Minecraft Dungeons uses a pretty different combat system from the classic Minecraft. You won’t be gathering materials to craft a diamond sword yourself, but you’ll be fending off creepers, zombies, and geomancers with far more than just a blade.
Weapons and armor drop randomly from mobs and the blacksmith, with certain types exclusive to specific levels and difficulties. Here are all the Minecraft Dungeons weapon and armor types available in the game and where you’re most likely to find them on your travels, including new ones added in the DLC.
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Where to get items and equipment
When you go onto the Stage Select/Exploration screen, you’ll notice each stage you tap into lists the equipment and artifacts available within. These will all display as small question mark-covered silhouettes until you find your first, so expect to run the same stage two or three times to unlock the lot.
More items are added as you complete the game on Default difficulty and move up to Adventure and Apocalypse, so don’t expect to settle on your final build for quite some time.
Beyond that, you can gamble Emeralds found in chests or salvaged from gear to buy random equipment and artifacts from the two vendors who pop up in the camp as you clear more stages. You can unlock unknown equipment this way so long as you’ve completed the stage they typically appear in.
Unique items explained
While most weapons and armor will have their standard names as seen below, you’ll occasionally come across enchanted “unique” variants with names like Stormlander, Voidcaller, or Ember Robe.
These kinds of equipment typically have certain enchantments baked into them, leaving their usual enchantment slots open for even more fancy gimmicks.
All melee weapon types
As of launch, there are 11 total weapon types known to players. You’ll unlock the vast majority of these in your first playthrough, but a couple will only be included in a stage’s loot table on Adventurer difficulty and above.
Each weapon type has varying degrees of damage, attack combos, reach, and speed, giving each a very different use-case in particular builds.
Sword
This is your starting weapon. The sword uses a three-hit combo consisting of two horizontal swings and a forward thrust. There isn’t much room for wide-area attacks with this simple blade, but the final thrust can pierce your main target, damaging those close behind.
Drops at: Creeper Woods, Pumpkin Pastures
Daggers
These dual-wield weapons will have you feeling like a ninja in no time. Hold the attack button to slice and dice your opponents. You’ll have to get close to reach your targets, and without any real area damage, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with these.
Drops at: Soggy Swamp, Soggy Cave, Redstone Mines
Glaive
The glaive’s naturally long reach helps it climb high up on the area damage charts. It’s a three-hit combo weapon with lots of cleaving potential, with its longer than average attack range making it great for aggressive players who don’t have the armor to protect their playstyle.
Drops at: Soggy Swamp, Desert Temple,
Axe
The axe takes a little longer than most weapons to pull off its main three-hit, but it makes up for this with wide cleaves and spinning finish. It’s a good choice for hard-hitting melee attackers who have the HP to take on big groups of targets at once.
Drops at: Creeper Woods, Highblock Halls, Overgrown Temple (DLC)
Great Hammer
A late unlock as far as we’re concerned, the Great Hammer is a slow but immensely powerful weapon type. Thanks to its weight, the shockwaves caused by striking this mallet down damages enemies around it, too, making it a great area damage option for slow and steady builds.
Drops at: Fiery Forge, Obsidian Pinnacle, Overgrown Temple (DLC)
Pickaxe
The pickaxe is very similar to its Minecraft variant. It attacks with a single downward motion, but its relatively fast attack speed makes it great for taking on powerful foes like the Enderman, Redstone Golem, and most bosses with the right build.
Drops at: Creepy Crypt, Redstone Mines
Battlestaff
The battlestaff is a crowd control weapon. It has big, wide swings in its combo, plus a slam, thrusts, and spinning attacks that are great for when you’re getting ganged up on. Another bonus to this weapon is that its combo will reset after just half a second, while most others take three seconds.
Drops at: Lower Temple, Colossal Rampart (DLC) Windswept Peaks (DLC), Nether Wastes (DLC)
Boneclub
The boneclub is a new weapon you can get with the Nether DLC. As you might expect, this is a heavy hitting but slow melee weapon. You’ll need to be careful wielding this one, but the strong knockback it has does help keep you from trading blows too often.
