BOW

A Fletcher starts selling bows the moment he reaches apprentice, 2 emeralds for one, no potion, no enchantment, just the plain weapon. It never shows up on the side that pays the player either; the only way to acquire one is to buy it or build it.

Building one instead takes 3 stick and 3 string, both of which the same villager buys off you elsewhere on his sheet. Since a bow only ever stacks to one in an inventory, buying several means several separate trades regardless of how deep the villager's stock runs, which changes how worthwhile camping the trade actually is compared with a stackable good.

One seller, one price: a Fletcher at apprentice asks 2 emeralds for a bow. Nothing rolls here, and no other tier undercuts it, since Apprentice is the only place bow appears on his sheet.

Bow sells for as little as 2 emeralds, from the Fletcher at the Apprentice tier, and 1 of the other 4 costs less. The price is fixed rather than rolled, so a second Fletcher will quote you exactly the same.

The Fletcher at its apprentice tier asks 2 emeralds for a bow. 8 of the 72 villagers that pay emeralds, emptied out:

2 lava buckets against 48 paper for the same 2 emeralds, 24 times the carrying, and the shortest wait is the Butcher at 1.3 real minutes of shelf, gathering not counted.

The offer locks after 12 uses, and a villager restocks at most twice a Minecraft day, so 24 bows is the most one Fletcher parts with before the day resets the count.

It surfaces early: level 2 of 5, reached once a villager has 10 trade experience banked. A villager fresh off claiming the fletching table is still 1 tier away from offering it.

12 bows drain one slot, and the Fletcher takes 2 real minutes back at his table before he sells another. A Minecraft day runs 20 real minutes, enough for two of those refills.

A full day of camping nets 24 bows for 48 emeralds, one bow every about 50 real seconds, 2.4 emeralds a real minute. Because a bow stacks to only one, carrying that many home is 24 separate inventory slots, not one tidy pile.

Clearing the shelf empties 12 bows from one Fletcher before he needs a restock. Where the emeralds come from: the same villager buys flint off you too, at his own rate rather than the cheapest one on the site.

The rest of his sheet, worth checking on the same trip: string, crossbow, feather, enchanted bow, tripwire hook and enchanted crossbow.

Three sticks and three string make one, and skeletons drop both, so a bow is effectively free after the first night. Held at full draw it hits hardest, which is why practice matters more here than equipment.

Buying one from a Fletcher is about the enchantment rather than the weapon. Power and Infinity are worth emeralds; a plain bow is not, since the materials cost nothing and the durability is easy to replace.

A bow does full damage only at a full draw, and a half drawn shot does barely more than throwing the arrow. The bow shakes when it is fully drawn, which is the game telling you it is ready.

Firing while sprinting or jumping does not change the damage, but falling does: an arrow fired while you are in the air can land a critical hit, the same way a sword swing does.

Punch knocks the target backwards, which sounds cosmetic until you use it to keep a creeper away from a wall you have just built.

Skeletons sometimes drop the Bow they were holding, usually damaged and now and then enchanted. A skeleton farm hands out a few of those on top of arrows and bones: How to Build a Skeleton Farm in Minecraft. For a fresh Bow the Fletcher charges 2 emeralds.