Crossbow

Crossbow

Rarity tier	Common
Attack damage	Arrow : in Java Edition : 7HP to 13HP × 6.5 in Bedrock Edition : 9HP Max Firework : Impact : ‌ 11HP × 5.5 to 18HP × 9 Explosion : 19HP × 9.5
Durability	465‌ 466‌
Enchantability	1
Renewable	Yes
Stackable	No

{
    "title": "Crossbow",
    "rows": [
        {
            "field": "Common",
            "label": "(link to Rarity article, displayed as Rarity tier)"
        },
        {
            "field": "(values exceeds 1000 characters...)",
            "label": "(link to Damage#Dealing damage article, displayed as Attack damage)"
        },
        {
            "field": "465‌<sup class=\"noprint nowrap Inline-Template \" title=\"\">[<i><span title=\"This statement only applies to Java Edition\">(link to Java Edition article, displayed as JE)  only</span></i>]</sup><br/>466‌<sup class=\"noprint nowrap Inline-Template \" title=\"\">[<i><span title=\"This statement only applies to Bedrock Edition\">(link to Bedrock Edition article, displayed as BE)  only</span></i>]</sup>",
            "label": "(link to Durability article, displayed as Durability)"
        },
        {
            "field": "1",
            "label": "(link to Enchantability article, displayed as Enchantability)"
        },
        {
            "field": "Yes",
            "label": "(link to Renewable resource article, displayed as Renewable)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "Stackable"
        }
    ],
    "invimages": [
        "Crossbow"
    ],
    "images": [
        "Crossbow.png",
        "Crossbow Pull 0.png",
        "Crossbow Pull 1.png",
        "Crossbow Pull 2.png",
        "Arrow Loaded Crossbow.png",
        "Firework Loaded Crossbow.png"
    ]
}

A crossbow is a ranged weapon similar to a bow that uses arrows or firework rockets as ammunition. A projectile can be loaded by charging it, which will then remain loaded in the crossbow until it is fired.

Obtaining

Crafting

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Stick + Iron Ingot + String + Tripwire Hook

Generated loot

Item	Structure	Container	Quantity	Chance
Java Edition
	Bastion Remnant	Generic chest	1	9.8% { "item": "Crossbow", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.09750000000000003, "structure": "Bastion Remnant", "container": "Generic chest" }
	Pillager Outpost	Chest	1	50% { "item": "Crossbow", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.5, "structure": "Pillager Outpost", "container": "Chest" }
[A][B]	Bastion Remnant	Bridge chest	1	11.2% { "item": "Damaged Enchanted Crossbow", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.11242603550295849, "structure": "Bastion Remnant", "container": "Bridge chest" }
[A][C]	Bastion Remnant	Generic chest	1	6.7% { "item": "Damaged Enchanted Crossbow", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.0674157303370787, "structure": "Bastion Remnant", "container": "Generic chest" }
[D]	Trial Chambers	Vault and reward chest	1	7% { "item": "Enchanted Crossbow", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.06956521739130439, "structure": "Trial Chambers", "container": "Vault and reward chest" }
		Ominous Vault	1	11% { "item": "Enchanted Crossbow", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.1103448275862069, "structure": "Trial Chambers", "container": "Ominous Vault" }
Bedrock Edition
	Bastion Remnant	Generic chest	1	9.8% { "item": "Crossbow", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.09750000000000003, "structure": "Bastion Remnant", "container": "Generic chest" }
	Pillager Outpost	Chest	1	50% { "item": "Crossbow", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.5, "structure": "Pillager Outpost", "container": "Chest" }
[A][B]	Bastion Remnant	Bridge chest	1	11.2% { "item": "Damaged Enchanted Crossbow", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.11242603550295849, "structure": "Bastion Remnant", "container": "Bridge chest" }
[A][C]	Bastion Remnant	Generic chest	1	6.7% { "item": "Damaged Enchanted Crossbow", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.0674157303370787, "structure": "Bastion Remnant", "container": "Generic chest" }
[D]	Trial Chambers	Vault and reward chest	1	1.7% { "item": "Enchanted Crossbow", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.017391304347826098, "structure": "Trial Chambers", "container": "Vault and reward chest" }
		Ominous Vault	1	11% { "item": "Enchanted Crossbow", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.1103448275862069, "structure": "Trial Chambers", "container": "Ominous Vault" }

Mob loot

Pillagers

When killed, a pillager has a small chance (8.5%) of dropping a loaded or unloaded crossbow with random durability; the drop rate increases by 1% per level of Looting: 9.5% with Looting I, 10.5% with Looting II and 11.5% with Looting III. The dropped crossbow can rarely (10% chance) be enchanted at level 5–19 regardless of being enchanted when it spawned.

