Crossbows were added with the 1.8 update in 2019 and became a welcome addition to Minecraft for those seeking to trade the bows speed for better damage output. The crossbow can become even more deadly by shooting fireworks at enemies rather than an arrow, dealing 18 hearts of damage when charged versus the standard 11 hearts with a normal arrow.
It's an exceptional weapon with great capabilities at range. As with all other weapons in Minecraft, it can be made even better with enchantments that can boost its damage, speed, or even how many arrows it shoots at once.
Updated on March 11, 2023, by Branden Lizardi: Minecraft continues to update regularly. And while crossbows themselves have seen little change since their introduction, the overall world has expanded and grown. As such, the viability of weapons - and their enchantments - changes over time. We've updated this list to account for these new game updates. That way, you have all of the best information and not running around with sub-par crossbow builds.
6 Curse Of Vanishing
The Curse of Vanishing is an enchantment that makes all of us nervous, especially when we get it on a particularly good weapon or armor piece. This enchantment causes any piece of equipment affected by it to disappear if you die while it's in your inventory.
Naturally, it comes across as a headache to deal with. But thankfully, it can't be accidentally obtained through the enchanting table, so it's much easier to manage. Sometimes the enchantment can be put on an item carried by a mob, so if a skeleton drops a Power bow that unfortunately has the Curse of Vanishing on it, the chances of it dropping again just dropped pretty far down.
5 Piercing
Piercing sounds like a great enchantment up until you realize how situational its usage is. Piercing, as the name implies, allows arrows to hit multiple enemies through mobs. That's where the usefulness begins and ends, unfortunately. Unless the mobs just so happen to be lined up, there may as well not even be an enchantment. It's great when the stars align and the mobs put themselves one in front of the other. You can very easily take down multiple targets and deal great damage.
It'll also save you a ton on arrows because you can kill multiple enemies in one or more shots, on top of the fact that it makes all arrows retrievable. Piercing also allows for shield penetration, so it's great to have in PvP. Unfortunately, Piercing doesn't work on launched fireworks, so you can't spam them against a group of mobs. You also can't have Piercing and Multishot on the same crossbow unless you add the two enchantments through console commands.
4 Multishot
Multishot is less situational than the Piercing enchantment, as it allows three arrows to be shot horizontally rather than the standard one arrow. It can be exceptionally useful when facing a large mob of enemies due to its spread of arrows and increase in projectiles fired, especially when facing a mob that typically arrives in droves like Zombies. The Multishot enchantment also works on tipped arrows. However, it becomes a massive waste when going against a single target.
Not only can it be a waste of arrows, but it's also a waste of durability. Three arrow shots means the crossbow takes three points of durability damage per shot - it can be even worse if you're using fireworks. The enchantment allows for three fireworks to be shot but at the cost of nine points of durability. Ideally, you'd have two crossbows, one having Multishot and the other having an alternate enchantment. This way, you can be versatile regardless of the scenario and have options when dealing with foes.
3 Unbreaking
A truly invaluable enchantment, Unbreaking goes great on just about every tool or armor piece you can get your blocky hands on. The premise of the enchantment is that your item has a chance to not consume durability points on use, depending on what level of enchantment you have.
As you may have guessed, level three has the highest chance of negating the durability use, while level one has the lowest. It works great with Multishot because it actively counteracts the extra durability loss from firing three arrows or rockets at once. Unbreaking 3 allows the crossbow to go from firing 464 shots up to 1856 shots before breaking, if that's any indication of how powerful the enchantment has the potential to be.
2 Mending
Mending is universally sought after by every player due to it being so useful when it comes to high-value tools and armor. The enchantment uses experience points to repair the enchanted item in your inventory. It works great on powerful bows or a really good fishing rod due to how easy it is to get the experience necessary for repairs. For each point of experience picked up, the item is repaired by two durability points, with any excess points going into your experience pool for levels.
It should be noted that if multiple items have the enchantment, the one that will be repaired is randomized, with no way of prioritizing the items. Regardless, it's still an amazing enchantment and will pair great with Unbreaking and Multishot on your crossbow. So not only will your crossbow be repaired when a mob is defeated, but it will also decay slower and allow for more use of Multishot without worrying about the durability getting eaten up.
1 Quick Charge
Here we have the enchantment for crossbows, Quick Charge. This enchantment allows for a 0.25-second reduction of the draw time for a crossbow, with each level decreasing the time by another 0.25 seconds. At the highest enchantment level, Quick Charge III, you only have to spend 0.5 seconds drawing the weapon rather than the standard 1.25 seconds. This allows for some outstanding damage output due to a higher rate of fire coupled with the crossbow's immense power.
Low-level Quick Charge enchantments can be found by fishing or using an enchanting table. Quick Charge three, on the other hand, can only be obtained by merging two Quick Charge 2 crossbows in an anvil or via chests in mineshafts and desert pyramids. It's an exceptionally worthwhile enchantment for archers looking to surpass the standard bow not only in speed but also in damage output.