What does the Piercing enchantment do in Minecraft?

Enchantments in Minecraft add new utility to your favorite items. They can make your weapons more durable, increase the efficiency of your tools, or add new special effects to your armor pieces. However, remembering the use of every single enchantment in the game can be difficult. Here is what you need to know about the Piercing enchantment in Minecraft.

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What does the Piercing enchantment do in Minecraft?

Piercing is an enchantment that can only be applied to Crossbows in Minecraft. It has no effect on regular Bows, Swords, or any other item in the game.

When applied to a Crossbow, any arrows that the weapon shoots will travel through enemies that it hits. This lets you damage any mobs or players sitting behind others, and it also will travel through Shields being used to defend themselves with. The number of entities it will pass through depends on the level applied to the Crossbow, which is a maximum of four. This only works for arrows, as fireworks fired from the Crossbow will still work as normally intended.

Piercing can not be applied to any Crossbow that has the Multishot enchantment attached and vice versa.

How to get the Piercing enchantment in Minecraft

Getting the Piercing enchantment is a luck of the draw situation. You can fish it up from water source blocks or find it randomly in Chests hidden in various structures. You can also make your own Enchantment Book with it by creating one at an Enchantment Table. Doing that will require you to spend experience levels and Lapis Lazuli on the regular Book here.

When you have a Piercing Enchantment Book, you can add it to a Crossbow at an Anvil. You can then take it off by putting it through a Grindstone if you wish.