How to get and use spectral arrows in Minecraft

Spectral arrows are one of the many arrow variants in Minecraft, though they only appear in Java Edition. Regardless, they can be an interesting asset in a player's arsenal.

When a target is hit with a spectral arrow, it is given the Glowing status effect for 10 seconds. This effect forms a bright outline around the target, which can be seen through solid blocks.

In team-based scenarios, the target affected by the Glowing status effect will also have an outline that corresponds to the color of their current team. This makes spectral arrows quite useful in PvP situations. However, it's important to note that a bow enchanted with Infinity will still consume spectral arrows, as the enchantment only affects standard arrows.

So how does a Minecraft player acquire spectral arrows in Java Edition? Fortunately, there are a few different ways to do so.

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You can craft, loot, barter, or use commands to get spectral arrows in Minecraft 1.19

A spectral arrow marks a target through a solid wall in Minecraft (Image via Mojang)

Obtaining spectral arrows in standard Survival Mode gameplay can be accomplished in three ways. You can craft them by combining four glowstone dust and one arrow, loot them from chests inside bastion remnant structures, or barter with piglins using gold ingots.

In Creative Mode, spectral arrows can be accessed through the in-game inventory system. Some commands can also be used to obtain spectral arrows if players have cheats enabled.

Steps you can follow to craft spectral arrows

1. Once you've collected an arrow and four glowstone dust (this dust is obtained by breaking glowstone blocks and looting them after killing witches), open your crafting table.
2. Place your arrow in the center of the crafting grid. Put your glowstone pieces around the arrow so that the items resemble a + symbol. This means placing the glowstone directly above, below, and to the left and right of the arrow.
3. Remove your two spectral arrows from the output of the crafting table and place them in your inventory.

Steps you can follow to barter for spectral arrows in Minecraft

1. Equip one piece of golden armor at a minimum and enter the Nether. With the gold armor equipped, standard piglins that can be bartered with won't attack you outright. Be sure to bring along as many gold ingots as possible, as bartering with piglins will provide randomized items.
2. Place your gold ingot in your hands and approach a piglin before right-clicking them or pressing the use/interact button on your console controller or mobile device. The piglin should take the gold ingot and stare for a moment before pocketing it and dropping randomized items. Spectral arrows have an approximate 8.71% chance to drop alongside a few other items, so it may take several ingots to get a piglin to drop spectral arrows.

Steps you can follow if you want to use commands to obtain spectral arrows in Minecraft

1. Enable cheats in Java Edition. This can be done either during world creation or by opening the game to LAN via the pause menu during gameplay.
2. Open your command console and enter the command "/give @p minecraft:spectral_arrow" without quotations. However, this only provides a single arrow. To mend this, enter the same command with a number at the end of the command syntax, like "/give @p minecraft:spectral_arrow 15" for 15 spectral arrows.

Once you have your spectral arrows in your inventory, using them is relatively simple.

If you only have spectral arrows in your inventory, their bow will fire them by default. However, if you have a mix of standard or tipped arrows and spectral arrows, you will want to place your spectral arrows in the first slot of your inventory. This will allow the bow to fire spectral arrows before depleting them and firing other arrow types.