How to Craft Crossbow in Minecraft

Crossbow in Minecraft, drawn from the game's own item texture. Ranged combat with higher damage than bow. The recipe first appears in the game's files in Minecraft 1.14.

Making a Crossbow takes 3 Sticks, 1 Iron Ingot, 2 String, and 1 Tripwire Hook at a Crafting Table. From the top down: two Sticks in the outer columns and an Iron Ingot in the middle column; then two String down either side and a Tripwire Hook in the middle column; then a Stick in the middle column. You end up with 1 Crossbow each time. It holds up for 465 uses before it breaks.

Crossbow Item ID and Give Command

The item ID for Crossbow is minecraft:crossbow. In commands the namespace may be left off, so crossbow works too. Checked against Minecraft Java 26.2.

Give yourself one: /give @p crossbow
Give several at once: /give @p crossbow 5
Give it to a named player: /give Steve crossbow 1

Cheats have to be on for Crossbow to appear this way, and the same command works on Bedrock Edition, where the name is written the same.

Repairing Crossbow

Crossbow lasts 465 uses, and a worn one is not scrap: two of them merged on an anvil give you a single item carrying the durability of both.

Two worn ones can also be merged on a grindstone. That is the cheaper route and it asks no levels, but it strips every enchantment off, so it suits a plain Crossbow rather than one you have invested in.

The cheapest fix of all is Mending, which Crossbow accepts. Experience you collect goes into the tool rather than your level bar, and it keeps itself topped up.

Overview

The Crossbow fires arrows and firework rockets. It stays loaded when unequipped and deals more damage than a bow. It has 465 durability. Crossbow uses a shaped recipe: the ingredients only work in the pattern shown.

This recipe first appears in the game's own data files in Minecraft 1.14, and not in the release before it.

The materials come together from a few sources: you will be working with stick (craft from planks), iron ingot (smelt iron ore), string (kill spiders), and tripwire hook (craft from iron, stick and plank).

One Stack, Counted

Feed 3 sticks a craft, so 64 covers 21 of them: 21 crossbows. Have 42 string ready as well. Left behind: 1 stick.

Materials Needed

Item	Amount	Where to Find
StickStick	3x	Craft from planks
Iron IngotIron Ingot	1x	Smelt iron ore
StringString	2x	Kill spiders
Tripwire HookTripwire Hook	1x	Craft from iron, stick and plank

Gather 3x Stick (craft from planks), Iron Ingot (smelt iron ore), 2x String (kill spiders), and Tripwire Hook (craft from iron, stick and plank), then take the lot to a Crafting Table.

The Full Chain

4 crafts deep: Iron Ingot, Stick, Tripwire Hook, then the Crossbow. All in: 2 String, 3 Planks and 2 Iron Ore.

1
2Iron Ingot2Iron IngotFurnace, repeat 2x
2
2Stick4Stick
3
Iron IngotStickTripwire Hook2Tripwire Hook
4
CrossbowCrossbowthis page

Gather this first

2String3Planks2Iron Ore

Step-by-Step Instructions

1
Stick3x Stick
2
Iron IngotIron Ingot
3
String2x String
4
Tripwire HookTripwire Hook
5
Crossbow

Minecraft crafting recipe for Crossbow: 3 x Stick, 1 x Iron Ingot, 2 x String, 1 x Tripwire Hook in a crafting table, making 1 Crossbow.

Tips & Notes

Line up 3x Stick, 1x Iron Ingot, 2x String, and 1x Tripwire Hook before you open the Crafting Table. Stick: craft from planks.

Uses for Crossbow

Ranged combat with higher damage than bow
Can load firework rockets
Stays loaded when put away

View detailed item stats, durability and properties for Crossbow on the Astroworld Items Database.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do I need to craft a Crossbow in Minecraft?

a Crossbow asks for 3 Sticks, 1 Iron Ingot, 2 String and 1 Tripwire Hook, and the work happens at a Crafting Table. Lay them out exactly as the grid above shows, and one craft produces one Crossbow.

What do you need to make a Crossbow from scratch?

From raw materials only, a Crossbow comes down to 2 String, 3 Planks and 2 Iron Ore. The rest you make yourself, and it takes 4 crafts to get there.

Can you craft a Crossbow without a crafting table?

You need a table for a Crossbow. It is laid out as three Sticks, a single Iron Ingot in the top-middle cell, two String side by side in the middle row, and a single Tripwire Hook in the centre cell, and that takes 3 rows, more than the 2x2 grid in your inventory can hold.

Where do you find the materials for a Crossbow?

A Crossbow draws its parts from several different places. Stick: craft from planks. Iron Ingot: smelt iron ore. String: kill spiders. Tripwire Hook: craft from iron, stick and plank.

How many Crossbows do you get from one craft?

The Crossbow recipe makes one Crossbow per craft.

What is the item ID for Crossbow in Minecraft?

Crossbow is registered as minecraft:crossbow. Commands accept the short form crossbow as well, and Bedrock spells it the same. Checked against Java 26.2.

Can you farm everything you need for a Crossbow?

Crossbow needs nothing you have to go find: stick from planks, iron ingot from iron golems at a village, string from spiders, and tripwire hook from oak planks. Set those up once and you can keep making crossbow.

What is the give command for Crossbow?

The command for Crossbow is /give @p crossbow, with an optional count after it. It only runs with cheats enabled.

What enchantments can you put on a Crossbow?

A Crossbow takes 6 enchantments: Quick Charge, Multishot, Piercing, Unbreaking, Mending and Curse of Vanishing. An enchanting table or an anvil can apply them.

Is the Crossbow recipe the same in Java and Bedrock Edition?

Java and Bedrock agree on a Crossbow: both want 3 Sticks, 1 Iron Ingot, 2 String and 1 Tripwire Hook at a Crafting Table in the layout above, and both give one at a time.

What version of Minecraft added the Crossbow?

For the crossbow the answer is Minecraft 1.14, and it is not a guess: that release carries the recipe, the one before it does not. Today the game builds it from 3 Sticks, 1 Iron Ingot, 2 String and 1 Tripwire Hook, as shown above.

Sources

Grid, ingredients and yield: 3 Sticks and 1 Iron Ingot and 2 String and 1 Tripwire Hook in, 1 Crossbow out, Crafting Table. Java 26.2, 17 August 2026.
That Bedrock agrees: Bedrock 1.26.40.05, same 4 ingredients.
How far back it goes: Java 1.14 is the first release that knows this recipe at all. From all 163 released Java clients, rd-132211 to 26.2.
That the ingredients come back: What drops, what villagers trade and what farms regrow in Minecraft Java, followed through the recipes to see what those ingredients can be turned into.
Stack size, durability, enchantments, burn time: The Astroworld Items Database, built from the same jar.
The recipe book unlock: What unlocks it in the recipe book. Java 26.2.
The stack sum: Counted, not played: 1 Crossbow per craft against the stack size.

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