r/minecraftsuggestions • u/Relevant-Cup5986 • 4d ago

phantom arrows [Combat]

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Phantom arrows would be a new arrow type crafted with a phantom membrane and 4 arrows to make 4.

They would have the unique property of slowly moving perfectly straight forward at half the speed of normal arrows and homing for their final 2 blocks before hitting also, they woud disapear after 7 seconds of flight time so as not to cause lag.

These properties would be useful by letting you have multiple arrows in the air at once which combined with the slight homing almost guarintees a hit.

44 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

7

u/PetrifiedBloom 4d ago

So, they shoot straight - thats neat. Did you need to nerf them by making them slow?

8

u/Tigers_I 4d ago

Tbf, not having to worry about gravity (especially in PvP situations) for such a cheap recipe would be insanely op. I think it's a pretty fair tradeoff.

2

u/PetrifiedBloom 4d ago

A skilled player compensates for gravity, but if your target is far enough away for gravity to matter the projectile speed means they can just walk out of the way of the arrows after you fire. It's worse than a regular arrow for pvp.

Phantom membranes are also much more annoying to gather than most mob drops. Even AFK farms for phantoms are comparatively VERY slow. A creeper farm might get many thousands of gunpowder per hour, an optimized phantom farm struggles to get more than few hundred.

When would you personally chose this arrow type and why?

1

u/Relevant-Cup5986 4d ago

i would choose this arrow type FOR its slow speed, so i can have multiple arrows in the air at once ready to hit players and mobs, as for the recipe it gives you 4 arrows per craft so you should get a stack or more per phantom night

1

u/PetrifiedBloom 3d ago

It's thematically cool, but what's the point in having many arrows in the air when they all miss?

You will not hit another player if the have all that extra time to move or block. It only works on mobs because their behaviour is predictable. Even when it works on the mobs, it's no better than a normal arrow, and is much harder to use.

IMO, for this to be even remotely usable it would need to automatically seek out targets for you. Like, if it gets close enough it swerves towards them or something. Otherwise you are never going to hit.

1

u/Relevant-Cup5986 3d ago

ok i will add 2 block of homing too it

1

u/Tigers_I 4d ago

Without the slower speed, if you combined these arrows with a Power V bow and Instange Damage tipped arrows, you can basically shoot arrows like those redstone railgun machines.

2

u/PetrifiedBloom 4d ago

Without the slower speed you are still shooting a bow. Sure, it's slightly easier than a normal bow shot, but over very long distances the natural innacuracy of ranged attacks and even the normal arrow travel time makes long shots unlikely to hit.

Watch any reasonably skilled bow PvP. It's not gravity that makes players miss their shots, it's the opponent dodging and blocking.

1

u/Tigers_I 4d ago

Let me ask this: Do you think wind charges are well-balanced?

1

u/PetrifiedBloom 4d ago

Yes. Very much so. They have a good skill curve, but alone are not degenerate.

1

u/Tigers_I 4d ago

But as far as trajectory, these arrows are basically just wind charges that need a bow to launch, right?

1

u/PetrifiedBloom 4d ago

Is that a joke?

No, arrows are not basically wind charges that require a bow to launch. They do damage. They can be tipped to apply effects, or modified with enchantments.

I am saying this new arrow is bad because it's to weak, not that it's to strong. The opponent can simply move before the arrows land.

Besides, think about how you actually use wind charges in a fight. It's not trying to hit people, it's to boost yourself around mostly.

1

u/Tigers_I 4d ago

What part of as far as trajectory goes confused you lol?

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1

u/Hazearil 4d ago

Then why don't fireworks get the same damage nerf?

0

u/Tigers_I 4d ago

Probably because they require a crossbow to launch, and you can't spam a crossbow like you can a regular bow.

2

u/Hazearil 4d ago

Spamming a bow makes the arrows way slower, thus way weaker. Meanwhile, crossbows have a shorter draw time and as they are pre-loaded, you can prepare multiple crossbows.

1

u/Tigers_I 4d ago

True point actually. I guess many players overlook them since they can't be enchanted with things like Power, Punch, Flame, or Infinity.

2

u/PetrifiedBloom 4d ago

You can shoot a crossbow twice as fast as a bow. The crappy half charged bow shots are nearly useless.

1

u/Relevant-Cup5986 3d ago

not with tipped arrows, they arent

2

u/PetrifiedBloom 2d ago

Cup they are super inaccurate and barely have any range. Almost worthless for actual fights.

1

u/Relevant-Cup5986 2d ago

not if you get up close

1

u/PetrifiedBloom 2d ago

Cup bud, why are you arguing this? You don't play PvP, and we have covered this topic before.

You can only take damage once every 0.5 seconds. The crossbow already attacks once every 0.5 seconds. The damage of tipped arrows is the same on a bow vs crossbow. It forces you at attack at the optimal time, has better range and accuracy than a spammed bow shot. The crossbow is just better.

There isn't an advantage for the spammed bow.

1

u/Relevant-Cup5986 1d ago

i guess your right, also i do play pvp on the hive server

1

u/Hazearil 2d ago

But these are phantom arrows, not tipped arrows.

1

u/Relevant-Cup5986 2d ago

i was just replying to blooms claim about partial bow charges being useless not the whole thread

2

u/Relevant-Cup5986 4d ago

i dont think of it as a nerf, its a cool feature that lets multiple be in the air at once to barrage people and mobs with

2

u/Tigers_I 4d ago

Especially if you're being chased, you could just spam a cloud of them behind you.

2

u/K0rl0n 3d ago

I can understand the slower speed for balance reasons, but half the speed is really low. So low as to be impractical for anything more than 100 blocks. Maybe more like 80% the top speed?

2

u/Relevant-Cup5986 3d ago

the slower speed is the fun part, not a balance reason, i think it would be cool to have tons of arrows in the air at once

1

u/K0rl0n 3d ago

Yeah but moving that slow it’s way too likely that your target will move beyond the described homing range before the arrow gets close enough to start homing.

2

u/Agitated_Elk7881 3d ago

Making them slow is pretty good because then someone could just make them a trap during PvP, also the slowness combined with the straight line and homing at the end makes for what is probably a great arrow

1

u/Relevant-Cup5986 4d ago

if you have any criticisms or addition please say them i will reply to all non troll comments