Minecraft's world is teeming with hostile mobs. They lurk in narrow caves, dense forests, and many other perilous locations. It is no joke to explore it without the right gear in your kit. Moreover, the challenge intensifies when you also have to deal with players on the best Minecraft SMP servers. Thankfully, you can turn these tight spots to your advantage by utilizing the Piercing enchantment. But exactly what does Piercing do in Minecraft, and how can you get it? Let's dive in to find out!

What Does Piercing Do in Minecraft (2023)

Piercing is a powerful combat enchantment in Minecraft but obtaining and using it can get tricky. So, explore all the sections of our guide to make the most out of this game-changing upgrade.

What is Piercing Enchantment in Minecraft

Piercing is a powerful enchantment that you can apply to crossbows in Minecraft. It allows your arrows to pierce through multiple entities with a single shot. This mechanic works with all types of arrows in the game including spectral and tipped arrows.

Whether you are dealing with many enemies on the best Minecraft PvP servers or killing a group of mobs, Piercing can be game-changing. But to prevent overpowering, Minecraft restricts the combination of Piercing and Multishot enchantments.

How to Make a Crossbow in Minecraft

The Piercing enchantment is only useful if you have a weapon that's compatible with it. So, follow these steps to make a crossbow in Minecraft:

1. First, mine iron ore blocks to get raw iron with a pickaxe. Then, use a furnace to smelt raw iron into ingots. You can use our Minecraft 1.20 ore distribution guide to make the search easier.

2. Next, combine an iron ingot with a stick and plank to craft a tripwire hook.

3. Then, find and kill spiders or cave spiders to obtain two strings.

4. Finally, combine two strings, a tripwire hook, and iron ingots with three sticks using the following recipe. With that, your crossbow is ready!

How to Get Piercing in Minecraft

There are multiple ways to apply Piercing enchantment to your crossbow in Minecraft. Let's go over each of them to find the option that suits your requirements.

Enchanted Books

Enchanted books are one of the easiest ways to obtain enchantments in the game. However, since you have no control over what enchantment a book can hold, it can be a bit hard to locate Piercing. But, if you're willing to take a chance, here are the methods you use to locate enchanted books:

• Bartering with Piglins or trading with Villagers
• Fishing
• Killing Vindicators and Pillagers during a Pillager raid
• Chest loot of various structures (best chances with Strongholds, Ancient Cities, and Desert Temples)

Once you have obtained a Piercing enchanted book, you can combine it with a crossbow using an anvil. Though, even if you don't find enchanted books, exploring structures is still rewarding. Almost all of them spawn with amazing armor trims, which allow you to customize your armor.

Enchantment Table

If searching for books doesn't go as planned, here's how to use an Enchantment Table to get piercing in Minecraft:

1. First, create an Enchantment Table in Minecraft using our dedicated guide. It requires four obsidian blocks, one book, and two diamonds for crafting.

2. Then, find and mine lapis lazuli ore blocks. They most commonly spawn at the world height of Y=0.

3. Then, place several bookshelves around the Enchantment Table to level it up. This mechanic only works with regular bookshelves and not the new chiseled bookshelves.

4. Next, open your Enchantment Table by right-clicking or using the secondary action key on it. Then, place your crossbow and a lapis lazuli on the table. Doing so will display all the enchantments that can be applied to this weapon.

5. Finally, locate the "Pericing' enchantment and click on it to apply it to your crossbow. Though, if you don't see it on your table, you might have to repeat the last two steps multiple times.

Commands

The quickest and most reliable way to obtain a Piercing crossbow in Minecraft is with the help of commands. However, keep in mind that this only works if you have cheats enabled in your world. Moreover, some of the best Minecraft survival servers don't even allow players to use commands. So, please practice caution.

To summon a Piercing crossbow, you can use the following command:

/give @p crossbow{Enchantments:[{id:piercing,lvl:4}]} 1

In this command, the "4" represents the level of the Piercing enchantment. You can adjust this number to increase or decrease the enchantment level. But, the maximum level you can set is 127, as any level beyond that will turn the enchantment ineffective.

How to Use Piercing in Minecraft

Now that you know the basics of this enchantment, let's figure out what does Piercing do in Minecraft and where it fails. Here are all the mechanics that you need to know while using Piercing:

• Each level of Piercing enchantment allows it to go through one additional entity after the initial hit.
• With Piercing IV, your arrows can hit up to four entities in a single shot. But, you can use commands to go way beyond this limit (see the last section).
• This enchantment doesn't affect the direction of your arrows. So, to maximize the effectiveness of Piercing, all of your targets must be in a straight line of sight.
• A major advantage of using a Piercing is its ability to bypass shields, even when an opponent is actively blocking. This makes your weapon extremely powerful during PvP combat.
• Piercing enchantment doesn't affect firework rockets that are fired from a crossbow.

What Does Piercing Do in Minecraft: FAQs

Can you apply Piercing to bows in Minecraft?

Unfortunately, Piercing can only be applied to crossbows. However, you can apply Power enchantment to your bow in Minecraft to increase the damage it deals.

What does Piercing do in Minecraft on a crossbow?

Piercing allows your crossbow to shoot arrows that can go through multiple entities in a single shot.

Is there a Piercing advancement in Minecraft?

When you kill two Phantoms with a single Piercing crossbow shot, it unlocks the "Two Birds, One Arrow" advancement in Minecraft.

Use Piercing in Minecraft Today

With a Piercing enchanted crossbow on your back, you are now ready to take down the strongest enemies in Minecraft. However, don’t let the fact that you know what can piercing do in Minecraft shadow your judgment. Crossbows are only effective if you are far away from your enemies. So, make sure to keep a diamond sword in your kit to handle close combat. Alternatively, you can also rely upon an Elytra to fly away from the targets. And if all else fails, Netherite armor can serve as a reliable defense. Now that you're prepared, which formidable foe will you pierce first with your all-powerful crossbow? Join us on our Discord server and share your victories!