Enchantments are a feature in Minecraft that makes certain tasks easier to accomplish for players. They are bonuses that get added to some items.
One enchantment in the Minecraft is Piercing. We will go over everything to know about Piercing in this article, covering how to obtain the enchantment, what it does and what you should be using it for.
How to obtain the Piercing enchantment
Minecraft Piercing is one of the three crossbow-only enchantments found in the game, with the others being Multishot and Quick Charge.
You can obtain this enchantment akin to the way you obtain other enchantments. The first option is to use an enchantment table to directly place the item on it and randomly get Piercing. The other one is to find an enchanted book that has Piercing, and then apply it to the crossbow of your choice using an anvil.
Piercing is mutually exclusive with the Multishot enchantment. What this means is that you can’t have both of the enchantments on the same crossbow at the same time, unless you use commands.
What does the Piercing enchantment do in Minecraft?
Piercing in Minecraft makes it so that the arrows you shoot with your crossbow pierce through mobs they hit. The number of mobs the arrows can pierce through is determined by the formula (level + 1). The max level of this enchantment is 4, so at that level, the number of enemies arrows pass through is 5.
The enchantment has a few more benefits other than this. For one, you can pick up the arrows even after they pierce through the mobs. Another thing is that they ignore shields and pierce through them too.
Piercing also works on special arrows, such as tipped arrows and spectral arrows. However, it has no effect on fireworks fired through a crossbow.
Where can you use the Piercing enchantment?
The enchantment is great for crossbow combat in any edition of the game. It is a good alternative to Multishot, especially on Java Edition where Multishot has a lot more drawbacks.
Since most of the time enemies walk toward you in a line, or if they don’t, you can maneuver carefully to make them walk in the same line, Piercing is great to shoot all of them at once.
Key Takeaways
It is important to remember the following things for this great crossbow enchantment:
- Piercing is one of the 3 crossbow-only enchantments in the game.
- It is mutually exclusive with Multishot, another crossbow enchantment.
- You can obtain it the same way you obtain other enchantments, either with enchanting tables or enchanted books on anvils.
- It pierces through enemies rather than landing the arrows on one singular enemy. The number of enemies it can pierce through is proportional to the level of the enchantments.
- It can also pierce through shields, and you can pick up the arrows after they hit their last target.
- It works on special arrows like tipped or spectral arrows, but doesn’t work on fireworks.
- Overall, it is a great enchantment for crossbow combat and overall a better choice than Multishot in Java Edition.