Crossbows dropped by pillagers may have multiple enchantments, including duplicate enchantments on the same weapon.

Piglins

Piglins have a chance of wielding a crossbow upon spawning, and they also have a small chance (8.5%) of dropping a loaded or unloaded crossbow of random durability when killed; this rate increases by 1% per level of Looting: 9.5% with Looting I, 10.5% with Looting II and 11.5% with Looting III. It can rarely (10% chance) be enchanted at level 5–19 regardless of being enchanted when spawned.

Trading

Villager	Probability		Villager wants	Player receives
	JE	BE
Journeyman Fletcher	100%	100%	3 × Emerald
Master Fletcher	67%	50%	8–22 × Emerald	Enchanted Crossbow[t 1]

Usage

Weapon

Crossbows are similar to bows, but take longer to charge and are slightly more powerful, shooting farther with slightly higher accuracy. Alternatively, they can be loaded with a firework rocket, which flies in a straight line.

A crossbow can first be loaded by using it, which starts charging it. While charging the crossbow, the player moves at sneaking speed.

When the crossbow finishes charging, the arrow is then loaded into it and the player’s speed returns to normal. At this point, the crossbow must be used a second time to fire its projectile. The arrow or firework rocket can be fired only if the player releases the use button after the crossbow is loaded‌ or if the crossbow finishes its loading animation‌. Shooting a loaded crossbow does not delay any of the player's current actions like sprinting or swimming.

A loaded crossbow keeps it’s projectile when placed in another inventory slot or into an item frame without the arrow or firework rocket being unloaded or fired. A loaded crossbow also remains charged after enchanting it with an enchantment table or with an anvil.

In order to use the crossbow, at least one arrow or firework rocket must be present in the inventory. The player can choose the type of arrow to fire based on its location in their inventory:

• Arrows in the off-hand, or the selected hotbar slot if the crossbow is in the off-hand, are prioritized first.
• If there are no arrows in the off-hand or selected hotbar slot, the arrow closest to slot 0 is selected.

Crossbows take 1.25 seconds (25 ticks) to load.

The player can load either an arrow, spectral arrow, tipped arrow (of any effect) or a firework rocket (of any color/type) into the crossbow. In Java Edition, the crossbow’s tooltip also lists the loaded projectile and its effect, if any.

Endermen teleport away from projectile paths, so they cannot be hit with crossbow arrows. However, they can still get harmed by firework rocket explosions, if they cannot detect the firework rocket.

Attack strength

Java Edition:

Damage	Arrow	Max firework
Minimum	7HP	11HP × 5.5
Average	9.75HP × 4.875; or 10 rounded up	14.5HP × 7.25
Maximum	13HP × 6.5	18HP × 9

Bedrock Edition

• Always 9HP

Fireworks

Firework rockets can be fired by loading the crossbow only while holding the rockets in the off-hand. They fly at 32 m/s. Firework rockets with higher flight duration have a longer time before they explode and therefore travel farther. Firing a firework rocket uses 3 durability points per shot.

Firework rocket range
Minimum	Average	Maximum	Gunpowder
32m (20 ticks)	40.8m (25.5 ticks)	49.6m (31 ticks)	1 ()
48m (30 ticks)	56.8m (35.5 ticks)	65.6m (41 ticks)	2 ()
64m (40 ticks)	72.8m (45.5 ticks)	81.6m (51 ticks)	3 ()

Firework rockets also work with the Multishot enchantment, enabling the player to shoot 3 firework rockets at a time. The increased durability usage stacks, resulting in 9 durability being consumed with each shot.

A shot firework rocket explodes instantly when it hits a mob or block.‌ If the firework rocket has no explosion effect, it deals no damage. The explosion of a firework rocket deals 5HP to 6HP points of damage, with one firework star. The explosion has a radius of roughly 4 blocks, which is unaffected by the firework star's effect. Each additional firework star on the rocket deals an additional 1HP to 2HP points of damage, for a maximum of 11HP × 5.5 to 18HP × 9 with 7 firework stars. The flight duration of the firework increases the maximum range the firework can travel before exploding, but does not affect the damage output. Likewise, the damage remains the same regardless of any dyes used. The Piercing enchantment does not affect firework rockets shot from crossbows. Unlike an arrow shot from a bow, the firework does not slow down under water.

