Although you can fight ‘mano a mano’ in Minecraft, you’re better off staying far away from the opponent. And while there’s no shame in running, it’s pointless if the enemy stays on your trail. So, why not fight back? In the absence of machine guns, archery is the best ranged weapon and can be used from a distance of up to 24 blocks. You’ll need ammo, obviously, so make arrows in Minecraft first. After you’ve done that, you can also use a bow while sneaking, in a boat and minecart, and even when riding a horse in Minecraft. Appealing? Let’s get into how to make a bow in Minecraft.
Materials required for making a Bow in Minecraft
You’ll need these materials to craft a bow in Minecraft:
- 3x Stick
- 3x String
Tip. You can create a Stick from any type of Wood you find in Minecraft.
Steps to make a Bow in Minecraft
Now that have the necessary materials, make a Crafting Table in Minecraft. Done? Follow the steps in that guide to open a Crafting Menu and then:
- Follow this recipe for making a Bow in Minecraft:
- First Row: Put a String in the first box, and a Stick in the second. Leave the third box empty.
- Second Row: Put a string in the first box and leave the second box empty. Put a Stick in the third box.
- Third Row. Do the same as in the first row.
- If you did everything correctly, you’ll see a Bow icon appear in the single box on the right-hand side.
- Transfer it to an empty box in your inventory or hotbar.
Other ways to get a Bow in Minecraft
You can obtain a Bow in Minecraft in these 4 ways:
1. Loot it
You can loot a Bow from these mobs in Minecraft:
- Illusioners (Java Edition only). These mobs have an 8.5% chance of dropping a Bow (normal or Enchanted) when a player kills them.
- Skeletons and strays. (All Editions). Strays and skeletons also have an 8.5% chance to drop a Bow upon death inflicted by a player. If you have a Looting enchantment on your weapon, the chance increases by 1% per Looting level, up to 11.5%. Also, the harder difficulty you’re playing Minecraft on, the higher the chance of getting an Enchanted Bow.
2. Trade for it
We taught you how to breed villagers and find Minecraft villages. If you run into or create a villager with a Fletcher profession, you can trade for:
- Unenchanted Bow with apprentice Fletcher, which costs 2 Emeralds.
- Enchanted Bows with expert-level Fletchers. They cost 8 Emeralds in Bedrock Edition, and between 17 and 22 Emeralds in Java Edition.
3. Catch it by fishing
We demonstrated how fishing works in Minecraft. Well, a Bow can be caught as part of fishing “treasure”. It might be damaged, so you’ll need to repair a Bow if you don’t want to lose it. Also, it can have an enchantment, which is one of the main ways of obtaining Mending in Survival Mode.
4. Spawn it
Here are 2 ways of spawning a Bow in your inventory:
1. Switch to Creative Mode
By switching to Creative Mode as an admin or in a single-player version you get an infinite number of items, Bow included. Open inventory, type “bow” in the search bar in the upper right corner, and drag it to hotbar or personal storage.
2. Use a Minecraft cheat or command
If you don’t like transitioning between Game Modes, enable Minecraft cheats. Then, simply open chat and use the /give command for Bow in Minecraft:
- Using Minecraft Java Edition 1.14 to 1.17 or later? Enter this:
/give @p bow 1 - Playing on Minecraft Java Edition 1.8 and later, Bedrock Edition, or other Minecraft versions? Type this:
/give @p bow 1 0