Minecraft is a sandbox game where survival is the core to completing the game. While there are available ranged weapons such as the crossbow and the trident, the bow is probably the first option any player will think about when killing mobs from afar. And for players on the quest to defeat the Ender Dragon—which is the game’s final boss—using a ranged weapon to kill a ranged boss seems like the right decision to make.
The bow is one of the best weapons in Minecraft, mainly because the bow is a ranged weapon. Using a sword to fend off hostile mobs can be overwhelming, especially when the hostile mob uses a strong area of effect attacks such as creepers when they explode or ranged attacks such as ghasts when shooting fireballs. But bows are not the only ranged weapon in Minecraft. Some crossbows can be enchanted, and tridents can also be enchanted like the bow.
Having a lot of options for players to choose from allows for different fighting styles for each unique hostile mob. These weapon options may change the game drastically depending on how the player uses the weapon on their opponent, including what enchantments the player will equip on the said weapon. Although regular bows are strong enough on their own, enchanting them will raise their attack damage a lot more and increase their flexibility in battle. These are the top 5 best bow enchantments players can equip their bows in Minecraft.
Best Bow Enchantments for Minecraft Players in Survival Mode
The Unbreaking Enchantment
As its name suggests, the Unbreaking enchantment is a simple enchantment that prevents your tools and weapons from breaking easily. It is also a very simple enchantment in which it can be placed on any of the available tools and weapons in the game. Enchanting your bow with the Unbreaking enchantment allows you to use your bow more than the usual amount of times, thereby increasing its durability.
The best way to use the Unbreaking enchantment on your bow is to upgrade it to the maximum level, which is Unbreaking III. This way, you may use the Unbreaking enchantment and Infinity enchantment side by side, allowing you to keep using your bow without the risk of it breaking anytime soon. Since the Mending enchantment absorbs the experience points you acquire from killing mobs to fix the bow’s durability, using the Unbreaking enchantment instead as an alternative is better and will allow you to regularly level up your experience points.
The Punch Enchantment
The Punch enchantment is unique since its name does not quite follow through with what it is supposed to do. Unlike a sword, the bow does not have much knockback effect when an arrow hits an opponent. As such, the Punch enchantment fixes that problem.
Equipping your bow with the Punch enchantment increases the knockback effect of the arrow, allowing players to stay at a safe distance while keeping the hostile mobs at bay. And while it is arguably more helpful to use the Knockback enchantment in close combat, it is also more advantageous to use it from afar as it keeps any hostile mob away. It can also be used strategically so that players or mobs can be knocked off a ledge and killed using the fall damage dealt from falling off of high places.
The Power Enchantment
The Power Enchantment is the alternative enchantment for a bow to a sword and the Sharpness enchantment. Like the Sharpness enchantment, which increases the attack damage of a melee weapon such as the sword or ax, the Power enchantment does the same, and it increases the base attack damage of a ranged weapon such as the bow and crossbow. And since its maximum level is 5, upgrading your bow enchantment into Power V can drastically increase the damage you will deal with your bow on opponents, especially tough mobs, including the Elder Dragon.
Using a Power-enchanted bow allows you to easily kill opponents with fewer arrows than utilizing a bow without the Power enchantment. And since increasing damage on any weapon is always a good thing, using this enchantment is one of the best to equip on your bow.
The Flame Enchantment
The Flame Enchantment, just like the power enchantment, is the alternative for bows to the fire aspect equipped on a sword. As its name suggests, the Flame enchantment imbues the arrows shot using the bow with fire, thus making them flaming arrows, which causes the receiver to be inflicted with fire. Generally, fire itself already deals a ton of damage to players and mobs as it has a ticking attack that deals damage for every second they are on fire.
Intentionally causing a target to catch on fire can be effective, especially when you don’t have to keep shooting the same target to keep dealing damage and let the flames do all the work. And an excellent point to the flame enchantment is shooting passive mobs such as chickens, cows, pigs, and sheep; their drops will immediately turn into cooked meat instead of dropping raw ones. As you know, cooked meat can restore hunger and health points more efficiently than raw meat.
The Infinity Enchantment
The Infinity enchantment is the best enchantment to equip on a bow or crossbow. The word infinity in the enchantment means infinite arrows. This indicates that having a single arrow in your inventory does not matter if you have the Infinity enchantment equipped on your bow, as you can shoot arrows multiple times without any risk of running out of ammo. This is especially important when facing off tough opponents that require you to hit them repeatedly while juggling how to maximize the limited number of arrows you have in your inventory. An excellent way to utilize the Infinity enchantment is to use a tipped arrow with special effects instead of the regular arrows, as you can then have an unlimited number of those tipped arrows.
