Bow

A bow is a ranged weapon that can fire arrows, tipped arrows, and spectral arrows.‌^{[Java Edition only]} The damage and range of fired arrows depends on the arrow type, enchantments on the bow, and how long the use button was held before releasing.

Obtaining

Crafting

Generated loot

Mob loot

Skeletons, strays, bogged, parched and illusioners‌^{[JE only]} have an 8.5% chance of dropping a normal or enchanted bow on death when killed by a player or a tamed wolf.

The chance of dropping a bow is increased by 1% per level of Looting, allowing up to an 11.5% chance of dropping.

The chance of being enchanted depends on the difficulty level, but the random enchantment level (5–22) does not.

Bows of skeleton horsemen are always enchanted at a random level from 5 to 23. The exact level depends on regional difficulty, as on Easy it is always a level-5 enchantment.

Trading

Fishing

Enchanted bows are obtainable through fishing, with a 0.8% chance per attempt. See fishing for more details. When caught, the bow may be damaged and contain random enchantments equivalent to a level 30 enchantment from an enchanting table, including treasure enchantments like Mending.

Usage

Attacking

Bows can be drawn back by using them. The player must have at least one arrow in their inventory or be in Creative mode in order to use a bow. Arrows inside bundles cannot be used. When drawing a bow, the display zooms in slightly. Charging the bow to critical charge causes it to visually bob up and down, and causes the fired arrow to have a trail of critical hit particles. Releasing the button shoots an arrow. Drawing a bow can be canceled by switching to another hotbar slot while holding use. Arrows shot by bows are blocked by shields.

While the bow is being charged or remains fully charged, the player is forced to move at sneaking speed, unless they are riding a mob, minecart or boat, or flying with elytra. When an arrow hits another player, the player that fired the arrow will hear a high-pitched "ding" sound to indicate the successful shot.‌^{[Java Edition only]} Fired arrows are not affected by the Strength or Weakness effects.

Critical charge is achieved by drawing the bow for 1 second or longer, unlike melee critical hits which are dealt by attacking while falling. Shots at critical charge deal damage, where is the damage after any enchantments. The listed values below describe maximum damage from a bow with no Power enchantments, assuming the target is at a distance where drag and gravity are negligible. The average damage of a shot at critical charge is around 9, as damage is dealt at a random value between 6HP and 11HP × 5.5, using the formula and , and it is rare to have minimum or maximum values. The damage dealt can ultimately be less than the maximum damage if the arrow slows down after being shot. The game stores the damage of arrows even in values with a decimal point. For example, it is possible for a critical arrow shot to cause damage values such as 6.4. In this case, the game can round up or down and store the amount for subsequent damage sources. Holding the bow at maximum charge for more than 72000 ticks (1 hour) results in the charge being reset without shooting an arrow.

A few mobs cannot be shot using an arrow, because the arrow either disappears or it gets deflected. This includes:

• Endermen - even while immobile, the enderman is immune to damage from arrows (unless it is riding an entity;
• Breeze;
• Wither under half health, when it gains wither armor;
• Closed shulkers;
• Ender dragon, while sitting on top of the exit portal.

Statistics

Java Edition

In Java Edition, bows have the following statistics:

Bedrock Edition

In Bedrock Edition, bows have the following statistics:

Projectile motion

The projectile motion of an arrow fired from a bow is dependent on the angle the user is facing, as well as the user's movement speed.

Crafting ingredient

Repairing

Combining

Unit repair

A bow can be combined with another bow in an anvil, preserving the enchantments of both.

Enchantments

Bows can receive several different enchantments and have a base enchantability of 1. Bow enchantments have no effect on arrow speed or the distance it travels. In Bedrock Edition if a bow is enchanted with any level 1 enchantment, it always gets Power I.

A bow cannot be enchanted with Multishot in survival mode. However, when using commands to apply Multishot, the enchantment behaves as expected, allowing the bow to fire more arrows at once.

Fuel

A bow can be used as fuel in furnaces, smelting 1.5 items per bow in Java Edition or 1 item per bow in Bedrock Edition.

Arrows

As in real life, a flying arrow in Minecraft is affected by gravity. Its vertical speed is modified by one block downward every second, resulting in a parabolic flight path. An arrow slows down if shot through water, reducing its damage to near zero unless brought back into the air or otherwise given momentum.‌^{[Java Edition only]}

Arrows that hit solid blocks become stuck and can be retrieved, unless the arrow was shot by a bow enchanted with Infinity, a player in Creative mode, or a mob.

An arrow shot through lava ignites, giving it the effect of the Flame enchantment, igniting any entity it hits. If not extinguished, the fire inflicts up to 4HP damage. Although a wither skeleton does not spawn naturally with a bow, it shoots flaming arrows if given a bow using commands.

On impact, an arrow can trigger a wooden pressure plate, target block, wooden button, or tripwire. Arrows cannot trigger stone pressure plates or stone buttons.

The player can choose the type of arrow to shoot based on its location in the inventory. Arrows in the off-hand, or the selected hotbar slot if the bow is in the off-hand, are prioritized first. If there are no arrows in the off-hand or selected hotbar slot then the arrow closest to slot 0 is selected.

Sounds

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Achievements

Advancements

Videos

History

Development

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Legacy Console Edition

Java Edition Combat Tests

Historical sounds

Data history

Issues

Issues relating to "Bow" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

• Bows were left unchanged in the Texture Update.^[4]
• Dinnerbone got the idea for the high-pitched "ding" sound from playing on a former PvP server called Project Ares.^[5][6]

Gallery

Renders

• 
  An enchanted bow

Screenshots

• 
  Using the bow
• 
  Drawback animation
• 
  Using a bow to hunt rabbits

In other media

• 
  Bow in the Super Duper Graphics Pack
• 
  A bow as seen in Minecraft Dungeons
• 
  A bow as seen in Minecraft: Story Mode
• 
  A bow as seen in A Minecraft Movie
• 
  A bow as seen in Minecraft Earth
• 
  Nerf bow

Notes

References

External links

• Taking Inventory: Bow – Minecraft.net on April 13, 2023