Bane of Arthropods is a weapon enchantment in Minecraft that makes your sword or axe much stronger against “buggy” mobs like spiders and silverfish, but does nothing extra to other enemies.

What Bane of Arthropods Does

  • Increases damage specifically to arthropod mobs:
    • Spiders, cave spiders, silverfish, endermites, and bees.
  • Each level adds extra damage to those mobs:
    • Roughly an extra 2.5 damage (1.25 hearts) per level on arthropods only.
* Up to level V for very high bonus damage.
  • Also applies a strong Slowness IV effect to arthropod mobs you hit:
    • They move slower for a short time, with the duration increasing at higher levels.

So if you hit a spider with a Bane of Arthropods sword, it takes extra damage and briefly gets slowed, making it easier to finish off.

When It’s Useful (and Not)

  • Great for:
    • Clearing mineshafts full of cave spiders.
    • Dealing with lots of spiders, silverfish, or endermites quickly.
  • Not great for:
    • General combat, because it only works on arthropods, not zombies, skeletons, creepers, etc.
* Most players prefer **Sharpness** (all mobs) or **Smite** (undead) for all‑round usefulness.

How You Use It

  • Can be applied to:
    • Swords and axes via enchanting table, books, or anvil.
  • It conflicts with Sharpness and Smite , so you must choose one damage enchantment type for that weapon.

Simple example: A sword with Bane of Arthropods V can shred cave spiders in a stronghold or mineshaft in just a hit or two, while also slowing them so they can’t swarm you as easily.

TL;DR: Bane of Arthropods makes your sword/axe hit much harder and add Slowness to spiders, cave spiders, silverfish, bees, and endermites—but it’s useless against everything else, so it’s a niche, situational enchantment.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.