Heavy Crossbow is a Weapon in Dark Souls 3.
A large, powerful crossbow. Must be readied before firing.
Bolts must be equipped in order to use crossbows.
Up to two kinds of bolts can be equipped at a time, and these can be switched as necessary
Skill: Tackle
Lunge into a shoulder tackle, pushing back enemies to create distance.
Notes and Tips:
- Cannot be Infused or Buffed.
- Reinforced with Titanite.
Location/Where to Find
- Dropped by the Cathedral Knight situated atop the x-shaped rafters above the Cathedral of the Deep. To get here, head to the "Cleansing Chapel" Bonfire, and exit the shortcut on the left hand side of the room. Take the elevator up, and climb the ladder just outside and to the left of the crossbow-wielding undead. Behind the deacon in this room will be a broken wall. Go there and then drop down on top of the beam 'walkways', and run all the way up. To your right, the first entrance inside will be just beside where the thrall climbs up, and is typically guarded by a patrolling large halberd-wielding undead. Inside, the crossbow will drop from the singular knight wielding the weapon on the left side of the rafters.
- The easiest way to farm for this item is to equip any bow, but preferably one with decent range; start from Rosaria's Bedchamber bonfire, run past the mangrubs, but kill the mangrub mage next to the lever or he'll shoot at you. Walk about 3/4 across the bridge that Patches lowered, then turn and face the direction you came from. From this position, look up and to the right, the knight that drops the crossbow should be visible behind the edge of the chandelier; shoot him in the head, and he'll fall off, and if you can see an item drop jump down and grab it. The silver cat ring is a good idea for this, as it mitigates fall damage. It's a very painful drop, and you're probably wearing Symbol of Avarice to boost item discovery rates.
Moveset and Videos:
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Heavy Crossbow Upgrade Table
| Attack ValuesBonus | Parameter Bonus | Auxiliary Effects | Damage Reduction (%) | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name |
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| Regular | 72 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Regular +1 | 90 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Regular +2 | 108 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Regular +3 | 126 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Regular +4 | 144 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Regular +5 | 162 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Regular +6 | 180 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Regular +7 | 198 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Regular +8 | 216 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Regular +9 | 234 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Regular +10 | 252 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Table Key
| Requirement | Parameter Bonus | Attack Values | Damage Reduction % | Auxiliary Effects | Others |
 Strength |
Strength |
Physical |
Physical |
Bleeding |
 Durability |
 Dexterity |
Dexterity |
Magic |
Magic |
Poison |
|
 Intelligence |
Intelligence |
Fire |
Fire |
 Frost |
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 Faith |
Faith |
Lightning |
Lightning |
 Curse |
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| Dark |
Dark |
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 Critical |
 Stability |
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 Spell Buff |
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 Range |
Parameter Bonus: Strength, Dexterity,Magic, Fire, Lightning and Dark bonuses - The scaling multiplier applied to the [Attack: stat]. Scaling quality is from highest to lowest as follows: S/A/B/C/D/E.The higher the player's [Str, Dex, Mag, Fire, Light] stat, the higher the [Attack Bonus: Stat] is (found on the player status screen). The higher the scaling letter, the higher the percent multiplier applied to the [Attack: Stat].This resulting bonus damage is added to the base physical damage of the weapon and is shown in the equipment screen in blue numbers as a "+ X".
Durability: The weapon's HP, when the durability hits 0, the effectiveness of its attacks become weakened to the point of almost uselessness. When an items durability is low, a message will come up saying "Weapon At Risk!" at this point the weapon does not perform at it's best.
Weight: How much the item weights when equipped.
Stability: How well the player keeps stance after being hit
Attack Type: Defines what kind of swing set the weapon has: Regular(R), Thrust(T), Slash(Sl), Strike(St)
AnonymousSexy sexy crossbow. Pair with Explosive bolts and look stylish as you blast people with it. Really any crossbow is good in this game except maybe the sniper crossbow, but even that one has its uses. Guess the only other painpoint is farming this one. From was pretty trollish with the farm for this weapon. I didn't get it until my 5th playthrough...
-Con
- Anonymous
I love when I'm farming him and he decides to stay up on the rafters instead of falling down.
