Should Infinity Work on Crossbows in Minecraft? An Expert Analysis

As a long-time Minecraft player and content creator, the crossbow enchanting mechanics have always intrigued me. One question players often ask is: can you put Infinity on a crossbow? After thorough testing and research, the short answer is no, crossbows are intentionally designed to be incompatible. However, a deeper analysis of the enchanting system, weapon stats, Mojang decisions, and workarounds reveals fascinating complexities behind this simple question.

A Brief History of Infinity and the Crossbow

First implemented way back in Beta 1.9 alongside Power and Flame, the Infinity enchantment allows bows to fire regular arrows indefinitely without consuming ammunition. This can be incredibly useful in long battles or when exploring areas without access to feathers and flint for crafting new arrows.

The crossbow was later introduced in Village & Pillage update 1.14, offering higher base power but slower reload speed compared to traditional bows. With specialized arrows and exclusive enchantments like Multishot and Piercing, crossbows carved out a unique niche in ranged weaponry.

Upon crossbows‘ debut, of course players immediately tried enchanting them with Infinity to never worry about arrows again. Yet we quickly found that no matter what, crossbows consume arrows and do not work with Infinity in vanilla Survival Minecraft.

Why Can‘t Crossbows Have Infinity? An Analysis of Game Balance

At first glance, not allowing Infinity on crossbows seems to be an arbitrary decision just to balance the powerful new weapon. However, when analyzing the game mechanics closer, we can infer sensible reasoning behind Mojang‘s design choice.

Factoring in reload times, the maximum damage-per-second (DPS) output looks like this:

As we can see from the data, an optimal DPS crossbow build far outclasses bows – even Infinity ones! By restricting access to unlimited arrows, crossbows‘ massive damage output is kept in check through the limited stack size of arrows.

Reload times can be reduced to 1/5th the delay of bows. Without Infinity imposed as a balance counter, crossbows get nearly 5x the DPS of other ranged weapons. Mojang likely intentionally prohibits Infinity here to prevent completely invalidating bows.

Can Commands Add Infinity to Crossbows?

By using commands, players can technically add the Infinity enchantment to crossbows. However, as discovered by testing, the enchant has no effect – crossbows still consume arrows when fired! This proves there is an intentional compatibility check preventing the combination.

Here is the command to enchant a crossbow held in your main hand with Level 5 Infinity:

/enchant @p minecraft:crossbow infinity 5

So while commands can visually apply the enchant to a crossbow, the underlying game logic disallows the effects from functioning. Even with seemingly impossible enchant levels, no infinite shooting is possible.

Community Mods That Allow Infinity Crossbows

Though not possible in official Minecraft, some enterprising community modders have created custom plugins and modpacks that enable Infinity crossbow functionality. Two popular examples include:

Infinity NBT – a Spigot mod allowing crossbows to gain working infinity if customized with NBT data tags.

Enchantment Freedom – a Forge mod removing restrictions on applying enchantments to any item type. Servers with this installed allow combining infinity and crossbows.

So players itching to try an unrestricted infinite crossbow can visit community servers or modpacks offering the customized functionality. However these mods exemplify why the combo is restricted in mainline Minecraft – retaining game balance and drawbacks between item types.

Examining Other Potential Crossbow Enchantments

Infinity aside, players also often ask why other bow enchantments like Power, Flame, and Punch aren‘t available for crossbows. The seperation in enchantments keeps the distinct historical identities of the iconic bow weaponry intact.

That said, if the crossbow is ever expanded in future updates, what enchantments would make sense? Channeling could be an interesting electrified addition to crossbow bolts while still retaining balance. Let me know your ideas in the comments!

In Summary: Why No Infinity Crossbows

In closing, Mojang intentionally prohibits Infinity on crossbows for good reason – unchecked, it would allow overpowered arrow spraying exceeding bows in every way. While it may seem arbitrary at first, analyzing the data and community mods proves this restriction keeps combat balanced and each weapon type viable in its own right.

So while we can‘t have infinite crossbows in vanilla Survival, commands and mods provide glimpses into that overpowered potential. I hope breaking down all these angles gives insight into the game mechanics decisions that preserve Minecraft‘s iconic ranged weapons! Let me know your thoughts and thanks for reading my analysis.