HowToCraft

Minecraft

How to Craft a Crossbow in Minecraft

By Kevin Henrique · Updated August 25, 2026 · Station: Crafting Table

To craft a crossbow in Minecraft you need three sticks, two string, one iron ingot, and a tripwire hook. Make the hook first: iron, stick, and a plank in a column. Then the remaining pieces go around that hook on the Crafting Table.

Crafting Table
Materials
Item Qty Where to get it
Stick 3 Put two Wooden Planks in a vertical pair in the inventory grid. One pair makes four sticks. This ingredient is crafted too — station below.
String 2 Kill spiders or cave spiders (0–2). Break cobwebs with a sword. Cats can drop string too.
Iron Ingot 1 Mine iron ore with a stone pickaxe or better, then smelt it in a furnace. Iron golems and zombies can also drop ingots. This ingredient is crafted too — station below.
Tripwire Hook 1 Craft on a Crafting Table: iron on top, stick in the middle, plank under it. Take both hooks. This ingredient is crafted too — station below.

Crossbow specs

Difficulty
Mid game
Where it lives
Crafted. Also from pillagers, pillager outpost chests, and journeyman fletchers.
Where to get it
Craft on a Crafting Table: hook in the center, string on both sides, iron above, sticks at the two top corners and the bottom middle.
Item ID
minecraft:crossbow
Stackable
No
Max stack
1
Renewable
Yes
Material
Item
Diggable
No
Give command
/give @p minecraft:crossbow 1

Ingredient specs

Wooden Planks

Early game
Where to get it
Punch or axe a log, then convert the log to planks in the 2×2 inventory grid. Oak, birch, spruce and the rest all count.
Where it lives
Overworld trees. Any wood biome.
Item ID
minecraft:oak_planks
Legacy item ID
minecraft:planks
Numerical ID
5
Stackable
Yes
Max stack
64
Renewable
Yes
Hardness
2
Blast resistance
2
Material
Wood
Diggable
Yes

Stick

Early game
Where to get it
Put two Wooden Planks in a vertical pair in the inventory grid. One pair makes four sticks.
Where it lives
Crafted anywhere you have planks. Also dropped by witches and found in some chests.
Item ID
minecraft:stick
Numerical ID
280
Stackable
Yes
Max stack
64
Renewable
Yes
Material
Item
Diggable
No

Iron Ingot

Early game
Where to get it
Mine iron ore with a stone pickaxe or better, then smelt it in a furnace. Iron golems and zombies can also drop ingots.
Where it lives
Overworld caves and mountains. Also buried treasure and village chests.
Item ID
minecraft:iron_ingot
Numerical ID
265
Stackable
Yes
Max stack
64
Renewable
Yes
Material
Item
Diggable
No
Furnace time
10 s

Raw Iron

Early game
Where to get it
Mine iron ore with a stone pickaxe or better. Silk Touch keeps the ore block; otherwise you get raw iron.
Where it lives
Overworld caves and mountains, mostly between deepslate and the surface.
Item ID
minecraft:raw_iron
Stackable
Yes
Max stack
64
Renewable
Yes
Material
Item
Diggable
No

String

Early game
Where to get it
Kill spiders or cave spiders (0–2). Break cobwebs with a sword. Cats can drop string too.
Where it lives
Overworld night spawns, mineshaft cobwebs, spider spawners.
Item ID
minecraft:string
Numerical ID
287
Stackable
Yes
Max stack
64
Renewable
Yes
Material
Item
Diggable
No

Tripwire Hook

Mid game
Where to get it
Craft on a Crafting Table: iron on top, stick in the middle, plank under it. Take both hooks.
Where it lives
Crafted. Also four in each jungle pyramid, pillager outpost chests, and junk while fishing.
Item ID
minecraft:tripwire_hook
Numerical ID
131
Stackable
Yes
Max stack
64
Renewable
Yes
Hardness
0
Blast resistance
0
Material
Wood
Diggable
Yes

How to craft these materials

Stick

Inventory (2×2)

Iron Ingot

Furnace
  • 1 Raw Iron

Tripwire Hook

Crafting Table

Sticks, string, iron, and a hook

Two planks stacked in the inventory make four sticks; this craft uses three of them plus one more in the hook. String comes from spiders at night or from cobwebs cut with a sword. Mine iron with a stone pickaxe or better and smelt two ingots in a furnace: one for the hook, one for the limbs.

Column for the hook, then the limbs

Open the Crafting Table. Put an iron ingot in the top-middle square, a stick under it, and a plank under the stick. Two tripwire hooks appear; take them. Clear the grid. Drop one hook in the center, string to the left and right of it, iron in the top-middle, and sticks in the top-left, top-right, and bottom-middle. One crossbow appears on the right.

Charge, then shoot

Hold use until the string seats, then tap use again to fire. It stays loaded if you put it away. An arrow in the inventory is enough; a firework rocket in the off-hand loads instead. Pillagers at an outpost carry one, and a journeyman fletcher sells one for three emeralds.

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