Attribute swapping

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Attribute swapping^[1] is the action of quickly changing from one tool to another to use the latter while preserving attributes and enchantments of the former for a single game tick. This technique is often used to quickly mine blocks or in PvP.

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Attribute swapping is performed by switching to a different hotbar item and attacking within the same tick (0.05 seconds). Because the timing window is only one game tick, consistently performing the technique manually is difficult. Players typically use keybinds to switch fast between items; it can also be performed with the  Scroll Wheel, though this is generally much less consistent due to its lower precision.

Depending on the items used, the game may temporarily combine enchantments from the previously held item with attributes from the currently held item for the attack or block break performed during that tick. After the tick has passed, the currently held item behaves normally.

Attribute swapping is mainly used to benefit from the enchantments of one item while using the attributes of another.

Attribute swapping has a variety of applications. Some examples include:

• Cooldown swapping, which uses the attack cooldown of one item, such as a sword, an empty hand or any item with a small or smaller cooldown, while retaining the damage and special abilities of another item, such as an axe, mace, or spear. This allows slower weapons to be used more frequently than normally intended.
  • This is commonly used for sword-to-axe swapping, which combines a sword's faster cooldown with an axe's higher attack damage and ability to disable shields.
• Breach swapping and density swapping, which combine the enchantments and effects of a mace enchanted with Breach or Density with another weapon (Breach swapping can kill a player with a full Protection IV Netherite armor set).
• Lunge swapping and reach swapping; lunge swapping uses a spear's Lunge enchantment while bypassing its normal attack cooldown, and reach swapping combines a spear's increased attack reach with the damage or abilities of another weapon.

Attribute swapping can also transfer enchantments such as Sharpness and Fire Aspect to weapons that cannot normally possess them, allowing them to benefit from these enchantments for a single attack. In some cases, it can also be used to preserve the durability of certain items by causing durability loss to be applied to a different item.