Minecraft has various items to assist the player during combat. For example, one can rely on short-range weapons such as swords and axes or long-range alternatives, like crossbows and bows.
With the game’s mechanics, long-ranged weapons become more defensive, allowing players to strike from a safe distance. Consequently, one can take advantage of these weapons to avoid receiving any hits from melee enemies.
Although there are pros and cons for long-range combat in Minecraft, you’ll find that the three weapons for this category can be pretty versatile; we’re talking about tridents, bows, and crossbows.
In the game, enchantment options allow players to diminish the disadvantages of specific weapons significantly. For instance, you can fasten the reloading time of crossbows by enchanting them with the “Quick Charge” perk.
Now, let’s discuss what’s the best crossbow in Minecraft and explore a bit more of the long-range combat in the game.
Long-range Combat in Minecraft
Minecraft’s combat system is pretty exciting; you can choose from various weapon alternatives concerning melee, mainly focusing on swords from different materials.
Players can also choose between long-range weapons such as tridents, crossbows, and bows.
The main difference between these three alternatives is their reloading time, firing/throwing speed, and shot distance.
In this case, crossbows cover the most distance when shooting arrows.
However, bows reload significantly faster. On the other hand, tridents are throwable, requiring you to pick them up after launching them.
Enchantments
Although weapons in Minecraft can be pretty effective on their own, improving them with enchantments can deliver incredible results.
When discussing the best weapon for each combat category in the game (short and long-range), it’s essential to understand that the top-tier crossbow, bow, or sword will have enchantments.
For instance, the best bow in Minecraft is an enchanted bow with the following traits:
- Power V
- Punch II
- Flame
- Infinity
- Mending
To find the best trident in the game, you’ll need to study its possible enchantments and choose the most viable combination.
Let’s focus on crossbows, study their details, and discuss their pros and cons.
Minecraft Crossbow Recipe
- 3 Sticks
- 2 Strings
- 1 Tripwire Hook
- 1 Iron Ingot
Follow the arrangement below on the crafting grid with these items in hand.
This weapon is the most potent long-distance weapon concerning hit-per-arrow in Minecraft. A player can craft the crossbow on the crafting table by using these items:
Still, you can alternatively get a crossbow by Pillager’s and Piglet’s loot drop or in chests inside Pillager Outposts or Bastion Remnants.
Advantages
The crossbow holds specific advantages over other long-range weapons.
For instance, the distance this weapon can shoot an arrow and its firing speed are superior. Therefore, expect to hit better and faster at pretty long distances with a crossbow.
An extra perk that’s exclusive to crossbows is their ammo variation. Although bows have a vast palette of arrows, crossbows allow players to fire “explosive” arrows, such as those tied to fireworks.
Crossbows have the most extended durability concerning long-distance weapons and can last for various arrow shots.
Finally, crossbows deal more damage and a single hit can be pretty destructible than a bow shot.
Disadvantages
Although crossbows shoot faster arrows and can cover a longer distance, they are pretty slow with their reloading time. In this sense, the overall DPS of the crossbow can fall slightly behind since it needs some significant time to shoot another arrow.
Just to keep you aware, crossbows take 1.25 seconds to load.
In terms of enchantments, crossbows lose a bit considering ammo.
For instance, bows can have the infinity enchantment, allowing players to shoot arrows deliberately without expense; the trident has the loyalty aspect, which makes them return automatically.
However, crossbows do not possess any ammo enchantment in this category, requiring the player to always have a few arrows in their inventory.
Improving The Crossbow
In Minecraft, you can improve the crossbow by enchanting it. In total, there are six enchantments for crossbows in the game, which are:
- Quick Charge – Decreases the reloading time.
- Multishot – The crossbow fires a spread of 3 arrows at once.
- Piercing – The arrow pierces through an enemy and goes further.
- Unbreaking – Increases the crossbow’s durability.
- Mending – The crossbow repairs itself whenever you acquire experience orbs.
- Curse of Vanishing – After the wielder’s death, the crossbow disappears.
All enchantments promote a specific effect on the item. Therefore, by enchanting the crossbow with certain perks, one can achieve the best possible combination for this particular weapon.
As mentioned above, to find the best weapon in a specific category, you need to understand the item’s possible enchantments and select the most superior combination.
So, let’s discuss the best enchantment options for crossbows in Minecraft.
Since crossbows have a significant disadvantage in reloading time, selecting the quick charge enchantment will make the weapon load 0.25 seconds faster per level. Therefore, enhancing the perk to level 3 will make the crossbow fire faster than regular bows.
Although crossbows are pretty sturdy, they can break apart after 326 arrow shots.
Therefore, enchanting this weapon with the unbreakable perk can make the crossbow three times sturdier.
Additionally, adding the mending enchantment into the equation can make the crossbow last forever.
When considering their slow reload time, crossbows can be pretty ineffective to stop a line of enemies coming your way. So, with the piercing enchantment, one will strike a target and hit any other entity behind it.
This way, you’ll be able to hit more than one enemy at a time, giving you more crowd control with this relatively slow weapon.
Finally, after discussing the best enchantment options for a crossbow, we’ve come across this combination:
- Quick Charge III
- Unbreaking III
- Mending
- Piercing
Although multishot seems like an exciting perk, it doesn’t work with the piercing enchantment.
Unfortunately, firing three arrows at once will only get you perfect accuracy with the one in the middle, making the piercing attribute more attractive.
Note that you can enhance some enchantments beyond the maximum level if you use in-game commands while being the server’s host with cheats enabled.
For instance, although “Quick Charge” can only go to tier III with the game’s standard mechanics, you can use text commands to set it higher. The crossbow will load instantly by designating “Quick Charge” to tier V.
