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How to Craft Spectral Arrow in Minecraft

Spectral Arrow in Minecraft, drawn from the game's own item texture. Outlining hit entities with a glowing effect. Minecraft has used the name Spectral Arrow since 1.9.

Stand at a Crafting Table with 4 Glowstone Dust and 1 Arrow and you can make Spectral Arrows. Read it row by row: Glowstone Dust in the middle column, then two Glowstone Dust in the left and right columns and an Arrow in the middle column, then Glowstone Dust in the middle column. Expect 2 Spectral Arrows from every craft.

Spectral Arrow Item ID and Give Command

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

Give yourself one
/give @p spectral_arrow
Give a full stack of 64
/give @p spectral_arrow 64
Give it to a named player
/give Steve spectral_arrow 1

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

Overview

Spectral Arrows apply the Glowing effect to hit entities, making them visible through walls for 10 seconds. Spectral Arrow uses a shaped recipe: the ingredients only work in the pattern shown.

Minecraft has used the name Spectral Arrow since 1.9, the oldest release whose language file lists it.

The materials come together from a few sources: you will be working with glowstone dust (mine glowstone in the Nether) and arrow (craft from flint, stick and feather).

Counting The Stack

One stack is 16 goes at 4 glowstone dust each, which totals 32 spectral arrows. On top of that: 16 arrows. Nothing is wasted: craft 16 takes the rest.

Materials Needed

ItemAmountWhere to Find
Glowstone DustGlowstone DustGlowstone Dust4xMine glowstone in the Nether
ArrowArrowArrow1xCraft from flint, stick and feather

Spectral Arrow needs 4x Glowstone Dust (mine glowstone in the Nether) and Arrow (craft from flint, stick and feather), worked together at a Crafting Table.

The Full Chain

Stick, then Arrow, then the Spectral Arrow. All in: 4 Glowstone Dust, 1 Flint, 1 Feather and 2 Planks.

  1. 1
    2StickStick4Stick
  2. 2
    FlintFlintStickStickFeatherFeatherArrowArrow4Arrow
  3. 3
    Spectral ArrowSpectral ArrowSpectral Arrowthis page

Gather this first

Glowstone DustGlowstone Dust4Glowstone DustFlintFlintFlintFeatherFeatherFeather2Planks

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. 1

    Glowstone DustGlowstone Dust4x Glowstone Dust

  2. 2

    ArrowArrowArrow

  3. 3

    2x Spectral Arrow

Minecraft crafting recipe for Spectral Arrow: 4 x Glowstone Dust, 1 x Arrow in a crafting table, making 2 Spectral Arrow.

Tips & Notes

  • One craft costs 4x Glowstone Dust and 1x Arrow. Start with the Glowstone Dust: mine glowstone in the Nether.
  • Each craft yields 2 Spectral Arrow, so a full stack of 64 takes 32 crafts.

Uses for Spectral Arrow

  • Outlining hit entities with a glowing effect

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

Frequently Asked Questions

What do I need to craft a Spectral Arrow in Minecraft?
The list for a Spectral Arrow is short: 4 Glowstone Dust and 1 Arrow, worked at a Crafting Table. Lay them out exactly as the grid above shows, and one craft produces 2 Spectral Arrows.
What do you need to make a Spectral Arrow from scratch?
From raw materials only, a Spectral Arrow comes down to 4 Glowstone Dust, 1 Flint, 1 Feather and 2 Planks. The rest you make yourself, and it takes 3 crafts to get there.
Can you craft a Spectral Arrow without a crafting table?
You need a table for a Spectral Arrow. It is laid out as four Glowstone Dust and a single Arrow 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 Spectral Arrow?
A Spectral Arrow draws its parts from several different places. Glowstone Dust: mine glowstone in the Nether. Arrow: craft from flint, stick and feather.
What should I craft first for a Spectral Arrow?
For a Spectral Arrow, start with a Stick: 2 Planks gives you 4 Sticks. After that the order is Arrow, and then the Spectral Arrow itself.
How many Spectral Arrows do you get from one craft?
The Spectral Arrow recipe makes 2 Spectral Arrows in a single craft.
What is the item ID for Spectral Arrow in Minecraft?
Spectral Arrow is registered as minecraft:spectral_arrow. Commands accept the short form spectral_arrow as well, and Bedrock spells it the same. Checked against Java 26.2.
Can you farm everything you need for a Spectral Arrow?
Spectral Arrow needs nothing you have to go find: glowstone dust from witches and arrow from a fletcher villager. Set those up once and you can keep making spectral arrow.
What is the give command for Spectral Arrow?
/give @p spectral_arrow gives you a Spectral Arrow. Swap @p for a player name to hand it to someone else, and put 64 on the end for a whole stack.
How many crafting steps does a Spectral Arrow take?
A Spectral Arrow takes 3 crafts once you count the parts: Stick and Arrow, and then the Spectral Arrow. The chain section above walks through them in order.
What version of Minecraft added the Spectral Arrow?
As far back as the language files go, the spectral arrow appears under this name in Minecraft 1.9 and not before. The recipe file cannot narrow that down, because recipes only became separate files in 1.12. That pattern above is still the one the game uses.

Sources

Grid, ingredients and yield
4 Glowstone Dust and 1 Arrow in, 2 Spectral Arrows out, Crafting Table. Java 26.2, .
How far back it goes
The name appears in Minecraft Java 1.9 and in nothing older. 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
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: 2 Spectral Arrows per craft against the stack size.

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