Arbalest

Version 0.29: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Name	Arbalest
Skill	Crossbows
Damage	17
Accuracy	-2
Base delay (%)	19 (190%)
Min delay	10 at 18 skill
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 'Ranged Weapons' category. It is a two-handed weapon.

Arbalests are powerful ranged weapons, though 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. They are commonly found on yaktaurs around the Vaults, and occassionally by orcs or naga sharpshooters.

Hand crossbows are a flat upgrade, while requiring only one hand to wield. If you want to go heavier, a triple crossbow fires even slower but deals more damage. Longbows fire faster, so typically deal more damage at minimum delay.

	Image
Mundane
Magical
Artifact
	Unrandart arbalest
Damnation

History

• In 0.29, arbalests' stats were nerfed (damage from 18 to 17, accuracy from +2 to -2) and they were affected by the ranged weapons rework that applied to all launchers, including the removal of the dedicated crossbows skill and physical bolts necessary to fire.
• Prior to 0.15, Crossbows only contained one type of weapon called the crossbow. They were split into arbalests, hand crossbows, and triple crossbows.