[MC-214546] Projectiles (including arrows) sometimes pass through entities without hitting them

As seen in https://clips.twitch.tv/ResoluteElatedOysterWTRuck arrows sometimes pass through mobs without harming them.

Linked issues

is duplicated by 9

MC-267534 Arrows shot by the player can go through mobs Resolved

MC-261757 Arrows sometimes pass through the player/bounce off the player for no reason Resolved

MC-238137 Arrows passing through Creepers and Skeletons Resolved

MC-231407 Arrow noclip can be abused with shields Resolved

MC-230626 arrows go through mobs using bow Resolved

4 more links

relates to 5

MC-270852 Fully charged projectiles that are thrown or fired at a nearby shulker will not deflect properly Resolved

MC-125776 Thrown projectiles sometimes don't collide with players that are traveling upwards Open

MC-140857 Arrows bounce off entities during their invulnerability ticks Open

MC-102732 Arrows visually bounce off of entities that don't wear a shield Reopened

MC-302221 Moving entities deflect arrows Open

Attachments

Comments 54

Marty McFly 2021-02-08T19:59:02Z

Relates to MC-125936

Lilithvia 2021-02-08T22:41:35Z

Not sure if that relates since the projectiles spawned several blocks away.

Brevort 2021-02-14T05:09:11Z

Can confirm in 21w05b. Haven't seen it yet in 21w06a, but that's not to say it's fixed.

SeaOfPixels 2021-05-27T20:27:25Z

Major bug for pvp and pve, refered to by most players that experience it as "Ghost Arrows".

SeaOfPixels 2021-05-27T20:27:48Z

This also happens with any projectiles, not just arrows.

44 more comments

ampolive 2021-07-18T22:38:29Z

Maybe this should be renamed to "Projectiles sometimes go through mobs" or something similar.

SeaOfPixels 2021-11-16T17:50:25Z

Reiterating: major bug for combat, and I believe this should be more prioritized.

Avoma 2021-12-03T17:11:19Z

Can confirm this in 1.18.

SeaOfPixels 2022-01-19T17:29:19Z

Since netherite knockback rng was fixed for 1.18.2, would be nice to see the other major PvP bug fixed for 1.18.2 as well (this one).

SeaOfPixels 2022-04-13T17:06:05Z

So I figured out what's actually happening here, and the bug should be renamed to better reflect it. When this bug occurs, the projectile is completely fake. It has nothing to do with the projectile not hitting mobs, when this bug happens the projectile doesn't exist at all. It can happen with ender pearls during combat, where you throw it, watch it, and when it lands nothing happens. Bug is similar to the old ghost buckets bug but with projectiles. Report should be renamed to reflect this.

SeaOfPixels 2022-04-13T17:06:31Z

Also requesting ownership as the OP is no longer updating affected versions.

Dark Star 2022-04-13T21:41:30Z

@PotholedSea40 I assume by "not existing", you mean that the projectile appears on the client, but the server doesn't recognise it as an entity and therefore doesn't update it. I don't think that's the issue as this bug also happens on Spigot servers and I have been able to "patch" and detect this bug through a plugin by doing my own raytracing. This suggests that the projectile does exist on the server, and even though I am using Spigot, it's highly unlikely that there would be two different causes for the exact same bug. It seems as though internally, the projectile's collision isn't being detected by the server, which means that even Spigot isn't aware of the collision (as the ProjectileHitEvent doesn't fire automatically), however I don't know enough about Spigot's architecture to make any conclusions here.

Either way, I don't think those observations are enough to definitively rule out any other possibility, although there is a very simple test you can do to confirm your theory. Setup a repeating command block that runs the following command.

execute if entity @e[type=snowball] run say hi

Then spam snowballs at an entity one at a time until the bug is observed. If the projectile still clips through entities despite being detected by the command, then it exists.

