Best bow enchantments in Minecraft

Aakrit Sharma
Minecraft villager with an enchantment table and bow

Bows in Minecraft are great if you want to maintain distance from enemies and deal consistent damage. Check out this list of the best bow enchantments in Minecraft that will provide your weapon with damage buffs, durability, and other effects.

From tridents to swords, Minecraft offers a wide range of weapons to players. Every weapon stands out in specific situations, and bows are tailor-made for ranged combat.

Bows and arrows are fairly easy to craft and some of the best enchantments in the game can be applied to them. Hence, if you’re struggling to fight the mobs in the Overworld or the Nether, try making a bow and enchant it.

To help you with this, we’ve come up with a list of the best enchantments for bows in Minecraft.

Minecraft characters with shield and armor

Most powerful bow enchantments in Minecraft

Unbreaking

Unbreaking is an enchantment that you would want on all your Minecraft tools, and bows are no exception. It basically allows the enchanted tool to avoid any durability reduction upon usage, and naturally, this is a major boost to their life span.

The durability of tools and weapons is a major issue for many players, and Unbreaking III is undoubtedly a great solution.

Minecraft player aiming with a bow

Power

Power in Minecraft is an enchantment exclusive to bows and as the name suggests, it increases the damage output of arrows. At Level 5, you’ll experience a 150% increase in your bow’s damage which is as brilliant as it sounds.

A bow enchanted with Power V can deal damage equivalent to 25 hearts whereas the same shot with a standard bow would clear out just 11 hearts. This should be enough to prove the importance of this enchantment in the game.

Minecraft characters with a torch in a cave

Flame

Flame is another bow-exclusive enchantment in Minecraft with which you can shoot flaming arrows and set mobs on fire. It is essentially a bow version for Fire Aspect, an enchantment that grants flaming abilities to melee weapons.

Even though Flame doesn’t work in the rain, it really makes your battles easier. Moreover, if you combine Flame with Power, the damage output will be enough to one-shot mobs.

A Minecraft mob burnt with a bow enchanted with Flame

Punch

The Punch enchantment in Minecraft increases the knockback effect when you hit a mob with a bow. Just like the Knockback enchantment for melee weapons, it doesn’t increase the damage output but is still desirable because you’ll be able to increase the distance between you and the enemies.

Clearly, Punch is not advantageous in all situations but you’ll be delighted to have it while facing mobs that move a lot. Also, it works with all other enchantments so you won’t have to make any sacrifices for it.

Minecraft's Steve holding a bow

Mending

Mending is another Minecraft enchantment that you would want on all your weapons including bows. When you kill a mob, Mending consumes some XP and uses it to repair the weapon. With the perfect XP farming strategy, you might be able to have ever-lasting weapons in your inventory.

To know more about Mending, check out this detailed guide on what does Mending do in Minecraft.

Infinity

Infinity enchantment in Minecraft allows you to have unlimited arrows. You can use one arrow indefinitely and not worry about ever crafting them again.

This certainly sounds exciting but there are many downsides that are exposed as you progress. These include:

  • Infinity does not work with Mending.
  • You cannot shoot tipped arrows (arrows that apply a potion’s effect on impact) and spectral arrows indefinitely.

Towards the end-game when your goal will be to beat the Wither or hatch a dragon egg, it is impractical to rely on standard arrows which is why Mending is often prioritized over Infinity.

Minecraft player with a bow looking at a burning jungle

Having said that, in the early game, Infinity is a great enchantment for you to save resources and comfortably fight mobs.


These were the best bow enchantments in Minecraft. For similar content on the sandbox title, make sure to check out how to tame parrots and how to make a boat.

Image Credits: Mojang