When it comes to ranged combat, everyone brings their trusty Bow and arrow. Arrows fly through the air and deal significant damage while allowing the player to stay at a safe distance. Some players actually use a Crossbow instead, but I digress.There is one issue though. There is a natural progression when it comes to Swords, but nothing for Bows. You go from Wood, to Stone, to Iron, and even further, but there’s just one Bow. Because of this, the only way to enhance your Bow is with enchantments. Today, we’re going to go over all Bow enchantments along with their functionality. Let’s begin.
All Minecraft Bow Enchantments
This is the complete list of all Bow enchantments in Minecraft as of 1.17 in no particular order.
Power – Increases the damage of the arrow per level. Scales up to five levels. This enchantment is similar to Sharpness in that it just increases damage, but it scales a little bit better and can be combined with Tipped Arrows.
Punch – Increases the knockback of the arrow per level. Scales up to two levels. Each level adds three blocks of knockback for each level. This can be used to get environmental kills or to just keep enemies away from you as effectively as possible. If you can keep them at a distance, you can get more shots off before they get close.
Flame – Ignites arrow, dealing Fire damage. In addition to damaging mobs, a flaming arrow can be used to ignite TNT and light a Campfire from a distance. Only has a single level.
Infinity – Prevents the bow from consuming arrows when shot. A single arrow is still required to fire. Arrows shot from an Infinity-enchanted bow cannot be retrieved if they land on the ground. Tipped arrows and Spectral arrows are consumed even with Infinity. Only has a single level. When this enchantment is applied, Mending cannot be applied. It should also be noted that arrows shot with an Infinity Bow cannot be picked up.
All Minecraft Crossbow Enchantments
Woah! What a surprise! Yeah, if you weren’t aware, Minecraft actually now has the Crossbow ever since the Village and Pillage update. As a result, there are a few Crossbow-unique enchantments that we can go over.
Quick Charge – Decreases the reloading time of the Crossbow per level. Crossbows with the highest level actually fire slightly faster than Bows. Scales up to three levels.
Multishot – Makes the Crossbow fire a spread of three projectiles at once instead of a single projectile, which is useful for targeting mobs/players spread out in a small area. This works for both arrows and firework rockets. Firing with this enchantment still only uses one projectile, and because of that, it is possible to recover only one of three arrows shot from a Multishot Crossbow. Multishot Crossbows use durability proportional to the amount of arrows shot unless firing Fireworks, in which case, triple the amount is consumed. When this enchantment is applied, Piercing cannot be applied.
Piercing – Makes arrows shot from the crossbow pierce entities they hit and continue their flight, which allows each arrow to hit enemies
How to obtain enchantments
There are three ways you can obtain these enchantments. (besides commands) You can enchant your Bow/Crossbow in an Enchanting Table, find an enchanted book, or a villager that is willing to trade it. The Enchanting Table will be your best bet, as you can keep rolling until you get it, instead of just looting chests and villages, as the chances of finding a book or villager willing to trade the ideal enchantments are extremely low. If you do happen to find a book with the enchantment you want, just use an anvil to apply the book to the armor piece.
Conclusion
That’s all there is to it! Ranged combat in Minecraft is quite enjoyable, and although there aren’t that many options (there being two of them) you can still dominate with these awesome enchantments. I have to say, my favorite one is Multishot, being able to fire three ways constantly is just awesome and it makes for a great light show with fireworks! In any case, I hope this blog helped you and have a great day!
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