speed and reach differ by weapon type
② Ranged weapon — bows and similar. Chip away from a distance
③ Armor — damage reduction plus a unique effect
④⑤⑥ Artifacts — activated abilities on a cooldown. Three slots
Weapons and armor each carry three enchantment slots, so three of your six items can hold up to nine enchantments between them. That combination is what players call a build.
Why can’t you use a “best weapons” ranking?
The answer: because those rankings are written for people who already own the weapon.
Gear comes from drops, chests, mission rewards and merchant rolls, and what you get is random. If the top-ranked weapon is not in your inventory, the article cannot be acted on.
The bigger problem is that drop power scales to your power level when you enter a mission. Keep running in weak gear and the top-tier weapons never show up in the first place.
So what you need first is not “which is strongest” but a rule for choosing among what has already dropped.
How should you choose a melee weapon?
The answer: do not compare raw damage numbers alone.
Melee weapons differ in attack speed and reach, and there is a genuine trade-off between them.
▶ Fast weapons — more hits, which means enchantments trigger more often
▶ Wide-reach weapons — catch groups of mobs, strong when you get surrounded
▶ Slow, heavy weapons — big single hits, but a miss leaves you exposed
If you are unsure, take something with decent reach that is not extremely slow. Most deaths in this game come from being surrounded and worn down, not from failing to burst something.
Do you need a ranged weapon?
The answer: yes — it is the slot that handles enemies you do not want to walk up to.
Your ranged weapon does not have to be your main damage, but leaving the slot weak will get you killed. Being able to drop an exploding mob or a distant shooter before it reaches you removes a large share of your deaths.
How should you pick armor?
The answer: weigh the power number and the unique effect together.
Armor reduces incoming damage and also carries a unique effect — increased movement speed, shorter artifact cooldowns, and so on. The general rule is to pick the effect that covers your build’s weakness.
That said, do not agonise over effects in the early or mid game. Wearing whatever has the highest power number is good enough at that stage.
How should you split your three artifact slots?
The answer: do not stack three artifacts that do the same job.
Fill all three with similar effects and you will run into situations none of them cover. Splitting them by role works better.
▼ One role per slot
① Damage — clear groups, or delete a single target
② Healing / defence — insurance against mistakes
③ Mobility / crowd control — escape, or stop enemies moving
I would especially recommend never dropping the healing slot. The higher the difficulty climbs, the more survival — not damage — becomes the limiting factor.
What should you do when you cannot decide?
① Fill all six slots with the highest power numbers you own
② Then adjust the melee slot only, toward reach and speed you find comfortable
③ Lock one artifact slot to healing and split the other two between damage and mobility
④ Spend every enchantment point on your current gear (salvage refunds it)
Work out an optimal build after your gear has come together. Do it in the other order and your gear never comes together at all.
Summary
▶ Six slots: 1 melee, 1 ranged, 1 armor, 3 artifacts
▶ Best-gear rankings are for people who already own that gear. Fill by the numbers first
▶ Choose melee weapons on the speed versus reach trade-off
▶ Always carry a ranged weapon, even as pure insurance
▶ For armor, the power number comes first through the mid game
▶ Split the three artifacts across damage, healing and mobility
