Minecraft Forums

Hey everyone so since Minecraft updated it so you are no longer able to get mending and infinity on the same bow. So I am wondering what one i should use because I am not sure what one should i use on my bow that will benefit me the most in the long run for someone who does have a AFK fish farm.

please post your thoughts below.

I would go with Mending; at least in my case I do not need Infinity because I use my sword to kill most skeletons (e.g. ambush them around a corner) and do not use my bow on much else, which I recently confirmed during a test playthough on a mod I was finishing; I did not put Infinity on my bow and started out with a stack of arrows - and ended up with a stack, with only a couple dozen uses on my bow (only Power V, while I normally also use Infinity and Unbreaking III), compared to 400 on my sword and about 60 skeletons killed, which drop an average of one arrow each so that's more than twice as many arrows as I used (I did not pick all of them up). Looting, which I did not use, can also use used to increase the average drop rate to 2.5 per skeleton (0-5 vs 0-2 each).

Actually, even Mending is a bit overkill in that case; 24 uses per day and 1540 uses with Unbreaking III results in one repair every 64 days and an overall lifetime of 449 days (initial bow + 6 repairs); as it is I often repair my bow about once a month using half-damaged bows dropped by skeletons so that is about right (I play in an older version so renaming an item on the anvil lets you repair it indefinitely, with a Power V, Infinity, Unbreaking III bow costing 31 levels to repair, about the same as the final repair possible in 1.8+, 33 levels).

I might use a bow more often in 1.9+ but most of the time when I encounter a skeleton I practically run into them while lighting up a cave; I've played a bit in 1.9+ and I did not really notice much of a difference, aside from being a bit harder to shoot with a bow due to their strafing (missed shots do not necessarily count as using more arrows since you can pick them up but your bow does wear out faster so this is another plus to Mending).

While I respect TheMasterCavers opinion I would go infinity at first. That way you don't need to haul stacks of arrows around. Look at the end of the day though it comes down to how often you use bows.

Personally I make more than enough experience mining to ever need mending on my bow. Go with your heart. I never need to repair my picks or sword as they have mending. I use all my extra levels to repair my armour. Because I already had a mending and infinity bow pre 1.11 its not a concern for me. If I did not have it I would use infinity and spend some mining xp on the bow.

It depends of how you like to fight, if you like ranged, better go for infinity and a good "villager trading station" to get enchanted books or bows to make new ones (with unbreaking they will last a fair amount of time)

If you are more a melee, go with a single stack of arrows and mending.

Or the other way around.

It just depends how you like to play!

Bows are made from renewable materials only (wood from trees, string from respawning spiders). Arrows however have a non-renewable material in the recipe (flint from gravel). You could take that into account when making your choice.

Arrows can be hard to get unless you have a skeleton grinder. I'd say Infinity is more valuable in most situations.

Infinity. Why? Because by the time an Unbreaking Infinity bow is broken, you'll have enough experience to make another one. Depending on how many arrows you use, though, you may at some point run out of arrows.

I personally find that an irritating choice to have to make. I don't understand why Mojang thought this was a good idea? Fortunately I already have Infinity+Mending bows in my worlds, but if I ever lose them I'm gonna be pissed I can't make another.

I suppose I would have to go with Infinity over Mending. I'm a pretty crack shot with a bow, so I use mine a lot, and with Unbreaking III they last a good long while. I also like to use my bow off-hand while holding my sword so that I get the benefit of Looting III while using the bow (it's a great way to collect Ghast Tears and Blaze Rods).

As for the OP, I suppose if you have an AFK fish farm you'll catch enough enchanted bows to make another when your current one wears out, so I'd recommend Infinity. It's just nice to not have to worry about running out of ammo.

Infinity for normal arrows.

Mending if you used tipped arrows like me.

Quote from RobertFrans»

Bows are made from renewable materials only (wood from trees, string from respawning spiders). Arrows however have a non-renewable material in the recipe (flint from gravel). You could take that into account when making your choice.

Arrows are renewable. You can get them from skeletons.

The problem isn't that bows aren't renewable, it's that there are a lot of enchants available for bows, and to get a really well enchanted bow can take some significant time and effort (not to mention, lots of XP). It's always a little frustrating when your OP bow (armor, tools, weapons) reaches its repair limit and you have to go through all that effort and XP to make a replacement. That's why Mending was such a nice addition (although admittedly, a pretty OP one).

Why they nerfed it with Infinity is a bit odd. If they really wanted to nerf Mending, they could have made it incompatible with Unbreaking [ducks].

I still think Infinity is the best choice (it's better to have arrows and not need them than the alternative). An Unbreaking III God-bow can be repaired several times before you reach the XP limit of the Anvil, and you can fire thousands of arrows before then.

I suppose the best way to know for sure would be to make one of each and see how often (if ever) you run out of arrows when starting with only 1 stack in your inventory with your Mending bow (since 1 or 64 takes the same amount of inventory slots).

Use version 1.11 and put both (mending ant infinity) at the same time in your bow. Than come back to 1.11.2.

Be aware that you will loose some itens that appeared after 1.11.

If not possible, go for the infinity enchant (with unbreaking III).

Quote from Cavalski»

Use version 1.11 and put both (mending ant infinity) at the same time in your bow. Than come back to 1.11.2.

Be aware that you will loose some itens that appeared after 1.11.

If not possible, go for the infinity enchant (with unbreaking III).

Um... What kind of items?

Oh right, so you're saying I'll lose my totems of undying, my llamas, and my shulker boxes?

Quote from Jay29»

Um... What kind of items?

Oh right, so you're saying I'll lose my totems of undying, my llamas, and my shulker boxes?

You will lose those "sweeping edge" enchantments too, but not the shulker boxes. Probably llamas will not be affected too.

Also, when returning to the mansion where you got the totems it will be exactly the same way you left it. Mobs will not respawn.

I only use mending on my good bows now. I've never used a stack of arrows yet so infinity is kind of pointless for me.

BUT mostly because having a skeleton farm is excellent for my arrows and experience for fixing items enchanted with mending.

I haven't played a whole lot recently so I haven't really tested mending but Infinity has always been the most useful enchantment for bow users, it's like a lot of the people above say though it depends on how much you use it. With Unbreaking 3 on the bow you probably won't have any issues with the repairing for a long time so I don't see mending being as useful personally.

AFK fish farm = enchanted bows out the wazoo = I'd go with Infinity.

I'd use mending. I mean, who wouldn't want an unbreakable bow? (If it can break, don't blame me, I don't play in survival that much.)

Good question, it depends mostly on how far into the game you are I'd say. If you don't use tipped arrows and/or haven't built a farm that grinds a bajillion skeletons an hour(as is the likely scenario early game), Infinity is best. If you use tipped arrows and/or have built said farm(which is more common late game), you should go with Mending. This is just my opinion, though.

It's actually not a very difficult question. An AFK fishing farm will get you enough enchanted bows and enough levels to make sure you can build several very powerful bows, this easily outweighs the factor of making and carrying arrows. So infinity all the way

Use Mending! You can kill a ton of skeletons and get more arrows anyway. Mending is like a super unbreaking enchantment. It's probably the best one in the game (besides frost walker). If you didn't get mending, you would be missing a huge chance.