Featured image credit: Mojang
When bringing down the mighty Ender Dragon or getting rid of an annoying skeleton, the good old ordinary bow has your back in Minecraft.
But what happens when you end up with a damaged bow after all your battles? What are you supposed to do then, just let it shatter?
If your bow breaks (when the durability bar is depleted), it will disappear from your inventory screen. If that happens, your only option is to get a new bow, which sucks – especially if you had a cool enchanted bow.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways to repair items in Minecraft, each with pros and cons.
Keep reading to see everything you need about repairing Minecraft bows!
Repairing Bows with an Anvil
An anvil is the best and most common method of repairing a broken bow in Minecraft.
If your bow has enchantments, I highly recommend using this method. Otherwise, any other method (besides Mending) will remove any enchantments.
While the anvil will repair your bow, it does so at the cost of experience points. Even worse, it will become increasingly expensive every time you repair it. To avoid this increasing expense, check out the Mending Enchantment section later in the article.
If you do not know how to make an anvil, follow the steps below:
- Open your crafting table.
- Place three iron blocks (made from nine iron ingots) in the top row of the crafting grid.
- The four ingots should be placed as shown below.
Now all you have to do is place the anvil, open it by right-clicking it, and repair your precious bow.
Check out this guide to the Fortune enchantment, which is great for getting more drops when you use a tool.
Repairing Bows on a Crafting Table
The second method to repair a bow is using a simple crafting table. This method is only good for repairing an unenchanted bow; I’ll explain why below.
If you have a ton of random damaged bows lying around from killing skeletons, you can use a crafting table to repair them.
Unlike the anvil, though, repairing bows in a crafting table will remove all enchantments. So, don’t put your powerful enchanted bow you spent a ton of XP on into the crafting table. You have been warned.
Follow the below steps to repair your damaged bows with a crafting table.
- Open your crafting table.
- Place two damaged bows into any of the crafting slots in the three-by-three grid. This will turn them into one bow with the durability of both combined plus a bonus of 5% (check the green durability bar to see how much a bow is damaged.)
- Repeat until you have a fully repaired bow.
Remember that the crafting table technique is only recommended for repairing a standard bow. If one of both of your bows has been enchanted, they will lose it.
Repairing Bows with a Grindstone
Since the 1.14 update, snapshot 18w48a, the grindstone can repair items like a crafting table. Note that a grindstone will also remove enchantments as a crafting table does.
However, there is a slight difference, though, between the two of them.
This content was first published on GameDaft.com
Using an enchanted item in the grindstone will remove some experience for each enchantment.
Follow the steps below to repair your bow with a grindstone.
- Open the grindstone by right-clicking on it.
- Place two bows in the GUI, as shown below.
- Take the resultant bow from the slot on the right.
The grindstone method is the better option if you have multiple bows.
Using the Mending Enchantment
If you want to keep your fancy bow’s enchantments when repairing it and don’t want to spend XP every time you repair it.
Well, luckily for you, there is another way of repairing your bow, the Mending enchantment.
The Mending enchantment will eat up any XP you pick up to repair any tool in your hotbar with the enchantment.
Now the bad part is that it is extremely difficult to get your hands on it. The main way of getting it is by trading with a Librarian Villager.
Since villager trades are randomized, you may have to trap one and then reset its trades until you get Mending. To reset a villager’s trades, break its job site block (lectern for Librarians) and place it back down.
Once you get Mending as a trade, lock it in by trading with the villager. Now you can get all the Mending books that you want.
If you are unsure how to place Mending on an item, use the following steps below.
- Place the object you want to enchant in the first left-hand slot of an anvil.
- Place the Mending book in the second slot.
- Take the enchanted bow from the right-hand slot.
Note: Mending is incompatible with the Infinity enchantment, so you have to choose between never-ending arrows or having the ability to repair the bow.
Or you can carry around a second enchanted bow. After all, having more types of bows is a great way to be prepared for different types of mobs.
Conclusion
The good old Minecraft bow is a must-have item and has been my ranged weapon of choice for years. With the right enchantments, it can deal some significant damage. But when playing Minecraft Survival, your offensive weapons will need some love occasionally.
This is where knowing the right repair method comes in handy because not all weapons or tools are created equally.
So to quickly sum up the different methods for repairing your bow in Minecraft.
The best way to repair a bow is with the use of an anvil because it won’t remove any enchantments. However, since the repair costs are Experience Orbs (XP), reaching those higher experience levels will take longer.
The crafting table method will remove all enchantments on your bow(s). So I only use this method when I need to repair a normal bow.
The grinding stone method is similar to the anvil method, but it will cost you XP per enchantment you have cast on your bow.
The last method of repair requires you to not only find a Librarian Villager but also reset his trades until he gets the Mending enchantment. When you have it, though, it will automatically repair any damaged item in your hotbar at the cost of XP orbs. So time to kill some hostile mobs if you have a lot of damaged gear.
If you found this article helpful, check out how to get spectral arrows in Minecraft to light your enemies up. Until next time, happy gaming!
FAQ
Can You Repair a Crossbow Like a Regular Bow?
Yes, you can repair a crossbow in Minecraft with any of the methods listed above. If you want to know how to make the most out of your crossbow, check out this complete list of all the crossbow enchantments.
What is the Fletching Table Used For?
If you find one of these blocks in a village, grab it, as it is the job block for Fletcher villagers. Not only can Fletchers provide you with all the arrows you could ever need, but you can also get enchanted bows and crossbows from them. Read What Does a Fletching Table Do in Minecraft for a complete guide on how to use it.
Are There Any Ways to Get Mending Other Than by Trading?
While trading is the best way to get the Mending enchantment, you can get it in several other ways: fishing and finding it in loot chests. It can be located in Jungle Temples, Ancient Cities, and Strongholds though it is very rare.
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.