- Anonymous
you mean the enemy you only find the moment after you pass the place a better crossbow spawns?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Jeffrey, is what I’ve named him, somehow keeps disappearing? I walk across the bridge, and poof, he is gone
- Anonymous
Just found out that this existed, I thought that cathedral knights were using the arbalest the entire time until this dropped outta nowhere
- Anonymous
Instead of that utterly useless weapon art that 99% playerbase never use, It should have a knock back weapon art like the knight that use's it to knock you off the rafters like a as@hole, That way it stand out than the rest crossbows, but of course we can't have nice things.
- Anonymous
It must of took me 40 runs with rusty coins and the crystal meth rapier to finally get this for my cathedral khunt build today.
- Anonymous
So, for anyone farming for this, and using the bridge method, instead of just jumping off the bridge, I recommend going back to the lever, pulling it so the bridge lowers, and rolling onto it as it goes down. Much less damage taken. Then just use a shortcut to the cleansing chapel bonfire, travel to the rosaria bonfire, and just raise the bridge again to reset
- Anonymous
So personally i think this crossbow is dope af.
As a crossbow enthusiast and lover, this crossbow really hit different when it comes to Range/Power,
Mostly in PVP it can be a really great tool for when you got somebody who is tanking, like your friend or another spirit,Heck sometimes even great using it while the host Of embers is busy with the beefy mobs.
Though the drop rate is extremely low for it.
Had to farm 4-5 hours for it but in the end for me at least it really worth it, i replaced knight’s crossbow with this a huge boost to my damage output but kind of heavy.
- Anonymous
The only thing that kept me going was watching him fall each time.
- Anonymous
Got all psyched up ready to farm it and then got it on my first run through lel.
- Anonymous
sometimes fashion is just a little more important then function
- Anonymous
Top 3 pain in the ass drops and statistically worse than the Arbalest, and weighs more than the light and knight crossbow.
Cmmon From.
- Anonymous
Got it on my third attempt with no luck-boost whatsoever. Farmed it again on another character and got it first try. Stop complaining, it's not that rare.
- Anonymous
Took me 20-something tries with 50 luck, symbol of avarice, crystal rapier, gold serpant ring +3, and rusted coins. Thank you, Miyazaki.
- Anonymous
Those who have 2 Crystal Sage's Rapiers, can swap to 2nd one while the mob is if flying down.
- Anonymous
Dropped for me after about 7 kills with 10 Luck and Crystal Sage's Rapier. Also got the Cathedral Knight's Armor and 2 Cathedral Knight Greatswords. Started from the Cleansing Chapel, getting to the roof is quite quick. 100 % recommend.
- Anonymous
This is the best hunter cosplay crossbow as it has designs on it just like the hunter pistol
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Absolutely worth it, disregard everyone who calls it irrelevant and purposeless, you have aesthetics on your side. True fashion souls should be an extension of you, in the form of a crossbow bolt, fashionably impacting the face of your enemy who dared to call your weapon stupid
- Anonymous
Perfect for my Darkest Dungeon Arbalest Cosplay... despite this not being the DS 3 arbalest haha
- Anonymous
The farming method mentioned here is NOT effective. As soon as you get across to even be able to Target his head he deloads and disappears, if you do manage to find the sweet spot before he deloads good luck targeting his head through the chandelier. Hitting him anywhere else aggros him and his bolts will knock you off, then he'll duck to reload it and miss your shot you do manage to get off. 10/10 pain in the ass, you're better off just running up there from cleansing chapel sniping across the rafters and making your way down. Takes bout as long as the bull*****method mentioned above.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
The Arbalest has about 8-9% more damage. However, this thing is lighter and requires less strength. So it's a trade off, and I find myself happy I bothered to farm it so I'd have one in my inventory. Certain min/maxed builds require a bit of an economic trade off for more tools and capabilities.
- Anonymous
Realy good weapon for low level invasions...and perfect for a non twink hunter build ! Extremly overlooked for ist Purpose....
- Anonymous
Arbalest is better, but I use this one for fashion and obscurity.
