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 dealing 10-80 damage and the other two dealing 2-16, for a total of 14-112 damage. The bolt in the center can damage ghost monsters, but the ones on the sides cannot. It is 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, the center three of which are capable of damaging ghosts. The center three deal 6-48 damage each, and the ones at the sides do 2-16 damage, for a total of 22-176 damage. 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.