Minecraft Dungeons represents the biggest departure from what made the original game so popular. This new game features those same chunky, voxel graphics, but aside from that, it’s got nothing to do with Minecraft. Still, it’s a solid dungeon crawler regardless, with a good amount of depth and variety.
One way Minecraft Dungeons introduces this variety is with a huge arsenal of weapons. Swords, staffs, bows, and daggers represent only a tiny fraction of the weapons that can be found along the way. That’s not to mention the unique weapons collected for doing certain quests. Which one’s the best weapon when it comes to efficient damage-dealers?
Updated March 31st, 2021 by Stephen LaGioia: Dungeon crawlers are often known for their addictive gameplay and rewarding nature, and Minecraft Dungeons is no different. These traits, coupled with its brand recognition, have allows this action-romp to maintain much of its momentum in 2021. This has been amplified with DLC packs like the colorful Jungle Awakens and atmospheric Howling Peaks, which have drawn players back into its blocky worlds. With that said, it seemed appropriate to flesh out this piece with even more potent and efficient weapons, including a couple from the added DLC.
15 Growing Staff
The Jungle Awakens DLC brought a trio of colorful new locales along with some cool new gear. Among them is this unique version of the Battlestaff, which can particularly wallop wounded foes. This is thanks to the built-in Enchant known as Committed.
Despite erratic consistency in terms of mechanics, this versatile staff can get quite a few hits in swiftly with its unique combo system. At least for those willing to deal with some unpredictable hit patterns — this thing can be a deceptively strong melee weapon.
It can be obtained in Colossal Rampart, Windswept Peaks, or the Nether Wastes. Most of these weapons, including this staff, can also be found from the Luxury Merchant.
14 Winter's Touch
Given the waves of baddies that usually creep about these dungeons, having a potent long-range weapon to stave them off is usually a good idea. The Winter's Touch shines as a particularly great bow for crowd control, with its dense arrow fire that can deal with large hordes.
Not only can charged shots dish out ample damage with triple-shot projectiles, but these arrows also freeze enemies when striking, giving a decided advantage in battle.
The weapon can be found within the Creeping Winter DLC — mainly in Frosted Fjord and the Lost Settlement.
13 Eternal Knife
Though it's rather sluggish and possesses limited range, the sheer strength of this unique melee weapon is well worth it. Players can utterly shred targets with its powerful thrust attacks, especially when coupled with other abilities and enhancements.
Not only this, but the knife also tacks on two to Soul Gathering with a chance to gain additional Souls, making it efficient in the long haul.
The weapon can be secured in the Desert Temple, Soggy Swamp, and Lone Fortress.
12 Fighter's Bindings
This is a unique melee weapon in more ways than one. Like most Gauntlets, the Fighter's Bindings is all about brawling at close range. However, its key attribute is its insanely fast speed, which greatly lifts its otherwise tepid power.
Though it probably should be avoided against long-range and more powerful foes, it can stave off hordes of smaller baddies with ease. Even niftier, every fourth punch registers as a combo, allowing enchantments to kick in pretty rapidly.
The weapon can be had in Cacti Canyon, Soggy Cave, and Dingy Jungle.
11 Master’s Katana
Master’s Katana is a powerful sword that can only be obtained from the blacksmith at Obsidian Pinnacle, where players are tasked with chasing and fighting the Arch-Illager. It’s not super difficult to get, but it only spawns in the blacksmith’s inventory at random.
The Master’s Katana is a powerful variant of the katana and has a base power ranking of 78. It only has one enchantment on it, but it’s a big one — an increased critical hit chance. Add that to the sword’s massive damage per swing, and baddies can be taken down with ease.
10 Moon Daggers
At first glance, the Moon Daggers seem pretty pathetic. They’ve got low base damage at 65, but consider this: they’re a fast weapon, and there’s two of them. Combined with their enchantment, Enigma Resonator deals three times their base damage based on how many souls one has; this thing can melt enemies like butter.
To get them, either defeat mobs and search chests in Soggy Swamp or Redstone Mines, or hope you're lucky enough to find them at the blacksmith at camp. The Moon Daggers are perfect for players who like speed but don’t want to sacrifice damage output.
9 Venom Glaive
The Venom Glaive is a powerful two-handed weapon with a long reach. It can deal anywhere from 325 to 2415 damage based on upgrades, but that’s not what makes this weapon so powerful. As the name suggests, it comes with the Poison Cloud enchantment.
