Arbalest

Version 0.19: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Name	Arbalest
Skill	Crossbows
Damage	18
Accuracy	+2
Base delay (%)	1.9
Min delay	1.0 at skill 18
Hands	2H
Size	Medium
Ranged?	Yes

A large piece of machinery used for firing bolts, braced with steel and cranked with a windlass. It takes some time to load and fire. "(TELL enters with his crossbow) W. TELL: My precious jewel now, -my chiefest treasure- A mark I'll set thee, which the cry of grief Could never penetrate,-but thou shalt pierce it- And thou, my trusty bowstring, that so oft For sport hath served me faithfully and well Desert me not in this dread hour of need,- Only be true this once, my own good cord, That hast so often wing'd the biting shaft:- For shouldst thou fly successless from my hand, I have no second to send after thee." -Friedrich Schiller, _Wilhelm Tell_, IV, iii. 1804. trans. Sir Theodore Martin, 1898.

This weapon falls into the 'Crossbows' category. It uses bolts as ammunition.

Arbalests are powerful ranged weapons, capable of launching bolts for high damage and with excellent accuracy. However, the complexity of their design gives them a significantly lower rate of fire than bows: it takes nearly two normal-speed turns to fire them without training, and even with sufficient skill, they'll never achieve a mindelay better than 1.0.

Unless you happen to find a very nice shield for your offhand, wielders of a hand crossbow should eventually upgrade to one of these once they get near 18 Crossbows skill, as the jump in damage output is very significant. Later switching to a triple crossbow may be worthwhile if you're willing to put a lot of experience into the skill, but is by no means necessary; an well-enchanted, well-branded arbalest is a very capable ranged weapon.

	Image
Mundane
Magical
Artifact

	Unrandart arbalests
Damnation (unrand)

History

Prior to 0.18, the Damnation unrand arbalest was called Hellfire.

Arbalests were introduced in 0.15 (along with hand crossbows and triple crossbows), replacing standard crossbows.

In 0.14 Hellfire was revamped to fire bolts that actually explode in hellfire.