How to Make a Target for Bow and Arrow

For the ranged weapon of a similar name, see Crossbow.

A bow is a ranged weapon that shoots arrows.

Contents

• 1 Obtaining
  • 1.1 Mob loot
    • 1.1.1 Illusioners
    • 1.1.2 Skeletons and Strays
  • 1.2 Trading
  • 1.3 Fishing
  • 1.4 Crafting
  • 1.5 Repairing
• 2 Usage
  • 2.1 Weapon
  • 2.2 Crafting ingredient
  • 2.3 Enchantments
  • 2.4 Fuel
• 3 Arrows
• 4 Sounds
• 5 Data values
  • 5.1 ID
• 6 Achievements
• 7 Advancements
• 8 Video
• 9 History
• 10 Issues
• 11 Trivia
• 12 Gallery
• 13 References

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	Grinding recipe	Description
2x Damaged Bow		The durability of the two bows is added together, plus an extra 5% durability.

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Damaged Bow

Usage [ ]

Weapon [ ]

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 shot from the bow.^[1]

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. Drawing a bow can be canceled by switching to another hotbar slot while holding use.

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

Fully charged shots launch critical arrows which have a trail of particles behind them and deal up to damage, where is the damage after any enchantments. The listed values below describe maximum damage from a bow with no Power enchantments, assuming the target is at a distance where drag and gravity are negligible. However, the critical damage is likely to be more around 8-10; critical damage is added at a random value between and and it is rare to have minimum or maximum values.

Charging time	Maximum attack damage
0.1 s (no charge)	1
0.2–0.9 s (medium charge)	5
1+ s (full charge)	6
1+ s (critical)	11 × 5.5

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. If a bow is enchanted with any level 1 enchantment, it always gets Power I.^{[ verify ]}

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[n 1]	Prevents the bow from consuming arrows when shot. A single arrow is still required to fire. 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 reduces the durability of the bow.	III
Mending[n 1]	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

1. ↑ ^{a b} Mending and Infinity are mutually exclusive.

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 [ ]

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 a parabolic flight path. An arrow slows down if shot through water, reducing its damage to near zero unless brought back into the air or otherwise given momentum.^{[ more information needed ]}

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 4 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 shoot 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	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Arrow fired	Players	Plays when an arrow is fired by a player	entity.arrow.shoot	subtitles.entity.arrow.shoot	1.0	Around 1.2[sound 1]	16
	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
	Item breaks	Players	When durability is exhausted	entity.item.break	subtitles.entity.item.break	0.8	0.8 - 1.2 [ check the code ]	16

1. ↑ Depends on how long the bow is charged for, around 1.2 with a fully charged bow ^{[ check the code ]}

Data values [ ]

ID [ ]

Java Edition:

Name	Resource location	Form	Translation key
Bow	bow	Item	item.minecraft.bow

Bedrock Edition:

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

Achievements [ ]

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS4)
PS4	Other platforms
		Sniper Duel	Kill a Skeleton with an arrow from more than 50 meters.	Use a launched arrow to kill a skeleton, spider jockey, wither skeleton, or a stray from 50 or more blocks away, horizontally.	30G	Bronze
		Dispense with This	Construct a Dispenser.	—	20G	Bronze
		Archer	Kill a creeper with arrows.	—	10G	Bronze
		Bullseye	Hit the bullseye of a Target block	—	15G	Bronze

Advancements [ ]

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
	Take Aim	Shoot something with an arrow	Monster Hunter	Using a bow or a crossbow, shoot an entity with an arrow, tipped arrow, or spectral arrow.	adventure/shoot_arrow
	Sniper Duel	Kill a Skeleton from at least 50 meters away	Take Aim	Be at least 50 blocks away horizontally when a skeleton is killed by an arrow after the player has attacked it once.	adventure/sniper_duel
	Bullseye	Hit the bullseye of a Target block from at least 30 meters away	Take Aim	Be at least 30 blocks away when the center of a target is shot with a projectile horizontally by the player.	adventure/bullseye

Video [ ]

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			Added bow texture to items.png.
		20100122			Added bows as item with changed texture. The right mouse button can be held down to fire in rapid succession. Each arrow deals 4 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.
					At this point, bows have no durability, and can essentially be used infinitely.
Java Edition Alpha
v1.2.6					Interacting with objects (door, chest, etc.) while holding a bow no longer shoots the arrow.
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.[2]
		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 9 damage, with a rare chance of dealing 10 .
					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.
1.14		19w11a			Fletcher villagers now sell enchanted bows.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.3.3					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			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			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.[3]
1.17.0		beta 1.17.0.52			Bows are now held like it was before 1.16.210.58 beta.[4]
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	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
	0.31	Sound Update	1.0

Issues [ ]

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

Trivia [ ]

• Bows were intentionally left unchanged in the Texture Update.^[5]
• Dinnerbone got the idea for the high-pitched "ding" sound from playing on a former PvP server called Project Ares.^{[6] [7]}

Gallery [ ]

• 

  An enchanted bow.

• 

  Using the bow.

• 

  Drawback animation.

References [ ]

1. ↑ MC-87685 – "Drawn bow texture does not reflect arrow that will be shot" resolved as "Won't Fix"
2. ↑ "I did add an achievement for killing a skeleton with an arrow at 50 meters. Not easy." – @notch on Twitter
3. ↑ MCPE-116741
4. ↑ MCPE-116741
5. ↑ MC-168156
6. ↑ "Also things I learnt from pvping today: Bows need to ding when you hit people (it's so much fun/rewarding!) & arrows don't render far enough" – @Dinnerbone on Twitter
7. ↑ "Minecraft PvP with Dinnerbone & Docm77 - Team DocBone @ 11:52" – docm77 on YouTube, December 7, 2013

How to Make a Target for Bow and Arrow

Source: https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Bow

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