Is there a 40k Crossbow equivalent?

I read a post here titled “Zealot infinite crossbow ammo” or something to that effect, and I got a bit excited before realizing it was for VT2 and not DT.

That said, it had me thinking. There’s a lot of medieval influence in 40k, so I’m a bit surprised I’ve not seen any futurized crossbows, like something that fires superheated bolts or a “Gaussbow” or something? That seems like something an enthusiastic ecclesiastic would dig, but I can’t recall any particular examples.

Could someone more versed in the 40k lore let me know if there’s any precedence for this?

They’re literally crossbows. They don’t fire exotic ammo, necessarily. The technology levels in the Imperium can vary wildly from world to world, or even between societies or classes on the same world. It would be absolutely useless in Darktide given the rate of fire, however

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Well, you can’t go wrong with the classics I suppose. I am a bit surprised in the lack of modified varietals. We can get a sword that’s a chainsaw but no auto-loading, burst fire crossbows? I mean, even Dark Souls had one of those. Seems a missed opportunity.

But I agree, I can’t see a bog-standard crossbow being that effective in Darktide. They’d need to jazz it up. But without any prexisting examples of note I don’t see them doing this until they’ve run dry of the more iconic weapons and have to start inventing new ones.

There is the Condemnor Combi-Bolter:

I think its pretty cool.

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Now this is more like it! Exactly the kind of thing I was hoping existed.

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In the canon, they generally use the crossbow bit to fire anti-psyker quarrels. Its primarily an Ordo Hereticus weapon I believe.

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Now this probably won’t be added to Darktide, but I could see it having a “Special Ammo” function like the shotguns that loads/primes the bolt. It could be more effective at dealing with Infested types, assuming it’s made out of a psuedo-magical material like silver. And of course, being able to pierce multiple targets, despite that generally not being a function of crossbows it very much follows the rule of cool.

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Yeah that’d be a great way to implement it :+1:

Boy, does that make me want to fight some psykers. Or, psyker-esque enemies.

Yeah it did take a while before we got the sorcerer enemies in VT2, but it makes total sense for us to fight something like that eventually in this game too.

I’d love to see a boss with chaos sorcery or psyker abilties too.

There are quite a few ones:

  • Contemptor Bolter (one Crayvun showed)
  • Stake Crossbow: same as the crossbow on the Contemptor
  • Purgatus: which use Bolter like system to launch crossbow bolts
  • Crossbow Pistols
  • Reynbow: Magnetic crossbow

As for special bolts:

  • Silver
  • Explosive quarrels
  • Blessed Quarrels (Commonly used by the Inquisition)
  • Purity Rounds (Mostly Admech, used to disable mechanical things)
  • Melta
  • Incendiary
  • Concussion (Explode in the air to stun targets)
  • Shock
  • Abyss (Warp damage)

Did we ? I thought we had the 2 special and Burblespew at launch

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Ah, I thought the blightstormer and the teleporty fat guy disabler were sorcerers. I would not mind seeing them in DT, you know those nobles were up to some nasty heresy.

Oops, I was thinking of the beastmen casters, my bad

Gaussbow was right there and they call it a Reynbow instead? Assuming they function similarly, unless by magnetic you mean like homing bolts?

Do you know why a Reynbow is called that? Named after someone important or is it a portmanteau I don’t recognize? Is it like “rainbow”?

No worries!

Probably due to Gauss being overly used by the Necron faction (FLayer, Blaster, Cannons…).

Reynbows, also referred to as a mag-bow or reyn-bow, are a crossbow-like weapon from the planet Gereon. Used by the local ‘Sleepwalker’ tribesmen, the weapon fires fifteen centimeter long, iron quarrels, tipped with resin imbued with the venom of a local species of moth which is incredibly lethal to unaugmented humans. Resembling a machine bow, instead of a traditional string launcher, reynbows magnetically sling their darts at the target. Each reynbow is handmade and individualised, though they all follow the same basic design of a long, hollow tube of metal or hardwood with a trigger grip set behind it, and a shoulder-stock behind that. A power cell appears to be built into the shoulder stock, while the metal arms of the bow are coiled back more sharply than any conventional crossbow and are weighted at their tip. The bows are virtually silent and fire with tremendous force.

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Ah man, forgot about the Necrons, they ruin everything.

Also, thanks for the blurb! Doesn’t answer my question about why it’s called a “Reynbow” so I’ll assume it’s just for the pun. Maybe the poison has one of those oily multicolored sheens to it.

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The pun I hadn’t even registered, but Reynolds number is used in magnetism, though not with the same way as in fluid mechanic afaik

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Ah, then it is a portmanteau. One that could work on multiple levels, in which case I’ll revise my opinion, Reynbow is the superior name.

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Another thought on this.

Would make a good premise for a psyker weapon. We’ve got a lot of staffs and guns, but I’d like to see a hybrid. A Purgatus or set of crossbow pistols whose special generates a lot of peril but imbues the shot with special properties. Increased damage, penetration, soulblaze, maybe even assail-adjacent homing abilities? Something along those lines.

The idea of a space witch using traditionally witch-hunting weaponry has a nice irony to it. The zealots would hate it. But they love to hate psykers so it all works out, win-win!

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