How to give armor stands weapons in Minecraft

In Minecraft, an armor stand is an entity that can wear armor parts and even hold items like a player. Since it is a stand, however, it cannot move and has no AI of its own. As its name suggests, this stand is primarily used to hold armor parts. However, players can place weapons and all sorts of items on the stand as well.

Here is a method of placing weapons on armor stands in Minecraft's Java and Bedrock Editions.

Methods to place weapons in Minecraft's armor stands

Placing a weapon on an armor stand in Minecraft Bedrock Edition

Armor stand in Bedrock Edition already comes with arms on it (Image via Mojang Studios)

When players place an armor stand in Bedrock Edition, they will notice that it already comes with two hand sticks attached to it. These hand sticks are essential for players to place items on the armor stand that they can hold like weapons, tools, or any other item.

In the Bedrock Edition, players can craft the armor stand by placing six sticks and one smooth stone slab on any solid block and placing a weapon in one of the hands.

Placing a weapon on an armor stand in Minecraft Java Edition

Armor stand does not have hands by default in Java Edition (Image via Mojang Studios)

When it comes to Java Edition, however, placing weapons on armor stands is trickier. In this Edition, an armor stand crafted by players does not have hand sticks attached to it by default. Furthermore, there is no different crafting recipe that allows players to add the extra sticks to the armor trim in a regular survival world. As such, it is impossible to have an armor stand with hands without using cheats and commands in Java Edition.

First, players must ensure that cheats are enabled in their world. If it is an existing world, it can be enabled by going to the 'Pause' menu, selecting 'Open to LAN', and then 'Activate cheats'. For a new world, a dedicated setting for cheats will be available while creating a new world.

Command to spawn an armor stand with hands in Java Edition (Image via Mojang Studios)

Once cheats are enabled in a world, players can simply type this exact command '/summon minecraft:armor_stand ~ ~ ~ {ShowArms: 1b}' to summon an armor stand with hands. This armor stand will look exactly like the one in the Bedrock Edition. Players will then be able to place weapons on this particular entity.

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