Crossbow



Crossbows are long-ranged weapons; a type of bow that uses a mechanically compressed and held bowstring. They tend to fire slower than bows, but cause more damage on a hit. They are similar to bows and guns in use. Character stats are applied the same way for each type, although the item stats will be different from item to item.

Usage
Crossbows can be used by Rogues, Hunters and Warriors. Naturally, given it is a weapon, crossbows are used to cause damage. The different classes will however use crossbows a bit differently.

Rogues
While most Rogues will prefer thrown as their ranged weapon (as two of their abilities requires thrown), a crossbows can be used as a placeholder if the stats on it are good. These stats will be agility (main priority), attack power, haste, resilience (for PvP), expertise rating, hit rating, stamina (defensive stat), and critical strike rating. Due to the Rogue's fighting style, a crossbow's worth lies purely in the stats which will boost the Rogue's melee attacks.

Warriors
Similar to the Rogue, a crossbow's worth to a Warrior will also lie in the stats which boost melee attacks. Unlike guns however, strength (which is especially important to damage dealer Warriors), dodge and parry (which is important to tanking warriors) is rather uncommon on crossbows - Crossbow of Imminent Doom and Amphibious Speargun are two exceptions. As such, most Warriors will use guns instead, at least on higher levels.

Hunters
Hunters are perhaps the only class which "truly" uses crossbows; that is, uses them as weapons instead of just enjoying the stats. Since patch 4.0.1, which caused Hunters to use focus instead of mana, Hunters and Rogues will go for exactly the same stats on a crossbow. Before that however, there were crossbows made purely for hunters. One example is Truestrike Crossbow with intellect on it, which boosted the Hunter's mana. Given how Hunter's can make a greater usage of a crossbow than Rogues (and Warriors), one may still consider most crossbows to be Hunter weapons.

As Hunters use crossbows as weapons, the attack value of a crossbow becomes very relevant to them. The perhaps most important stat is the weapon speed which somewhat determines how much damage a weapon is capable of generating. The faster the speed, the more but weaker attacks - the slower the speed, the lesser but more powerful attacks. Generally, the latter is the most favorable. As mentioned on top this article, the weapon speed on crossbows is usually slower than on guns and bows. The slow attack speed is much preferred by most hunters who specialize in Aimed Shot, or a heavily Beast Mastery specced hunter (due to talents like Serpent's Swiftness).

In comparison, a weapon speed equal to or less than 2 is found on about 20 guns ranging from level 1 to 80, on about 25 bows ranging from level 1 to 70 , but only on 3 crossbows ranging from level 35 to 74. A weapon speed interval of between 2.10 and 2.50 is found on about 30 guns ranging from level 1 to 80, on nearly 50 bows ranging from level 1 to 74 , but only on 7 crossbows ranging from level 1 to 58. The amount of crossbows will rise at a speed interval of between 2.60 to 3.00, which holds about 200 guns ranging from level 1 to 85, about 170 bows ranging from level 1 to 85 , and nearly 130 crossbows also ranging from level 1 to 85. Crossbows eventually reach a majority past speed 3.00, on a interval of between 3.10 and 4.00 which holds only 4 guns ranging from level 68 to 78, two bows ranging from 62 to 78 , but 13 crossbows ranging from level 22 to 73. Keep in mind that this data includes items that are no longer available to players, and that it was retrieved during patch 4.0.6.

The fastest crossbow in the game is the Frigid Crossbow. The two slowest are the Steelarrow Crossbow and Ashjre'thul, Crossbow of Smiting - the latter was one of the most powerful weapons in pre-TBC. Notably, these two also the slowest ranged weapons in the game as of patch 4.0.6.

Acquiring and upgrading
There are several ways to acquire a crossbow. Like all other weapons and armor, they can be:
 * Bought from various types of vendors
 * Looted from mobs
 * Rewarded from quests
 * Crafted by engineers (only one)

There are also different ways to improve your crossbow:
 * Simply acquire a better crossbow with better stats
 * Add an engineer-crafted scope on it

The availability of crossbows is more limited than the availability of bows and guns in World of Warcraft.