Guns, bows and crossbows: hit from a distance.

Making a gun

A gun is built from three loose parts made at a Gun Bench (a Forge Bench with extra metal, and it needs the Tinmelt Age), then assembled at a Forge Bench or a Gun Bench:

• Barrel (3 units of metal): sets the harm and reach. Better metal, more harm. Steel is 15% better than iron, tungsten 40% better, Nova Alloy twice as good.
• Grip (2 units of wood, bone or metal): a springy, tough, heavy grip steadies the gun, so it kicks and spreads less. Bone and soft wood do little.
• Receiver (3 units of metal): the lock. A harder receiver cycles faster and reloads quicker.

Each gun also takes fittings: a Handgun a spring, a Submachine Gun or Assault Rifle a spring and a bolt, a Shotgun a hinge and a spring, a Missile Launcher a firing pin and a trigger (all metal), a Laser Pistol a lens and a Plasma Rifle a focusing lens (both glass). The Laser Pistol needs the Temper Age and the Plasma Rifle the Corelight Age. The barrel and receiver must be metal.

The guns and bows

The numbers below are for the standard iron parts, before the grip and any better metal are counted. The damage is per round, or per pellet for the shotgun.

Weapon	Damage	Range	Time between shots	Magazine	Reload	Ammunition
Handgun	10	90 m	0.24 s	12	1.1 s	Cartridges, gunpowder
Submachine Gun	4	70 m	0.065 s	30	1.6 s	Cartridges, gunpowder
Assault Rifle	6	160 m	0.09 s	30	1.9 s	Cartridges, gunpowder
Shotgun	5 a pellet, 9 pellets	42 m	0.85 s	6	2.2 s	Buckshot or slugs
Laser Pistol	6.5	140 m	0.17 s	24	1.3 s	Energy cells
Plasma Rifle	15, in a burst of 1.8 m	160 m	0.4 s	14	1.8 s	Plasma cells
Missile Launcher	260 (a rocket)	500 m	1.6 s	1	1.2 s	Hand rockets, gunpowder
Bow	24 at full draw	130 m	about 0.9 s to draw	one arrow each	none	Arrows
Crossbow	40	150 m	about 1.8 s to cock	one bolt each	about 1.8 s	Bolts

Guns with a magazine fire while you hold the trigger. The Handgun, Submachine Gun, Assault Rifle, Shotgun and Laser Pistol fire straight from your eye and stop at the first block or creature. The Plasma Rifle launches a slower violet bolt that bursts on impact and hurts the creatures round the mark, though not people. The Missile Launcher fires a rocket that flies straight until it strikes and bursts.

The Handgun, Submachine Gun and Assault Rifle spread a little with each shot, and the Shotgun spreads the most. The Shotgun's slug round is one heavy shot that flies further and hits harder than its shells.

The bow and crossbow

• Hold the trigger to draw a bow. A full draw takes 0.9 seconds and loosing before that is weak: a short draw does a quarter of the harm and flies slower.
• Each shot uses one arrow or bolt. Arrows and bolts that land in the ground or a wall can often be picked up again, and so can some of those that hit a creature.
• The crossbow is cocked and then shoots one bolt. It is slow but hits hard.
• A bow's limbs (or a crossbow's prod) must be wood, bone, metal or a composite, so they can flex.

Ammunition

Crafted rounds do more harm than loose gunpowder. The grade is what the round multiplies the gun's harm by.

Ammunition	Used by	Grade	Made from
Flint Arrows (4)	Bow	1.0	1 flint, 1 wood, 1 feather, made by hand
Iron Arrows (4)	Bow	1.3	1 iron, 1 wood, 1 feather, at a Workbench
Steel Arrows (4)	Bow	1.6	1 steel, 1 wood, 1 feather, at a Workbench (Temper Age)
Iron Bolts (6)	Crossbow	1.0	2 iron, 1 wood, at a Gun Bench
Steel Bolts (6)	Crossbow	1.3	2 steel, 1 wood, at a Gun Bench (Temper Age)
Gunpowder	Handgun, Submachine Gun, Assault Rifle, Missile Launcher	0.9	Loads a magazine: a piece makes 12 handgun rounds, 20 submachine gun rounds or 10 rifle rounds; two pieces make one launcher rocket
Cartridges (12)	Handgun, Submachine Gun, Assault Rifle	1.2	1 copper, 1 gunpowder, at a Gun Bench
Armour-Piercing Cartridges (8)	Handgun, Submachine Gun, Assault Rifle	1.55	1 steel, 1 gunpowder, 1 lead, at a Gun Bench (Temper Age)
Buckshot Shells (6)	Shotgun	1.0	1 lead, 1 gunpowder, 1 plant fibre, at a Gun Bench
Slug Shells (4)	Shotgun	1.15	1 iron, 1 gunpowder, 1 plant fibre, at a Gun Bench
Energy Cells (3)	Laser Pistol, Plasma Rifle	1.0	2 copper, 1 glass, at a Gun Bench (Temper Age). A cell charges 8 shots.
Plasma Cells (3)	Laser Pistol, Plasma Rifle	1.5	2 titanium alloy, 2 glass, 1 sulfur, at a Gun Bench (Corelight Age). A cell charges 8 shots.
Hand Rockets (2)	Missile Launcher	1.25	2 iron, 2 gunpowder, 1 plant fibre, at a Rocket Bench

When you fire, the game uses the cheapest crafted round you carry; loose gunpowder is the last choice. A magazine is loaded from the bag when it runs out. Out of ammunition, the game tells you what to craft.

Tips

• Carry a stack of arrows before you go hunting, and craft iron arrows as soon as you have a Workbench: they hit a third harder.
• A Handgun is the cheapest start for a gun. A Shotgun is the best at close range.
• Armour-piercing cartridges and steel bolts are the best rounds for a fight against armour.
• A better grip makes every gun steadier: prefer metal or springy wood.
• Guns and bows cannot dig: switch to a pick to break blocks.

For the heavier weapons, see Explosives, rockets and fireworks. For close combat see Melee, dodging and blocking.

← Back to the wiki · Last updated 25 October 2026. Mantlenaut is in alpha, so things change.