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This post was last updated on April 1, 2026
If you want to feel like Zeus, the god of lightning, then you need to grab yourself a trident and power it up with the channeling enchantment.
Channeling is an enchantment for tridents in Minecraft that strikes mobs with a lightning bolt any time you hit them with a thrown trident during a thunderstorm.
Read the rest of this guide if you are wondering “what does Channeling do in Minecraft?” You’ll also find out how to access tridents and Channeling.
What is Channeling in Minecraft?
Channeling is an enchantment for tridents in Minecraft. Enchantments can be applied to most equipable items, however, tridents feature a couple of unique enchants that can only be applied to them and not any other items.
What Does Channeling Do In Minecraft?
Tridents are unique weapons in Minecraft that are thrown toward mobs to cause damage. If a trident is imbued with the channeling enchantment in Minecraft, it gives the weapon a special attack.
Any time a channeling enchanted trident hits an enemy during a thunderstorm, it creates a lightning bolt, which causes a huge amount of damage. Only the toughest mobs will survive this hit, and even if they do they will burst into flames, taking additional fire damage over time.
The fun channeling enchantment can also create frightening charged creepers! Hissss……. Boom! Make sure you have the surge protector on hand!
How To Get The Minecraft Channeling Enchantment
This section shows how to unlock trident Channeling in Minecraft and how to enchant your tridents in survival mode.
There are several ways to obtain the channeling enchantment.
- Chests in non-village buildings
- Books found from fishing
- Dungeon chests
- Enchantment table
- Librarian villagers (extremely low chance of being traded)
- Minecart chests
- Raid drops (only in the bedrock edition).
Once you have obtained an enchantment book with Channeling, you can combine it directly with a trident via an anvil, otherwise, you’ll need to use an enchantment table.
How to Enchant Tridents with Channeling
If you don’t have access to an enchanted book with Channeling, you’ll need to use a trusty enchanting table to give your trident the ability to summon lightning.
- Build an enchanting table from obsidian, books, and diamonds.
- Right-click the table to open the enchantment menu.
- Insert your trident, and enough lapis lazuli to power enough levels. (The maximum level for Channeling is 1, so you only need 1 lapis).
- Click on any of the enchantment options that include Channeling to accept the upgrade.
Note: you will also need enough XP to power up your trident with the enchantment.
Channeling Enchantment Incompatibilities – Other Trident Enchants.
Riptide is the only enchantment that can’t be combined with Channeling. The Riptide enchantment throws the player forwards in the direction they throw the trident, essentially letting the player throw themself through the air.
It’s worth noting that tridents with Channeling can be combined with the Loyalty enchantment, which gives the weapon even more power and efficiency. Loyalty simply makes the trident return to the player whenever it is thrown, meaning you won’t have to chase after it to pick it up again.
Other enchantments we recommend buffing your trident with is Mending and Unbreakable, which will increase its lifespan.
How to get Tridents in Minecraft
Tridents are one of the rarer, harder-to-find items in survival Minecraft, and they also can’t be crafted from any other items. (You can make them easily in creative mode)
The only way to obtain tridents in Minecraft is by killing The Drowned mobs, which are essentially underwater zombies. It’s no surprise these are rare items, as they inflict as much damage as a diamond sword, and have a special thrown attack.
If you see a Drowned mob holding a trident, it has an 8.5% trident drop rate (in the Java edition). From this rate, you should theoretically be guaranteed a trident after killing 12 drowned mobs. (Although, as we all know, sometimes you get frustratingly unlucky with drop rates and will have to farm mobs for hours…)
The drop rate is also different between the Bedrock and Java edition.
How to use the Channeling Trident Enchantment
This section highlights the full details of Channeling’s mechanics.
First, (and obviously) you need a trident enchanted with Channeling.
Then, you just need to throw the trident toward a mob, making sure it hits (watch out, this will also damage villagers). Channeling only works during thunderstorms though, and the mob must be exposed to the open sky. So this won’t work underground, in caves, or in the nether or end dimensions. Blocks like snow, a snow layer, soul sand, and honey also prevent the lighting.
This lightning bolt creates an AoE, widespread hit, so you can actually hit a couple of mobs with one strike.
It’s also worth noting, that if you throw the trident strikes a lightning rod block, the lighting will be summoned regardless of whether there is a mob close by. Lightning rods are easy to make, and just need a stack of three copper ingots.
Conclusion – Enjoy your Channeling Minecraft Enchantment!
Now you should have a deeper understanding of the Channeling Minecraft enchantment. This buff gives tridents a nice power boost during thunderstorms, and can help you set multiple mobs on fire simultaneously!
FAQs
Is Riptide or Channeling better?
In most situations, Riptide is better as it works in any environment and gives you a powerful movement upgrade. However, in combat situations (outdoors, in a thunderstorm) Channeling might be more useful – it just has more limited useful situations.
How do you use Trident Channeling?
To use Trident Channeling in Minecraft, you simply have to chuck the trident at an enemy mob, when outside and during a thunderstorm. This is activated by holding down the attack button until the ranged attack is charged.
Can a trident have Loyalty and Channeling?
Yes, tridents can be enchanted with Loyalty and Channeling at the same time. The only mutually exclusive trident enchants are Riptide and Channeling.
