Crossbow (weapon type)

Crossbows are weapons used in ranged combat that require a certain Ranged level to wield. They are different from bows in that they are horizontal and can be held with one hand, allowing a player to carry a shield with the other; another difference is that they use bolts instead of arrows. Non-members are recommended to stay with bows as the crossbows available to them (only the regular crossbow and the Phoenix crossbow) are weak, while members have much better crossbows to choose from. In addition to the various metallic crossbows, Hunter's crossbow, Dorgeshuun crossbow, Zanik's crossbow, Karil's crossbow and the Chaotic crossbow are available in pay-to-play. Crossbows require ammunition in the form of bolts (or racks for Karil's).

Crossbows are commonly used in P2P, mainly due to their ability to inflict substantial damage quickly and the ability to use a shield at the same time. Many people use them for PvP combat, and use enchanted bolts for even more power. Crossbows are also cheap on the Grand Exchange, and bolts are always in good supply. Crossbows can also fire mithril grapples for agility shortcuts. Despite being slower than Bows, crossbows are much more accurate, and bolts used with them are more powerful than arrows. Crossbows are almost never seen in F2P because the only kinds avalible are the phoenix and normal crossbow, while they could use up to maple bows, and the ability to use a shield isn't enough to convince people to use them.



Metal crossbows
Metal crossbows can be created through the Fletching skill. The stocks must first be cut from logs; the limbs have to be made via the Smithing skill. The player then needs to add those two together and string it with a crossbow string. Most limbs and stocks can be purchased at the crossbow stall in the dwarven city of Keldagrim.


 * Bronze crossbow Bronze crossbow.png
 * Blurite crossbow Blurite crossbow.png
 * Iron crossbow Iron crossbow.png
 * Steel crossbow Steel crossbow.png
 * Black crossbow Black crossbow.png
 * Mithril crossbow Mithril crossbow.png
 * Adamant crossbow Adamant crossbow.png
 * Rune crossbow Rune crossbow.png



Other crossbows

 * Crossbow Crossbow.png - Weakest crossbow in the game.
 * Phoenix crossbow Phoenix crossbow.png - Obtained from Phoenix hideout in Varrock, used in Shield of Arrav quest.
 * Dorgeshuun crossbow Dorgeshuun crossbow.PNG - Can be bought from Nardok. Lost Tribe required to buy, Death to Dorgeshuun required for the Special Attack.
 * Karil's crossbow Karil's crossbow.PNG - Obtained via playing the Barrows activity.
 * Hunter's crossbow Hunterscrossbow.png - bought from Leon, it is similar to a Steel crossbow in power and to a shortbow in speed.
 * Zanik's crossbow Zanikxbow.png - Obtained as a reward from Chosen Commander.
 * Chaotic crossbow Chaotic crossbow.png - Bought from Daemonheim for 200k Dungeoneering tokens and requires 80 Dungeoneering and 80 Range.

Crossbows vs Bows
With the introduction of crossbows, use of a bow has decreased as crossbows are much more accurate and only require one hand to use, although many people still prefer to use a bow such as the Magic Shortbow because it is much faster than a crossbow and it has a special attack. Metal crossbows offer a variety of ammunition of which can be enchanted to provide special effects during combat, although currently these enchanted bolts can be quite expensive. Enchanted bolts can hit much higher than arrows, for example ruby bolts (e), which can hit up to 1000 on the Corporeal Beast and even 1508 on a Steel titan.

During PvP, crossbows can be so slow that your opponent can hit you twice before you get your second shot in, so a shortbow might be preferable. Higher leveled players generally prefer crossbows because of their ability to inflict large amounts of damage, especially on high leveled bosses such as the Corporeal Beast. And their ability to be used with a shield means that you can slay dragons with them without the use of a Super antifire potion. Unlike bows, as they are two handed.

Trivia

 * If you look carefully at a crossbow before you fire it, you can see the bolt floating right above the crossbow. Once the bolt is fired, for a split-second, you can still see the floating bolt, even though you just fired it. This also happens occasionally with regular bows.