Thoughts on DLC crossbows?

[Greywander]

I feel like the Repeating Crossbow compares pretty directly to the Pulley Crossbow. The advantage of the Repeating Crossbow is that it gives you a choice between single shots and repeating shots. It also looks a lot cooler, IMO. I'm not sure the weapon art is actually better than the Pulley Crossbows triple tap, though, and if you're off-handing the crossbow then it blocks you from using your main-hand weapon skill. (At least the had the good sense to make the skill usable in your off-hand.) The repeating shot also has a slow startup and locks you in place for longer. I've also heard it's bad for status buildup.

Spread Crossbow is more interesting to me. After reading the item description, I fully expected it to shoot two bolts in different directions, so I was pleasantly surprised to see the fully shotgun blast. My hope is that it will be good for catching enemies that like to dodge projectiles, and for staggering/interrupting groups of enemies.

I've heard the Spread Crossbow only allows an enemy to take damage from up to three bolts. I understand why they did this, as often in games with shotgun-type weapons they tend to either be garbage at range or overpowered at point blank (sometimes both). It also consumes too many bolts for my liking; IMO they should cut the bolts consumed down from 10 to 5. I'm also not sure how good it is at hitting targets from a distance that a single-shot crossbow would be able to hit. I've also heard the damage is less than advertised.

I think I may try the Spread Crossbow on one of my next builds, see how it does. I also feel obligated to do a Guts cosplay at some point with the Repeating Crossbow. Have any of you tried either of these crossbows, and if so what do you think? How do you think they compare to the Pulley Crossbow?

[eisen]

I think both bows and crossbows were very neglected and to me it seems that Fromsoft wants us to move away from them as a concept. Magic, consumables, weapon arts and now the new thrown weapons are strictly superior ranged options. We got like one new gimmick arrow/bolt type and still can't change AoWs on crossbows at all.
We get one new cannon that is said to have a homing effect but I didn't see it in action or it's very subtle. Then we get a new greatbow and great arrows that excel against dragons - after you beat all the dragons...

Aside from zoomed aiming to knock down these hanging pots with bell bearings there's really no use anymore.

And as you already said, the repeating crossbow is just a more clunky way to do what the pulley crossbow already did before.

[Nifty]

Originally posted by eisen:

I think both bows and crossbows were very neglected and to me it seems that Fromsoft wants us to move away from them as a concept. Magic, consumables, weapon arts and now the new thrown weapons are strictly superior ranged options. We got like one new gimmick arrow/bolt type and still can't change AoWs on crossbows at all.
We get one new cannon that is said to have a homing effect but I didn't see it in action or it's very subtle. Then we get a new greatbow and great arrows that excel against dragons - after you beat all the dragons...

Aside from zoomed aiming to knock down these hanging pots with bell bearings there's really no use anymore.

And as you already said, the repeating crossbow is just a more clunky way to do what the pulley crossbow already did before.

The bone bow is very strong for 3 pounds.

The weapon art being volley/quick shot + enchanted shot makes it one of the best in the game.

Even quality scaling means it's top of the line in dmg.

One of the few short bows you can run without talisman support.