- Anonymous
i just started farming this the other day and i got it in just 2 attempts. WHAT?? ive tried farming this before on other characters and only got it once ever, after countless attempts. couldnt believe my eyes honestly. just had to announce this
- Anonymous
Yeah as someone trying to get all the weapons can I just ask why the ***** THIS IS SO DAMN RARE? I have 10 luck, symbol of avarice, gold serpent +3, and a crystal sage rapier and it still took at least 50 kills to get. The *****er even managed to drop a helmet, great mace, shield, heavy bolts, and a titanite shard all at the same time before he dropped this. As a couple notes for others going through this crap I would go from the Rosaria's Bed Chamber bonfire and snipe him off like it says above and I did NOT have to hit him once to get him to switch to the crossbow or anything. Just one shot to the head to get him to fall. Hopefully you all have much better luck.
THE most obscure weapon in the game, hands down. Even the Harpe and Carthus Shotel are more well-known.
- Anonymous
What a pathetic weapon. It's only better than the light crossbow, every other crossbow is better
- Anonymous
I was certain I had at least seen every damn weapon in this game, but now I found this
- Anonymous
I got the crossbow accidentally and on my first encounter killing the cathedral knight for a pyro build with 7 luck, he jumped down from his position to the man grubs, a back stab later I got the crossbow
- Anonymous
Might be worth noting that if you shoot the Cathedral Knight in the head from the walkway below and he immediately falls off, he will often drop a great mace, suggesting he needs to switch to the crossbow for it to drop. I haven't gotten the heavy crossbow yet, but I have gotten some heavy bolts - usually only after aggroing him with a shot to the chest before knocking him off with a headshot.
- Anonymous
Who ever designed the weapon, and thought it would be a good idea for ONE F***ING knight to wield it the WHOLE GAME is absolutely idiotic . I'm sure that one cathedral knight had it "custom made" for rage
- Anonymous
Is the arbalest better ? Yeah. Does it look good ? No way. So get the Heavy Crossbow for Style
- Anonymous
Simply love it. Low str requirements, awesome look and deals good damage. A total different game experience!
If you're on PC, a viable way to obtain this weapon is to quit the game right before the area where the crossbow knight is standing, make a copy of that save file, restart the game and kill the knight. If he doesn't drop the crossbow (or if you die), exit the game and restore your backup save, then repeat as many times as necessary 'till the knight drops the damn thing. It can get tiresome, but it sure beats the hell out of having to make the trip all the way up the roof only for the knight to drop something else, warp back to the bonfire then go up over and over again, with the additional risk of getting killed. I was expecting a dozen attempts or more, but I was pretty damn lucky and got the crossbow on my third try with a lowly 17 Luck, and oddly without using any items or gear that boosts item discovery. I recommend using Hollowslayer Greatsword upgraded to at least 2, as it deals a lot of damage to these guys and can also break their guard with its special skill. Just mind the gap on both sides while engaging.
- Anonymous
Fully cocked on any build I have Arbalest is just barely over 20 points more damage on this thing. You can pick a guranteed arbalast up from the last tied steeple on the high path to the rafters, there's some trogladite thralls doing an ambush on the path to it. Heavy Crossbow is a fairly normal grind. You can get it after 10-20 tries. It's not quite the broken strait sword of crossbows or a meme weapon, but it also isn't BAD by any means. If you're going for a crossbow I'd use the Knights Crossbow; it's easy to get, has buff on lightning bolts, and is light. Functionally crossbows make better side arms; though I've seen exactly THREE people running bow builds; and they always alter between Sniper Crossbow and Pharis Black Shortbow, and they were quite skilled to say the least. The best function of a large crossbow like this or Arbalast is to have it as a side arm, equip explosive bolts, and to punish parries with it. Make like you do a lot of running attack and when they show any sign of being ready to parry, the moment you're in close give them a bolt. Believe it or not; you can't parry Crossbows.
- Anonymous
Is this a wiki error, or anyone noticed that it is the only crossbow with no critical stat ? I dunno if that really matter, but I used to think that the critical modifier applies at least on the counter damages from the bolts (and maybe headshots ?). Taking that in consideration, it would make this weapon even worse (despite the fact I absolutly love it)
- Anonymous
Ok, so I'm going to lay it down just in case some noob still hasn't beaten this game like a thousand times.... DO NOT FARM THIS ITEM!!! IT IS A BAD ITEM!!!
