Having a good bow is one of the most helpful pieces of equipment you can have for both PvP and PvE. Whether your goal is to scare off potential opponents or destroy them completely, there's an enchantment for pretty much everything you'd ever need.
Since there are 7 enchantments in the game, this list will rank them from worst to best, so that you can know what enchantments are the best ones to use. Some are obviously much better than others, but even the last one on the list still has a lot of uses.
Without further ado, these are the top 7 best bow enchantments in Minecraft.
7. Curse of Vanishing
In case you don't know what this enchantment does, it literally destroys the bow (hence the name vanishing) when you die holding it. Honestly, at first glance it seems like it would be the most useless enchantment in Minecraft, but I can assure you that it's not.
The Curse of Vanishing has zero purpose when fighting regular mobs, but against other players it can be a great asset.
Let's say you have a fully decked out bow with Infinity or some other great enchantment, and you're going to war with another clan. The last thing you want is the enemy clan to get ahold of one of your god bows and use it to annihilate your group, and there's a high probability of that happening.
Instead of allowing the enemies to nab all your gear, using the Curse of Vanishing will make it instantly vaporized, never to be seen again. There's literally no way to get it back, effectively preventing your foes from stocking up with your own weapons.
This is a pro level strategy right here, though you'd never even consider using it against regular mobs. If you aren't in a high stakes PvP scenario, it's best to skip this enchantment and save your XP for something more worthwhile.
6. Punch
Since the main reason to use a bow is to attack from further away, something that works even better is preventing enemies from getting close to you, which is why Punch is so useful. By increasing knockback, Punch I or II will force your enemy in the opposite direction you hit them.
Punch works great against mobs such as Creepers or Skeletons since you can use it to increase the gap between you and them. Against players is where Punch really shines though. A lot of times, you'll be fighting other players close to hazards such as lava pits, ravines, cliffs, or mobs, and you can use Punch to fling them into one of those.
One of the most satisfying things you can do is knock an enemy into a lava pit or deep chasm, and Punch will allow you to easily do this. Mobs on narrow ledges don't stand a chance when you wield a Punch bow either, dropping them to the ground so you can finish them off.
Even though it's lower on this list, never underestimate the effectiveness of the Punch bow enchantment.
5. Unbreaking
With a powerful bow, the last thing you'd want is for it to break in the middle of a fight. Unbreaking will dramatically increase the amount of arrows you can fire, and ensures it lasts significantly longer than normal bows.
The way Unbreaking I, II, and III works is that they give a chance for your equipment to not lose durability on use. They won't make your bow last forever, but it ensures that you get a lot more use out of it.
One thing to note is that Unbreaking is best when combined with Infinity bows, as Mending can't be used with Infinity. This was implemented to make sure your bow doesn't become too overpowered, which would definitely happen without this balancing measure.
On your most powerful bows, you'll definitely want to have Unbreaking equipped if you don't have access to mending.
4. Mending
Why is Mending better than Unbreaking? Because Mending essentially allows a bow to be used indefinitely if you have enough XP. Mending is an bow enchantment that allows you to fix equipment using your XP.
It sadly can't be applied to Infinity, but it can be applied to the others. If you have the ability to make a Mending bow along with some other powerful bow enchantments, you should always choose this above Unbreaking.
It's better to continuously repair a bow than to simply have it last longer, making it one of the most powerful bow enchantments in Minecraft.
3. Power
Bows are already formidable weapons on their own, but they become insanely useful when applying power to them. There are 5 levels of Power enchantments, Power I, II, III, IV, and V, so it has more variants than any other bow enchantment.
Since it increased the damage dealt by your bows, it'll be most effective when combined with enchantments such as Punch, Flame, or Infinity. This will essentially turn you into a Minecraft sniper, making it one of the most sought after enchantments.
2. Flame
What's more effective than flinging powerful arrows at your opponent? Hitting them with flaming arrows that'll set them ablaze. Honestly, there's nothing cooler than fighting enemies using fire arrows.
It also has a ton of different uses both in PvP and PvE, but especially in PvP. Fire damage combined with arrow damage is a deadly combo that almost always ensures that you'll bring down your target.
As you probably know, fire damage will bring your enemies down to 5 health, allowing you to finish them off with a bow or letting a mob do the work for you. By crippling your attacker, you'll either scare them away or give you the upper hand in any fight.
1. Infinity
The most tedious part of using a bow by far is the collection of arrows, and Infinity ensures that you'll never have to farm for them again. Any bow you apply Infinity to will immediately give you unlimited arrows to hurl at your foes.
Infinity is definitely the most coveted minecraft bow enchantment, and you're extremely lucky if you get one. The best thing to do would be to combine it with Unbreaking III and some other powerful enchantment like Power V, which will make you have one of the best bows possible.
When you get your hands on an Infinity bow, make sure you guard it with your life.
