Bow

Bow

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Rarity color	Common
Durability	384
Renewable	Yes
Stackable	No

A bow is a ranged weapon that fires arrows.

Obtaining

Mob loot

Illusioners

Illusioners have an 8.5% chance of dropping an unenchanted bow when killed by the player. The chance of dropping a bow is increased by 1% per level of Looting, allowing up to an 11.5% chance of dropping.

Skeletons and Strays

Skeletons and strays have an 8.5% chance of dropping a normal or enchanted bow on death when killed by the player.

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, whether it is normal or hard. The enchantment level is equal to enchant level 5-22.

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

Trading

Apprentice-level fletcher villagers sell bows for 2 emeralds as part of their trade, and expert-level fletcher villagers sell enchanted bows for 8‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} or 17–22‌^{[Java Edition only]} emeralds as part of their trade.

The enchantment level is equal to enchant level 5–19.

Fishing

Bows have a chance of being caught by fishing. When caught, the bow may be damaged and contain random enchantments equivalent to a level 30 enchantment from an enchantment table, including treasure enchantments like Mending.

Crafting

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Stick + String

Repairing

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Damaged Bow

Usage

Weapon

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Bows can be drawn back by using them. In order to use a bow, the player must have at least one arrow in their inventory or be in Creative mode. While the bow is being charged or remains fully charged, the player is forced to move at sneaking speed, unless they are riding a horse, minecart or boat, or flying with elytra. The arrow that is shown inside the bow always looks like a regular arrow, regardless of what kind of arrow is actually being fired from the bow.

When drawing a bow, the display zooms in slightly. Charging the bow to its maximum causes it to visually shake as an indicator. Releasing the button shoots an arrow. A white sparkling effect signifies a fully charged shot. The damage dealt can ultimately be less than the maximum damage if the arrow slows down after being shot. A drawing bow can be canceled by switching to another hotbar while still drawing the bow.

If the arrow hits another player, it makes a high-pitched "ding" sound.‌^{[Java Edition only]}

Fully charged shots randomly deal an additional damage amount from 09px to 2.59px × 1.25. Critical shots occour randomly from full charges and always deal 109px9px9px9px9px.

Charging time	Maximum attack damage
0.1 s (no charge)	19px
0.2–0.9 s (medium charge)	59px9px9px
1+ s (full charge)	69px9px9px
1+ s (critical)	109px9px9px9px9px

Damage caused by the arrow is not affected by the Strength status effect.

Endermen cannot be shot using an arrow, because the arrow either disappears as the enderman teleports, or it gets deflected. Even while immobile, the enderman is immune to damage from arrows. However, an arrow shot from a bow enchanted with Flame can ignite the enderman.

Crafting ingredient

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe	Description
Dispenser	Cobblestone + Bow + Redstone Dust		Enchantments on the bow do not affect the resulting dispenser.

Enchantments

Bows can receive several different enchantments and have a base enchantability of 1. Bow enchantments have no effect on arrow speed or distance.

Name	Summary	Max Level
Power	Increases the damage by (25 * (level + 1))%.	V
Punch	Increases the knockback (+3 blocks per level) applied by the bow.	II
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.	I
Infinity	Prevents the bow from consuming arrows when fired. A single arrow is still required to fire. Fired 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.	I
Unbreaking	Unbreaking causes a(100/(Level+1))% chance a shot fired reduces the durability of the bow.	III
Mending	Allows a certain proportion of XP orbs collected to contribute toward repairing the bow, rather than raising the player's experience.	I
Curse of Vanishing	Causes the bow to disappear instead of dropping on the ground when the player dies. The keepInventory gamerule overrides this.	I

Notes

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

Main article: Arrow

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 parabolic flight path. An arrow slows down if shot through water, reducing its damage to near zero unless brought back into the air.

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 49px9px damage. Although a wither skeleton does not spawn naturally with bows, if it holds a bow then it also shoots flaming arrows.

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 fire 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

Sound	Subtitle	Source	Description	Namespaced ID	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
File:Bow shoot.ogg	Arrow fired	Players	Plays when an arrow is fired by a player	entity.arrow.shoot	subtitles.entity.arrow.shoot	1.0	Around 1.2	16
File:Succesfull Hit.ogg	Player hit	Players	Plays when an arrow shot by a player hits another player	entity.arrow.hit_player	subtitles.entity.arrow.hit_player	1.0	1.0	16
File:Random break.ogg	Item breaks	Players	When durability is exhausted	entity.item.break	subtitles.entity.item.break	0.8	0.8 - 1.2 Template:Checkthecode	16

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Form	Translation key
Bow	bow	Item	item.minecraft.bow

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Numeric ID	Form	Translation key
Bow	bow	261	Item	item.bow.name

