Guides / Enchantments / Multishot Enchantment in Minecraft: What It Does and How to Use It
Multishot Enchantment in Minecraft: What It Does and How to Use It
Published October 16, 2026
- Max level
- I
- Applies to
- Crossbow
- Incompatible with
- Piercing
- Obtained via
- Enchanting table, anvil, villager trade
Multishot turns one crossbow bolt into a three-way spread, at the cost of only one arrow from your inventory.
What Multishot actually does
A Multishot crossbow fires three arrows per shot — the original plus two extras — spread 10° apart horizontally. It still only consumes one arrow from your inventory, but durability-wise the crossbow loses one point per arrow actually fired, so a Multishot shot costs 3 durability instead of 1. Only the center arrow can be picked back up afterward; the two angled ones are lost.
How to use it
Multishot is built for hitting multiple targets in one shot — a raid, a mob farm's kill room, any crowd where spreading damage across several targets beats concentrating it on one. It directly trades off against Piercing (which keeps a single arrow but lets it punch through several targets in a line); you can only ever have one of the two.
Well-known builds that use it
Multishot is one half of the central fork in The Ideal Crossbow Enchantments — the "Multishot Crossbow," paired with Quick Charge III and Unbreaking III + Mending, versus the alternative Piercing build.
Quick Charge III- Multishot I
- Unbreaking III
- Mending I
Build the Multishot Crossbow →
Frequently asked questions
Does Multishot use up 3 arrows per shot?
No — it only consumes one arrow from your inventory. All three arrows fired come from that single consumed arrow; only the crossbow's own durability is charged per arrow actually shot (3 points instead of 1).
Can Multishot and Piercing go on the same crossbow?
No, they're mutually exclusive — the game treats them as directly conflicting enchantments, so an anvil or enchanting table will never let you have both at once.
Can I pick up all three arrows after a Multishot shot?
No, only the center arrow of the three can be recovered. The two arrows angled 10° to either side are lost after the shot.