Minecraft Armor Trims: All 18 Templates Ranked by Rarity

There are 18 armor trim smithing templates in Minecraft, and every one of them is purely cosmetic. Minecraft armor trims change how a piece of armor looks and nothing else, so no template adds protection, durability or any other stat. What separates them is how hard they are to get, with drop chances running from 1.2% for Silence up to 50% for Vex.

This guide ranks all 18 from rarest to easiest by the chance of each container, then covers the duplication recipe that makes any template farmable, the steps at a smithing table, and the 11 materials that colour a trim. Everything is current for Java 26.3, released on 15 September 2026. No new template has been added since Bolt and Flow arrived with the 1.21 update.

How Minecraft Armor Trims Work

A trim is two choices stacked together. The pattern comes from a smithing template, of which there are 18, and the colour comes from a trim material, of which there are 11. That gives 198 pattern and colour combinations for every piece of armor you own.

Trimming happens at a smithing table and costs no experience. The armor keeps its durability, its enchantments and its custom name, and the template is used up in the process. Each piece carries only one trim at a time, so trimming it again overwrites the old pattern instead of adding a second.

Almost any wearable works. Leather armor and the turtle shell can be trimmed, and so can copper armor since Java 1.21.9 and Bedrock 1.21.100. Even an enchanted netherite chestplate can take a trim without losing a single enchantment, which is why the pairing with a fully enchanted set is so common.

One related item causes confusion. The Netherite Upgrade is the 19th smithing template, but it is not a trim. It turns diamond gear into netherite and generates in Bastion Remnants, where it is a guaranteed find in the treasure chest and a 10% find in the bridge, hoglin stable and generic chests.

All 18 Armor Trim Templates Ranked From Rarest to Easiest

The table sorts every trim by drop chance, lowest first. The chance applies to each qualifying container, so a structure with several chests rolls the same odds in each of them. The last column is the rarity tier the game attaches to the item, and it does not always follow the percentage.

Two entries break the pattern. Eye reads 10% in the stronghold altar chest but 100% in the library chests, so a stronghold library is effectively a guaranteed Eye template. Vex has the best odds on the list at 50% and still carries a Rare tier, because it only appears in the random-loot chests of a woodland mansion. Chests in the allium room, the sapling farm, the tree-chopping room and the fake End portal room hold fixed loot and never contain it.

The Five Hardest Trims to Find: Silence, Ward, Bolt, Rib and Spire

These five sit at 6.7% or lower, and three of them cannot be renewed once the structure is looted. That makes them the ones to duplicate the moment a template drops.

• Silence, 1.2%. The only Epic template. It sits in Ancient City chests at 1 in 80, and the ice box room chests never contain it. Silence also covers most of the armor surface, where other trims cover a small part.
• Ward, 5%. Also an Ancient City chest find, rated Rare. It is not renewable, so the first copy you find is the one you duplicate from.
• Bolt, 6.3%. Comes from Trial Chambers, in standard vaults and the reward chest. It duplicates with a Block of Copper, waxed or not.
• Rib, 6.7%. A Nether Fortress chest drop. On Java it cannot be renewed either, and it duplicates with plain Netherrack.
• Spire, 6.7%. An End City chest drop, rated Rare. It duplicates with a Purpur Block, and Bedrock also accepts a Purpur Pillar.

Silence and Ward share a structure, so one successful Ancient City run can cover both. The gap between them is steep. Silence is roughly four times harder to roll than Ward, which is why it carries a tier of its own.

The Mid-Rarity Trims Worth Hunting

Between 8.3% and 16.7% sit eight templates that most players collect by accident while exploring. Five of them share the 8.3% figure, though for different reasons.

• Snout, 8.3% in each container. Bastion Remnants roll it in the bridge, treasure, hoglin stable and generic chests, so a full clear gives four chances. It duplicates with Blackstone.
• Wayfinder, Raiser, Shaper and Host, 1 in 12 each. All four come from rare suspicious gravel in Trail Ruins, which you uncover with a brush. Each rare block holds 12 equally weighted items, so every trim is a 1 in 12 draw. Any colour of terracotta duplicates all four.
• Eye, 10% or 100%. Take it from a stronghold library and the odds stop mattering. It duplicates with End Stone.
• Dune, 14.3%. A Desert Pyramid chest drop that always gives 2 templates. Sandstone duplicates it, and Bedrock also accepts smooth, cut and chiseled sandstone.
• Coast, 16.7%. Shipwreck treasure, map and supply chests, again giving 2 templates per find, and Cobblestone duplicates it.