Lilithvia 2022-04-14T01:55:33Z

I assumed that updating affected versions was a thing the mods did, as the only update I posted was the snapshot version, and mods would update when someone confirmed the bug for a new version as happens with many other bugs. If you want versions added, just do what Avoma and co have done, as I have a job (and playtest other games in my freetime) and can't always confirm it exists on new versions (especially since I've encountered the bug three to four times ever when I do test for it. I suppose I could write a bot to shoot the bow for me and then detect when the arrow doesn't collided with the mob after a certain amount of time to test on eash version, though,

SeaOfPixels 2022-04-15T20:38:10Z

Keep in mind that your experience isn't everyone's, just because you yourself haven't run into a bug a lot doesn't mean it doesn't effect others much more. The reason I highlighted this one specifically is because it's such a major issue for PvP, and can feel extremely unfair when it happens (which is very often on combat servers).

Lilithvia 2022-04-15T21:06:50Z

By focusing on one thing trying to usurp a freaking bug report from someone instead of commenting what versions are currently affected and aren't listed, all you are doing is wasting everyone's time.

As I said in my previous post, which you failed to read:

Do what Avoma has done and post versions you can confirm this bug on, and it will be added to the report. Otherwise you are creating unnecessary drama.

SeaOfPixels 2022-04-16T06:42:35Z

Mate chill, I simply asked and gave a reasoning, this isn't some crazy occurence on this site nor should you being taking immense offense to it. Can confirm in 22w15a.

Lilithvia 2022-04-16T08:15:45Z

Finally, some useful info.

Adding it to the list.

ouroya 2022-04-18T19:56:02Z

This bug likely happens because in one tick, the projectile is in front of the mob, and in the next tick, it is behind, never making contact. a way of fixing this would be to add a raytraced check to see if the projectile's path intersected a mob's hitbox.

SeaOfPixels 2022-04-21T20:55:17Z

Again I don't think this is the case because you can't pick up ghost arrows (which is why I made the claim that they are purely visual). I'm actually not 100% sure if the projectile shot/thrown that ghosts through stuff disappears from your inventory or not.

Dark Star 2022-04-21T23:49:48Z

@Torzod Minecraft is definitely doing raytracing; if it didn't, then this bug would be significantly more prominent. You could test this yourself by summoning a super fast arrow and observing that the projectile still collides with mobs even though the projectile may have otherwise flown straight through the mob.

@PotholedSea40 It's possible that the projectile simply isn't colliding with anything (even blocks), and there might be some client-side code that handles animations and particles for collisions with blocks. That's not to say that the projectile doesn't exist on the server (see my previous comment), however a way to check this could be to see whether the same projectile clips through multiple mobs when the bug occurs. That would test whether the bug is a property of the projectile, or of the collision.

Lilithvia 2022-05-19T18:17:13Z

confirming and updating for 1.19 pre release 1

SeaOfPixels 2022-06-02T02:43:15Z

Can confirm in 1.19 pre release 5

SeaOfPixels 2022-06-25T04:12:21Z

Can confirm in 1.19.1 rc1

SeaOfPixels 2022-07-15T23:05:37Z

Can confirm in 1.19.1-pre5

SeaOfPixels 2022-08-21T02:12:53Z

Can confirm in 1.19.2

SeaOfPixels 2022-11-09T12:21:30Z

Can confirm in 22w44a.

ZombieKill29820 2022-12-25T02:17:05Z

Can confirm this in 1.19.3.

SeaOfPixels 2023-01-18T21:28:12Z

Can confirm in 23w03a.

Lilithvia 2023-01-24T16:20:50Z

I'm locked out of my microsoft account, but if someone could, it might be helpful to see exactly how far back this goes so that Mojang can narrow down exactly what changes might have started causing this.

SeaOfPixels 2023-01-25T12:04:08Z

Judging from when I first made a bug report video of this happening, I believe this issue first appeared in 1.16. It could have been a bit before then in 1.15, but I can 100% guarantee that it didn't pop up any later than 1.16, and I'm 99% sure it wasn't an issue before 1.15.

SeaOfPixels 2023-02-14T10:03:00Z

Can confirm in 23w06a.

SeaOfPixels 2023-03-02T01:37:25Z

Can confirm in 1.19.4-pre3

SeaOfPixels 2023-03-23T08:05:26Z

Can confirm in 23w12a

SeaOfPixels 2023-05-04T10:36:22Z

Can confirm in 23w18a.

