Crossbows are a type of Weapon in Dark Souls 3. These Weapons usually do moderate damage and have less range than Bows. They are generally more close ranged weapons, allowing players to "shoot from the hip" and reload on the move without entering a two-handed stance. These weapons do not scale with stats, and as a result are less useful on consecutive NG+ runs. Crossbows use Bolts.

 Name & Icon   Attack Power
Damage Reduction (%)
Requirements

Param Bonus

Range / Durability / Weight - Attack Type - Skill
icon-wp_physicalAttack.pngicon-wp_physicaldef.png icon-magicbonus.pngicon-wp_magicdef.png icon-firebonus.png icon-wp_firedef.png icon-lightningbonus.png icon-wp_lightningdef.png icon-darkbonus.png icon-wp_darkdef.png CriticalStability Frosticon-wp_poisonbld.pngicon-wp_bleed.png Strength Bonus Dexterity Bonus Intelligence Bonus Faith Bonus

Ricon-durabilitiy.png
icon_weight.png

Focus Cost

Skill


Acquired From

Light Crossbow

64

-

0

-

0

-

0

-

0

-

100

-

  -

10

-

8

-

0

-

0

-

42

45

3.0

7( -/ -)

Tackle

Dropped by the Undeads with Crossbows at the High Wall of Lothric.
Sold by Greirat of the Undead Settlement.

Knight's Crossbow

40

-

0

-

0

-

40

-

0

-

100

-

  -

 12

-

 8

-

 0

-

-

42

50

4.0

7( -/ -)

Tackle

Lothric knight drop

Arbalest

78

-

0

-

0

-

0

-

0

-

100

-

  -

18

-

 8

-

 0

-

 0

-

50

50

6.0

7 (-/-)

Tackle

Cathedral of the Deep

Sniper Crossbow

Sniper Crossbow

70

-

0

-

0

-

0

-

0

-

100

-

  -

 18

-

 16

-

0

-

0

-

59

55

7.5

7 (-/-)

Tackle

Looted from a corpse at the top of a gatehouse just before the dragons in Lothric Castle

Avelyn

Avelyn

64

-

0

-

0

-

0

-

0

-

100

-

  -

16

-

14

-

-

-

-

-

35

35

7.5

7 (-/-)

Tackle

Grand Archives

Heavy Crossbow

72

-

0

-

0

-

0

-

0

-

100

-

  -

14

-

8

-

-

-

-

-

50

55

4.5

7 (-/-)

Tackle

Dropped by the crossbow-wielding knight in Cathedral of the Deep

 ds3-repeating_crossbow

Repeating Crossbow

83

-

0

-

0

-

0

-

0

-

100

-

 

-

 

16

-

 20

-

-

-

-

-

 20

7.5

-(13/13)

Repeat Fire

Transposed with Soul of Slave Knight Gael

 




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    • Anonymous

      When you think about it the repeating crossbow and the sanctum crossbow dark orb are the only unique crossbow skills in the entire souls franchise. Not even Elden Ring learned.

      • Anonymous

        Don't blame ppl for using crossbows in the same way everytime. Blame the devs for not giving them any other use. Really, wich guy at fromsoft was dumb enough to think "tackle" was a proper weapon art?

        • Anonymous

          exploding bolts are definitely cancer but theres so much more to crossbows than just exploding bolt cancer theres also freeaim infinite stunlock headshot combos and honestly compared to stuff like murky hand scythe and demonscar builds even an exploding crossbow straightsword isnt thaaat bad

          basically what im tryna say is stop moaning and git gud

          • Anonymous

            ngl, but the advent of exploding bolts high key killed 1v1. It really sucks to see how many people cop to using these when things go south in a duel. They just unlock, run away, and wip it out. Then the match becomes finding a way in and stabbing them with a dagger.