Repairing

Combining

Ingredients	Crafting recipe	Description
Damaged Crossbow or Damaged Arrow Loaded Crossbow or Damaged Firework Loaded Crossbow		The durability of the two crossbows is added together, plus an extra 5% durability. Any loaded ammunition is lost.

Ingredients	Grinding recipe	Description
Damaged Crossbow or Damaged Arrow Loaded Crossbow or Damaged Firework Loaded Crossbow		The durability of the two crossbows is added together, plus an extra 5% durability. Any loaded ammunition is kept.

Unit repair

Ingredients	Anvil recipe
Damaged  or Damaged Arrow Loaded Crossbow or Damaged Firework Loaded Crossbow	CrossbowArrow Loaded CrossbowFirework Loaded Crossbow

A crossbow can be combined with another crossbow in an anvil, preserving the enchantments of both and the projectile of the target item.

Enchantments

A crossbow can receive the following enchantments:

Name	Description	Max Level	Method	Weight
Quick Charge	Decreases the reloading time.	III	Enchanting Table Anvil	5
Multishot[note 1]	Makes the crossbow fire a spread of 3 projectiles at once instead of a single projectile.	I	Enchanting Table Anvil	2
Piercing[note 1]	Causes crossbow-shot arrows to pierce through targets.	IV	Enchanting Table Anvil	10
Unbreaking	Grants a chance to negate durability consumption.	III	Enchanting Table Anvil	5
Mending	Repairs the crossbow when obtaining experience.	I	Anvil	2
Curse of Vanishing	The crossbow vanishes on death, not dropping as an item.	I	Anvil	1

A crossbow cannot be enchanted with Power in survival mode, however, using commands to apply Power, the enchantment behaves as expected. (The crossbow does more damage on hit.)

Fuel

Crossbows can be used as fuel in furnaces, smelting 1.5 items per crossbow.

Despite using iron ingots in their crafting recipe, crossbows cannot be smelted into iron nuggets.^[1]

Sounds

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Translation key
Crossbow	crossbow	Item	item.minecraft.crossbow

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Translation key
Crossbow	crossbow	575	Item	item.crossbow.name

Item data

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Achievements

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Archer	Kill a creeper with arrows.	—	10	Bronze
		Bullseye	Hit the bullseye of a Target block	—	15	Bronze
		Sniper Duel	Kill a Skeleton with an arrow from more than 50 meters.	Use a launched arrow to kill a skeleton, wither skeleton, or stray from 50 or more blocks away, horizontally.	30	Bronze

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	Arbalistic	Kill five unique mobs with one shot	Armor Stand also counts for this advancement. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.
	Bullseye	Hit the bullseye of a Target block from at least 30 meters away	Be at least 30 blocks away horizontally when the center of a target is shot with a projectile by the player.
	Ol' Betsy	Shoot a	—
	Sniper Duel	Kill a Skeleton from at least 50 meters away	Receive kill credit for a skeleton that is at least 50 blocks away horizontally and is killed by a projectile.
	Take Aim	Shoot something with an Arrow	Using a bow or a , shoot a mob with an arrow, tipped arrow, or spectral arrow.
	Two Birds, One Arrow	Kill two Phantoms with a piercing Arrow	Use a enchanted with Piercing to kill two phantoms with a single arrow shot.
	Who's the Pillager Now?	Give a Pillager a taste of their own medicine	Kill a pillager with a shot.