Drops at: Warped Forest, Soul Sand Valley
Gauntlets
These are glorified knuckle dusters. Gauntlets allow you to box your opponents with lightning speed. They’re not the strongest weapon choice in the game, but their relentless jabs, hooks, and uppercuts make for a satisfyingly fast brawl. You’ll unlock these from Cacti Canyon on Adventure mode.
Drops at: Cacti Canyon, Soggy Cave, Dingy Jungle (DLC)
Cutlass
The cutlass is here to help you fulfill those pirate fantasies. It’s a relatively simple blade with a standard sword-like reach and a two-hit combo swipe. There’s nothing out of the ordinary about this weapon type. Think of it as somewhere between the daggers and the sword.
Drops at: Soggy Cave, Fiery Forge, Cacti Canyon
Sickle
Sickles are another dual-wield weapon, but they use a set, lengthy combo, unlike the daggers. It’s a six-step combo: Four individual slices, and two joined, wide cuts. Area damage only really applies to these two finishing blows, so it’s best suited to taking on a few enemies at a time, leaving the final hits to take care of any late-comers.
Drops at: Pumpkin Pastures, Desert Temple
Whip
With far more range than your typical melee weapon, the whip sits somewhere between a sword and a bow when it comes to its combat stance.
It’s a weapon you won’t see often, being hidden away in secret stages and DLC levels, but find one and you’ll have the chance to try out a drastically different weapon type that can keep you at arms length but still allow for some of that much appreciated physical impact
Drops at: Dingy Jungle (DLC)
Mace
The mace takes the first two swings of the sword and finished off its three-hit combo with a slam that’s similar to the Great Hammer but without the splash damage. It’s a hard-hitting tool that’s not as slow as it looks.
Drops at: Highblock Halls
Soul Knife
Almost topping out the power charts, the Soul Knife isn’t the simple dagger it first appears to be. It’s a slow weapon with only a single move to perform, but its thrusting motion gives it the piercing blow of the sword without any of the fluff in between. Like other soul equipment, you’ll increase your soul gathering capabilities by equipping this, helping feed Soul artifacts and passives more easily.
Drops at: Soggy Swamp, Desert Temple
Soul Scythe
Another late addition to your adventuring arsenal, the Soul Sythe falls somewhere between the Glaive and Soul Knife. It’s a two-hit sweep type of weapon with impressive reach, giving it some real Grim Reaper vibes. Pair this with the Soul Healer for a soul leeching build.
Drops at: Pumpkin Pastures (Adventure mode)
Sawblade
Another new sword type added in with the Nether DLC is the sawblade, or rather broken sawblade in the common form. It behaves mostly like a typical sword except that after you have used it for a while it will overheat and can’t be used for a period of time. Use this one cautiously, and have a backup ready.
Drops at: Crimson Forest, Nether Fortress
Claymore
A weapon type you’ll only come across in the closing moments of your first playthrough, the claymore tips the scales when it comes to weapon power. Speed takes an expected nosedive, but its three-hit combo made up of swings, slams, and stabs makes it a versatile weapon type with the pushback and area damage to keep hordes at bay.
Drops at: Obsidian Pinnacle
All ranged weapon types
At the start of the game, the slow attack speed of your bow and the scarcity of arrows make it seem like a weapon designed to compliment your build. That’s not true at all. Go another stage or two deep into Minecraft Dungeons all you’ll see the potential for ranged-heavy builds.
With around a dozen different bow types to find and armor and artifacts that clearly want you to go full Hawkeye, there’s no reason to view these items as second-class citizens.
Bow
A standard ranged attack weapon. The bow fires arrows at a standard rate, but you can hold the fire button to charge a shot for additional damage and some slight knockback. Good for keeping Creepers away or pushing targets back into TNT range.
Drops at: Creeper Woods, Creepy Crypt, Dingy Jungle (DLC)
Hunting Bow
Hunting Bows pair well with specific types of armor or artifacts due to their innate ability to control which targets your pet will attack. Whatever is hit by the Hunting Bows loose arrows will become the target of whichever wolf, bat, or llama you have by your side. No cats, though, as far as we can see.