            Everytime

            • Anonymous

              If you rely on Xbox you have no skill in the game. And I happily will use CE to send you to ng+ for a ban. You are a blight in this world and not worth anyone's time. Losers

              • Anonymous

                Why are you hating on how the ppl uses crossbows (baiting, holding the button until you get close, 2 avelyns, etc...) when there really isn't another way to use them? they re completely useless in the majority of situations, *****ing about them when they re worse than throwing knifes is just asinine. They are really expensive to use, deals sht damage in general and their weapon art is the 2nd most useless in the game, the 1rst being cleric candlestick's wa.

                • Anonymous

                  Ppl complaining about crossbows being held as if crossbows weren't pathetic enough on their own. Stop crying and block with your shield or weapon, or maybe stop them from reloading.

                  • Anonymous

                    Crossbows (and certain spells) should simply not be allowed to be held indefinitely. Hope Elden Ring fixes that

                    • Anonymous

                      If you use a crossbow, and only a crossbow, you are equally as pathetic as a PKCS user who posts comments about how good PKCS is.

                      • Anonymous

                        Pro tip: holding the triggger builds up damage slowly. If held long enough, it may do about 5 times the normal damage. Don't believe me? Try it out in some invasions and watch the host roll around all over the place. They know.

                        • Anonymous

                          The one and only crossbow that could wreck havoc is stranded in smouldering lake. I wish we could find it again in the dreg heap for the demon prince

                          • Anonymous

                            Its such cancer when you get invaded by a guy that uses a crosbow AND ONLY CROSBOW through the entire fight. Yes its good and hard to counter for alot of ppl and pretty strong overall etc. etc. But fighting only with this***** makes you pretty much a coward and shows that you cant fight normally(true or not). Ik youre having fun and all but most of ppl who do this end up crying how the game is toxic/sending hatemail/blaming others for ruining their fun. Use it if you want idc but dont be a hypocrite and realize youre being a cancer for other players. (Sry if i messed up my grammar)

                            • Anonymous

                              I found a good friede exploit, when she goes invisible in the first phase to charge her death attack, you can approach her until she's visible and headshot her, then backaway far enough that she becomes invisible again as she's staggered, once she's invisible she'll try to charge her attack again and you can approache her again and headshot her again, I was able to chain headshot her up to 5-6 times with my +10 arbalest.

                              • Anonymous

                                Crossbows are good for pvp and pve alike you just have to use them in the right way, besides they can kill pussy hosts with tears pretty well.

                                • Anonymous

                                  You guys need to get with the times, i see all these people saying crossbows suck when in reality they're meta af... I'm going to sound like a tryhard, but it really just comes down to that you all don't know what you're doing or talking about. Get on youtube and you can find a video of all the pvpers using an off hand crossbow. What're you all TALKING about?

                                  • Anonymous

                                    Such a shame the crossbows are even weaker than regular bows. NG run with pure crossbows is still viable and what I'm doing now but I suspect you can't even carry enough bolts for mid to late game bossfights in NG+3 or so. Heck, Demon Prince is probably out of the question even in NG...

                                    • Anonymous

                                      The freeaim exploding bolts are cheesy as hell, using "they're just a tactic put in the game" isn't a valid argument. All the other cheese methods are "put in the game" too. The only reliable counter to this is a good shield, but it's not like you're going to be turtling the entire time and the bolts will do chip damage. Not to mention if you're cosplaying/don't use a shield. No, rushing isn't a viable counter, not willing to argue that, it's idiotic to even bring up. Aim at your feet. There is a reason it's so ez to land hits with this, the aoe is retarded. Quickstep daggers are easier to handle, but still a cheese method, just a more manageable cheese method. People don't quickstep as a strategy, they quickstep when they're low on hp and you pissed them off. There're VERY few actual quicksteppers. Honestly, it's the same with exploding bolt users, you get some guy to low hp and he whips out his exploding bolts and does like 200+ damage each hit with very easy to land hits. Even the guys who start out using the exploding bolts at the beginning of your fight don't refrain from just freeaiming literally the ENTIRE fight. It's not "just a strategy"... Clearly. To argue otherwise is ignoring reality.

