Ethereal Crossbow

The Ethereal Crossbow is a weapon from Heretic. It is a stringless wooden crossbow that fires glowing green bolts (Ethereal Arrows) for ammunition. When fired, it launches a spread of three bolts, the central one being more powerful than the other two and, unlike the bolts at the side, can damage ghost monsters, which makes it roughly equivalent to Doom's shotgun. All three bolts auto-aim seperately, making the weapon more accurate when pointed at an enemy at midrange than when firing at a wall or at long range. Under the influence of a Tome of Power, its rate of fire is slightly faster, and it fires a spread of five bolts, three of which are capable of damaging ghosts. Maximum capacity is 50 shots, or 100 with the Bag of Holding.

The bolts from the sides do not hit ghost monsters, which means crossbow is slightly less effective against them.

Strategy
The Crossbow is likely the best weapon in Heretic. It delivers medium to high damage against all enemies at medium-close combat. The Crossbow is also effective at longer ranges, but not as much as other weapons such as the Dragon Claw and the Hellstaff. The advantage of the crossbow over other weapons is that it allows the player to strafe and dodge out of the way of incoming projectiles while aiming at and hitting the monsters without taking damage.