How to craft Crossbow in Minecraft
Weapons Since 1.14 (Village & Pillage)
Quick answer: Craft Crossbow in a Crafting Table (3x3 grid) with 3x Stick + 1x Iron Ingot + 2x String + 1x Tripwire Hook. You get 1.
Recipe
S
I
S
T
H
T
S
Ingredients and how to get them
| Material | Amount | How to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Stick | 3 | Craft from 2 wood planks stacked vertically. |
| Iron Ingot | 1 | Smelt iron ore or craft from iron nuggets. |
| String | 2 | Kill spiders, break cobwebs with a sword or shears, or fish. |
| Tripwire Hook | 1 | Craft from an iron ingot, a stick and a plank in a column, or loot jungle temples. |
What is Crossbow used for?
- Ranged weapon: load with arrows or firework rockets (rockets explode on impact with multishot spreads)
- Higher damage than a bow (9 damage average, up to 11 with enchanted crits) but slower to reload
- Pillagers and fletcher villagers are the other sources - a crossbow drops from pillagers 8.5% of the time
Variants
- Enchantments: Quick Charge III (faster reload), Multishot (3 arrows), Piercing IV (through multiple mobs). Multishot and Piercing are incompatible
Java vs Bedrock
Same recipe in both editions. In Java, crossbows held by piglins and pillagers appear loaded.
Related: BowFishing RodShield