If you want a heavy-hitting crossbow, you have to be enough of a man to pick up the Arbalest but you'll be holding yourself back by the sheer weight that doesn't give you ANYTHING aside from 27 (yes, 27) AR. In this game there's only one crossbow that's efficient enough to even consider it as an option, and that's the Light Crossbow. Now, STOP WASTING YOUR TIME TRYING TO FARM A T4 ITEM WHEN YOU CAN BUY THE T2 VERSION FROM THE HANDMAID
- Anonymous
Nice damage, low states requirement, low weight and beautiful. A practical choice.
The only good thing about this crossbow is that he weight less,only that, - 1.5 kg then Arbalest,but Arbalest has 26 more damage.You would mostly use it for fun or because of weight.
- Anonymous
The Arbalest for 273 Raw Dmage? Or 21 Points less for Style.... ;_; I don't know
- Anonymous
Got it in 4 tries with Symbol of Avarice, Covetous Gold Serpent Ring+3 and Crystal Sage's Rapier. I used the Milwood Greatbow (not even upgraded), but any Greatbow should be fine as this one has the lowest range. From Rosaria's Bed Chamber bonfire I walked across the bridge past Patches untill I could aim high enough for his head. From here you can just shoot him in the head and he'll fall off (you can shoot through the chandelier). Equip the Silvercat Ring to negate fall damage when you jump after him.
- Anonymous
One of, if not, the most dangerous items you can farm in this game. One wrong move and you die, plummeting to your end. The knight has around 550 HP and is very resistant to being pushed. Farm at your own risk and only after using and/or spending all souls you plan on getting for a while.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Every single time I try to farm this the knight drops an item but he falls through the floor so I'm completely *****ed.
- Anonymous
Equip the dragonslayer greataxe, wield it two handed with the crystal sage rapier. Use the item for farming like covetous gold serpent ring, rusted coin, symbol of avarice. Start from cleansing chapel go up with the elevator to the knight punish it with the skill of the weapon. EASY
- Anonymous
Why does this weapon exist? You get the Arbalest before it and its a better weapon... thanks Myazaki
We need more crossbows that look good there all so bland looking
- Anonymous
I tried various methods of farming this weapon - duking out on the rafters, shooting it off with a greatbow, luring it off the rafters to the wall area for safer fighting - and I found the easiest way was to just have a ranged fight on the rafters. Stay just far enough for it to not aggro and run after you with its mace, shoot it with an upgraded bow or crossbow, and just strafe a few feet to the left or right to dodge its bolts. Pop a rusted coin before you land the finishing strike, and of course be certain to have the crystal sage rapier offhand, and a symbol of avarice and covetous gold serpent ring if you can manage it. Collect the drops in perfect safety, and roll down to Rosaria's bonfire to warp back to the cleansing chapel. I believe this method is best for people like me who have a superstitious fear that if the enemy only drops the weapon that it's wielding at the time of death... I don't believe that's EVER how it's worked (thinking of the bow and sword wielding silver knights in DkS1) but it's nice to be absolutely certain.
- Anonymous
I tried the method from above and it's BS i can't see ***** because of the giant lamp in front of me and if i walk too far i'll permanently lose him he'll be invisible and he can still shoot me if a F it up
- Anonymous
I prepared like I was gonna do it 1000 times but i got it on the first :D
- Anonymous
The pain of getting this crossbow. If it wasn't for me having insane damage with bows and crossbows I would have let this go.
- Anonymous
Every time I tried, I had absolutely no view on the knight from the spot they posted about in the page. Had to go the long way from the Clensing Chapel instead.
- Anonymous
I got the x-bow with around 15 trys. Even if the knight wears the x-box, he also can drop the mace for whatever reason.
