There are many unique gameplay aspects that keep players returning over and over to the sandbox-style game Minecraft. But regardless of what gameplay aspect players love most, it is generally immensely important to upgrade your gear by applying powerful enchantments to it.
One of the tools that players will come across while playing Minecraft is the bow. This is a very powerful and versatile weapon because it allows players to attack from a distance rather than up close.
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Many mobs, and especially those like the infamous creeper, can be dangerous to get up close with. Thus, ensuring that you have a powerful bow ready to go alongside the rest of your powerfully enchanted gear is a must for any Minecraft player that is looking to be well-rounded and ready for whatever comes.
Compared to other tools in Minecraft, the bow has a rather expansive list of enchantments that players can apply to it. Bows are a powerful ranged tool on their own but applying enchantments will make players feel truly unstoppable.
All bow enchantments in Minecraft
As of Minecraft 1.19, there are seven enchantments that can be applied to a bow in Minecraft.
- Power (I-V)
- Punch (I-II)
- Flame (I)
- Mending (I)
- Infinity (I)
- Unbreaking (I-III)
- Curse of Vanishing (I)
While there are seven enchantments in total, two of them conflict which means that the maximum number of enchantments that players can apply to a bow is six. Additionally, one of the available enchantments will grant a negative effect and should thus be avoided.
Best bow enchantments in Minecraft 1.19
While with other tools like pickaxes or shovels players will generally want to wait to apply enchantments until they have a diamond or Netherite version of the tool, bows can luckily be enchanted whenever. Bows only come in one version which means that as soon as players obtain one, they can immediately get to work enchanting it.
1) Unbreaking
If you are going to spend your valuable experience enchanting an item in Minecraft, you should always start by equipping it with the Unbreaking enchantment. This enchantment essentially increases the durability of the item you apply it on.
If you apply this to your bow, every time that you shoot with it there is a chance that no durability will be taken. Durability is the bar that is located at the bottom of the icon of every weapon and decreases over time as players utilize said weapon.
Unbreaking makes it so that your bow will decay much more slowly. This means that you can utilize it for longer before you must either choose to repair it or let it break.
The highest level of Unbreaking is III, so players should always utilize level III on their equipment because it is the most effective.
2) Power
To eliminate enemies more effectively, players will want to equip their bow with the Power enchantment. This enchantment is exclusively available for bows and increases the amount of damage that arrows deal.
As the name hints, the Power enchantment increases the power of a bow. It essentially increases the damage dealt against enemies and ensures that players are thus much more efficient.
The highest level of Power is V and will make players immensely effective against foes when equipped. Regardless of how you plan to utilize your bow, this is a strong enchantment to apply because it will help you to take out enemies much more quickly.
3) Flame
The Flame enchantment is also exclusive to bows, although swords do have a similar enchantment that is called fire aspect. Flame only has one level but is immensely useful because it causes all arrows that players shoot to be flaming.
While most enchantments come with multiple levels and vary in how effective they are based upon these levels, there are also many enchantments that have one level and are thus at their maximum power at this level. Flame is one such enchantment, which means that all players will ever need for their bow is the level I version of this enchantment.
This enchantment is incredibly useful in a variety of situations ranging from combat to practical usage. Lighting enemies on fire will then result in them continuously taking fire damage and thus make them easier to vanquish. Flaming arrows are also useful for more general uses like lighting TNT or providing light in a dark area.
4) Punch
When you are surrounded by a massive group of mobs, it can quickly become quite difficult to survive. But the bow-exclusive Punch enchantment is an excellent tool in situations like this because it will help players to better navigate their way out of tricky situations.
The Punch enchantment is somewhat similar to the sword-exclusive knockback enchantment. It can be difficult to understand until you see it in action yourself but is an immensely effective combat tool.
With the Punch enchantment applied, every arrow that hits an enemy will also knock them back which allows players to keep foes at bay and navigate out of tough situations. Punch has two levels and players should always be sure to apply level II for the strongest results.
5) Infinity
The Infinity enchantment is incredibly powerful and would be higher on this list if not for the fact that it comes with a major conflict. Players must choose between the powerful Infinity enchantment and the impressive Mending enchantment because they cannot both be applied to the same bow.
With the Infinity enchantment applied, your bow will always have infinite arrows as long as you have just one arrow in your inventory. This singular arrow will never be consumed and players can fire their bow as much as they see fit without worrying about running out of arrows.
Arrows can be a pain to obtain or craft in Minecraft, so generally, most players will want to choose Infinity over Mending for their bow. This does mean that your bow will break over time and that you will need to either repair it or let it break, so be sure to keep an eye on the durability level so that you do not accidentally let it break if you are planning on repairing it.
6) Mending
Mending is usually the most important and powerful enchantment that players can equip their gear with in all of Minecraft. But because it conflicts with Infinity, players must make the tough choice of choosing which of the two they believe is more important for their bow.
If players apply this enchantment to their bow, then every time that they use it and successfully vanquish a mob or otherwise pick up experience then it will be restored. Mending is a powerful way to ensure that your equipment never breaks in Minecraft because all players have to do is continuously utilize their gear in situations that grant experience which is how they will normally utilize it anyways.
Because Infinity and Mending cannot coexist, it can be a great idea to consider having two bows that you regularly utilize. Each bow should have one of the two enchantments applied to it alongside the other strong bow enchantments so that players can choose which one they wish to utilize in certain situations.
There are only seven enchantments that can be applied to bows in Minecraft and while six of them are great, the last one should be avoided. The seventh enchantment that is available for bows is called Curse of Vanishing and as the name hints, it is a curse rather than a helpful enchantment like the rest.
Curse of Vanishing makes it so that any item equipped with it will vanish when the player that has it in their inventory perishes. This curse means nothing to players that are challenging themselves with a hardcore world since it only comes with one life, but outside of this, it is quite a nuisance and should be avoided.
An item that has Curse of Vanishing on it will not disappear when a player dies if it is stored in a chest or elsewhere. Regardless, this is quite a scary enchantment to have applied alongside others since it means that you cannot return to where you died to pick up your bow since it will have simply disappeared.
While there are currently only seven enchantments that can be applied to a bow in Minecraft, it is possible that more could come in the future. The last enchantment that was introduced into Minecraft was the Swift Sneak legging enchantment that was designed specifically for taking on the dangerous deep dark biome.
Minecraft’s 1.20 update is on the horizon, and while no new enchantments have been unveiled for the update so far, Swift Sneak in the 1.19 update was a rather surprising addition which means that there is certainly still hope for new enchantments to come. And even if no new enchantments arrive in 1.20, the game is still in active development so more enchantments could easily arrive beyond it.
