Overview
A Bow keeps the fight at a distance, and there are enemies in this game you should never fight any other way — ghasts across a lava lake, blazes on a fortress balcony, the ender dragon's perches, phantoms overhead. Drawing takes one second to reach full power, and a fully drawn shot deals between 6 and 11 damage depending on the random critical roll, which is enough to kill a skeleton in two hits and a creeper before it reaches you. Partial draws fly shorter and hit weaker, so tapping the button is almost always wasted ammunition. The enchantment set is what turns a bow from a backup into a main weapon: Power V raises damage by roughly 150%, Flame sets targets alight and cooks the food they drop, Punch knocks them back out of range, and Infinity means one arrow in the inventory supplies unlimited shots. Infinity and Mending cannot coexist, so the real decision is between never running out of arrows and never running out of durability — with 384 uses and a fletcher villager nearby, most players quietly pick Mending. Three sticks and three string is the whole cost.
Killing at range: creepers before they reach you, blazes across a fortress gap, ghasts over lava, and the end crystals on the dragon's obsidian pillars.
Bow is a miscellaneous item in Minecraft Java Edition 1.21.4. Durability is 384. Enchanting it is possible and generally recommended.
It does not stack — each one takes its own slot. The usual source is Skeleton. The recipe calls for Stick and String.
Its only crafting use is Dispenser.
How to get it
Craft 1 from 3 Sticks and 3 String. Skeletons drop bows at an 8.5% chance, often enchanted, and fletcher villagers sell enchanted bows for around 7 to 21 emeralds.
Tips
- Hold the draw for a full second — a half-charged shot loses both damage and range for the same arrow.
- Aim slightly above a distant target; arrows drop over range and a 40-block shot needs noticeably more elevation.
- Infinity needs 1 arrow in the inventory to work, and it will not fire tipped or spectral arrows for free.
- See the complete enchanting guide before committing levels — Power V plus Mending is the standard end-game bow.
Properties
Bow lasts 384 uses before it breaks. Two worn copies can also be merged, on an anvil or a grindstone. Unbreaking III roughly quadruples the lifespan, and Mending replaces the repair cost with experience. Its enchantability of 1 decides how good the enchanting table's offers are: the higher the number, the more often a level-30 table offers the top-tier enchantment rather than a weak one. In a furnace it burns for 15 seconds, which smelts 1.5 items. Bow does not stack — each one occupies an inventory slot of its own.
- Renewable
- Yes
- Category
- Miscellaneous
Crafting recipe
Crafting Table
Bow
Dropped by
1 mobs drop Bow: Skeleton. Looting raises the maximum on most of them.
Used to craft
Bow is an ingredient in 1 recipes, producing Dispenser.
Enchantments it can take
6 enchantments can be applied to Bow: Flame, Infinity, Mending, Power, Punch, and Unbreaking.
Mending is a treasure enchantment and never appears at an enchanting table — they come from loot chests, fishing or villager trades only.
Guides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
How much damage does a fully charged bow do?
Between 6 and 11, because arrows roll a random critical bonus. Power V raises that substantially, roughly by 150% at the top end.
Should I take Infinity or Mending?
They are mutually exclusive. Mending is usually better once you have a fletcher or a skeleton farm, because arrows are cheap and durability is not.
Do bows work underwater?
Yes, but arrows slow rapidly in water and lose most of their range, so Impaling on a trident is the better underwater answer.
How do you make Bow in Minecraft?
Bow is crafted from Stick and String.
What is the stack size of Bow?
Bow does not stack at all. Every one you carry takes an inventory slot of its own, which is the practical limit on how many you take on a trip.
How much durability does Bow have?
Bow has 384 durability.
Can Bow be enchanted?
Yes — 6 enchantments apply to it, at an enchanting table with fifteen bookshelves, or from an enchanted book on an anvil. Mending is usually the one worth hunting for, because it removes the repair cost entirely.
