Bane of Arthropods operates on an aggressive linear damage curve. At its core, the enchantment delivers an extra attack damage per level of 2.5 attack damage (or 1.25 hearts) on the Java Edition and Bedrock Edition alike.
Starting from level I and running to a maximum enchantment level V, this scaling creates staggering burst numbers against vulnerable targets:
- +2.5 damage (+1.25 hearts)
- +5.0 damage (+2.5 hearts)
- +7.5 damage (+3.75 hearts)
- +10.0 damage (+5.0 hearts)
- +12.5 damage (+6.25 hearts)
Combine Bane of Arthropods V with a standard Netherite Sword (base attack of 8 damage), and a single regular hit outputs 20.5 damage (over 10 full hearts of health) without factoring in critical strikes. Because a standard spider possesses 16 health points (8 hearts) and a cave spider has 12 health points (6 hearts), any mid-tier iron or diamond sword carrying level IV or V eliminates them in a single strike. Even a stone sword equipped with level V surpasses the threshold required to one-shot regular spiders on Java Edition without requiring a falling critical attack.
