How to Get a Trident in Minecraft

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: Tridents cannot be crafted. Hunt naturally spawned drowned holding one: without Looting, a player or tamed wolf kill has an 8.5% chance to drop the held trident in Java or 25% in Bedrock. Trial chamber vaults can also rarely give a trident.

What you need

Weapon with Looting III (recommended)
Ocean or river access
Mending and repair XP (recommended, not an unbreakable guarantee)

Step by step

Find naturally spawned drowned in oceans or rivers. Converting zombies into drowned does not give them new tridents, so conversion farms are not a source of tridents.
Hunt the ones holding a trident: 6.25% of naturally spawned drowned have one.
Kill a trident-wielding drowned yourself or with a tamed wolf. Its held trident has an 8.5% drop chance in Java and 25% in Bedrock without Looting. Each Looting level adds 1 percentage point, reaching 11.5% in Java and 28% in Bedrock with Looting III.
Farm it: an ocean ruin or river farm that spawns natural drowned produces tridents over time - converted-zombie farms do not.
Alternative: trial chamber vaults can rarely contain tridents.
Enchant it: Loyalty returns the thrown trident, Riptide launches you in water or rain, Channeling summons lightning in thunderstorms, Impaling adds damage.
Repair with Mending while holding the damaged trident and collecting XP, or combine two tridents on an anvil. Other damaged Mending equipment can receive an orb; keep watching durability.

Java vs Bedrock

The big edition gap is drop rate: 8.5% in Java versus 25% in Bedrock per trident-wielding drowned killed by a player or tamed wolf. Riptide and Channeling work in both, and neither edition lets you craft a trident.

Versions: Describes the current Java and Bedrock releases. See the edition note for differences.

Frequently asked questions

Can you craft a trident?

No - the trident is famously uncraftable. Your sources are drowned that spawn holding one and, since 1.21, trial chamber vaults. That rarity is why Mending matters so much on a good one.

Why does my drowned farm never drop tridents?

If your farm converts zombies into drowned, that is the problem: converted drowned never spawn with tridents. Only naturally spawned drowned (6.25% chance) carry them - farms must generate natural spawns.

Riptide or Loyalty?

Choose Loyalty for a returning thrown weapon, or Riptide for movement in water or rain. They are incompatible. Loyalty needs a hit to start returning and does not save Java tridents thrown into the void. Channeling can coexist with Loyalty.