Arrow

Arrow
Type:	Item, Entity
Stackable:	Yes(64)
Physics:	Projectile if fired
Found naturally:	No
Renewable:	Yes
Identifier:	arrow

The arrow is an item that can be fired out of a bow or a dispenser, dealing damage upon contact with a mob or the player.

Obtaining

Skeletons can drop up to 2 arrows upon death, which makes the item renewable. It is also possible to obtain it through crafting in the Crafting table. Four arrows can be crafted with a piece of flint, a stick, and a feather, which are put in the previous order in the same column of the crafting grid, from top to bottom.

Arrows shot by the player with a bow can be retrieved. This excludes arrows shot with a bow enchanted with infinity, as using an infinity bow does not use arrows from the inventory.^{[as of 1.29.0]}

Usage

See also: Bow

If the player has at least one arrow in their inventory, when they right-click and hold with a bow, it loads the arrow onto the bow and fires when they let go. Both the speed and the damage of the arrow will increase depending on how much the shot was charged before shooting.

When the arrow hits an entity, it will deal 1.5 hearts of damage, and the arrow will stick to it. It stops moving if it comes into contact with blocks, though, bug, it can pass through them if it is travelling at extremely high speeds. If it stuck to a block, it can still be picked up by the player if shot by the their bow. If the block to which it is attached is destroyed, it falls downwards, potentially causing damage to entities again. After a while, immobile arrows in blocks and entities disappear.

If an arrow is shot from a bow enchanted with flame or if it is shot through lava, it will be set on fire. This causes it to set any entity it hits on fire, and thus can spawn a flaming chicken. If the arrow kills a meat bearing mob the meat that drops will be cooked.

Arrows can activate wooden pressure plates, causing them to give redstone power. They can also be placed in a dispenser, and can be shot if it is powered. They do 1.5 hearts of damage, like if shot with a bow. Arrows shot from a dispenser are not retrievable.

Tasks

#	Task	Objective	Requirements
34	Fire a Bow.	Use a bow to shot an arrow.

History

Version	Date	Changes
1.15	Sep 01, 2011	Added the arrow
1.22	Jun 29, 2012	Arrows are shot by skeletons
1.23	Oct 31, 2012	Skeleton’s arrows are slower
1.25	May 11, 2013	Fixed arrows in blocks locking the left and right arrow keys
1.27	Nov 13, 2015	Shooting an arrow with a bow has a sound effect Skeleton arrows disappear after a shorter time Fixed some skeletons' arrows not alerting the shot mob to attack
1.28	Oct 08, 2019	Arrows, spears, and bone shurikens stick into mobs when they hit
1.29	Sep 27, 2019	Arrows have a loading animation now instead of firing instantly Arrows, spears, and shurikens now trigger pressure plates Killing mobs with arrows now counts as a player kill Arrows shot with an Infinity bow can no longer be picked up

Trivia

• Arrows getting stuck in entities other than the player is exclusive to Mine Blocks.
• Although arrows can deal damage entities such as to balloons and mobs, they do not deal damage to minecarts and rafts.

Gallery

• 

  A skeleton shooting arrows, with one stuck in the player.

See also

• Spear
• Bow