History

September 29, 2018							Crossbows are announced at MINECON Earth 2018.
Java Edition
1.14			18w43a				Added crossbows.
							Crossbows can be enchanted with either the Quick Charge (Highest Level III), Piercing (Highest Level IV) or Multishot (Highest Level I).
			18w47a				Crossbows can now be found inside loot chests at the top of pillager outposts.
			19w11a				Fletcher villagers now sell crossbows and enchanted crossbows.
1.16			20w07a				Added piglins, which can spawn with and drop crossbows.
			20w16a				Crossbows now generate randomly enchanted in bastion remnants chests.
1.18			21w37a				Crossbow durability is increased to 465 to match Bedrock Edition.
1.19.4			23w07a				The crossbow recipes are no longer unlocked by sticks.
1.20.2 Experiment Villager Trade Rebalance			23w31a				Enchantments exclusive to crossbows are no longer obtainable from villager trading.
1.20.3 Experiment Update 1.21			23w45a				Enchanted crossbows can now generate in reward chests inside trial chambers.
1.20.5 Experiment Update 1.21			24w05a				Enchanted crossbows can now be ejected as loot from vaults.
1.20.5			24w09a				Infinity, Flame, Punch, and Power enchantments now work on crossbows.
1.20.5 Experiment Update 1.21			24w13a				Enchanted crossbows can now be ejected as loot from ominous vaults.
1.21.5			25w04a				Crossbows will now show all charged projectiles in their tooltip instead of just the first.
			25w06a				Tooltips for crossbows now show a compact form of multiple repeated projectiles that are identical.
Bedrock Edition
1.8.0 Experiment Experimental Gameplay			beta 1.8.0.10				Added crossbows.
							Crossbows are currently part of Experimental Gameplay.
1.9.0 Experiment Experimental Gameplay			beta 1.9.0.0				Added pillagers, which use and drop crossbows.
			beta 1.9.0.3				Crossbows now appear bigger in a pillager's hand.
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				Crossbows are now fully implemented and separate from Experimental Gameplay.
							Crossbows can now be found in pillager outpost chests.
1.11.0			beta 1.11.0.4				Unenchanted and enchanted crossbows can now be bought from fletcher villagers.
1.12.0			beta 1.12.0.3				Journeyman-level fletcher villagers now have 100% chance to sell unenchanted crossbow, rather than 50% chance.
1.16.0			beta 1.16.0.51				Added piglins, which can spawn with and drop crossbows.
			beta 1.16.0.57				Crossbows now generate randomly enchanted in bastion remnants chests.
1.20.60 Experiment Update 1.21			Preview 1.20.60.20				Enchanted crossbows can now generate in reward chests inside trial chambers.
1.20.70 Experiment Update 1.21			Preview 1.20.70.21				Enchanted crossbows can now be ejected as loot from vaults.
1.21.0 Experiment Update 1.21			Preview 1.21.0.20				Enchanted crossbows can now be ejected as loot from ominous vaults.
PlayStation 4 Edition
1.90							Added crossbows.
1.91							Crossbows can now be found inside loot chests at the top of pillager outposts.

Issues

Issues relating to "Crossbow" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

• Alongside pillagers, crossbows were inspired by Minecraft Dungeons, even though they were added in the base game first.^[2]
• Crossbows enchanted with Quick Charge VI and above get stuck on the first frame on the recharging animation because the resulting charge time is negative, and the game never reaches the time markers that tell it to advance the animation or the reloading procedure itself. It is technically possible to charge such crossbows, but this would require overflowing the value that determines how long the crossbow has been charged. This takes such an amount of time that this is practically impossible: for example, charging a crossbow with Quick Charge VI would take 69.4 years to complete.
• Although Piercing allows arrows to bypass shields, they cannot get through the wither's projectile armor or a shulker's shell.
• The crossbow's first-person loading animation in Bedrock Edition is different from Java Edition.
• In real life, crossbows do not shoot the same arrows as bows, rather they shoot shorter, thicker, and oftentimes fletchless arrows (usually called "bolts") made to withstand the crossbow's increased power, which can shatter conventional arrows.

Gallery

Icons

• 
  An enchanted crossbow.

Renders

• 
  Steve charging a crossbow in Java Edition.
• 
  Alex charging a crossbow in Java Edition.
• 
  A pillager charging a crossbow.
• 
  A piglin charging a crossbow.
• 
  Steve aiming a crossbow.
• 
  Alex aiming a crossbow.
• 
  A pillager aiming a crossbow in Bedrock Edition.
• 
  A piglin aiming a crossbow in Bedrock Edition.

Screenshots

• 
  How the crossbow is equipped.
• 
  A zombified piglin with a crossbow
  (It will not shoot, only melee attack).
  
• 
  Pillager who broke its crossbow.
• 
  "Noor, basking in the sunset, fires a Crossbow with a custom enchantment that allows for multiple Firework Rockets to be fired simultaneously."^[3]

Development images

• 
  A crossbow shown at MINECON Earth 2018.
• 
  A pillager armed with a crossbow, shown at MINECON Earth 2018.
• 
  First image of a crossbow with the piercing enchantment.

In other media

• 
  Crossbow in A Minecraft Movie.

References

External links

• Taking Inventory: Crossbow – Minecraft.net on October 20, 2022

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