Drops at: Soggy Swamp
Power Bow
The power bow suits the occasional use player or the heavy ranged attack. What it lacks in speed it makes up for with raw strength. A charged shot paired with the Fireworks Arrow should be able to clear a big wave no problem, so learn to gather up enemies and watch the sparks fly.
Drops at: Fiery Forge
Shortbow
Somewhere between the bow and the crossbow, the shortbow can fire arrows about as fast as you can pull the trigger while retaining the ability to perform a charged shot for knockback purposes.
Drops at: Desert Temple, Cacti Canyon (Adventure)
Longbow
The longbow trades speed for power. If you’re a big fan of the charged shot feature of other bows, the boosted power of the Longbow is a good selling point.
Drops at: Pumpkin Pastures, Cacti Canyon,
Soul Bow
Soul Bows are incredibly similar to the regular Bow. They drop a tiny bit of damage in exchange for Soul Gathering stats, so adding this to a Soul build will help build the bar more quickly. Torment arrows pair nicely with the charged shot.
Drops at: Creeper Woods (Adventure), Creepy Crypt (Adventure)
Snow Bow
The snow bow, sometimes referred to as the slow bow, is part of the Creeping Winter DLC and does exactly what it sounds like. Each hit freezes on impact, making it quite a powerful tool for separating and spreading out mobs.
Drops at: Frosted Fjord, Lost Settlement
Crossbow
Heavy arrows make the crossbow hit harder yet stronger than traditional bow types. To further offset the benefits, this is no charged shot available, making it a fully automatic weapon you can fire and forget about.
Drops at: Cacti Canyon, Obsidian Pinnacle
Heavy Crossbow
Like the Crossbow, the Heavy Crossbow further sacrifices speed for power. This is good for the occasional Fireworks Arrow or Flaming Quiver.
Drops at: Cacti Canyon, Obsidian Pinnacle
Exploding Crossbow
If you love a bit of area damage and find the firework artifact takes just a bit too long to come back up, the exploding crossbow is a good find. Boom goes the TNT and all that.
Drops at: Dingy Dungeon (DLC)
Rapid Crossbow
The Rapid Crossbow does exactly what it should — fire really fast. You won’t be getting super hard-hitting bolts from this, but paired with the right enchantments and artifacts, it’s a force to be reckoned with. You might want the Recycler armor bonus, though.
Drops at: Redstone Mines
Soul Crossbow
Soul Crossbows are very similar to the regular Crossbow, except for one major difference — the ability to harvest souls. You’ll notice this trait in Soul-tagged weapons and armor. The more of these weapon types you have equipped, the more often you’ll be able to use artifacts like the Harvester and Corrupted Beacon. Torment arrows are good, too.
Drops at: Obsidian Pinnacle
Trickbow
Trickbows are a rare sight, but what you get are auto-piercing arrows. They take a while to reach their target as they wiggle through the air, but once the arrow lands, it’ll keep going through targets behind the first.
Drops at: Cacti Canyon, Overgrown Temple (DLC)
Scatter Crossbow
Scatter Crossbows shoot at around the same rate as a regular bow. Rather than having a charged shot option, however, these weapons shoot three arrows at a time in a thin cone, giving it decent area attack coverage.
Drops at: Soggy Swamp
Wind Bow
Arriving with the Howling Peaks DLC, the wind bow is another elemental weapon to add to your arsenal. When arrows are fully charged with this bow they will become gale arrows. Enemies struck with one of these will be sucked into a little wind torrent and drawn closer to you.
Drops at: Colossal Rampart, Gale Sanctum
Twisting Vine Bow
This awesome looking bow came along with the Nether DLC. It isn’t all that complex or special compared to other bows except that each shot will leave behind a trail of poison clouds giving it a bit more AOE usability compared to other bows.
Drops at: Nether Wastes
All armor types
Armor doesn’t seem terribly interesting in the opening moments of the game, but it’ll serve your desired build greatly as you unlock more types. Like other pieces of equipment, each armor type can be enchanted, helping you lean more into offense or defense builds. Included health point bonuses are largely the same across the board and are tied to item power.