History

Java Edition Classic
June 14, 2009					Notch discussed how bows and arrows would work in Survival mode: "Bows and arrows can be made out of wood. To use it, select the bow from your inventory and make sure you’ve got some arrows. Click in front of you, and an arrow goes flying using real physics. To actually HIT something, aim above it."
0.24 SURVIVAL TEST					The player did not need a bow to shoot arrows. Instead, Tab ↹ was used to fire arrows. However, arrows still had to be collected to shoot. Launching arrows this way was much slower than the bow that now fires them.
Java Edition Indev
0.31		20100110			32px Added bow texture to items.png.
		20100122			32px Added bows as item with changed texture. The right mouse button can be held down to fire in rapid succession. Each arrow deals 49px9px for each hit. They fly in a ballistic trajectory affected by gravity and drag in air or water. They travel approximately 15 blocks when fired parallel to a flat plane. Arrows also have a maximum range of around 52 blocks when fired at a 38 degree angle on a flat plane.
					Bows often fail to interact with objects, but instead shoot. This is due to the fact that shooting arrows is an instantaneous action.
Java Edition Beta
1.2					Bows are now used to craft dispensers.
1.8		July 8, 2011			Notch teased hold-to-charge bows.
		July 13, 2011			Notch indicated that along with bow charging, he would add an achievement based around shooting a skeleton at 50 meters, eventually to be known as Sniper duel.
		Pre-release			Bow behavior has been overhauled;they now need to be charged to fire.
Java Edition
1.0.0		RC1			A fully charged arrow from a bow now consistently deals 99px9px9px9px9px damage, with a rare chance of dealing 109px9px9px9px9px.
					Bows now have a durability of 385 uses.
					Bows no longer need arrows for ammo in Creative mode.
					The bow can now be enchanted via console commands, but no enchantment affects it.
1.1		release			Bows can now be legitimately enchanted. Four enchantments have been added: Flame, Punch, Power and Infinity.
1.2.1		12w06a			Skeletons now have a 2.5% chance of dropping a bow. One fifth of the time, this bow is enchanted with Power I (20%).
1.4.6		12w50a			Bows can now be enchanted with Unbreaking using an anvil and an appropriate enchanted book.
		pre			When a player hits another player from far away with a bow it makes a high pitched "dinging" sound.
1.7.2		13w36a			Bows can now be obtained as a "treasure" item from fishing.
					Bows can now be enchanted with Unbreaking directly in an enchantment table without the use of an anvil.
1.8		14w02a			Fletcher villagers now sell 1 bow for 2–3 emeralds.
		14w30a			Bow placement when drawing back has been slightly changed.
1.9		15w31a			When shooting, the arrows are no longer offset to the right of the Crosshair.
					The bow in the hotbar now shows an arrow when being drawn.
					Bows can now shoot an additional 14 types of arrows, selected based on the arrow type held in the off-hand or closest to slot 0.
					Bows cannot be used in the off-hand.
		15w37a			The bow can now be used in the off-hand.
					Bows now prioritize the selected hotbar slot for arrows if the bow is in the off hand.
					When using the bow in the off-hand, the bow does do the animation, but does not aim at the target.
1.10		16w20a			Bows are now used by strays and can now sometimes be obtained as a rare drop.
1.11		16w33a			Bows can now be used to fuel furnaces.
1.11.1		16w50a			Infinity and Mending are now mutually exclusive for bows.
1.12		17w16a			Bows are now used by illusioners and can now sometimes be obtained as a rare drop, although unenchanted.
1.13		17w47a			Prior to The Flattening, this item's numeral ID was 261.
1.13.1		18w30a			MC-88356: Fixed a bug: When using the bow in the off-hand, the bow does do the animation, but does not aim at the target.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.3.3					32px Added bows.
v0.4.0					Bows now have a durability of 385 uses.
					Bows also now slow down the player while aiming.
v0.5.0					Bows are now obtainable after activating the nether reactor.
v0.8.0		build 2			32px The texture of bows has been changed.
v0.11.0		build 1			Bows can now be obtained as a "treasure" item from fishing.
v0.12.1		build 1			Fully charged bows now cause particles.
					Bows can now be enchanted.
					Bows obtained by fishing can now be caught enchanted.
					Bows are no longer available from the nether reactor.
v0.15.0		build 1			Added strays, which are equipped with a bow that can rarely be dropped by them.
					Bows can now shoot an additional 14 types of arrows, selected based on the arrow type closest to slot 0.
Pocket Edition
1.0.4		alpha 1.0.4.0			Bows can now be obtained by trading with a fletcher villager.
1.1.0		alpha 1.1.0.0			Added the Mending enchantment, which can now be applied to bows and is mutually exclusive to the Infinity enchantment.
					Arrows can now be placed in the offhand slot and bows now prioritize the arrows in that slot.
Bedrock Edition
1.8.0		beta 1.8.0.10			Bows in the hotbar now show an arrow when being drawn.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			32px The texture of bows has been changed to match Java Edition's texture.
1.11.0		beta 1.11.0.4			Fletcher villagers now sell unenchanted bows for 2 emeralds, and enchanted bows for 8 emeralds.
1.16.210		beta 1.16.210.58			Bows in first-person view is now held differently.
Upcoming Bedrock Edition
1.17.0		beta 1.17.0.52			Bows are now held like it was before 1.16.210.58 beta.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	32px Added bows.
TU5					Bow behavior is overhauled; they now need to be charged to fire.
TU31	CU19	1.22	Patch 3		Bows can now be obtained by trading with a fletcher villager.
TU46	CU36	1.38	Patch 15		Bows can now shoot an additional 14 types of arrows, selected based on arrow type held in the off-hand or closest to slot 0.

Historical sounds:

Sound	From	to	Pitch
File:Bow Shooting Old.ogg	0.31	Sound Update	1.0

Issues

Issues relating to "Bow" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

• If a bow is enchanted with a level 1 enchantment, it always gets Power 1.
• Bows are the first ranged weapon in Minecraft.
• Bows were intentionally left unchanged in the Texture Update.
• Dinnerbone got the idea for the high-pitched "ding" sound from playing on a former PvP server called Project Ares.
• Arrows have a downwards terminal velocity of 5 blocks per second.

Gallery

• Enchanted Bow.gif

  An enchanted bow.

• Bow Shooting.gif

  Using the bow.

• 1.9bow.gif

  Drawback animation.

References

Items

View at: Template:Items/content [edit]