Punch

What Punch does

Book cost is the anvil cost of putting that book on a fresh item. However, already-used items add their prior work penalty: work it out in the calculator.

How Punch works

Every arrow pushes the mob or player it hits. Punch adds to that push, so level II sends targets flying a good few blocks back. Unlike melee Knockback, the push follows the arrow's direction, so you can aim where the target goes.

Knockback resistance cuts it down. Full netherite armor, a raised shield and heavy mobs like iron golems and ravagers resist most of the push.

Where Punch is worth it

• PvP on bridges, pillars and cliffs, where one push can win the fight.
• Keeping creepers back before they get close enough to explode.
• Knocking mobs off high ground or into lava and water traps.

Where it hurts

• Mob farms and hunting, where pushed mobs end up out of reach or out of the kill zone.
• Long-range fights, because pushed targets take longer to walk back into range.

So most players use Punch on a PvP bow and leave it off a farming or exploring bow.

In a build

Punch conflicts with nothing. It sits next to Power V, Flame, Unbreaking III and either Infinity or Mending. It is a ×2 book, so Punch II costs 4 levels on a fresh bow. The best bow enchantments page shows where it fits.

Crossbows can't take Punch. If you want push with a crossbow, wind charges are the closest option.

Punch by level

Level I adds a small push, and level II throws targets much further. If you play PvP on bridges and towers, level II is the one that wins fights. For everything else, many players skip Punch entirely.

Punch and Flame

Punch and Flame go well together in PvP. The arrow pushes the target away and sets it on fire, so the target can't close the gap while it burns.

Punch on the anvil

Punch is a ×2 book, so level II costs 4 levels. It conflicts with nothing, so you can add it at any point. However, if you are not sure you want it, leave it off: there is no way to remove only Punch later, since a grindstone strips every enchantment except curses.

Punch and wind charges

Wind charges also push mobs and players away. So if you only want push now and then, a stack of wind charges can stand in for Punch. Then your main bow stays free of knockback for hunting.

Punch and creepers

A Punch arrow pushes a creeper back out of range, and its fuse stops. Then you can finish it from a safe distance before it walks back.

Which items take Punch

Punch goes on 1 kind of gear in the calculator: bow. An enchanting table can roll it on the bow.

Nothing conflicts with Punch, so it fits next to every other enchantment its items can take.

Punch from the enchanting table

The level you can roll depends on the item's enchantability. A material with a higher value reaches higher levels from the same level 30 enchant. This table shows the best Punch each bow can get from a level 30 enchant with 15 bookshelves.

Anything higher has to come from a book instead. Then the enchanting table calculator shows the exact chance for every level.

Anvil cost of Punch

Punch has an anvil multiplier of 4 from another item and 2 from a book. So a Punch II book costs 4 levels on a fresh item, and each lower level costs 2 less. Two fresh Punch I books merge into Punch II for 4 levels. That is a middling cost, so the order still matters once you combine several books.

Java charges the full resulting level every time, even when the item already has a lower level of it. Every step also adds the prior work penalty of both items. The enchantment calculator finds the cheapest order for your whole set of books.

Builds, questions and guides

Punch is part of the max build for 1 item: best bow enchantments. To put it on in the cheapest order, see the bow enchant order.

More reading: Getting books from librarians, How to enchant in Minecraft, Every max enchantment level. You can make a Punch book with the command generator. The librarian price list shows what villagers charge for it.

How to get Punch

• Enchanting table It can appear when you enchant a supported item at an enchanting table. However, higher levels need more bookshelves and a level 30 enchant.
• Librarian villagers Librarians can sell it as an enchanted book. Level I costs 5–19 emeralds plus a book.
• Gear worn by trial chamber mobs This loot table names it directly, so it is one of the most reliable places to look.
• Ominous vaults (trial chambers) This loot table names it directly, so it is one of the most reliable places to look.
• Random enchanted books It is also in the pool for the random enchanted books and gear in many chests and in fishing loot.

Punch is a rare roll at the enchanting table on bows. Librarians sell it, and trial chamber mobs and ominous vaults can drop bows or books with it.

Enchanting power and librarian prices

The power column is the hidden enchanting value each level needs. A level 30 enchant on a bow reaches power 36 at most. That already includes the enchantability bonus and the random spread. The price column shows what a librarian can ask for each book. Curing a zombie villager or the Hero of the Village effect lowers it.

Tips

• Fun for knocking mobs off ledges, annoying when you need them close.
• Many bow builds skip it.

Commands

Give yourself a Punch book or enchant the item in your hand. These work in Java 26.3 once cheats are on.

Versions

Punch is in every Java version from 1.21 (when enchantments became data files) up to 26.3.

Its costs, levels and items have not changed in that time.

Also see the update log for every change, and how this data is checked. Bedrock player? See Punch on Bedrock.

Goes well with

• Curse of Vanishing
• Flame
• Infinity
• Mending
• Power
• Unbreaking