Here are all the currently known armor types, their traits, and where you’ll find them.
Wolf Armor
- +20% weapon damage boost aura
- Health potions heal nearby allies
If you and your allies are melee-heavy, Wolf Armor is a good early pick to keep you all in the fight just that little bit longer. With a 20% weapon damage aura effect and the ability to pass on healing done through Health Potions to nearby allies, it’s good to stand back to back and fend off villager threats together.
Drops at: Creeper Woods, Creepy Crypt, Redstone Mines
Climbing Gear
- 25% artifact cooldown
- Resists any form of knockback by 75%
Only obtainable in the Howling Peaks DLC, the Climbing Gear isn’t too great outside of the areas you’ll find it. It will help you keep your footing and artifacts ready to go, but that’s about it.
Drops at: Colossal Rampart, Windswept Peaks
Emerald Gear
- Chance to spawn emeralds when exploring
- +25% melee attack speed
Now this is a nice risk and reward armor type. The chance to spawn emeralds is fantastic, triggering every six blocks, as is the nice boost to your attack speed, but it isn’t overly defensive. Of course it will be less useful if you’re a ranged character as well.
Drops at: Gale Sanctum, Colossal Rampart
Hunter’s Armor
- +10 arrows per bundle
- +30% ranged damage
While not terribly defensive, Hunter’s Armor makes for a great ranged build. You get increased arrows per bundle and a +30% damage boost to all ranged attacks. Paired with the Flaming Quiver or Fireworks Arrow and you’re bound to have a blast.
Drops at: Creeper Woods, Creepy Crypt, Pumpkin Pastures, Dingy Jungle (DLC)
Grimm Armor
- +50% souls gathered
- +6% life steal aura
If you really want to take on that position as the reaper, you have to get yourself some Grimm Armor. You’ll be stacking up souls faster than you know what to do with them, plus the life steal can make you close to invincible if you play smart.
Drops at: Desert Temple, Obsidian Pinnacle
Guard’s Armor
- -25% artifact cooldown
- +10 arrows per bundle
Another somewhat boring set here. It has modest abilities with the cooldown, and the extra arrows can be great if you’re an early ranged character, but odds are you’ll replace this one with something more interesting rather quick.
Drops at: Highblock Halls, Arch Haven, Colossal Rampart
Scale Mail
- 35% damage reduction
- +30% melee damage
Scale Mail boasts decent Health gains and damage reduction effects, making it viable for early-level tank builds. 35% damage reduction on top of its health bonuses will keep melee-heavy attacks safe from most threats, while the 30% melee damage up should see you through mob packs before things get dicey.
Drops at: Pumpkin Pastures, Fiery Forge (Adventure)
Snow Armor
- +35% Damage Reduction
- +50% Freezing Resistance
When going through the Creeping Winter DLC, this armor is going to be your go-to set. The flat damage reduction is good, but that freezing resistance will be a major help against the frosty enemies. Outside of that, though, it isn’t terribly versatile.
Drops at: Lone Fortress, Lost Settlement
Reinforced Mail
- 35% Damage Reduction
- 30% Chance to negate hits
- 100% longer roll cooldown
Reinforced Mail has comparable health benefits to Scale Mail, but it swaps out the former’s damage increases for a 30% chance to negate a hit entirely. That’s going to be a lot of mitigated damage in bigger pulls. To offset such a powerful trait, it also increases the time between your rolls by 100%, so don’t expect to roll out as you rolled in.
Drops at: Fiery Forge
Plate Armor
- 35% Damage Reduction
- 30% Chance to negate hits
- 100% longer roll cooldown
Reinforced mail appears to be little more than a re-skin of the Plate Armor for reasons that aren’t too clear. We’ll think of it as a mere cosmetic change for now, which makes sense given they drop from the same level (on different difficulty settings).
Drops at: Fiery Forge (Advanced)
Spelunker Armor
- +20% weapon damage boost aura
- Gives you a pet bat
Spelunker Armor is one of the few armor types to turn you into a pet class. It awards ample health bonuses on top of its 20% team weapon damage boost aura, but the icing on the blocky cake is the pet bat that it summons to your side. It won’t put up much of a fight, but it’s an extra target to help peel a Redstone Golem away from the team.
