10 Best Weapons in Minecraft

Whether you play on your own, co-op or even against players competitively, the right weapons are important to know.

Most players use a conventional sword to do most of their dirty work, little do they know there’s plenty of other ways to destroy your enemies.

Different play-styles are widely encouraged in Minecraft, you can easily conquer places like the Nether without crafting a single sword or bow.

Keeping your armoury topped up with a variety of weapons can make a huge difference. You likely don’t know just how many powerful weapons there are, so consult this list to find out!

A little tip to start things off: Snowballs damage Blaze mobs!

10. Flint & Steel

How to get: Craft with an Iron Ingot and Flint

Flint & Steel isn’t just a tool, igniting the ground underneath mobs or players is an easy way of igniting them. Not only does fire deal high damage over a period of time, it reduces visibility against players, giving you a bigger advantage. Mobs don’t walk around it, so igniting one block can get a whole group of them burning!

9. Splash Potion of Poison

How to get: Brew a Potion of Poison with Gunpowder

Upon launching a Splash Potion of Poison, it’ll explode in a small radius, applying the Poison effect to any nearby mobs or players. You can also apply a lingering effect by brewing it further with Dragon’s Breath, making the poison gas stick to the ground and apply poison to anymore enemies who go through it.

Poison reduces health over time, all the way down to half a heart. A few downsides are the amount of mobs being immune to poison, such as Undead ones (like Skeletons and Zombies) & Spiders. Also, poison never kills the enemy, so a final hit is required to finish them off.

8. Iron Sword

How to get: Craft with a Stick & Iron Ingots. Sold by Weaponsmith villagers. Mobs wielding an Iron Sword have a chance to drop them. Can also be found in Weaponsmith chests, Stronghold chests and buried chests.

The next stage up from the Stone Sword, the Iron variant is far more reliable, with additional damage. Requiring only 2 Iron Ingots to craft, a chest full of Iron Swords isn’t too difficult to achieve. Finding a few on your travels is also very possible, with high spawn rates in chests found across the world!

The looting enchantment would be excellent at this point, as you’ll accrue a ton of items early on.

7. Splash Potion of Harming

How to get: Brew a Potion of Harming with Gunpowder

A Potion of Harming can deal up to 6 full hearts of damage if it’s high levelled enough, all in an area of effect. As you can imagine, such raw damage out-put can be devastating. Particularly powerful with the Lingering effect applied, producing a cloud of high damaging smoke is pretty badass!

6. Stone Axe

How to get: Craft with Sticks & Cobblestone

Stone Axes have the same damage out-put as Iron/Diamond Axes, only they’re much cheaper to produce. Granted, Stone gear has less durability but the damage is pretty nice. While Axes have a low attack speed, each hit does deal more damage than your regular Stone or even Iron sword.

In terms of attack speed, all of Stone, Iron and Diamond Axes have lower attack speed than swords. Diamond axes have a slightly higher attack speed than Iron axes, same for Iron to Stone.

5. Diamond Sword

How to get: Craft with a Stick & Diamonds. May be sold by Villager Weaponsmiths. Find in End City chests.

Best Enchantments: Sharpness & Fire Aspect

Diamonds Swords are one of the strongest melee-only weapons in the game, as well as one of the most expensive.

Diamonds are hard to come by with many different uses, so you may want to use Stone or Iron Swords regularly.

If you have the Diamonds spare though, crafting swords is a good way of ensuring your survival chances.

4. Bow

How to get: Craft with Sticks & String. Dropped by Skeletons. Flecters may sell them and they can also be found while fishing.

Best Enchantments: Infinity, Power & Punch

A fully charged bow shot will deal 4 and a half hearts of damage, even more so with enchantments and enchanted arrows. Fairly more skill based than previous entries, sniping is very possible. Mobs won’t be an issue as they won’t even get close, players may present a harder target to hit though.

Stocking up on arrows is pretty much a requirement though, you can find yourself going through multiple stacks quickly!

3. Crossbow

How to get: Craft with Sticks, an Iron Ingot, String & a Tripwire Hook. Fletcher villagers have a chance of selling them. Pillagers also have a chance of dropping them.

Best Enchantments: Quick Charge & Piercing

Crossbows were only recently been added to the game with the 1.14 update. Hefty crafting requirements are off-set by up to 5 and a half hearts of damage in one shot. Also more accurate, with higher range than an ordinary bow.

Firing slower and reducing movement speed greatly while aiming, provides some game balance. You can enchant it with Multishot too, firing 3 arrows at once!

Keeping a loaded crossbow in your inventory for a quick damage boost is recommended for any engagement.

2. Trident

How to get: Drowned mobs have a 15% chance of spawning with a Trident. 

Best Enchantments: Loyalty & Impaling

By far the rarest weapon, you can hours of playtime without ever obtaining a Trident. Melee attacking will deal 9 damage (4 & a half hearts of health), with an attack speed higher than an axe, but lower than a sword.

However, the Trident can be thrown as a ranged weapon, dealing the same damage as a melee attack. Enchantments like Loyalty bring the Trident back to you soon after, which is of course, extremely useful. 

No other weapon provides such utility and it’s highly recommended you get a good Trident as soon as you can.

1. Netherite Sword

How to get: Upgrade a Diamond Sword with Netherite at a Smithing Table. Netherite is obtainable by finding Ancient Debris in the Nether.

Best Enchantments: Sharpness & Fire Aspect

Added in the Nether update, Netherite Swords are upgraded Diamond variants, boasting more damage.  Dealing up to 8 damage is pretty insane, and that’s without enchantments.

Obtaining one is no easy feat, with Netherite being a particularly rare resource in the Nether.

Overall, the Netherite Sword hits for the most damage of any weapon in the entire game!