The spear in Minecraft
Published on 7 October 2026
The spear is a weapon with two attacks: a quick jab that reaches up to 4.5 blocks, and a charge attack whose damage depends on how fast you move. You craft it from two sticks and one material, placed diagonally from bottom left to top right. Its own enchantment is Lunge.
The spear arrived on 9 December 2025 with the Mounts of Mayhem drop (Java 1.21.11 and Bedrock 1.21.130). Checked against Java 26.3 and Bedrock 26.52.
How do you make a spear?
Put the material in the top-right slot, a stick in the middle and a stick in the bottom left. There are seven kinds:
| Spear | Material | Jab |
|---|---|---|
| Wooden spear | Planks | 1 / 2 |
| Stone spear | Cobblestone, blackstone or cobbled deepslate | 2 / 3 |
| Copper spear | Copper ingot | 2 / 3 |
| Golden spear | Gold ingot | 1 / 2 |
| Iron spear | Iron ingot | 3 / 4 |
| Diamond spear | Diamond | 4 / 5 |
| Netherite spear | Diamond spear, smithing template and netherite ingot on a smithing table | 5 / 6 |
A better material does more damage but jabs more slowly: the wooden spear is the fastest, the netherite one the slowest. The copper spear does the same damage as the stone one but is slower. How to get netherite ingots is in how to get netherite in Minecraft.
You can also find spears. Zombies and husks sometimes carry an iron spear, piglins and zombified piglins a golden one. Chests hold spears too, for example the weaponsmith’s chest in a village, and bastion remnants and End cities can have a diamond one.
How do the attacks work?
Jab. Tap the attack button. You hit up to 4.5 blocks away, one and a half blocks further than with a sword, and you can hit several enemies at once. If an enemy is closer than 2 blocks, you won’t hit it. A spear can’t land critical hits, and you can’t break blocks with it either.
Charge attack. Hold the use button. You hold the spear out in front, and anything you run into takes damage. That damage depends on how fast you and your target move towards each other, times a multiplier per material. Below 4.6 blocks per second you do no damage; sprinting is just enough. According to the Minecraft Wiki, a netherite spear does 7 damage while sprinting, and up to 18 on a fast horse.
A charge has three stages. First you push an enemy back and, if you’re fast enough, knock it off its mount. Then you only push, and at the end you only do damage. After that you start again. Tip: alternate jabs and charges, because you can charge while your jab is still recharging. Hit five mobs in a single charge and you earn the Mob Kabob advancement.
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What does Lunge do?
Lunge is an enchantment that only goes on a spear, up to level III. Every jab launches you forward horizontally in the direction you’re looking; the higher the level, the further. Look straight ahead rather than up to go furthest. In mid-air you travel further than on the ground.
- Cost: each lunge costs 1 durability and some hunger: 1 hunger point at Lunge I, 2 at II and 3 at III. Saturation goes first, then your hunger bar.
- Doesn’t work: on a horse or other mount, while gliding with elytra, in water, and in Java when you have fewer than 7 hunger points.
- Combo: start a charge right after a lunge. The speed from the lunge then counts towards the damage. Start at some distance, because a charge needs a moment before it can hit.
- How to get it: from the enchanting table, as a book from a librarian, by fishing or from chests. Put a book on your spear with an anvil.
Which enchantments can go on a spear?
According to Mojang, a spear takes every enchantment a sword can, except Sweeping Edge. Lunge comes on top:
- Sharpness V, Smite V or Bane of Arthropods V: you pick one.
- Lunge III
- Looting III
- Fire Aspect II
- Knockback II
- Unbreaking III
- Mending, only from a book on an anvil
- Curse of Vanishing
What is the best combination?
For most players: a netherite spear with Sharpness V, Lunge III, Looting III, Fire Aspect II, Unbreaking III and Mending. Lunge costs durability on every jab, so Unbreaking and Mending are no luxury here. If you mainly fight the undead, such as zombies and their zombie horses, Smite V beats Sharpness. Knockback is a matter of taste: it keeps enemies at a distance, but you still have to reach them again.
All enchantments are listed in the best Minecraft enchantments. Want to try the charge on horseback? Read how to tame a horse in Minecraft first.
Differences between Java and Bedrock
- Damage: a jab does 1 more damage in Bedrock than in Java.
- Cooldown: in Java your attack meter has to be full before the next jab. In Bedrock there is a cooldown like an ender pearl’s, and it applies to every spear in your inventory at once.
- Off-hand: in Java you can hold a spear in your off-hand and charge with it, but that spear’s enchantments don’t count. In Bedrock a spear can’t go in your off-hand.
- Knocking riders off: since Java 26.1 you need the same speed for it as in Bedrock.