Poison Cloud gives a 30% to create a toxic fog of gas around the player whenever hitting an enemy. It grants immunity — but the hordes of attacking monsters? Not so much. Look for the Venom Glaive at Soggy Swamp or Desert Temple in chests, or dropped by Skeleton Vanguards.
8 Whispering Spear
Whispering Spear is a unique weapon, meaning it's one of the rarest items that can be found in the game. As a result, this thing’s pretty powerful. Like many weapons on this list, its base stats aren’t necessarily all that exciting, but it’s the enchantments it comes with that make it lethal.
Whispering Spear has two enchantments: one that allows it to have a further reach, and Echo. Echo gives the spear a small chance to strike twice on its own, essentially meaning it can deal double damage at once. The only drawback is that this is a slow weapon to wield, so it makes sense to keep a good distance.
7 Firebrand
Firebrand is another unique item in Minecraft Dungeons, this one being a variant of the ax. It can only be found in Creeper Woods and Highblock Halls, or randomly from the camp’s blacksmith, but good luck with that. It’s one of only a handful of unique items in the game that has different base stats than its variant.
Like other unique weapons, Firebrand comes with two unique enchantments. One is Fire Aspect, an enchantment that burns enemies for three seconds. The other is a powerful spin attack move on a third-hit combo, dealing maximum damage. Both of these combined with the Firebrand’s base damage makes it a force to be reckoned with.
6 Elite Power Bow
Ranged weapons in Minecraft Dungeons aren’t very powerful, but there are a few standouts in that department. One of them is the Elite Power Bow, a unique bow that can randomly spawn anywhere in the game at random.
The bow gets its name from its high damage output, at least for a bow. The average damage this can deal is about 160 per shot, which isn’t bad considering it's mostly used to soften up enemies before swooping in for the melee kill. It also comes with an enchantment that gives it better-charged attack damage, so this works great as a sniper-type weapon.
5 Dark Katana
The Dark Katana is a unique sword that can only be found at Obsidian Pinnacle on the apocalypse difficulty setting by opening chests throughout the level. It's a super-strong sword that deals a lot of damage but has a slow swing speed for a sword.
What’s so great about this weapon is that it has a base power ranking of 75, and deals up to 700 damage per swing. It also comes with the Smiting enchantment, so it deals 20% extra damage against undead enemies. That’s stuff like zombies, skeletons, and wraiths, so it’s definitely worth using if found. It can swiftly turn one's avatar into a devastating swordsman.
4 Whirlwind
This unique variation of the Double Axe can truly be a force to be reckoned with. The bulky axe can pummel all in its path with its massive power and insane area range. And if this weren't enough, the Whirlwind drives its point home with its ripples of shockwaves that shoot from each hack.
The weapon can be found in Soggy Swamp, Soggy Cave, Dingy Jungle, and Windswept Peaks.
3 Heartstealer
The Heartstealer is a unique variant of the claymore, a large sword that swings slowly but deals a wallop of a hit. Like the Dark Katana, it can only be found at Obsidian Pinnacle, but on any difficulty. The Heartstealer can deal as much as 2000 damage points an attack.
It also comes with two useful enchantments. One is Leaching, which takes 3% health from mobs and gives it to the player. The other enchantment is powerful pushback, which knocks enemies away. It’s perfect for charging into a mob and quickly clearing them out, while also granting a little health.
2 Imploding Crossbow
The Imploding Crossbow is an improved version of the Exploding Crossbow. It functions more or less the same – it fires a crossbow bolt that explodes on impact (despite the name). However, what makes the Imploding Crossbow different is that the bolts first pull in nearby enemies towards it before exploding.
This thing basically acts like a magnet that draws enemies away from the player, and then blows them up. That makes the Imploding Crossbow incredibly deadly on its own, but especially when using something like the Dark Katana or Firebrand alongside it.
1 Grave Bane
Grave Bane is a type of glaive that can be found in Soggy Swamp and Desert Temple, or from Skeleton Vanguard mobs. Like the Dark Katana, Grave Bane comes with the Smiting enchantment, and it comes with the long-range of a glaive.
Even putting aside the enchantments, this is a powerful base weapon. It can deal as much as 2200 damage with its three-hit combo – two lunges, and the third, a powerful sweep attack that deals maximum damage. It’s a unique weapon, but much easier to find than the Dark Katana, as it can be obtained on any difficulty setting.