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**Arrows** are the projectile ammunition required to properly use a Bow. They can either be crafted or gathered as loot.

## Mechanics

Fired arrows will stick into any object they come in contact with, and they will remain there for exactly one minute before disappearing. When firing arrows, the distance from the object and the angle determine how far into the target the arrow will go, and the direction from which the shaft will protrude out of the object. Arrows that have been fired by a player and stuck into terrain are retrievable, and they will never break. Arrows that hit a target, such as a mob, cannot be recovered, and they will vanish. Skeleton-fired arrows and arrows fired by a bow with the Infinity enchantment are special entities, and cannot be collected at all.

Arrows can bounce off entities, such as Minecarts or Shields, or damage immune mobs. It is possible for players to damage themselves with their own arrows by firing one directly up and standing still. Arrows fired directly upward using a fully charged bow will fly so high that they will disappear from view, but they will eventually fall. If an arrow lands on a block, and a player is directly beneath that block, when a player breaks that block the arrow will fall, and it will do one heart of damage to a player. If the block, in which an arrow is stuck, is destroyed or disappears (e.g. leaves), the arrow will fall down, and it can injure players or a mob.

Arrows shot through Lava will catch aflame and show an appropriate animation. They can set other entities on fire when they hit said entities. Arrows shot at minecart tracks will stop a minecart from passing over that block until the arrow either Despawns or is collected. An arrow shot at a Storage Minecart will cause the minecart to break, dropping a minecart, a chest, and the contents in the storage minecart. Before Beta 1.2, Skeletons would only drop arrows when killed. They now have a chance of dropping: bones, bows, Armor, and arrows when they are killed.

## Arrows and Circuits

Arrows shot at Levers, stone Pressure Plates or Stone Buttons will not trigger said inputs directly. Wooden pressure plates can be triggered from distance in other ways, for instance, a minecart can be used in such a way that destroying it with arrows will release the wooden pressure plate it is resting on, or a Painting can be shot off of a wall and fall onto a wooden pressure plate to activate it. As of *Minecraft* 1.8 along with the increase of arrow damage, Boats can be used as targets since a fully charged bow will break a boat in one shot.

## History

During Survival Test, skeleton arrows were purple. The purple arrow texture can still be found in the Minecraft.jar file, in the same image as the normal arrows, but it is not in use.

Before release 1.1, arrows could catch on fire (like other entities), but they did not set what they hit on fire, and there was no enchantment to fire flaming arrows.

Arrows used to be crafted with an ingot of iron besides a piece of flint, only one arrow would have been crafted.

## "Tipped" arrows

*Minecraft* 1.9 added many different types of arrows called tipped arrows. Each tipped arrow generally has a Status Effect corresponding to the name of the arrow which is applied with Lingering Potions.

### Arrow of Fire Resistance

* Grants the target the Fire Resistance effect.

### Arrow of Harming

* Deals instant, additional damage to the target on impact. Heals undead mobs.

### Arrow of Healing

* Heals the target on impact. Harms undead mobs.

### Arrow of Invisibility

* Grants the target the Invisibility effect.

### Arrow of Leaping

* Grants the target the Jump Boost effect.

### Arrow of Night Vision

* Grants the target the Night Vision effect.

### Arrow of Regeneration

* Grants the target the Regeneration effect.

### Arrow of Water Breathing

* Grants the target the Water Breathing effect.

### Spectral Arrow

* This arrow has a gold-tip. When it hits a mob or player, they are effected by the Glowing effect, outlining them in white for a short time. The outline is visible through Blocks.

### Water Bottle Arrow

* The purpose/effect of this arrow is unknown.

### Arrow of Slow Falling

* Grants the target the slow falling effect.

### Arrow of the Turtle Master

* Grants the target the turtle master effect.

### Arrow of Decay

* Grants the target the wither effect. Only available in the Bedrock Edition.

## Trivia

* Firing several arrows into a Door and then opening it will cause a very odd "multi-arrow" sound to play.
* If an arrow is shot at a painting, it will turn into a dropped item.
* If an arrow is fired at a Creeper that explodes just before being hit, it will continue to fly through the air towards the target, but may slow down drastically and may appear to become a row of arrows. It will return to normal if the arrow is touched.
* Before Alpha 1.0.14, Iron Ingots were required to make arrows.
* If a player shoots multiple arrows through a Nether portal and then enter it, the arrows will be suspended in the air, but will not strike the player. They will also be irretrievable, even if the portal has been deactivated.
* Cave Spider Jockeys’ skeletons shoot tipped arrows of Poison instead of normal arrows.
* Strays shoot tipped arrows of Slowness instead of normal arrows, but it is possible to obtain a normal arrow from them.