All Minecraft weapons and what they do

Weapons in Minecraft. Whether it’s mobs or players you want to kill, weapons will be a massive help. This article was written in 2021, before the next combat update gets released. It’ll be pretty useless when the next combat update comes out.

Melee Weapons:

Swords:

Swords are incredibly powerful when it comes to fighting. On java edition, swords have the highest damage per second, even higher than axes. On bedrock edition, they deal more damage then axes per hit.

Material	Damage	Damage per second (Java only)	Attack Speed (Java only)	Durability
Wood	4	6.4	1.6	60
Stone	5	8	1.6	132
Iron	6	9.6	1.6	251
Gold	4	6.4	1.6	33
Diamond	7	11.2	1.6	1562
Netherite	8	12.8	1.6	2032

Swords are the best when trading hits (JE). On Bedrock Edition, swords are always the best when it comes to combat. Not just that, but swords have exclusive enchantments which help in combat.

Axes:

On bedrock edition, don’t waste resources to make these for combat as swords are better and more efficient. On java edition, they deal more damage than swords per hit, but have an incredibly long cooldown. As mentioned earlier, swords will deal more damage if you are constantly hitting.

Material	Damage (Java Edition)	Damage (Bedrock Edition)	Damage per second (Java only)	Attack Speed (Java only)	Durability*
Wood	7	3	5.6	0.8	59
Stone	9	4	7.2	0.8	131
Iron	9	5	8.1	0.9	250
Gold	7	3	7	1	32
Diamond	9	6	9	1	1561
Netherite	10	7	10	1	2031

Axes are good on java. Bad on bedrock. But Swords are the best. Axes are only better then swords on java if you’re using a hit-and-run strategy and don’t have access to enchantments yet. Axes also disable shields on the Java edition.

Edit (2022): Axes now disable shields on bedrock edition!

Tridents:

Powerful and deadly, these 250 durability giant forks dominate both ranged and melee combat. They deal 9 damage when used in melee, and can deal up to 8 damage when thrown and fully charged. It’s not recommended throw a trident unless you have the loyalty enchantment on it, as you’ll need to pick it up!

However, never use an unenchanted trident. You’ll need mending to help with its low durability. Riptide allows you to charge at insane speeds when in water or exposed to rain. If you charge into a mob or player, the trident will deal a moderate amount of damage. However, you will not be able to throw the trident after enchanting it with riptide.

Loyalty and channeling are powerful enchantments that help with throwing. Loyalty returns the trident back to you after you throw it, making it essential if you want to throw the trident. Channeling will summon lightning to the target it’s thrown at if the target is exposed to a thunderstorm.

Impaling is incredibly overpowered on Minecraft Bedrock Edition but not so on Java. On Bedrock Edition, impaling adds a massive amount of damage to the target. On Java, they deal extra damage to underwater mobs.

When you get a trident (usually from a drowned), it has really low durability and can’t be repaired by anything on the anvil other than another trident, which is pretty rare, so you should probably get mending first…

Ranged Weapons

Bow:

Bows pack a punch when fully charged. They are ranged weapons, so while you attack someone from 50 blocks away, they can’t use melee weapons to attack you!

Here’s my rating:

Range:	Damage:	Knockback:	Attack Speed
9/10	9/10	5/10	4/10

Overall, a good secondary weapon if your enemy is far away.

They have really good enchantments, too. However, it takes around 2 seconds to fire a fully charged shot. Also, shots are much easier to be dodged than melee hits. They can deal up to 10 damage when fully charged, more than a diamond sword!

Crossbow:

Deals massive damage, has good range, but has an incredibly long reload time. A thing about them is that they fire like guns. You can pre-load them, and when you need them, just pull the trigger and BOOM! Instant shot! Not just that, but if you put a firework in your offhand and load a crossbow, you get an RPG7!

My rating:

Range:	Damage:	Knockback:	Attack Speed:
10/10	10/10	7/10	1/10

Other weapons:

Flint and Steel:

It can be used to set the ground on fire. It can destroy a large amount of flammable blocks or if someone walks into a flame, they get set on fire. Fire damages people slowly but surely, and normally deals 7 armor-ignoring damage. Not just that, but when on fire, part of your view is obstructed

Lava:

Pretty much like flint and steel, but deadlier.

Anvils:

If you manage to get one to fall onto someone from a high altitude, they’re helmet’s durability goes down (the drain!)

Also deals massive damage to people without a helmet and can one shot if dropped from 40 blocks or higher.

Sweet berry bushes:

Not a good choice unless you’re looking for traps. Though they ignore armor, they only deal damage when something moves inside it and deal little damage. They can also be easily broken by a player, but on the bright side, you can harvest the berries for food!