7 best enchantments for bows in Minecraft

Bows are Minecraft's primary ranged weapon, alongside crossbows, and they have a wide range of enchantments that can be applied to them.

Some bow enchantments in Minecraft are much better than others (Image via Windows Central)

With a total of seven enchantments in Minecraft 1.18, bows have many options in the way of enchantments to be applied to them. However, some of these enchantments are much more helpful than others, including one enchantment that has a negative effect on bows and any other items to which it is applied.

Minecraft players will want to keep in mind their best (and worst) options when enhancing their bow at an enchanting table, as nobody wants to go into battle with a substandard weapon.

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The best enchantments for a Minecraft player's bow

1) Curse of Vanishing

Curse of Vanishing is one of two curse enchantments that bestow negative effects (Image via Mojang)

The one curse enchantment that can be applied to bows, Curse of Vanishing, is honestly just worth avoiding. The enchantment causes the enchanted item to completely despawn upon Minecraft players' death. This makes it essentially useless in Minecraft Hardcore, but it's still nothing but a negative effect for players.

Some might like to prank their friends with Curse of Vanishing, but otherwise, the only real reason to use this enchantment is to make the game more difficult for players.

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2) Punch

Punch increases the knockback of loosed arrows (Image via Mojang)

Punch is an interesting enchantment in Minecraft. It won't increase players' damage output or give them any crazy effects, but it's excellent to use for positioning. Punch simply increases the knockback of an arrow when it hits its target.

This may not seem like much, but players attempting to fight multiple enemies at once or knock a creeper out of detonation range will be glad they had it. It's also great on PvP maps as it can open up space for players and counter those who like to tower to protect themselves.

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3) Power

Players can use Power to increase their damage output (Image via Mojang)

Sometimes, simple enchantments in Minecraft can be some of the most effective. This is the case for Power, which increases the damage arrows fired from the enchanted bow deal when they hit their target. Nothing more, nothing less, and the damage increases as the rank of the enchantment does.

This enchantment can make fully-drawn arrows positively deadly, especially against weaker mobs that Minecraft players might encounter while they explore.

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4) Flame

Flame allows players to use their bow to catch entities on fire (Image via Mojang)

Fire can be one of the most powerful weapons at Minecraft players' disposal. Flame enhances this fact even further as an enchantment, allowing players to set entities aflame with their arrows. This includes torching mobs but also performing actions such as igniting TNT blocks and lighting campfires.

One should be careful with this enchantment when using flaming arrows on creepers, as this can produce some less-than-savory results for players.

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5) Unbreaking

Unbreaking lets players get more life out of their bow before it breaks or they need repairs (Image via Mojang)

Every time a Minecraft tool is used, a check is run behind the scenes to confirm that the item will lose durability as a result.

Unbreaking doesn't technically increase the durability of an enchanted item but instead reduces the chance that durability will be lost when an item is used by providing a percentage chance to ignore the durability reduction check. This means players can use their enchanted bow for longer without it losing too much durability and either breaking or requiring quick repairs.

Bows are far from the sturdiest weapons in Minecraft, so using Unbreaking on one will ensure players save materials having to repair their bow or craft a new one.

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6) Mending

Mending can keep a player's bow in perfect condition as long as the XP orbs keep flowing (Image via Mojang)

Much like Unbreaking, Mending is an enchantment that is ideal for keeping equipment in good shape. It's admittedly not an easy enchantment to find, but once applied, it allows players to restore the durability of their enchanted equipment when they pick up experience orbs.

This means if players have an XP farm, they're essentially set up to keep an item indefinitely. However, it should be noted that if players have multiple items enchanted with Mending, only one random item will receive the benefit of the enchantment. This changes every time experience orbs are picked up.

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7) Infinity

Infinity makes one arrow; all players need to continue firing their bow (Image via Mojang)

Keeping a stock of arrows handy is essentially a must to use a bow long-term. That is unless, of course, players have enchanted their bow with Infinity.

This enchantment allows players to fire infinite arrows from their bow as long as they have one arrow in their inventory. Granted, the infinite arrows that players fire are standard arrows instead of tipped or spectral arrows, but it's still an invaluable enchantment to have on bows all the same.

Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinions.