Piercing Enchantment: Arrows Through Mobs and Shields

Piercing lets crossbow arrows pass straight through targets. Each level adds one extra target, so Piercing IV hits up to five mobs in a line with a single arrow. Piercing arrows also ignore shields, and you can pick up every arrow afterward. It’s crossbow-only, has four levels and conflicts with Multishot.

Level	Targets hit by one arrow
I	2
II	3
III	4
IV	5

The two hidden perks

1. Arrows are always recoverable. Normally an arrow that hits a mob is gone. Piercing arrows drop where they land, so you can collect them, including tipped and spectral arrows. That’s the closest thing to Infinity for crossbows, and it works on special arrows too.
2. Shields don’t stop it. A Piercing arrow goes straight through a raised shield, which matters in PvP and against shield-carrying mobs.

The first perk is the one that changes how you play. A stack of tipped arrows of Slowness or Weakness is expensive to make, and with Piercing you can walk over and pick each one back up after a fight. Even Piercing I gives you this, so it’s worth having on a crossbow before you reach IV.

What it can’t pierce

• A closed shulker’s shell
• The Wither’s armor once it drops below half health
• A breeze’s wind armor

Arrows bounce off these as usual. Piercing also does nothing for firework rockets, and each mob can only be hit once by the same arrow.

Getting it

Piercing has a high weight on the enchanting table (10, against 2 for Multishot), so crossbows roll it often. That’s also why a lot of players end up with Piercing by accident when they wanted Multishot. Books come from fishing, monster rooms, other chests and, in default trading, librarians. A Piercing IV book from a librarian costs 14 to 58 emeralds. The experimental Villager Trade Rebalance removes crossbow enchantments from trades. Two Piercing III books combine to IV on an anvil.

If you rolled Piercing but wanted Multishot, a grindstone strips the crossbow so you can try again. You can’t add Multishot over Piercing on an anvil.

Common mistakes

• Skipping it because you don’t fight crowds. Arrow recovery alone pays for it if you use tipped arrows.
• Using it with fireworks. Rockets ignore Piercing completely. If you load fireworks most of the time, Multishot is the better choice.

Should you take it over Multishot?

Take Piercing if you use tipped arrows, fight players with shields, or hold corridors where mobs come at you in a line, like a pillager raid funneled through a gate. Take Multishot for raids in the open and fireworks. Either way, pair it with Quick Charge III. Our crossbow enchantment guide compares the two in a table.