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In Minecraft, there are so many weapons, but which one is the strongest without any mods?

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    Would you count damage with modifiers such as critical hits, different enchantments, and different levels of the strength effects, or do you mean the strongest weapon with only base stats considered?
    – BlueTangsRock
    Aug 22, 2020 at 5:50

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Bow. Base damage at full charge is 9, or with critical hit, 10. Enchanted with Power V (+150% damage) it will deal 23 damage on full charge and 25 with critical hit. Additionally, Flame enchantment will add 4 damage (distributing it over next 5 seconds), and if it's still not enough, you can used tipped arrows of Harming II for additional 12 points of damage, so the maximul total is a whooping 41 points of damage for a single critical hit with a fully enchanted bow with a tipped arrow of harming - or in regular game scenarios, any proper hit (non-critical) with a regular arrow from a fully enchanted, fully charged bow - 27 points, which is enough to kill most regular mobs with one hit.

To compare:

Netherite axe deals 10 base damage (15 crit), and enchanted with Sharpness V, 13 points. A critical hit with enchanted axe will deal 18 points of damage. The situation is significantly better with Smite V enchantment, 22.5 damage against undead, or 33.75 when dealing critical damage (hitting while falling down, e.g. after jumping). Still, against non-undead mobs it will be the same 10/15 points, so a dedicated axe against the Wither may be a good idea, but as general weapon it's rather so-so.

A netherite sword with Sharpness V and Fire Aspect II will produce a total of 18 points on a regular hit or 22 points of damage on critical hit. 27.5 or 37.75 with Smite V and Fire Aspect II against undeads, providing all the fire damage 'goes in'.

Then there's the matter of Sweeping Edge. It's a sword enchantment, which deals damage to all mobs within certain range of the one hit directly, and so the sword can deal thousands of points of damage per hit - distributed over a large number of mobs crammed into a small cell with vines protecting them from death from entity cramming.

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  • Can we count Strength buffs and high level enchantments/effects like Power 20 or Strength 20?
    – WarpPrime
    Aug 27, 2020 at 14:54
  • @fasterthanlight: Strength I and II could be considered in extended analysis but with +3 / +6 damage, a critical hit with a sword barely exceeds regular hit with a bow, and Strength is unwieldy, either a potion or a beacon, potion of Strength II acting an awfully short time. Apples to apples, match it up against tipped arrows. We definitely shouldn't consider effects obtainable only through cheats, at that point all bets are off.
    – SF.
    Aug 28, 2020 at 1:42
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If you are counting on pure damage, then go with a strength 2, netherite axe w/ sharpness 5, and a critical hit.

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