SeaOfPixels 2023-06-07T12:04:19Z

Can confirm in 1.20 release canidate 1

SeaOfPixels 2023-06-13T14:11:03Z

Can confirm in 1.20.1

SeaOfPixels 2023-08-03T07:26:46Z

Can confirm in 23w31a.

SeaOfPixels 2023-08-17T07:05:58Z

Can confirm in 23w32a.

SeaOfPixels 2023-09-30T07:05:56Z

Can confirm in 1.20.2

Lilithvia 2023-09-30T18:07:38Z

Can confirm in 1.14, took 3 weeks of monitoring a slow-fired creeper farm built exclusively for testing for this to find, but can be repeated fairly easily once it does, not sure why

SeaOfPixels 2023-10-05T16:07:12Z

Can confirm in 23w40a.

SeaOfPixels 2023-10-26T10:05:47Z

In 23w43a.

Longieee 2024-01-30T09:44:42Z

can confirm in 1.20.4

SeaOfPixels 2024-02-07T17:33:52Z

Can confirm in 24w06a, affects wind charges

SeaOfPixels 2024-02-14T23:13:48Z

Confirmed in 24w07a

SeaOfPixels 2024-04-12T03:07:30Z

Can confirm in 1.20.5-pre1

SeaOfPixels 2024-04-26T13:44:47Z

{*}{*}Can confirm in 1.20.5 & 1.20.6-rc1

SeaOfPixels 2024-05-22T14:19:13Z

Can confirm in 1.20.6 and 24w20a

Longieee 2025-01-11T05:13:29Z

can confirm in 1.21 through to 1.21.4

interestingly - in 1.21.2+ when this bug occurs, the game summons a "ghost arrow entity" where the arrow appears to bounce off the entity it ghosts through, but then the actual arrow entity reappear to have landed where it should be

ampau 2025-07-26T16:05:07Z

Can confirm in 1.21.8

Tango 2025-09-28T23:44:45Z

Tried 1.21.9 RC-1 build today, and sadly the issue is still there… 😥
I first noticed this issue 5 years ago around release of 1.16, also around time when Java 8 stopped being used. Really unfair bug for bow players, please fix it Mojang.

Lilithvia2 2025-12-03T04:05:38Z

Was going back and reading some of the comments from the old Jira (And I thought I had migrated my bugtracker account, guess not), and wanted to thank SeaOfPixels for being so thorough on checking versions. I do want to state that going back, I’m noticing this bug as early as 1.15, and also want to push back on the admittedly debunked theory about it being tickrate causing the arrows to fly through the mob, as the twitch clip I filmed on 21w05b was running roughly 20 ticks a second, which is expected for the client anyhow, so this would have been noticed a lot earlier if it was caused by tickrate.

Also I’d like to push back against something SeaOfPixels said: I have been able to go and pick up the arrows that fail to hit the mobs/entities I have somehow missed because of the bug, so I don’t think it’s client-side only.

SeaOfPixels 2025-12-03T14:46:59Z

Thank you for the elaboration. Note that in the previous comment by Tango, the bug shows arrows bouncing off which may be a different bug, or just how this bug works now in modern versions.

knirch 2025-12-07T07:21:54Z

I wanted to have a reliable way of showing the issue, and came up with

summon minecraft:arrow ~-4 ~1.85 ~ {Motion:[3,0,0],Rotation:[90,0],NoGravity:1}

most times it bounces client side but server side it misses and passes through.

Adding it to a tick function caused the problem to not present itself. Same with scheduled functions.

This seems to imply that the client will act on the position of the arrow based on when it came into existence, and not on a tick boundary (or something to that effect. I do not know any details on how minecraft syncs things or the proper terminology, so sorry about that.)

mkclone.mcfunction

$summon arrow ~ ~ ~ $(nbt)

quantize.mcfunction

tag @s add quantized
data modify storage quantize_projectiles:clone nbt set from entity @s
kill @s
function quantize_projectiles:mkclone with storage quantize_projectiles:clone

tick.mcfunction

execute as @e[type=arrow,tag=!quantized] at @s run function quantize_projectiles:quantize

By quantizing the arrow creation to be on the tick I no longer see arrows that bounce and disappear. Hopefully this helps someone to figure out the actual problem and properly fix it.