What are Tridents in Minecraft and how can players get them?

Tridents are one of the rarest weapons in all of Minecraft. They cannot be crafted and are only obtainable as a drop from a mob.

Tridents have unique enchantments that cannot be placed on any other weapon or tool (without cheats). They can also be used as a ranged or melee weapon, combining the sword and bow into one super weapon.

Due to the rarity of tridents in Minecraft, some players may have never even had the opportunity to wield them.

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Tridents in Minecraft

How to obtain tridents

A player narrowly misses a trident (Image via u/torx0244 on Reddit)

Tridents can only be obtained from everyone's favorite mob: The Drowned!

There is only a 6.25% chance (15% in Bedrock Edition) for a Drowned to spawn with a trident. On top of that, tridents only have an 8.5% chance to drop from a trident-holding Drowned. This can be improved by 1% with each Looting enchantment on a weapon.

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How to use tridents

In older versions of Bedrock Edition, Drowned used to have a broken spawn rate (Image via u/BenCoHU on Reddit)

Tridents are an extremely useful tool and can be massively improved with their unique enchantments. They are also unique in their ability to be used as both a melee and ranged weapon!

Melee Weapon

As a melee weapon, tridents do more damage than a diamond sword in both versions. In Minecraft Java Edition, tridents will even do more damage than a Netherite sword! However, in Minecraft Bedrock Edition, they do the same damage as a Netherite sword.

Ranged Weapon

The longer the charge, the more damage tridents can deal. When thrown, tridents will bounce off players or mobs and then stick to the ground. If thrown at a block, it will stick to the block and can be collected, much like an arrow.

Thrown tridents can even be used to trigger certain redstone components such as buttons, wooden pressure plates and target blocks

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Enchantments

Shown: A Loyalty enchanted trident glitching out after a player kills himself (Image via u/Lamp_Squid on Reddit)

Tridents can receive enchantments not found on any other weapon or tool.

The Loyalty enchantment is a unique enchantment that allows the trident to find its way back to the player after being thrown. This makes the trident an extremely useful ranged weapon.

The Channeling enchantment is a unique enchantment that allows the player to summon lightning during a thunderstorm when they hit a mob. This is the easiest way for players to create Charged Creepers in Minecraft.

Riptide is the last unique enchantment, and it allows the player to use the trident as a means of transportation. If used in snow, rain or when standing in water, the player will launch with the trident and will land where the weapon lands.

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