How to Make a Bow and Arrow in Minecraft

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Last Updated: October 16, 2024

Crafting a bow and arrow in Minecraft allows you to begin fighting with a ranged weapon. Bows are fun to fight with and relatively easy to craft. Later on, bows can be enchanted. Read on to figure out exactly how to craft a bow and arrow from raw materials.

Recipe

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Making a Bow

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1
Make sure you have a crafting table built. Crafting tables can be made by placing a block of wood in the 2x2 crafting area, making 4 wooden planks. These 4 wooden planks are placed in the crafting area again, giving you a crafting table.
- Crafting tables can be placed on the ground. They show a 3x3 grid in which many of the game's item can be made.
- Crafting tables can also be found in villages.
2
Make sure you have your materials. In order to craft a bow, you will need:
- 3 Sticks
  - In order to make sticks, you need two wooden planks.
  - In order to make wooden planks, you need wood.
- 3 Strings
  - You can get string by killing spiders. It is common for spiders to drop 0 to 2 strings at a time, so you may have to kill more than one spider in order to get string.
  - You may also find string by searching a mine for a web and breaking it.
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3
Arrange your sticks in the crafting table grid. Arrange your sticks in the following triangle pattern in order to begin crafting a bow:
- In the upper 1/3 of your crafting table grid, place one stick in the middle
- In the middle 1/3 of your crafting table grid, place one stick on the right
- In the bottom 1/3 of your crafting table grid, place one stick in the middle
4
Arrange your strings in the crafting table grid. Arrange your strings in the following straight line pattern in order to finish crafting a bow:
- Make a straight line descending down the left of the grid, using three strings
Click on the craft button in order to turn the raw materials into a bow.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Making Arrows

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1
Make sure you have your materials. In order to craft an arrow, you will need:
- 1 Stick
  - Sticks are made by turning wood blocks into wooden planks, and wooden planks into sticks.
- 1 Flint
  - Flint can be found by mining gravel. When mining gravel, there is a 10% chance that a piece of flint will drop instead of a gravel block.
- 1 Feather
  - Feathers can be found by killing chickens.
2
Arrange your items in a straight descending line in your crafting table. Place the items in the following way to craft an arrow:
- In the upper 1/3 of your crafting table grid, place one flint in the middle
- In the middle 1/3 of your crafting table grid, place one stick in the middle
- In the bottom 1/3 of your crafting table grid, place one feather in the middle
Click on the craft button in order to turn the raw materials into four arrows.

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Question

Do arrows do more damage than swords?

Community Answer

Yes, arrows can do more damage than swords in Minecraft when used with full power.

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Question

How do I use a bow and arrow?

Lily

Community Answer

Select the bow and arrow and hold right click to pull back the bow. Release to fire. You must have arrows to use a bow and arrow.

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Question

How do I make a bow and arrow?

Community Answer

Use a Crafting table. You put the stick in the middle, then the flint on top, then the feather down to get 4 arrows.

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Tips

You can also get a bow from a hostile mob. Look for a skeleton at night. Kill it, then check its drops. Grab the bow it has dropped. The bow will usually be damaged.

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You could change the settings to 'peaceful' mode to get the items immediately.

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On Minecraft PC, you can craft 8 arrows with a lingering potion to create 8 tipped arrows. Tipped Arrows give the potion effect to anything they hit.

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Warnings

Be careful when trying to kill spiders. You don't want to get killed.

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Attacking when they jump is effective.

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