Crossbow

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The Crossbow.

The Crossbow is a weapon in Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. It was originally seen in the introduction for the first Assassin's Creed, but was not included due to historical inaccuracies. However, for unknown reasons, it was still featured in Altaïr's Chronicles and the Gameloft mobile version of Assassin's Creed.

After being spotted in concept art and being mentioned in the E3 2010 single player walkthrough, Jean Francois Boivin confirmed that long-ranged weapons, such as the crossbow, would be available for use in Brotherhood, especially in advanced horse combat. Some guard archetypes (such as the Crossbowman) also have the crossbow as a weapon. Ezio Auditore is able to use the crossbow only as a counter tactic in melee combat, similar to the hidden blade in the first Assassin's Creed game. The crossbow is like the pistol's complementary ranged weapon; it has the same range, but is silent. However unlike the pistol, it cannot be used in public and if switched to, will stir crowds and incite guards to attack. The player may still shoot enemies during close-range combat, but this is inadvisable since the crossbow has a long reload time, unlike the pistol. Also notable is that the crossbow may not always kill assassination targets with one shot as the gun does.

Ezio can carry a maximum of 25 bolts, which are purchasable from blacksmiths. The way the crossbow is fired is similar to the pistol in Assassin's Creed II, though it aims faster (equal to the increased aiming speed of the pistol in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood) and can be fired while moving and while on beams. Targeting is accomplished by locking onto an enemy and holding the Armed Hand button, which causes diamond markings to close in and form a white line as the weapon is aimed. A crossbow costs 12,800 florins. After purchasing it, you will be able to upgrade its ammo capacity. In order to receive a twenty five bolt quiver, players must complete the shop quest, Pulling Threads.

Kill Animations

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Ezio equipped with the Crossbow.

The crossbow features some animations while counter-killing opponents. The crossbow cannot counter long or heavy weapons. Note: 1- Does not need ammunition or a reload to be performed, 2- Needs ammunition and must be reloaded in order to be performed.

• Skull Smasher (1): Ezio thrusts his crossbow into the target's abdomen. As his target doubles over, Ezio, with both hands, smashes the bottom of his crossbow onto the back of his target's head, forcing the target to land face-first onto the ground.
• Suffocation (1): Ezio forcefully thrusts his target with the metal, beak-like tip of his crossbow twice. The first time in the abdomen, and the second time in the neck. The target slowly backs up and falls to his knees, holding his neck while choking, and collapses.
• Spinal Shot (2): Ezio thrusts his crossbow into the target's abdomen, and then steps back to shoot him directly down the back of his neck as he doubles over in pain.
• Trip Shot (2): Ezio ducks, spins around, and sweeps his target off of his feet with the crossbow. Ezio then quickly rises upright and shoots his target who is lying dazed on the ground.

Trivia

• The crossbow functions the same way as the hidden gun, however, it is actually less powerful, as it does not always kill certain targets such as Borgia Captains, unlike the hidden gun, which always guarantees a kill unless used on a boss.
• Most of the time, when Ezio performs the Trip Shot counter attack, the firing sound will not occur.
• During the Animus loading screen, if Ezio draws his crossbow, a single crossbow bolt can be found lying on the ground. It disappears when the crossbow is put away and vice versa.
• When performing certain actions with the crossbow, Ezio's upper body does not move at all (besides the arm holding the crossbow while he is drawing it/beginning to aim/sheathing it). This may give Ezio a robotic appearance when running, as his entire upper body is completely still while performing any actions.
• The crossbow has a nasty tendency of giving away Ezio's location at times; this mostly happens when attempting to shoot a target while balancing on a beam, especially when the the player focuses on the target before unsheathing the crossbow, as it will shoot instantly without being able to aim properly.