                                      • Anonymous

                                        I always use a crossbow In my left hand at all times, just In case I have to go against someone who seems that they can parry, I just fill them with arrows until they become really aggressive and put their shield or other parry tool away.

                                        • Anonymous

                                          @those guys who troll with explosive bolts: please stop. Please. Jesus Christ. Putting the trolls aside, i love when i'm reking someone and they get salty AF so they literally put up their entire fighting style and cheese me with explosive bolts, it's funny. At that point i just run the clock. Same with the people who do the same thing, but with a quickstep dagger, lol.

                                          • Anonymous

                                            Universally useful tools on pretty much any character.

                                            Not much stat-investment required for a relatively strong ranged option that can be used one-handed for quick shots on openings or to finish off a weakened enemy. Can also go two-handed for sniping/luring enemies in. Plus Explosive Bolts basically grant you a Firebomb that you can shoot in a straight line, or manual aim it to the floor for splash damage on a nearby enemy. That or Splintering Bolts to build up bleed/nearly guarantee a finisher on barely surviving enemies since the splinters spread into such a wide area. Great for PvE, great for PvP.

                                            The only case where you shouldn't have one of these equipped is due to weight overload or just the fact that your build heavily focuses on other ranged options instead, like magic for example. Otherwise it's pretty much essential to at least have the option for added utility that ANYONE can access.

                                            You can choose not to have one despite all this, but in my book that's just limiting your character for the sake of... nothing? Come to think of it, why DON'T people use these more often? Blows my mind. 10/10 would shoot again.

                                            • Anonymous

                                              The nice thing about them is that they automatically target the upper body on lock on, so getting a headshot plus counter damage isn't rare. With the Leo Ring I've seen my +9 Light Crossbow deal 260 damage in one hit to a light armored fellow, and at worst it dealt 65 damage on a heavy armored guy casting Perseverance, with the average being 130. Considering I can catch spellcasters mid-cast, potentially cancel their spell and roll away, I'm surprised people aren't using crossbows more often.

                                              • Anonymous

                                                is it possible to parry with a crossbow like u would if u used a gun from Bloodborn? if so then im equipping a crossbow because in the month and a half i've had Dark Souls 3 i can't get the timing down, and when i do get it its always on accident

                                                • Anonymous

                                                  "These weapons do not scale with stats, and as a result are less useful on consecutive NG+ runs." - Completely brain dead statement.

                                                  • Anonymous

                                                    i wanna do more damage with my crossbow but idk too much about the game does dex or strength effect my damage out put with the crossbow

                                                    • Anonymous

                                                      From what I can see from the table the best crossbows are Heavy Crossbow and Knight's Crossbow (with the lightning damage). Are there are reasons to use a different crossbow aside from these 2?

