How to Make a Bow in Minecraft and the Best Enchantments

A bow takes 3 sticks and 3 string. Put the string down the right-hand column of a crafting table, then place the sticks in a curve on the left: top middle, middle left, bottom middle. It works mirrored too, with the string on the left. You get one bow, and it needs arrows in your inventory to fire.

Getting string

Sticks are easy: 2 planks stacked make 4 sticks. String takes a little more effort.

• Spiders drop 0 to 2 string when killed. They spawn at night on the surface and in dark caves. In daylight they’re neutral, so you can attack one without being chased by others.
• Cobwebs drop string when broken with a sword or shears (shears give you the cobweb itself). Mineshafts are full of cobwebs and cave spiders.
• Cats sometimes bring you string as a morning gift if they sleep on your bed.
• Chests in villages, mineshafts and dungeons often have string.

One spider-hunting night usually gets you enough for a bow and a few extra.

Arrows

Each shot uses an arrow. Craft 4 arrows from 1 flint, 1 stick and 1 feather. Flint comes from breaking gravel, feathers from chickens. Skeletons drop arrows too, which is why a skeleton farm pairs so well with a bow.

Using it

Hold the use button to draw, release to fire. A full draw takes about a second and does the most damage; the arrow also gets a chance of a critical hit (shown by sparkles). Shorter draws fire weaker, slower arrows. Arrows are affected by gravity, so aim a little high at long range.

The bow is the weapon for the Ender Dragon fight, where you need to shoot down end crystals from the ground. It’s also the safe way to handle creepers and anything you’d rather not meet up close.

Enchantments

A good bow changes the game. The ones that matter:

• Power (up to V): more damage per arrow. The core bow enchantment.
• Infinity: never uses normal arrows, as long as you have one in your inventory. Tipped and spectral arrows are still used up.
• Mending: repairs the bow from XP. Can’t be combined with Infinity.
• Unbreaking: makes it last longer.
• Flame: sets targets on fire.
• Punch: extra knockback.

Infinity versus Mending is the big decision. Early on, Infinity saves a lot of crafting. Later, with a skeleton farm giving you stacks of arrows, Mending means the bow never wears out. The best bow enchantments page goes through the full ranking.

Bow or crossbow?

A crossbow loads once and holds the shot, can fire firework rockets, and has Multishot and Piercing. The bow is faster to fire repeatedly and does more damage with Power. Most players use a bow day to day and keep a crossbow for specific jobs like firework damage or raids.