If you have met the hostile mobs of Minecraft, you might have noticed that hand-to-hand combat isn’t the easiest or the smartest option. It becomes especially complex while fighting with enemies like the Ender Dragon and the Wither, who can fly. That’s when a crossbow comes in handy. If you know how to make a crossbow in Minecraft, you can easily fight the toughest enemies in the game. And that too from a very comfortable distance. With some of the best Minecraft enchantments applied, the crossbow is easily one of the most powerful weapons that the game has to offer. So all you need to use it is a good aim, which you can improve by practicing on these best Minecraft adventure maps. With that said, let’s not waste a moment more and learn how to craft a crossbow in Minecraft.
Make and Use a Crossbow in Minecraft (2022)
We have covered where you can find a crossbow naturally while also going over important crafting ingredients, enchantments, and more in this guide. You can use the table below to explore the crossbow crafting recipe or the steps to make arrows.
What is a Crossbow in Minecraft
Similar to a bow, the crossbow is a ranged weapon in Minecraft. You can use a crossbow to fire arrows and fireworks at enemies from a distance. The accuracy of the aim of this weapon improves as the distance between you and the target gets reduced.
Bow vs Crossbow: Which is Better
Even though they have similar functionality and crafting ingredients, the bow and crossbow are different in the following ways:
- The crossbow loses its durability at a faster rate than the bow. So, without the mending enchantment in Minecraft, it can become a pricey weapon.
- Crossbows take slightly more time to reload than regular bows. It takes 1.25 seconds to reload a crossbow and 1.1 seconds to reload a regular bow. The difference isn’t huge but can be game-changing in dire circumstances.
- The crossbow deals minimum damage of 6 points and a maximum of 11 points. The maximum damage is the same for the bow, but its minimum damage is only 1 point.
- Under many circumstances, arrows lose their speed when fired by a bow. But that’s never the case with the arrows shot by crossbows.
- Finally, only a crossbow allows you to shoot explosive firework rockets in Minecraft. They can do significantly higher damage to the enemies and can even harm more than one target.
How to Get Crossbow in Minecraft
Other than the standard crafting method, Minecraft also has several other ways in place for you to obtain a crossbow in the game. They are as follows:
Chest Loot
Crossbows and damaged enchanted crossbows can be found within the following chests:
- Generic Chests of Bastion Remnant
- Bridge Chests of Bastion Remnant
- Chests of Pillager Outposts
If you go and explore pillager outposts, you might even find Allay in Minecraft as a bonus. It usually spawns trapped inside a cage around the outposts.
Trading
You can get a crossbow by trading with journeyman-level fletcher villagers in exchange for emeralds. But if you are able to upgrade the fletcher to master level, you can also get it to sell you enchanted crossbows.
Mob Drop
A crossbow is essentially a weapon. So, it’s not surprising that Minecraft has some violent ways for us to obtain it. You can kill the following mobs to get a crossbow:
- Pillagers: You can get regular and enchanted crossbows by killing a pillager. The chances of them dropping an enchanted crossbow is rare. But when it does drop, you can find multiple enchantments already applied to it.
- Piglins: If a piglin is wielding a crossbow, you can kill to obtain the weapon. But the chances of drop are less than 10%. But if you get lucky, you can get enchanted crossbows from them.
Items Required to Make a Crossbow
You need the following items to make a crossbow in Minecraft:
- 3 Sticks
- 2 Strings
- 1 Iron Ingot
- 1 Tripwire Hook
To make sticks, you need to place two planks next to each other vertically in the crafting area. Doing so will get you four sticks, and we only need three to make a crossbow. As for the strings, you have to find and kill cave spiders and spiders to get them.
Lastly, you have to mine and smelt iron ore to get an iron ingot. You only need one iron ingot to make the crossbow. But an extra iron ingot and the additional stick from earlier will help you in crafting the tripwire hook.
How to Make Tripwire Hook
To make a tripwire hook, you need to combine three simple ingredients in the crafting table. You have to place an iron ingot, a stick, and a plank next to each other in a vertical order. The plank can be of any type of wood in the game. Check out the crafting recipe above to craft the tripwire hook.
Crossbow Crafting Recipe in Minecraft
Once you have all the ingredients, you have to combine them to make a crossbow in Minecraft. To do so, follow the steps below:
1. First, place two sticks on either side of the first row of the crafting area. Then, place a string right below each stick in the second row.
2. Next, place the iron ingot in the middle cell of the first now with the tripwire hook right just below it in the second row.
3. Finally, place the last wooden stick in the middle cell of the bottommost row of the crafting area. Your crafting area should look like this, and your crossbow will be ready.
How to Make Ammunition for Crossbow
A crossbow without anything to fire with is useless in Minecraft. So, let’s quickly go over how to create both of its ammunition, i.e. arrows and firework rockets.
Arrows
To craft an arrow, you have to combine a piece of flint, a stick, and a feather in the crafting area. If you know how to make the best Minecraft potions, you can even use them to convert these arrows into tipped arrows.
Firework Rockets
Only the crossbow allows players to fire firework rockets at the enemies. It is a powerful option to kill an entire group of mobs with ease. To craft a firework rocket, you just have to combine a piece of paper with gunpowder and a firework star. Do keep in mind that a firework rocket made without a firework star won’t explode, thus, it won’t do any damage.
Best Enchantments for a Crossbow
Once your crossbow is ready, you can use the following enchantments to push it a step further:
- Quick Charge
- Multishot
- Piercing
- Unbreaking
- Mending
You can also apply Curse of Vanishing on the crossbow, but most players avoid it altogether due to its negative impact. Not to forget, the piercing and multishot enchantments are mutually exclusive. So, in a normal survival world, you can only use one of them on a crossbow.
Make and Use a Crossbow in Minecraft Today
And just like that, you are now ready to make and use a crossbow in Minecraft. With the crossbow in your arsenal, you can freely go on to explore the biomes in Minecraft without fear of getting harmed. Later, with some practice, you can even try to defeat the Warden. Though, we won’t suggest you do so without creating a Potion of Healing in Minecraft. But even with the right gear and powerful weapons, victory isn’t guaranteed. So, at times, you might have to rely on some of the best Minecraft commands for additional help. With that said, which weapon do you like more? Bow or crossbow? Tell us in the comments!
