Featured Image credit: Mojang.
Have you ever had a mob that just kept escaping from you? No matter what you did, you could not keep track of it for the life of you?
If so, then you need to get your hands on some spectral arrows in Minecraft. These handy little Minecraft arrows will make killing mobs much easier.
Keep reading to see everything you need about spectral arrows, their uses, and how to craft them!
Is your bow damaged from killing mobs or other players on a multiplayer server? Check out how to repair your Minecraft bow here.
What are Spectral Arrows?
Spectral arrows (sometimes called golden arrows) are a special type of arrow in vanilla Minecraft that creates a glowing outline around any mob or player hit by one.
The outline will remain for 10 seconds, allowing you to track your target even if they get out of your line of sight or tries to hide in the dark away from a light source.
(Image credit: Mojang).
You can see the glowing outline even through blocks as long as they are in your render distance. Read more on how to refresh chunks in Minecraft here.
But why is this a useful effect? After all, the hostile mobs usually come straight at you, trying to kill you.
Well, if you only ever play single-player Minecraft, then you may not find these very useful.
But if you enjoy multiplayer, you will probably get a ton of usage.
This is especially true in PvP servers because when other Minecraft players try to escape you, you can them with a spectral arrow and use the glowing status effect for hunting them down. Nice!
You will know exactly where they are no matter how far they run. Pretty helpful in hunting down that griefer, right?
Into ranged weapons? Check out the best crossbow enchantments here.
Crafting Spectral Arrows
Now that you know what spectral arrows are used for, you are probably pretty hyped about building them.
Luckily, they are quite cheap to create, though you must have reached the Nether before you can craft them.
To craft spectral arrows you need the following materials:
Ingredients:
- 4 x Glowstone dust
- Regular arrows
Creates:
This content was first published on GameDaft.com
- 2 Spectral Arrows
Now let’s see how to get this stuff and how to craft spectral arrows.
How to get arrows
Now, the first thing you need is some regular arrows. If you do not have any, you must first create your own arrows using a piece of flint, feathers, and a wood stick.
Alternatively, you can purchase some from novice-level fletcher villagers for an emerald. Or, kill some skeletons.
If you’re in a Bastion in the Nether, you can sometimes loot arrows from the naturally generated chests.
Then combine these with the glowstone to create spectral arrows.
How to find glowstone in Minecraft
Once you have the arrows, you must get your hands on glowstone.
Since it can only be found in the Nether, you must brave the fiery hell.
(Image credit: Mojang).
You can typically find glowstone blocks hanging out from the underside of ceilings above lava, which means breaking out those bridging skills.
Get that glowstone, return safely to the portal, and hop back home.
Also, check out What is Efficiency in Minecraft?
How to craft spectral arrows
Now open the crafting menu and place a normal arrow in the middle of the crafting table.
Place the four glowstone around it, as shown in the image below. You have now created spectral arrows!
(Image credit: Mojang).
You can make as many as you need, depending on the number of arrows and amount of glowstone dust you’ve got. So get plenty of glowstone from the Nether, so you don’t have to revisit all the time.
Now, all there’s left is to hunt down your target. Happy hunting!
Also, check out how to apply the outline effect to the spyglass in How to make a spyglass in Minecraft.
Conclusion
The use of arrows in Minecraft is an effective way of keeping mobs and other players at bay. But ranged combat sometimes means that your frenemies will try to escape to a safe distance when mortally wounded.
Now, we can’t have that now, can we? After all, we’re here to finish the job!
Getting your hands on spectral arrows can make your life in multiplayer games much easier. They can even be used in single-player survival mode, although I don’t find them to be as useful here.
If you found this article helpful, check out how to show chunks in Minecraft to make builds and redstone contraptions easier. Until next time, happy gaming!
FAQ
How to use the Give command to get spectral arrows in the Java version of Minecraft
On PC/Mac type:
/give @p spectral_arrow 1
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jan has played video games since the early 1980s. He loves getting immersed in video games as a way to take his mind off stuff when the outside world gets too scary. A lifelong gamer, the big interest led to a job as a lecturer on game sound at the University of Copenhagen and several written articles on video games for magazines.