                                                      • Anonymous

                                                        So we all know that the crossbows here are pretty pathetic here right? Which makes little sense to me since the crossbow historically has been more powerful than bows. And with the exception of the great bows, it leaves logic in the corner unattended.And for a while, I've wanted a crossbow that was powerful enough to eliminate standard grunt enemies with a single shot. Whether the shot is a charged shot or uses a special bolt, eliminating from range has always been preferable and people will do it, so why not let players make good use out of the crossbows, rather than needing to rely on the great bows which are hard and unwieldy and no where near as cool as crossbows.So I have an idea, that I would love to see happen, especially since there are TWO DLC's coming out in the future, and plenty of potential. What if we have a Great Crossbow? Like a Great Bow, it's a crossbow that does immense damage, with the drawback of long reload time, and perhaps even the concept that in order to exact its full power, you need to aim down the sights and charge the bolt before firing, or perhaps your character needs to crouch down and aim in order to fire it at all, like how great bows have to be planted down before you fire. Wouldn't it be cool if to aim it, your character lowers down a bipod on the bow turning into a small balista?But the upside is that the crossbow does enough damage to kill standard grunt enemies like undead archers, sword wielders and dogs. Perhaps even erode the health of tougher enemies like knights to near death. So basically the bow works like this.- Long aim time, reload time- High damage potential- Difficult to use.- In order to operate it, you need to aim it, which causes an animation for aiming, then the reticle shows up (like great bows), and you're immobile during this animation.Obviously Dark Souls is a melee game, but I've seen players use other methods as their main, and I would love to be able to use the crossbow as a main next to the sword. Even if the crossbow is a very difficult weapon to wield.Now before people begin raging that this is too OP, too easy, and would be seen too often, let me offer some points to this argument."Enemies will be killed too quickly, the level becomes too easy"Not exactly. As I said, the weapon does heavy damage, but not enough to one shot Lothric knights, executioners or giants, just enough to kill off standard grunt enemies. However this isn't a weapon that you can quickly whip out and no scope the enemy as it runs to you. And plus if the enemy is killed, but it isn't alone, most enemies realize that they're under attack and rush to you. This is a weapon that's meant to be slow but powerful, and if enemies rush at you, then good luck reloading and firing before they beat you up."The weapon can fire too quickly and easily"If you have nerves of steel sure. I want this to be a difficult weapon to wield, and I want it to be difficult for people to use. For those who easily panic when enemies come, yeah, this will be a nightmare to wield. I want people to learn to master it only if they're devoted to the style of play."PVP becomes unfair especially for strength builds"Not at all. Again, this isn't a weapon you can use effectively in the middle of combat. This is a weapon meant for long range assassination. Which will only be possible in PVP in a 1/10 chance.Like I said, if your enemy is unaware, then you have a chance, but if an enemy is aware, then this weapon isn't as practical. And unless your enemy is too stupid to hold up a shield or dodge the bolt, then it's not the best PVP weapon. Possible, but not the most practical."This weapon is too hard and isn't a main."Yeah, that's the idea. I want it to be less a main weapon and more a tool. A hard tool to master, but a tool none the less that offers high reward, for anyone patient enough to use it.So in closing, I hope to see in the future DLC's a Great Crossbow, which acts just like a Greatbow, but in the form of a Crossbow, and with the immense power to kill standard grunt enemies in one shot, while at the same time, being impractical against aware and group enemies. This is a weapon meant for a select few people, but I'd love to see Fromsoftware make it happen.

                                                        • Anonymous

                                                          Im thinking of doing a crossbow build but I need help deciding what crossbow I should use I want speed and damage right now im thinking of a dual arbalest build

                                                          • Anonymous

                                                            I understand crossbows are intended as a ranged alternative for non-dex characters, but are they viable without scaling? I mean the black bow does only 300 or so damage if I'm not mistaken with 40 dex max upgrade. Crossbows seem to do roughly the same but can move while shooting and be one handed.Is there anything that makes bows drastically better?

                                                            • Roll Punishment: Do a 2 hit combo with your weapon, and then fire your crossbow, should catch them after they roll away from you. Also good if your oppenent predictibly rolls.Doesn't do a ton of damage but every bit of health lost hurts an invader. Decent to catch people when running away to chug also.

                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                Still pretty much a useless set of weapons aside from maybe pulling a mob every so often. No scaling and most importantly no infusion makes them nothing better than glorified mook pullers, and they're prone to miss in PvP with most people fast rolling now.

                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                  You cant infuse? Then theres no point in getting a crossbow because any other regular bow would be better, seriously , whats the pount of having crossbows in the game if they dont scale?

                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                    According to the CE id list there is a heavy crossbow in game and a shield crossbow but if you try a swap drop it won't go in your inventory same with bow infusions.

                                                                    • Anonymous

                                                                      Avelyn confirmed in library style area (where you change your head to candle ) ( i dont know name in english :D )

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