Trident

""It's a weapon that is intended to be used underwater," Jens Bergensten told Tom back when the update was released. "You can both swing with it and throw it." Tridents are pretty strong – they deal more melee damage than a diamond sword. But be aware that they have the durability of an iron one. So if you find a trident, you might want to keep it for special occasions."

- Duncan Geere

A trident is a weapon used in both melee and ranged combat and is a rare drop from drowned.

Obtaining
Tridents are not craftable. They must be picked up as a drop from a killed drowned.

Drowned
15% of drowned $$ (6.25% $$) spawn with a trident of random durability as their natural weapon, and they have a 5.5% chance of dropping the trident (increasing by 1% with each level of Looting). $$, drowned can also drop a trident as one of its normal drops. They have an 11% chance of dropping either a gold ingot or trident when killed by a player or tamed wolf. This is increased by 1% per level of looting. This gives tridents the following chances of dropping:
 * $11/200$ (5.5%)
 * $13/200$ (6.5%) with Looting I
 * $3/40$ (7.5%) with Looting II
 * $17/200$ (8.5%) with Looting III

Only naturally-spawned drowned can spawn with a trident or have a chance of dropping one. A trident held by a drowned has a chance to be enchanted, but the trident's enchantments have no effects for drowned.

Thrown tridents
Tridents thrown onto the ground by a player can be picked up; however, tridents thrown by drowned cannot be picked up, similarly to arrows shot by skeletons.

Drowned
15% of drowned $$, and 6.25% $$, spawn with a trident as its natural weapon. It throws the trident at its opponent every 1.5 seconds, dealing damage in normal difficulty. A drowned can throw unlimited tridents, and these tridents cannot be picked up by the player.

A villager can be turned into a zombie villager if it is killed by a trident thrown by a drowned: the chance of conversion is 0% on Easy difficulty, 50% on Normal, and 100% on Hard and Hardcore.

$$, a drowned can use the trident's melee attack if its target is within three blocks. The melee attack deals damage.

Melee attack
Pressing while holding a trident deals damage to both mobs and players. $$, tridents deal more base melee damage than an unenchanted diamond sword, or  more base melee damage than a netherite sword. $$, tridents deal more base melee damage than a diamond sword, or the same amount of base melee damage as a netherite sword. The trident's durability decreases by 1 when used as a melee weapon.

Ranged attack
Pressing and holding while holding a trident charges it. When released at full charge, the trident is thrown and deals damage to any entity it hits. It flies on a ballistic trajectory similar to that of an arrow, but at 80% strength. If the trident hits a block, it sticks to the block. If it hits an entity, it bounces off the entity and lands nearby. It is also blocked by shields and can be retrieved once it lands in the ground. Thrown tridents can trigger wooden buttons, wooden pressure plates, and target blocks. A trident can be thrown at a chorus flower to break it, which causes the chorus flower to be dropped as an item.

$$ and Java Edition Combat Test 4, tridents can be shot by dispensers.

Tridents enchanted with Loyalty return to the thrower after hitting a mob or a block. Higher levels of enchantment result in shorter recovery times. $$, throwing a trident enchanted with Loyalty into the void destroys it, while $$ it returns to the player. Tridents (if enchanted with Loyalty), can take fire damage but still return to the player if thrown in lava. This is especially helpful in the Nether should the player be using a trident instead of a bow. If a trident enchanted with Loyalty attempts to return to a player with no available inventory space, the trident floats near the player until inventory space becomes available.

Thrown tridents take 1 durability damage, regardless of whether it hit an entity or not. Tridents with 1 durability remaining cannot be thrown.

Tridents enchanted with Riptide launch the player a certain distance when thrown, with the distance increasing for higher enchantment levels. They can only be thrown if the player is standing in water, or if it is precipitating on the block they are standing on. If the player charges it but walks into a nearby dry area, the charge is canceled. If the player throws a Riptide trident and collides with a mob, the mob takes melee damage (including critical damage if the player is falling). Tridents enchanted with Riptide take one durability damage upon throwing, and lose an additional 1 durability if it collides with an entity.

Unlike other projectiles, the trident does not slow down when thrown through water or lava.

$$, the Impaling enchantment affects all water mobs. $$, it deals extra damage to players and mobs in water or rain.

Unlike arrows, thrown tridents do not despawn.

Using Riptide, nearby players or mobs deal splash damage within an 8.25×8.25×4.25 cubical area. It stacks with the Impaling enchantment and Strength effect. Critical hits do not increase splash damage, but affect the target mob.
 * Magical damage

$$, thrown tridents can damage the ender dragon while resting on the bedrock fountain.

Damage
Thrown tridents and splashes deal damage. The damage remains the same regardless of the trident's speed. It has a faster charging speed than a bow or crossbow (barring the Quick Charge enchantment.)

Java Edition
$$, tridents have an attack speed of 1.1 and take ~0.91 seconds to recover.

Bedrock Edition
$$, tridents have no attack cooldown and do the following damage:

Elytra
A trident with the Riptide enchantment can be used to propel a player with a pair of elytra, but only in rainy weather, during snowy weather in certain biomes or while the player is in a body of water.

Impaling damage
$$, the Impaling enchantment deals extra damage to all water mobs. $$, it deals extra damage to all players and mobs in water or rain.

Enchantments
Tridents can receive the following enchantments:
 * Notes

Repairing
Tridents have the same durability as an iron sword. Whenever a trident deals damage, its durability decreases by 1.

Tridents can be repaired by:
 * combining two damaged tridents on a crafting table or the 2×2 inventory grid, which removes any enchantments.
 * combining two damaged tridents in a grindstone, which removes any enchantments (except Curse of Vanishing.)
 * combining a damaged trident with another trident on an anvil, which preserves enchantments.
 * applying the Mending enchantment.

ID




Entity data
Tridents have entity data associated with them that contain various properties of the entity.

Trivia

 * If a player throws a Loyalty-enchanted trident and the player's inventory subsequently fills, the trident hovers around or through the player's skin until an inventory slot opens, which it fills immediately. Multiple tridents can be 'queued' to re-enter the player's inventory in this manner.
 * $$ in Creative mode, sword enchantments can be applied to tridents. This includes Sharpness, Smite, Bane of Arthropods, Fire Aspect, and Looting. Sharpness, Smite, and Bane of Arthropods increases their damage against their specific mobs, as well.
 * $$, a piston moving a block with a trident thrown onto it moves the trident as well, damaging any mobs in the trident's path. This is considered player damage. It would allow for AFK experience farms, although the trident(s) fall off after a few minutes due to.
 * Thrown tridents pass through nether portal blocks without being transported to the Nether or the Overworld.
 * Tridents have the same attack damage as a Netherite Sword.
 * The achievement Very Very Frightening is a reference to the song Bohemian Rhapsody by the band Queen.