Combat Items

Combat items cover ranged weapons and throwable projectiles. For melee weapons (swords), check out Tools & Weapons.

BowItem

Files: Minecraft.World/BowItem.h, Minecraft.World/BowItem.cpp

Property	Value
ID	261
Max Durability	384
Max Draw Duration	20 ticks (1 second)
Enchantability	1
Stack Size	1
Use Animation	UseAnim_bow
Base Item Type	eBaseItemType_bow
Material	eMaterial_bow

Draw Mechanics

The bow uses releaseUsing instead of useTimeDepleted. When the player lets go of the use button, power is calculated like this:

int timeHeld = getUseDuration(itemInstance) - durationLeft;
float pow = timeHeld / (float)MAX_DRAW_DURATION;
pow = ((pow * pow) + pow * 2) / 3;
if (pow < 0.1) return;  // too short, no shot
if (pow > 1) pow = 1;   // capped at max

The arrow entity gets created with velocity pow * 2.0f. Fully drawn arrows (pow == 1.0) are flagged as critical via setCritArrow(true).

The max use duration is 20 * 60 * 60 ticks (one hour), so the player has plenty of time to hold the draw.

Enchantment Support

Enchantment	Effect
Power (arrowBonus)	Adds level * 0.5 + 0.5 to arrow base damage
Punch (arrowKnockback)	Sets arrow knockback to the enchantment level
Flame (arrowFire)	Sets arrow on fire for 100 ticks
Infinity (arrowInfinite)	Fires without consuming arrows; arrows drop with PICKUP_CREATIVE_ONLY

Creative mode and the Infinity enchantment both let you fire without using up arrows from inventory. The use() method checks for either instabuild or having arrows before starting the draw.

Durability

Uses 1 durability per shot, applied through itemInstance->hurt(1, player).

Draw Icons

Three pull textures are registered (bow_pull_0, bow_pull_1, bow_pull_2) via the TEXTURE_PULL array. The getDrawnIcon(int amount) method returns the right icon based on draw progress. The constant BOW_ICONS_COUNT = 3 defines the number of draw stages.

PotionItem

Files: Minecraft.World/PotionItem.h, Minecraft.World/PotionItem.cpp

Property	Value
ID	373
Drink Duration	32 ticks ((int)(20 * 1.6))
Stack Size	1
Use Animation	UseAnim_drink

Potions use auxValue to encode the potion type and modifiers. The static method isThrowable(auxValue) checks if a potion is a splash potion. When thrown, a ThrownPotion entity gets created.

The item has multiple sprite layers (base + overlay for liquid color) and caches mob effects per aux value in an unordered_map<int, vector<MobEffectInstance*>*>. Three icons are registered: DEFAULT_ICON, THROWABLE_ICON, and CONTENTS_ICON. The getIcon and getLayerIcon methods pick the right sprites based on whether the potion is throwable and which sprite layer is being drawn.

For the full potion effect system, see Effects (Potions).

Throwable Items

All throwable items work the same way: right-click calls use(), which decreases the stack, plays a bow-like sound, and spawns a projectile entity on the server side.

SnowballItem

Files: Minecraft.World/SnowballItem.h, Minecraft.World/SnowballItem.cpp

Property	Value
ID	332
Stack Size	16
Projectile Entity	Snowball

Spawns a Snowball entity on use. Does knockback but no damage to most mobs. Blazes are the exception, taking 3 damage. Creative mode doesn’t consume the snowball.

EnderpearlItem

Files: Minecraft.World/EnderpearlItem.h, Minecraft.World/EnderpearlItem.cpp

Property	Value
ID	368
Stack Size	16
Projectile Entity	ThrownEnderpearl

Spawns a ThrownEnderpearl entity on use. Teleports the player to where it lands and deals 5 fall damage. You can’t throw one while riding an entity (player->riding != NULL). Creative mode doesn’t consume the pearl.

Note: The original Java code disabled ender pearl use in Creative mode entirely, but 4J commented that out (“Not sure why this was disabled for creative mode”) and instead just skips consuming the item.

EggItem

Files: Minecraft.World/EggItem.h, Minecraft.World/EggItem.cpp

Property	Value
ID	344
Stack Size	16
Projectile Entity	ThrownEgg

Spawns a ThrownEgg entity. There’s a 1/8 chance of spawning a chicken on impact, and a further 1/32 chance of spawning four chickens instead. Creative mode doesn’t consume the egg.

ExperienceItem (Bottle o’ Enchanting)

Files: Minecraft.World/ExperienceItem.h, Minecraft.World/ExperienceItem.cpp

Property	Value
ID	384
Stack Size	64
Projectile Entity	ThrownExpBottle
Foil Effect	Always (isFoil returns true)

Spawns a ThrownExpBottle entity that releases experience orbs when it hits something. Always shows the enchantment glint. Creative mode doesn’t consume the bottle.

FireChargeItem

Files: Minecraft.World/FireChargeItem.h, Minecraft.World/FireChargeItem.cpp

Property	Value
ID	385
Stack Size	64
Base Item Type	eBaseItemType_torch
Material	eMaterial_setfire

Unlike other combat items, fire charges use useOn instead of use. You have to target a block face. The fire charge offsets the position by the face direction and checks if the target space is air (tile ID 0). If so, it places a fire block there and plays the FIRE_IGNITE sound. It’s consumed on use (unless you’re in Creative mode).

There’s also a secondary icon (dragonFireball) registered via registerIcons. When the aux value is > 0, getIcon returns this alternative icon instead of the default. This is used by the Ender Dragon’s fireball projectile.

Potion Brewing Ingredients

Several items are tagged with potion brewing formulas through setPotionBrewingFormula(). See Raw Materials for the full brewing ingredient table.

Combat Item ID Registry

ID	Item	Type
261	Bow	BowItem
262	Arrow	Item
332	Snowball	SnowballItem
344	Egg	EggItem
368	Ender Pearl	EnderpearlItem
373	Potion	PotionItem
384	Bottle o’ Enchanting	ExperienceItem
385	Fire Charge	FireChargeItem

MinecraftConsoles differences

The combat item system is mostly the same, but MinecraftConsoles adds firework rockets as a placeable/launchable item:

• FireworksItem (ID 401) uses useOn to place a FireworksRocketEntity on a block face. It reads explosion data from NBT tags (TAG_FIREWORKS, TAG_EXPLOSIONS, TAG_FLIGHT, etc.) and supports five explosion shape types: small ball (TYPE_SMALL = 0), large ball (TYPE_BIG = 1), star (TYPE_STAR = 2), creeper face (TYPE_CREEPER = 3), and burst (TYPE_BURST = 4). Each explosion entry can have trail (TAG_E_TRAIL) and flicker (TAG_E_FLICKER) flags plus custom colors (TAG_E_COLORS) and fade colors (TAG_E_FADECOLORS). The base item type is eBaseItemType_fireworks.
• FireworksChargeItem (ID 402) is a multi-layer sprite item that reads its tooltip text from the explosion compound tag. Has its own overlay icon and uses getExplosionTagField to pull specific fields out of the explosion NBT data. Also uses eBaseItemType_fireworks.

The BowItem, PotionItem, SnowballItem, EnderpearlItem, EggItem, ExperienceItem, and FireChargeItem classes are all the same between the two codebases.