Crossbows

The crossbow is Geralt's third weapon, carried in its own slot beside the two swords. It is less a damage dealer than a tool: it brings flying monsters down to sword height, and it is the only weapon that works underwater. The Witcher 3 has 11 of them.

Combat

Pros

A bolt to a flying monster knocks it out of the air, which turns a griffin or a wyvern into a fight on the ground.
Underwater it is the only weapon Geralt can use.
It works from horseback, alongside the sword.
Shooting costs no stamina, and aiming by hand slows time while you line the shot up.
The basic bolt never runs out. Special bolts add bleeding, fire or armour piercing.

Cons

Runestones and runewords are for swords; a crossbow stays as it was found.
One bolt type is loaded at a time.
Damage is small next to a sword until a build is made for it.

Builds

The Blood and Wine mutation Cat Eyes is what turns the crossbow into a weapon: a large boost to crossbow damage, +50% critical chance with it, and bolts that pierce and stun or knock down. It sits on the green and red side of the mutation tree, so it suits a combat build with an alchemy slant.

Two witcher schools make one. The Feline Crossbow adds critical chance and armour piercing, the Ursine Crossbow critical chance and critical damage. Both stay at their basic tier, and set bonuses count only armour and swords.

Remastered rebuilt the skill trees and reset every point; the crossbow skills are among those to check in the new tree before planning around them.

Best Crossbows

Build	Weapon	Key Figure
Hardest hitter	Geralt Of Rivia's Crossbow	+300% attack power, 13-17 damage
Witcher gear	Feline Crossbow	+225% attack power, +10 armour piercing
Critical hits	Ursine Crossbow	+5% critical chance
Early game	Death from Above	+145% attack power at level 13