Drops at: Cacti Canyon, Redstone Mines
Mercenary Armor
- 35% damage reduction
- +20% weapon damage boost aura
As the item description will tell you, Mercenary Armor is a simple alternative to some of the late-game gear. It packs the same 35% damage reduction trait as the various types of mail above while boosting the damage of nearby allies by 20% through its aura skill. It’s beginner-level tank armor for the melee-centric co-op group.
Drops at: Cacti Canyon, Fiery Forge
Ocelot Armor
- +50% faster roll
- +35% digital reduction
Though resembling the skin of the fast-moving critter, Ocelot armor is a fine choice for the speed freaks. Faster rolls make for an easier time dodging things like Enderman swings, while the damage reduction means you can roll head-first into combat without fear of getting smushed like a soft egg.
Drops at: Dingy Jungle (DLC), Overgrown Temple (DLC),
Thief Armor
- +25% melee attack speed
This armor type gives little more than a 25% melee attack speed boost, making it great for scaling fast attacks like Daggers and Sickles to even greater heights. Without a movement speed buff, it’s difficult to claim this armor is only for the nimble ninja.
It doesn’t have the defensive properties of some others, but with a flat attack speed increase, you can use this to boost slower, more powerful weapons. They just won’t scale quite so well.
Drops at: Redstone Mines (Adventure), Desert Temple, Overgrown Temple (DLC)
Grim Armor
- +100% souls gathered
- 3% life steal aura
One of the first proper Soul build armor types you’ll come across, Grim Armor doubles the souls you typically gather while applying a 3% life steal effect to nearby companions. The aura means you’re going to want to match the attack range of your allies to make the most of it. Pair it with the Harvester or Soul Healer pitch in.
Drops at: Obsidian Pinnacle, Desert Temple
Phantom Armor
- +100% souls gathered
- +30 ranged damage
Like the Grim Armor, Phantom Armor doubles the number of souls you gather. This one swaps the support aura for a fixed 30% ranged damage bonus. Which bow you pair it with is up to you.
Drops at: Redstone Mines (Adventure), Creepy Crypt (Adventure)
Soul Robe
- +100% souls gathered
- +50% artifact damage
Another armor type focused on soul gathering, the Soul Robe follows in the footsteps of the Phantom Armor, only switching out the ranged bonus for 50% artifact damage. You can build a half-decent Corrupted Beacon with this one.
Drops at: Highblock Halls, Creeper Woods (Adventure)
Evocation Robe
- -25% artifact cooldown
- +15% movespeed aura
The Evocation Robe suits a build that goes all-in on artifacts thanks to its 25% cooldown reduction. Its 15% movespeed aura will boost allies, too, so you can chase your targets faster and use powerful artifacts like the Fireworks Arrow and Death Cap Mushroom more frequently, too. This suits a support build, but it can suit some early Soul builds.
Drops at: Soggy Swamp, Obsidian Pinnacle
Piglin Armor
- Reset artifact cooldown on potion use
- +50% artifact damage
The Piglin Armor, much like the creature it’s named for, was added with the nether DLC. Aside from making you resemble these strange pig creatures, it is a decent set for artifact builds. The bonus damage is massive, and while it may be a little costly, being able to reset your cooldown every time you slam back a potion is well worth it.
Drops at: Nether Wastes, Basalt Deltas
Mystery Armor
- three random traits
Mystery Armor is reserved for Adventure Mode and above and is one of the first new types you’ll come across. What makes is a mystery is its fluid traits. If you happen to roll one with unequal parts personal and team movement speed, you might as well throw it away.
Drops at: Soggy Swamp, Desert Temple (Advanced), Dingy Jungle (DLC)
And that’s your lot. Minecraft Dungeons doesn’t look like a massive game on the surface, but with additional equipment types hidden away in secret levels and subsequent playthroughs, there are no doubt still a few more to find. And with DLC clearly in the works, this list will only get longer over time.
