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Minecraft Bows and Arrows

Have you always wanted to become a real Robin Hood in Minecraft? Then you definitely need a bow and a lot of arrows. Easier said than done: Sometimes you just can’t find a bow. In this entry we will show you how to find a bow, how to solve your lack of arrows and what you can do with both.

How to get a bow and arrow in Minecraft

Since in Minecraft, bows and arrows don’t grow on trees, you have to search for them yourself. In this section you will learn how to get a bow and its arrows. We will show you the recipes for ordinary bows and arrows. How to get special arrows is shown below.

How to craft a Minecraft bow

You can get bows at the beginning of your adventure from skeletons, strays and illusioners. However, you will always get a damaged bow that you have to repair first. Every now and then you will also receive an enchanted bow. Bows obtained this way will not help you if they break after a short time. It is better to craft a bow yourself. To do this, you need three sticks and three strings, which together make a bow:

3x stick + 3x string = 1x bow

You can easily make a stick in your inventory by combining two planks or two units of bamboo. Getting string is a bit more difficult. For this, you can mine spider webs, which can be found in mines and libraries. But be careful: there is often a spider in mines that wants to get at you. If you defeat the spider in battle, it will give you more thread.

How to get Minecraft arrows

Having a bow is all well and good, but without arrows it’s pretty useless. To do something with the bow, you need arrows, of course. Like bows, these are dropped by skeletons and strays. To avoid having to farm for arrows, you can craft arrows in Minecraft. You need three components for this, namely flint, sticks and feathers:

1x flint + 1x stick + 1x feather = 4x arrow

You already know how to find sticks. You can find flints by mining gravel. The easiest way to find feathers is with chickens; parrots even drop two feathers when they die.

This is how you can find bows and arrows

  • Arrows and bows are dropped by certain enemies (skeletons, ice walkers).
  • Bows can be crafted with stick and thread at a workbench.
  • Arrows can be crafted with flint, stick and feather at a workbench

You can also buy bows and arrows from a fletcher in your village. Which bows and arrows you can buy depends on the level of the fletcher.

What you can do with bows and arrows in Minecraft

Once you have a bow and several arrows, you can set off into the wide world. Bows and arrows are of course the most useful when in combat. With these weapons, you can keep your distance from your target and still deal constant damage. This way, you stay out of danger and don’t risk any health. You have to be able to aim correctly, but once you have that, fighting with a bow is much safer than with a melee weapon.

Besides combat, bows are especially useful for exploring when you need to operate a switch. Both wooden buttons and wooden pressure plates can be activated from a distance with a well-aimed arrow. Bells can also be rung with an arrow. And you can do a lot more with special arrows.

How to find enchanted arrows in Minecraft

You can get special effects for your arrows in different ways. On the one hand, you can cast spells on your bow, and on the other hand, you can use special arrows. Some enchantments for the bow can be combined with special arrows, but others are incompatible.

Enchantments for the bow

The first possibility to get additional effects for your arrows are enchantments. There are currently 6 enchantments available for the bow. Among them are some enchantments that are generally useful. Those are, for example, Power, Punch, Unbreaking and Mending.

Enchantments for Minecraft bow:  

  • Strength 
  • Blow
  • Durability
  • Repair 
  • Flame
  • Infinity

As the names suggest, Power increases the damage you deal and Punch pushes your enemies further away from you when hit. Unbreaking and Mending, on the other hand, ensure that you can use your bow for longer. Unbreaking reduces the wear and tear on your bow, while Mending uses the player’s accumulated experience points to repair the bow.

Of the enchantments for the bow, Infinity and Flame are particularly interesting. Infinity ensures that you no longer need to fill your quiver. As long as you carry a normal arrow, this enchantment, as the name suggests, lets you shoot infinite arrows. However, Infinity cannot be combined with Mending, unless you use commands.

Hint: The enchantment also only works with normal arrows, not special arrows.

Flame turns all shot arrows into Burning Arrows. Burning arrows not only inflict additional fire damage on mobs, they can also ignite campfires and TNT. Other blocks, such as trees or wood, do not catch fire. If you kill an animal with a burning arrow, its meat is already roasted. Fire away!

Besides these useful enchantments, the Curse of Vanishing can of course also be on a found bow!

These are the possible enchantments for your bow, summarized:

  • Strength: Increases damage to enemies.
  • Punch: Hit enemies are pushed further away from you.
  • Unbreaking: The bow has a higher chance of not wearing out.
  • Mending: A part of your gained experience is used to repair the bow.
  • Infinity: The bow shoots infinite normal arrows. Cannot be combined with special arrows and repair.
  • Flame: The bow shoots burning arrows. The arrows can ignite bonfires and TNT, but not trees or plants and do not glow.

Special arrows

Besides the normal arrows you can also shoot Spectral Arrows and Tipped Arrows. Both are not so easy to make, because the ingredients for both come from the Nether and the End, respectively. At least the Tipped Arrows can be easily obtained from a Master Fletcher.

Spectral Arrows

Spectral Arrows are especially useful against enemies who can hide. They give a hit enemy the Glowing status, making it visible even through blocks. If you play in a team, the opponent is marked in his team color. Spectral arrows can be made from a simple arrow and glowstone dust:

4x glowstone dust + 1x arrow = 2x spectral arrows

However, the dust is not so easy to find. To get it, you either have to defeat a witch, which drops dust up to 4 times or travel to the Nether. Just like netherite and a few other items, the glowstones, which give off glowstone dust when mined, is only found in the Nether. So, especially at the beginning of your adventure, Spectral Arrows are more of a distant dream.

Tipped Arrows

Tipped Arrows are even more difficult to get. If you shoot a Tipped Arrow, it transfers a potion effect to the target. The effect depends on the potion used, but it lingers much shorter. To craft Tipped Arrows, you need a few arrows and a Lingering Potion:

8x Arrows + 1x Lingering Potion = 8x Tipped Arrow

Crafting a Lingering potion is the real problem. For that you need any Splash potion – and dragon’s breath:

1x Dragon’s Breath + 1x Splash Potion = 1x Lingering Potion

Dragon’s breath, on the other hand, can only be obtained from the Ender Dragon. This ill-tempered fellow makes it quite difficult for every player to collect his breath. By the way, did you know that there are no other dragons in Vanilla Minecraft apart from the Ender Dragon?

If you don’t want to face the end boss every time, you can also craft a fletching table instead and get a Fletcher in the village. As a master, he will not only sell you all kinds of impregnated arrows, but also enchanted bows. Of course, if you want to take on the hunt for the end dragon, you can always travel to the end again.

Bow and arrow in Minecraft: Conclusion

The bow and arrow do not make the game child’s play, of course, but they are still a great help. The many different options also ensure that you won’t get bored while experimenting with the bow. Have you really got the urge to roam the different biomes of the Minecraft world as a hunter and hunt down your prey from afar? Then simply choose a server at G-Portal and plunge into the versatile world of Minecraft!

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