Target Dummy — Guide

Measuring DPS

The dummy's main job is benchmarking your damage output.

Floating numbers show the exact damage of each individual hit, so you can see crits, enchantment bonuses, and resistances at a glance.
The live DPS tracker averages your damage over time while you attack - keep swinging to let it stabilize, then read off your sustained damage.
Switch weapons or enchantment setups and repeat to compare builds side by side.
Because it shows real numbers, it is perfect for testing potion buffs, Strength effects, sweeping-edge multi-hits, and attack-cooldown timing.

Getting Started & Crafting

Craft a Target Dummy from a hay block and an armor stand - the hay gives it a body and the stand gives it a frame. (Check the in-game recipe book for the exact shaped recipe.)
Place it on the ground where you want a testing range.
Start hitting it. Damage numbers and a DPS counter appear immediately.

To remove it, break it like any block - it drops back as an item.

Equipping & Testing Enchantments

You can put gear on the dummy to test damage against specific situations:

Armor - equip helmet/chestplate/leggings/boots to see how armor and toughness reduce your incoming damage numbers.
Shield - test how blocking changes the result.
Elytra / banner-cape - cosmetic and for visual flavor on your range.

Critically, the dummy counts as the correct mob type for the gear/state it is in, so enchantments that only apply to certain mobs work against it:

Smite deals bonus damage as if it were undead,
Bane of Arthropods applies its arthropod bonus,
Impaling lands extra damage like against aquatic mobs.

It also responds to critical hits and freeze effects, so Frost Walker/powder-snow and crit timing can be validated too.