How to Make Basic Weapons in Minecraft - For Dummies

As you start a game of Minecraft, be sure that you have weapons ready, in the event of a mob attack. Knowing the right weapons to build can also help speed up your mining.

Wielding swords in Minecraft

The sword in Minecraft is a weapon that does the most damage and, therefore, is the most valuable. In addition to helping you fight mobs, the sword can be used as a tool to break blocks quickly. Like a pickaxe, the sword has 5 tiers, listed here in order of strength from least to greatest:

• Wood

• Gold

• Stone

• Iron

• Diamond

When you use a sword, whether in breaking blocks or fighting, you decrease its durability. Over time, swords need to be repaired using the correct ingredients on a crafting grid or an anvil. However, a sword should not need to be repaired as often as a tool such as a pickaxe or shovel. Also, the diamond sword has such a high durability that almost always it lasts throughout the game without needing repairs.

As the preceding list indicates, gold is less durable than stone or iron. Because gold is usually scarce and needed in other recipes, primarily in brewing and potions, it isn’t a good idea to make a gold sword. The exception to this statement occurs when enchanting a sword as gold is the best medium for enchanting.

Stringing the bow

The bow in Minecraft is a weapon that inflicts different amounts of damage depending on how much the bow is charged. It cannot be fired without arrows. The more charged up the bow is, the farther the arrow goes, the stronger the arrow gets, the slower the player moves, and the more the screen zooms in on the target. Charging also increases the accuracy of the arrow.

A fully charged bow inflicts 4-1/2 hearts of damage with a rare chance of 5. When a bow isn’t charged, it deals only half a heart. The bow is a particularly good weapon against skeletons and creepers (and later against mobs). Just remember, the bow cannot be used without arrows.

The bow-and-arrow can be used as an ingredient in redstone, such as in a dispenser. Then you can fight mobs using elaborate traps or farm mobs.

An arrow fired from a bow causes significant damage to a mob from a distance (whereas a sword must be used at close range). When the bow is at the perfect angle and is fully charged, it is possible to get the arrow a total of 120 blocks away — that’s a lot of blocks! The arrow travels in an arc, and you can pick up the arrows that you have fired.

However, skeletons’ arrows cannot be picked up, nor can arrows that are fired off from an infinity bow.