Best Crossbow Enchantments in Minecraft

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: Use Quick Charge III and either Multishot or Piercing IV, which conflict. Add Unbreaking III and Mending. Power, Punch, Flame and Infinity are not normal Survival crossbow enchantments.

What you need

A crossbow (crafted or dropped by pillagers)
An enchanting table with bookshelves, or an anvil plus books
Lapis and XP levels

Step by step

Quick Charge III reduces loading from 1.25 to 0.5 seconds.
Multishot fires 3 projectiles for one ammunition item. In Java, damage immunity means only one arrow from a shot can damage the same mob; it is a spread, not guaranteed triple damage.
Piercing IV arrows pass through up to 4 entities and can damage 5 in total, including targets blocking with shields. Arrows can be retrieved. Piercing does not work on firework rockets and conflicts with Multishot.
Multishot can launch three firework rockets for one rocket item. Add firework stars for damage. In Java they explode on impact; do not assume the same impact behavior or guaranteed burst damage in Bedrock.
Unbreaking reduces durability loss. A normal arrow shot costs 1 durability, a Multishot arrow shot 3; rocket shots cost 3, or 9 with Multishot, before Unbreaking checks.
Mending repairs the damaged crossbow when held while collecting XP. Other damaged Mending equipment can receive an orb, and the crossbow can still break without enough repair XP.
Power, Flame, Punch and Infinity cannot normally be applied to crossbows in Survival. Command-only behavior is separate from a normal build.
Anvil order matters: combine books with each other first (two I make II, two II make III), then apply the cheapest books to the item first. Every anvil job on an item raises its prior-work penalty, and once a single job would cost more than 39 levels the anvil refuses with 'Too Expensive!' - so build books before touching the item.

Crossbow enchantments at a glance

Enchantment	Max	Why it makes the list	Conflicts
Quick Charge	III	Loads in 0.5s instead of 1.25s	-
Multishot	I	Fires 3 projectiles for the cost of 1	Piercing
Piercing	IV	Arrows pass through up to 5 mobs and ignore shields	Multishot
Unbreaking	III	About 4x effective durability	-
Mending	I	XP repairs the crossbow	-

Java vs Bedrock

Multishot spreads three projectiles in both editions. Java arrows from one shot do not all damage the same mob, and Java rockets explode on impact. Piercing is for arrows, not rockets. Choose by ammunition and target layout rather than assuming one highest-damage build.

Versions: Describes the current Java and Bedrock releases. See the edition note for differences.

Frequently asked questions

Multishot or Piercing?

Multishot is useful for a spread across several targets or rockets. Piercing helps with targets in a line, shields and retrievable arrows. They are incompatible. Java Multishot arrows do not guarantee triple damage against one target.

Can you put Infinity on a crossbow?

Not through normal Survival enchanting. Multishot produces three projectiles for one ammunition item, but Piercing is the option that lets arrows be retrieved after hitting targets.