Bow

A bow is a ranged weapon that fires arrows.

Skeletons
Skeletons have an 8.5% chance of dropping a bow on death when killed by the player. The chance of dropping a bow is increased by 1% per level of looting, allowing up to an 11.5% chance of dropping.

Illusioners
Illusioners have an 8.5% chance of dropping a bow when killed by the player. The chance of dropping a bow is increased by 1% per level of looting, allowing up to an 11.5% chance of dropping.

Trading
Apprentice-level fletcher villagers sell non-enchanted bows for 2 emeralds as part of their trade, and expert-level fletcher villagers sell enchanted bows for 8 or 17-22 emeralds as part of their trade.

The enchantment level are equal to enchant level 5-19.

Fishing
Bows have a chance of being caught by fishing as part of the treasure category. When caught, the bow may be damaged and contain random enchantments equivalent to a level 30 enchantment from an enchantment table.

Weapon
Bows can be drawn back by it. In order to use a bow, the player must have at least one arrow in their inventory, or be in Creative mode. While the bow is being charged or remains fully charged, the player is forced to move at sneaking speed, unless they are riding a horse, minecart or boat. The arrow shown inside the bow will always look like a regular arrow, regardless of what kind of arrow is actually being fired from the bow.

Charging the bow to its maximum causes it to visually shake as an indicator, and releases an arrow with a white sparkling effect, signifying a critical hit. At minimum charge (3 ticks), the arrow will deal and barely travel a block. At full charge (1 second), the arrow travels up to 64 blocks upwards, flies with a speed of roughly 53 m/s, and consistently deals damage, with a smaller chance of dealing. If the arrow hits another player, it will make a high pitched "ding" sound.

Damage caused by the arrow is unaffected by the Strength status effect.

Endermen cannot be shot using an arrow, as the arrow will either disappear as the enderman teleports, or it will become deflected. An arrow shot from a bow enchanted with Flame can ignite the enderman, however.

Enchantments
Bows can receive seven different enchantments, and have a base enchantibility of 1. Bow enchantments have no effect on arrow speed or distance.

Fuel
A bow can be used as fuel in furnaces, smelting 1.5 items per bow in the Java and Legacy Console editions or 1 item per bow in the Bedrock Edition.

Arrows
As arrows are affected by gravity, they take an arcing path over distances. One must aim above the target when firing from a distance, or gain higher ground, to effectively make a hit. Arrows will slow down if shot through water.

Arrows that hit solid blocks will become stuck and can be recollected, unless the arrow was shot by a bow enchanted with Infinity, a player in creative mode, or a skeleton/illusioner.

Arrows shot through lava will ignite, similar to the Flame enchantment. The arrow will likewise ignite any entities it hits. If not extinguished, the fire damage will do up to. If a wither skeleton holds a bow, it will also shoot flaming arrows.

Arrows from bows can trigger wooden pressure plates and wooden buttons, as well as tripwire. However, they cannot trigger stone pressure plates or stone buttons.

The player can choose which type of arrow to fire based on its location in the inventory. Arrows in the off-hand, or the selected hotbar slot if the bow is in the off-hand, are prioritized first. If there are no arrows in the off-hand or selected hotbar slot then the arrow closest to slot 0 is selected.

Trivia

 * If a bow is enchanted with a level 1 enchantment, it will always get Power 1.
 * Bows are the first ranged weapon in Minecraft.
 * When drawing a bow, the screen zooms in slightly.
 * Bows with its enchantments are effective against single targets, while the Crossbow with its enchantments, are good at multiple targets.
 * There is no way to cancel a charged Bow, except on some platforms.