Trail Ruins is the best single stop in this tier, because four different trims draw from the same pool. A smithing table also generates inside the ruins, which saves a trip back to a village.

The Easiest Trims to Collect

Five templates sit at 20% or better. None of them needs a rare structure, though two have conditions attached.

• Tide, 20%. Elder guardians in an Ocean Monument drop it. Looting does not change the chance, and the guardian does not have to be killed by a player. Each monument spawns three elder guardians at generation and they never respawn. See the full list of Minecraft mobs for the other things the monument holds.
• Flow, 22.5%. The only trim that comes from an ominous vault, which needs an ominous trial key. It is also the only template that duplicates with something other than a block, a Breeze Rod.
• Sentry, 25%. A Pillager Outpost chest at the top of the tower, giving 2 templates per find.
• Wild, 33.3%. A Jungle Pyramid chest, giving 2 templates, duplicating with Mossy Cobblestone.
• Vex, 50%. A Woodland Mansion random-loot chest, with the fixed-loot exceptions listed above.

Tide is the awkward one. Because the guardians never respawn, a monument gives you at most three rolls at 20%, so the realistic plan is to duplicate whatever you get.

How to Duplicate Any Smithing Template

Duplication is what turns a 1.2% drop into a trim you can wear on four pieces. The recipe is a standard 3×3 crafting grid and it works the same for every template.

• Place the template in the top centre slot.
• Place the matching block or item in the centre slot, using the last column of the table above.
• Fill the other seven slots with diamonds.

The craft returns two templates and consumes the one you put in, so each craft nets one extra copy. That costs 7 diamonds and one block per extra template. A full armor set needs four templates, so building a set from one found template costs 21 diamonds and three blocks.

Duplicate before you apply. A template used at the smithing table is gone, and for the non-renewable ones that can be the only copy you ever see. Flow is the one exception to the block rule, since it takes a Breeze Rod in the centre slot instead.

How to Apply a Trim at a Smithing Table

You can craft a smithing table or pick one up from a toolsmith, whose job block it is. See villager trades for what that villager sells. Trail Ruins also generate one.

The table has three slots, and the order is fixed:

• Left slot: the armor trim template.
• Middle slot: the armor piece, whether leather, iron, gold, diamond, netherite, copper, or a turtle shell.
• Right slot: the trim material, one of the 11 below.

A preview of the finished piece shows up on the armor stand model before you commit. Take the result and the template is spent. Two advancements reward trimming. Crafting a New Look triggers the first time you craft any trimmed armor, and Smithing with Style asks you to use Spire, Snout, Rib, Ward, Silence, Vex, Tide and Wayfinder at least once each.

All 11 Trim Materials and What They Do to the Color

The material decides the colour of the pattern. There are 11 of them, and Resin Brick is the newest. When the armor is made from the same material as the trim, the game uses a slightly darker palette so the pattern stays visible against the base.

Lapis Lazuli appears as plain Lapis in game, which is the intended name rather than a bug. Resin Brick replaced the resin clump that appeared in the first snapshot, so older screenshots may show the wrong item. The five materials that double as armor (copper, iron, gold, diamond and netherite) are the ones that trigger the darker palette.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many armor trims are there in Minecraft?

There are 18 armor trim smithing templates. A 19th template, the Netherite Upgrade, shares the smithing table but is not a trim. With 11 materials, that makes 198 possible looks per armor piece.

Do armor trims give armor bonuses?

No. Trims are purely decorative and do not change protection, toughness, durability or any other gameplay stat. The only thing that changes is appearance.

What is the rarest armor trim?

Silence, the only Epic template, at 1.2% per chest in Ancient Cities. The ice box room chests never hold it. Ward is next at 5%.

How do you duplicate a smithing template?

Craft the template with 7 diamonds and its matching block, for example Cobbled Deepslate for Silence and Ward, or a Breeze Rod for Flow. The craft returns 2 templates, so you net one extra copy each time.

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