Crossbow Minecraft: How to Make & Use It

Minecraft is not just about building amazing places and creating new tools in the crafting menu. After all, this game has a survival mode - and do you know what a player will need to survive against ferocious mobs in this game? Weapons!

It doesn’t matter if you play Minecraft on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Mac or PC Windows 10 Edition - you’ll still need to defend yourself.

Now, you can choose to fight against your enemies using a melee weapon, but, sometimes, the best way to ensure your survival is by using ranged weapons.

Today, we’ll talk about the Crossbow in Minecraft, a powerful weapon that’ll assist you during your journey. Once you finish reading this blog post, you will now understand:

• What’s the Minecraft Crossbow;
• Minecraft Crossbow recipe;
• Uses you can give to a Crossbow in Minecraft.

Understanding Crossbows in Minecraft

Whenever combat time comes, it’s better to be safe than sorry. That’s why crossbows are such an important part of this game: in order to survive, you must be willing to battle your enemies with good weapons.

You can make a Crossbow to defend yourself by shooting arrows at your enemies. As you might know, there’s a similar item in Minecraft that we’ll mention soon enough.

Bows vs. Crossbows

Now, before you get to make a crossbow in the crafting grid, you’ve probably encountered bows first. The bow is also a ranged weapon, and they are both similar to each other, but there are some punctual differences that you must get to know.

Differences Between a Crossbow and a Bow
Bows are faster at shooting arrows, but also, they inflict less damage. A bow has improved durability more than a crossbow. The materials to make this item are just easier to find.	A Crossbow is slower but has better attack damage with arrows than bows. A Crossbow might break sooner than a bow. After you make a crossbow, you can add enchantments to it to improve this item.

What Can You Use a Crossbow in Minecraft For?

Before having a crossbow in the inventory, you should first know that they are more than just ordinary items.

A crossbow is an astonishing weapon that will help you make your Minecraft adventure better than you imagine.

Hence, we’ll show you two of the main uses that a player can give to this item.

Powerful and Precise Weapon

Obviously, the primary use you can give to a crossbow in Minecraft is to hit enemies with it!

A crossbow can shoot an arrow or a firework, but they have a load time that makes them slower items than a bow. Besides, the durability of crossbows is affected each time you decide to use them.

Consider that some enemies, such as the Endermen, cannot be harmed using a Minecraft crossbow. Still, once you create your own crossbow in the Pocket Edition or the Java Edition, all adversaries will fear you!

Shooting Fireworks!

You can make a crossbow in the crafting menu for more than just shooting around.

Fireworks can also be fired from a crossbow, and they’ll instantly explode once they hit an enemy or a block.

This way, you can use a Minecraft crossbow to serve as a beacon to let others know your position.

Besides, all fireworks fired with the crossbow are also affected by enchantments, but we’ll get to it soon enough.

How to Repair a Crossbow Minecraft

As we mentioned before, the durability of the crossbow isn’t precisely the best. So, if your sweet weapon is broken, you can repair it following one of these three methods:

1. Use an Anvil: anvils can repair everything - even a crossbow! Just find the right materials, and you’ll have a repaired crossbow in your inventory.
2. Use a Grindstone: place two crossbows in a grindstone, and their durabilities will fuse. Keep in mind that this method will remove any enchantment in the menu.
3. Use the Mending Enchantment: if you don’t want your crossbow to break, make sure to use this enchantment.

A Quick Glance to Crossbow Enchantments

One of the best things about crossbows in Minecraft is the fact that you can enchant them to improve their stats.

In order to level up your Minecraft knowledge, we’ll mention some of the most popular crossbow enchantments.

• Quick charge: do you want to reduce charging time in your crossbow? Quick charge is the enchantment for this!
• Piercing: if you decide to enchant a crossbow with piercing, the arrows will continue their flight through level +1 enemies.

Multishot: fire multiple arrows at the cost of one! Multishot also affects fireworks.

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How to Make a Crossbow in Minecraft

Now that you know the benefits of this item, it’s time to make a crossbow on your own.

Nonetheless, you can find a crossbow naturally without the need to go to the crafting table. Worry not - we’ll tell you how to do it in this tutorial!

Pillagers and Piglins

There’s a chance to get a crossbow with items dropped by piglins or pillagers.

You can also try to trade with villagers, but this totally depends on random factors.

So, we recommend you follow the crafting recipe instead so you can add a crossbow to your Minecraft inventory.

Natural Generation

Bastion remnants and Pillagers Outposts are the best options if you want to find a crossbow without going to the crafting grid.

If you play with commands, the Crossbow Give Command in Java, Pocket, and Bed Minecraft Editions will grant you a crossbow instantly.

Crossbow Crafting Recipe

Let’s say that neither of the previously mentioned options worked for you so you have no other choice but to make a crossbow on yourself.

In that case, these are the materials and items you will need for the crossbow recipe.

Required materials to make a crossbow in the crafting area
	3 Sticks: you’ll need more than just one stick! Sticks can be found all over the Minecraft world.
	2 String: if you want a piece of String, prepare yourself to break some cobwebs or kill a spider.
	1 Iron Ingot: An Iron Ingot can only be created by smelting Iron Ore. Find yourself a good pickaxe, mine some Iron, and then go to the furnace!
	1 Tripwire hook: to craft a Tripwire hook, you’ll need to put 1 Iron Ingot, one stick, and any kind of planks in the crafting grid.

Now, after you’ve got the sticks, the String, the Ingot, and the Tripwire hook, it’s time to make a crossbow by going to a crafting table.

You need to arrange the items in the 3x3 crafting grid in the following order:

As you can see, each box of the Crafting Table must be completed as shown above. Once you make a crossbow in Minecraft, don’t forget to save it in your inventory!

FAQ

How Long Does a Crossbow Last in Minecraft?

The exact durability of crossbows in the game is 326. Therefore, you’ll need to use it more than 300 times so that it breaks.

How Do You Enchant a Crossbow in Minecraft?

Just go to the Enchanting Table, place your crossbow in the box, pick your favorite enchantment, and you’ll be good to go. Remember that the Enchant Menu changes depending on your level of experience.