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Arrows are the projectiles required to use a Bow or a Crossbow. They can either be crafted or gathered as loot.

Mechanics[]

Fired arrows will stick into any object they come in contact with, and will remain there for one minute before disappearing. When firing arrows, the distance from the object and the angle shot determines how far into the arrow will go, and the direction from which the shaft will protrude out of the object. Arrows that have been fired by a player that hits a block are retrievable, and they will never break. Arrows that hit a player or mob cannot be recovered and will vanish. Skeleton-fired arrows and arrows fired by a bow with the Infinity enchantment are special entities, and cannot be collected.

Arrows can bounce off some entities, such as minecartsshields, or damage-immune mobs. Players can damage themselves with their arrows by firing one directly up and standing still. If an arrow lands on a block and a player is directly beneath that block, when a player breaks that block the arrow will fall and will do one heart of damage to a player. If the block in which an arrow is stuck is destroyed or disappears (such as leaves), the arrow will fall and can damage a player or a mob.

Arrows shot through lava will catch aflame and show an appropriate animation. They can set other entities on fire when hit. When shot through the water, arrows on fire will be extinguished. Arrows shot at minecart tracks will stop a minecart from passing over that block until the arrow either despawns or is collected. An arrow shot at a storage minecart will cause the minecart to break, dropping a minecart, a chest, and the contents in the storage minecart.

Before Beta 1.2, Skeletons would drop only arrows when killed. They now have a chance of dropping bones, bows, armor, and arrows when they are killed. You can right-click an arrow on a cauldron filled with a specific potion to create a tipped version of an arrow that can be used to shoot the effect of the aforementioned potion.

Arrows and Circuits[]

Arrows shot at levers, stone pressure plates, or stone buttons will not trigger a redstone signal. Wooden pressure plates can be triggered from distance in other ways. For instance, a minecart can be used in such a way that destroying it with arrows will release the wooden pressure plate it's resting on, or a painting can be shot off of a wall and fall onto a wooden pressure plate to activate it. As of Minecraft 1.8 along with the increase of arrow damage, boats can be used as targets since a fully charged bow will break a boat in one shot.

Crafting[]

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Arrow
x4
Spectral Arrow x2
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Flint
None None
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Glowstone Dust
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None
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Stick
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Glowstone Dust
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Arrow
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Glowstone Dust
None
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Feather
None None
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Glowstone Dust
None
Tipped Arrow x8
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Arrow
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Arrow
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Arrow
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Arrow
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Lingering Potion
with the wanted effect
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Arrow
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Arrow
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Arrow
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Arrow


History[]

During Survival Test, skeleton arrows were purple. The purple arrow texture can still be found in the Minecraft.jar file, in the same image as the normal arrows, but it is not in use.

Before release 1.1, arrows could catch on fire (like other entities), but they did not set what they hit on fire, and there was no enchantment to fire flaming arrows.

Arrows used to be crafted with an ingot of iron besides a piece of flint, only one arrow would have been crafted.

"Tipped" arrows[]

Minecraft 1.9 added many different types of arrows called tipped arrows. Each tipped arrow generally has a Status Effect corresponding to the name of the arrow which is applied with lingering potions.

Arrow of Splashing[]

  • Has no effects and is only obtainable through commands.

Tipped Arrow[]

  • Has no effects and is only obtainable through commands.

Uncraftable Arrow[]

  • Has no effects and is only obtainable through commands.

Arrow of Fire Resistance[]

Arrow of Harming[]

  • Deals instant damage to the target on impact. Will heal undead mobs.

Arrow of Healing[]

  • Heals the target on impact. Harms undead mobs.

Arrow of Invisibility[]

Arrow of Leaping[]

Arrow of Luck[]

  • Grants the target the Luck effect.

Arrow of Night Vision[]

Arrow of Poison[]

  • Grants the target the Poison effect.

Arrow of Regeneration[]

Arrow of Slowness[]

Arrow of Strength[]

Arrow of Swiftness[]

  • Grants the target the Speed effect.

Arrow of Water Breathing[]

Arrow of Weakness[]

Arrow of Slow Falling[]

  • Grants the target the slow falling effect.

Arrow of the Turtle Master[]

  • Grants the target the turtle master effect.

Arrow of Decay[]

  • Grants the target the wither effect. Available in all editions ever since 1.14.4.

Trivia[]

  • Firing several arrows into a door and then opening it will cause a very odd "multi-arrow" sound to play.
  • If an arrow is shot at a painting, the painting will turn into a dropped item.
  • If an arrow is fired at a creeper that explodes just before being hit, it will continue to fly through the air towards the target, but may slow down drastically and may appear to become a row of arrows. It will return to normal if the arrow is touched.
  • Before Alpha 1.0.14, iron ingots were required to make arrows.
  • If a player shoots multiple arrows through a Nether portal and then enter it, the arrows will be suspended in the air, but will not strike the player. They will also be irretrievable, even if the portal has been deactivated.
  • As of later updates, arrows will light on fire if they go through lava. They extinguish themselves when they go into the water.
  • Cave Spider Jockey skeletons shoot tipped arrows of poison instead of normal arrows.
  • Strays shoot tipped arrows of slowness instead of normal arrows, but it is possible to obtain a normal arrow from them.
  • If you shoot an activated block of TNT, the arrow will not go through the TNT. Instead, it will bounce off of it.
  • When TNT explodes and arrows are on it, it will throw the arrows up into the air.
  • A Punch II bow can help you get across a 5-block gap. Just jump and shoot the arrow to make sure it hits you, and the arrow will hit you forward, allowing you to complete a long jump.

Gallery[]

Arrow

Click for full Arrow gallery.

Video[]

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