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ParaminaCrossbow-ffxii

The Paramina Crossbow.

Crossbows (自動弓, Jidouyumi?) are a type of weapon commonly used by Archers. They fire in a direct line of sight rather than an arched trajectory of a bow, which can sometimes be a disadvantage.

Appearances[]

Final Fantasy XI[]

FFXI Marksmanship C 1D

The Arbalest.

Crossbows are one of the two major types of Marksman weapons (the other being guns). They seldom reach the same power of bows or guns, but there exists special "status bolts" which can inflict a variety of status ailments, making them useful in some circumstances.

Notable crossbows:


Final Fantasy XII[]

HuntingCrossbow-ffxii

The Hunting Crossbow.

Crossbows are long-range weapons that deal normal damage. In the Zodiac versions they can be equipped by Time Battlemages. They generally do not deal as much damage as bows and their accuracy is ruined by windy weather and low visibility, but they have the shortest recharge time of any ranged weapon. Bolts must be equipped to use crossbows.

The damage formula for crossbows is:

Crossbows use the Strength damage formula. Damage depends on the weapon, the user's Strength and character level. The characters' stats can vary by up to 30%, but Strength varies 10%; the male characters have the highest Strength. Crossbow accuracy is reduced by 50% in windy/sandstorm/heavy rain/blizzard weather.[1]

List of crossbows: List of bolts:


Final Fantasy XV[]

The Bow of the Clever is a crossbow that fires spectral bolts towards enemies. Like other ranged weapons, it deals reduced damage the farther away Noctis is from the target. Unlike most other weapons, though, it uses Noctis's magic stat in damage calculations. Magic-boosting accessories tend to be significantly stronger than strength-boosting accessories when applied here.

Its basic combo simply shoots repeatedly and it doesn't require reloading. Bolts travel through enemies and can hit multiple foes. Directional input towards any of the four cardinal directions while firing has Noctis quickstep in that direction. Noctis is invincible during a quickstep. Releasing the directional input and inputting it again during the dodge performs an MP-free airstep. Noctis will jump and begin an aerial combo where he will shoot once. Bow of the Clever's phase-counter is a shoot.

Warp-striking with the crossbow uniquely warps Noctis towards the enemy, lacking an actual strike, instead shooting four point-blank shots diagonally upward. Because it aims high, it may miss enemies that are too small, quick, or far away from Noctis after warping.

Ardyn with Bow of the Clever in FFXV bestiary

Ardyn with a red version of the Bow of the Clever.

The crossbow allows good mobility to kite enemies and works best when Noctis is equipped for high magic. Its ability to hit multiple enemies at once is good for multi-encounters, but each enemy struck will also drain Noctis's health. Combining it with Ignis's Overwhelm Technique used to give the crossbow an amazing fire-rate and damage,[2] but the player was in danger of entering Danger state as it was easy to drain all of Noctis's health this way. The bow's fast firing rate during Overwhelm was nerfed in patch 1.16.

Ardyn wields a red variant of the bow in his bestiary entry picture.

NameCategoryAttackCriticalModifiers/NotesValueObtain
Bow of the Clever
(Bow of the Winged King)
Bow-of-the-Clever-FFXV
Royal Arms2037Magic: +80
Shot Resistance: 50%
A bow that fires piercing arrows, and can fire while moving in any direction. Its damage is based on the Magic stat. Warp-strike fires multiple arrows upward
Buy: —
Sell: —
Find: Balouve Mines
A king was versed in myriad arts both martial and intellectual. This was his crossbow. The bearer skewers foes while flitting around the battlefield.

Final Fantasy Tactics[]

The Gastrophetes.

Archers are able to use crossbows in battle. They are one-handed weapons, usually with a range of four tiles and are unaffected by height. The main disadvantage of crossbows is that they cannot be fired over obstacles like regular bows can, so the target must be directly in front of the crossbow user with no obstacles in between in order for the target to be hit. However, they do have the benefit of being able to strike an enemy at close-range by targeting a tile directly behind them.

List of crossbows:

Vagrant Story[]

There are three crossbows that appear.

List of crossbows:

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade[]

FFTA Buster SwordThis section about equipment in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.

References[]

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