- Anonymous
Just took me less than 10 tries to get that crossbow with the method described above :DBut I had to use a greatbow. There are "lines" on the "Patches bridge", btw, and if you go to the last 2 lines, you'll have a good sight on the knight.Just try to aim for his head or a bit above that and he'll "really" fall down. If he drops something, just equip your Silver cat ring and you'll suffer no damage by jumping down. Of course, it is highly recommended to have the Symbol of Avarice and the Crystal Sage Dagger equipped. Coins could also help. But yeah, I got it in under 10 tries, so good luck with this method :)
- Anonymous
I used the heavy crossbow religiously in DS2. Sucks to find out it is almost impossible to get in this game and is not really special at all.
- Anonymous
Got this in about 70 something tries using nothing but rusted coins. Just don't loose hope guys, YOU WILL GET IT.
- Anonymous
Anyone else find the existence of this weapon totally bizarre? It's one of only two entirely new crossbow models unique to Dark Souls III, and it has a pretty nice design, but it is a rare drop from a very singular (and potentially difficult to farm) mob enemy, barely distinguishable from the rank and file of the other cathedral knights. And it's a mere leisurely stroll away from a guaranteed Arbalest, a crossbow that is superior in nearly every way. What a waste of such a neat weapon model... Makes one think this was an oversight.
- Anonymous
Here's a video of how I did it. Make sure you don't get too close because he will switch to a mace and you'll probably get that instead of the crossbow. I realized this after getting 20 mace drops. When I kept my distance he dropped the crossbow in my third try:https://youtu.be/MLnzTtPUdIg
- Anonymous
Theirs an easier way to farm for this item. farming build: weapons L1 shield of want, L2 black bow of pharis,R1 irithyll rapier. fire arrows selected. rings sun princess ring, ring of favor +~, both the gold and silver covetous serpent ring selected. also the symbol of avarice helm selected with whatever else you fancy. anyways start from the rosarias bed chamber bf and make youre way to the drop bridge to the 2nd crack before the other side. turn around and look upwards towards the closest x shape rafters on the left arm for the 1st knight. then aim for the head to knock that betch off. then back track to ledge right before the side with the lever and patches. while youre on on the ledge look upwards beward the next set of x shape rafters on the left arm for the 2nd knight and aim for head again. go to the lever to lower the drop bridge to use as way down to collect items if dropped. afterwards use a coiled sword or homeward bone to the last bf. continue this until item is yours! [T]/ love phyxium
- Anonymous
so we could just bait him to fall without the need to pickup the loot from the bottom of the church
- Anonymous
Doesn't seem to be much point in this compared to the much more easily obtained arbalest. The arbalest has better damage and the same range, so the heavy crossbow's only advantage is that it weighs 1.5 less and doesn't require as much strength... I guess it might be useful for a low strength build that still wants arbalest-like performance (would need 10 vs 12 if you two-hand it), but outside of that niche it just seems inferiorThis assumes, of course, that the rate of fire is identical, although I don't have the heavy crossbow to test that out.
- Anonymous
I see why this item is so hard to find, now. It's a rare and valuable "browssbow," one of the most secret black projects, meant to surpass crossbows.
- Anonymous
Would someone use their brain for something useful and describe the location of the ONLY knight that drops this? "X-themed rooftops" is a really vague and useless description.
- Anonymous
oh, didnt see the comment section to be separately clickable^^ thanks
- Anonymous
I noticed the knights from cathedral have way less HP and have red instead of blue garments compared to the ones in the garden. While I have gotten the same loot from both so far, I havent had any luck with the crossbow specifically. Can someone confirm where he/she got a drop between those two?
- Anonymous
After testing the drop of this weapon with a cheat that made every drop chance to be 100%, i noticed it only drops from the cathedral knight which is in the X-themed rooftops, the one that has a crossbow, any other cathedral knight, or consumed garden or lothric castle knight dont drop this, after testing without the cheat and with 114 ID(thief base ID) it took me 13 attemps to get it, so its rare and drops just from 1 mob, have luck getting it!
- Anonymous
I tried farming the only knight in the castle with a crossbow on the rafters and finally got it.
- Anonymous
dose it even drop? i tried so many times, got all other weapons, only 1 missing. must be 0.0001% drop wont bother anymore
Got lucky and got this on my first kill of him when doing a cathedral knight build. Praise be to RNGesus
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