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 have the same stats 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.