Best Minecraft Bow Enchantments

The bow is one of the oldest weapons in Minecraft and still one of the most versatile. Whether you are sniping Blazes in a Nether fortress or keeping Creepers at a safe distance, the right set of enchantments turns a basic bow into a top-tier combat tool. Below is a full ranking of every bow enchantment available in survival, along with tips on stacking them efficiently.

Power V, the non-negotiable damage boost

Power increases arrow damage by 25% per level. At Power V a fully charged shot deals 23 damage (11.5 hearts), enough to one-shot most hostile mobs and two-shot an unarmored player. Every bow you plan to keep should have Power V. You can get it from an enchanting table at level 30 or by combining two Power IV books on an anvil.

Infinity, one arrow, unlimited shots

Infinity lets you fire endlessly as long as you have at least one arrow in your inventory. The trade-off is that Infinity and Mending are mutually exclusive. For most players Infinity is the better pick because arrows are cheap but a max-enchanted bow is expensive to replace. If you prefer Mending, plan on building a skeleton farm or buying arrows in bulk.

Flame, passive fire damage

Flame sets targets on fire for five seconds, adding four extra damage over time. It also cooks animals on kill, which is handy early game. The only downside is that Flame can ignite TNT you did not mean to detonate and it lights up targets at night, revealing your position in PvP scenarios.

Punch II, knockback at range

Punch adds knockback per level. At Punch II a fully charged shot launches mobs roughly six blocks backward. This is phenomenal for knocking enemies off bridges, away from builds, or into lava. In pure DPS terms Punch does not help, but the crowd-control utility is hard to overstate, especially when fighting Wither skeletons in tight corridors.

Unbreaking III, longevity

Unbreaking III gives each use a 75% chance not to consume durability. A standard bow has 384 durability points; with Unbreaking III that effectively becomes around 1,536 shots. If you chose Infinity over Mending, Unbreaking III is essential to keep your bow alive as long as possible.

Mending, the alternative to Infinity

Mending repairs the bow using XP orbs. It pairs well with an XP farm so the bow never breaks. The downside is that you have to carry arrows, which takes an inventory slot. On servers with an active economy where you can buy stacks of arrows cheaply, Mending can edge out Infinity in long-term value.

The ideal bow setup

For general survival: Power V, Infinity, Flame, Punch II, Unbreaking III. For server PvP or heavy grinding: swap Infinity for Mending and keep a skeleton farm running. Always enchant the bow at level 30 first to try for Power IV or V as a base, then use books on the anvil for the rest.

Enchanting order matters

Anvil costs rise with each operation. To minimise the total XP spent, combine books together in pairs before applying them to the bow. A good sequence:

• Combine Power V + Unbreaking III into one book.
• Combine Flame + Punch II into a second book.
• Combine both merged books into a single super-book.
• Apply the super-book plus Infinity (or Mending) to the bow in one final anvil step.

This keeps the work penalty low and avoids the dreaded "Too Expensive!" cap at 40 levels.

What about crossbows?

Crossbows have their own enchantment pool (Quick Charge, Multishot, Piercing). They hit harder per shot but fire slower and cannot use Infinity or Flame. Bows remain superior for sustained DPS and general-purpose combat; crossbows shine when you want burst damage or crowd hits via Multishot.

Want to see all this in action? Astroworld MC runs a custom-built economy survival server with custom bosses, eternal enchants, crates and an auction house. Join at astroworldmc.com, IP play.astroworldmc.com, Java + Bedrock crossplay.