What Does Piercing Do in Minecraft? Explained

The Minecraft crossbow may not be as convenient as a sword or an axe, but the right enchantment can turn it into a serious damage-dealing weapon. Among all, Piercing is quite useful when you’re fighting groups of mobs with some sort of armor.

But you might wonder, what does Piercing do in Minecraft? How many mobs can be affected by a Piercing enchanted crossbow? To learn about their answers, keep reading this guide as we explain the Piercing enchantment in Minecraft.

What Does Piercing Do in Minecraft?

Piercing is one of the best Minecraft crossbow enchantments that allows the arrows fired from the weapon to pass through multiple entities at once. When this effect is active on the crossbow, the arrow can pierce through the enemy’s armor and shields as well.

An arrow shot from a crossbow with the Piercing enchantment can pass through the number of enemies same as its enchantment level. In simple words, the arrow can damage a total of “Enchantment Level + 1” enemies. Here’s a simple table to explain the entities damaged with respect to the enchantment level:

So, if you’re wondering, what does Piercing 1 do in Minecraft? The answer is that an enchanted crossbow can send an arrow through one target and hit the second one in the same line. Similarly, the answer to ‘what does Piercing 3 do in Minecraft’ is that the projectile can pass through 3 entities and damage a fourth one behind it.

Piercing is one of the coolest enchantments in Minecraft, because you can collect the arrows after it has passed through an entity. This allows you to conserve the arrows regardless of whether they’re tipped with special effects or just the regular ones.

What Are the Limitations of Piercing Enchantment in Minecraft?

The Piercing enchantment can be extremely useful in Minecraft, but the small catch is that every mob has to line up behind one another. The enchantment doesn’t allow the arrow to ricochet from one entity to the next if they’re scattered all around. Some other limitations for this enchantment do not allow the arrows to pass through the following mobs in Minecraft:

• Shulker shells when they’re closed.
• The wind armor of the Breeze mob in Minecraft
• The armor of the Wither mob in Minecraft

Apart from that, Piercing does not affect firework rockets used in a crossbow. There is no way to make these dangerous projectiles pierce through multiple mobs. Since firework rockets already provide AoE damage, Piercing is not necessary.

How to Get Piercing Enchantment in Minecraft

Now that you know the answer to ‘what does Piercing do in Minecraft,’ we will focus on the several ways to obtain it. You can get it on a crossbow through the Minecraft enchanting table. If you’re looking for a high-level enchantment like Piercing 4, you need to place some Minecraft bookshelves around the table.

Another way to get the Piercing enchantment is through an enchanted book in Minecraft. Just like other enchanted books, you can get Piercing from loot chests in various in-game structures. Some of those structures are:

• Mineshafts
• Ancient Cities
• Desert Temples
• Woodland Mansions

You will also find enchanted books while fishing in Minecraft or by trading with the Librarian, one of the most useful villager jobs in Minecraft.

Piercing vs Multishot: Which Minecraft Enchantment is Better?

Piercing and Multishot are both excellent enchantments for a crossbow in Minecraft. However, one of the key disadvantages is that both of them are mutually exclusive. That means you cannot use them both on the same crossbow at once in survival mode.

Piercing focuses on sending one projectile through several targets in the same line. So, it gives you a fair advantage on the Minecraft PvP servers where other players come heavily equipped with shields and armor.

On the other hand, Multishot allows the crossbow to fire three projectiles at the same time. It is more useful in PvE scenarios when you’re exploring the Monster Rooms or the Woodland Mansions in Minecraft. Here, you can get ambushed by several enemies in no time. So having this AoE-focused ability paired with Quick Charge is one of the best combinations to go for.

So, there is no universal winner; rather, each ability has its own use case. And that should sum up your answer to the most commonly asked doubt: what does Piercing do in Minecraft? Which crossbow enchantment combination are you going to use in your next adventure? Tell us in the comments below.