Many players rely on a sword with the best enchantments for combat, but most underestimate how powerful ranged weapons can become with the best enchantments. There are two primary ranged weapons in Minecraft, the traditional Bow and the new Crossbow. The crossbow deals higher damage and added new enchantments to the game. The Trident is a melee weapon but is capable of ranged attacks and has enchantments that improve its ranged capabilities.
There are over 11 enchantments for ranged weapons in Minecraft, and some are incompatible with others. The incompatible enchantments force players to decide between them and create division. Finding the best enchantments will help players find the optimal ranged enchantments and create an ultimate weapon.
7 Punch
Ranged weapons require distance to be effective and to avoid getting damaged by mobs. Punch is an enchantment that increases the knockback to mobs when struck by a ranged weapon. The punch enchantment has two tiers, and they have a noticeable difference. Punch I pushes mobs by five blocks, while Punch II pushes them back by eight blocks.
Creating a large gap between players and enemy mobs is essential to avoiding damage and keeping distance ideal for ranged combat. The Punch enchantment works great for the strongest mobs in Minecraft as it allows the player to drastically reduce their chances of taking damage. Punch only works on bows and will have no effect on crossbows.
6 Multishot
Having to deal with a crowd of mobs is difficult, but with the help of Multishot, it is not. Multishot will cause two additional arrows to fire off of a crossbow. The additional arrows fire horizontally near the first arrow. Only one arrow is used despite there being three arrows. The additional arrows from Multishot deal the same damage as the primary ones, making them great for dealing with hordes of mobs.
Multishot also works with fireworks and can lead to beautiful fireworks displays as it instantly launches three fireworks at once.
5 Piercing
Crafting a shield gives players the best protection in the game for the price of 1 iron and a few wood planks. Shields completely ignore damage from arrows when blocking and will act as a nuisance for players that prefer ranged combat. The Piercing enchantment will go through shields and damage the enemy player. This enchantment makes it useful for PVP and may even cause opponents to panic.
For each increased Piercing enchantment level, arrows will pierce through an additional mob and damage the next one. Players must choose between Piercing and Multishot, as the two enchantments cannot be added to a crossbow together.
4 Loyalty
Tridents are the most unique ranged weapon in Minecraft, as they are both a melee and ranged weapon. The loyalty enchantment turns the Trident into a reliable ranged weapon as it causes the Trident to return to its user after being thrown. The Trident will deal eight damage when thrown and will return to the player.
Repairing a Trident is crucial as they are rare to find and cannot be crafted by the player. A drowned has a 15% chance to spawn with a Trident and an 8.5% chance to drop the Trident upon death. Each tier of Loyalty causes the Trident to return to its owner faster.
3 Infinity
Having Infinity on a bow is a major convenience as obtaining large quantities of arrows can be frustrating. Infinity requires only one arrow in the player's inventory to work, and it will never be consumed. Players need to manually harvest flint from gravel and have a chicken farm for feathers. Lucky players with a skeleton farm near their base may not need an Infinity enchantment, as they will have ample arrows from the skeletons.
The downside of having Infinity is that it becomes impossible to add Mending to a crossbow or bow.
2 Flame
No bow is complete without a Flame enchantment. The Flame enchantment adds continuous damage and lasts for five seconds. Over the span of five seconds, it will deal 5 damage. The Flame enchantment excels in PVP, as players rarely have a method to extinguish its flame.
Additionally, the Flame enchantment has uses outside of PVP and provides players with an excellent way to gather one of the best food sources in Minecraft. A cow killed by a bow with Flame will drop steak without the need to cook it.
1 Power
Power is the strongest enchantment in the game for bows. The enchantment increases damage directly and will turn a bow into a lethal cannon. A fully charged bow will deal 6 damage or 11 if it is a critical hit. Power has five levels and becomes devastating on the final tier. A Power V bow will deal 15 damage when fully charged and 25 damage if it is a critical hit. Power I adds a 50% damage increase to bows and increases in increments of 25% until Power V. A Power V Bow adds 150% extra damage to bows.
A Power V bow with Flame is the strongest ranged weapon players have access to and will be a powerhouse in PVP and PVE. Players will need good armor to survive an enemy with a Power V bow.
Minecraft is available on mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and most legacy platforms.