Updated 25 October 2026. Facts on this page come from minecraft.wiki, community sites named in the text and the live Artemis PvP server; sources are listed at the bottom.
Cannon Trajectories and Mid-Air Maneuvering
A straight trajectory is any shot that nothing touches after it leaves the barrel: ascend, descend, central, shift and artillery. Mid-air maneuvering uses injectors that explode near the projectiles to turn them, so a shot can hit from above, below, the side or the back.
What are the straight trajectory types?
| Type | Short | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Ascend | A | Hits above the cannon; easy to add, costs a bigger barrel |
| Descend | De | Hits below; TNT hitting a block from the top gets 30% drag instead of the usual 2%, so it is less efficient |
| Central | C | Hits both above and below; found in the vertical middle of a machine |
| Shift | S | Shoots sideways; slanted shifting tops out near 2.5 blocks per tick sideways |
| Artillery | Arti | Uses the curved flight path to hit from above; efficient early, rare later |
Minecraft moves entities on the Y axis first and then on the axis with more speed, so slanted shots are never truly straight, and gravity bends them. Cannoners still count them as straight.
How do cannons shift sideways?
- Displacement: change where the boosters sit relative to the projectiles and injectors; compact and common, but messy with many modes.
- Slime boost: launch the projectile sideways with slime; limited to 1 block per tick and bulky.
- TNT: two or more booster positions, varying how many fire at each; complex, but every mode keeps the same forward speed.
- Rebound: blocks stop the sideways motion; inefficient and big, used in very fast Factions cannons.
What are the mid-air maneuver types?
| Type | What it does |
|---|---|
| Down (D) | Hits from above, where armour may be thinner; efficient like a mortar |
| Up (U) | Hits from below, often the weakest side, if ground or water allows |
| Flank (F) | Hits the side; useful because formations tend to be symmetric |
| Back (B) | Hits the rear to exploit missing armour; loses accuracy with each extra turn |
| Warhead (W) | Turns inside the enemy after digging in |
| Gust | Turns outside the machine for smaller barrels or wider shifts |
minecraft.wiki warns that each mid-air turn lowers accuracy a lot, and that for the second turn a precision under one degree may be needed.
What is chunk phasing?
TNT can pass through unloaded chunks if it crosses them within a single game tick. Long-range cannons rely on this when they cannot load the chunks in between. Related: lazy chunk cannons.
Where shots start: launch points. Words used here: cannon terminology. Basics: TNT cannons explained.
Frequently asked questions
What is an arti cannon?
An artillery cannon that uses the curved flight path to hit the enemy from above.
What is a flank cannon?
A cannon that turns its shot in mid-air to hit the enemy from the side.
Sources
Every fact on this page was checked against these pages; the wording is ours.