Are you a hunter at heart, or do you prefer a strategic long-range combat approach? No matter your playstyle, bows are an essential weapon choice in Minecraft. And when you add enchantments to your bow, you have the ability to bend the rules of reality. So let's take a look at the best bow enchantments currently available in Minecraft.
Bows in Minecraft have a total of seven enchantments to choose from. However, two of these enchantments are mutually exclusive, meaning you can have up to six enchantments on a single bow. But is it worth the effort to obtain all of these enchantments simultaneously? Let's find out.
Power
The Power enchantment is the most basic and powerful enchantment available for bows. It increases the overall damage of your bow, making a fully charged shot with Power V deal significantly more damage than an unenchanted shot. This enchantment is a must-have for your primary bow, regardless of the ammunition you use.
Unbreaking
A strong weapon is useless if it breaks easily. The Unbreaking enchantment gives your bow a chance to avoid losing durability. This means you can use your powerful bow more times before having to mend it. The higher the enchantment level, the more durability your bow will retain. Consider combining Unbreaking with the Mending enchantment to ensure your bow never breaks.
Flame
The Flame enchantment sets your enemies and the world ablaze. It adds fire damage to your arrows, increasing your overall damage output even further. While this enchantment is not effective during rain, it's worth investing in for its additional damage. The flames from your arrows will only affect enemies, players, and ignitable blocks, so you don't have to worry about accidentally burning down your house.
Punch
If you want to keep your enemies at a distance, the Punch enchantment is perfect for you. It increases the knockback of your arrows, allowing you to maintain distance from your targets. While this enchantment doesn't directly increase your damage, it helps you keep hostile creatures like Creepers and zombies at bay. Give them a long-range punch in the face!
Mending
Mending allows you to fix your bow immediately by using some of your Experience. Before applying Mending to your bow, you need to find it, but it's a helpful enchantment even if you already have Unbreaking. However, since Unbreaking is a powerful enchantment, you might consider skipping Mending and applying it to a different weapon or armor instead.
Infinity
Infinity is a great early game enchantment for your bow. It allows you to shoot as long as you have regular arrows in your inventory, giving you infinite ammo. However, this enchantment only works for regular arrows, not Spectral or Tipped Arrows, which you'll use later in the game. Since Mending and Infinity are mutually exclusive, only choose one of them. Mending proves more useful in the long run.
Curse of Vanishing
At the bottom of the list is the Curse of Vanishing enchantment. Unlike the others, this enchantment is more of a curse than a blessing. Your bow disappears after you die, which can be useful in online servers with hostile players or in self-imposed gameplay challenges. Outside of those situations, it's best to ignore this enchantment.
All of these enchantments are valuable in their own right, except for Curse of Vanishing. Power, Unbreaking, Flame, Punch, Mending, and Infinity can greatly enhance your bow's capabilities. So go ahead and empower your bow to become an unstoppable force in Minecraft!
Sources: Prima Games, GameSkinny