History Main / AutomaticCrossbows

[-[[caption-width-right:320: Some [[VampireHunter vampire hunters]] put a lot [[WoodenStake on the stake]]. Others use [[MoreDakka more stakes.]]]]-]

* ''Film/JonahHex2010'': Jonah uses a [[GunsAkimbo a pair of magazine-fed pistol crossbows]] that fire [[AbnormalAmmo lit sticks of dynamite.]]

* In the 2010 movie ''Film/JonahHex'', he uses a [[GunsAkimbo a pair of magazine-fed pistol crossbows]] that fire [[AbnormalAmmo lit sticks of dynamite.]]

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' features a bowgun which can fire in three-round bursts, and can hold 18 arrows at a time. ''Code: Veronica'' features a bowgun that can hold every arrow in your inventory at once, and fires one bolt at a time semi-auto. Later games feature ''very'' powerful crossbows (usually with [[TrickArrow explosive bolts]]), usually in Ada Wong's hands, but those require a full nock-and-cock reload per bolt. Enemies in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' and ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil5 5]]'' use crossbows that are sort of automatic: they can shoot two bolts in rapid succession but need a reload after that.

* In the Argentine comic ''Gilgamesh The Immortal'', a story is set after a nuclear war has returned mankind to the technological level of the Middle Ages. A man, using old and worn construction plans, is building a steam engine, but a priest considers this an abomination and a heresy. The priest leads a mob that seeks to destroy the machine, but the builder casually says that over the years he has acquired some practice, and shows them his latest invention: a crossbow equipped with a rotating drum with 12 arrows. And the mob decides to leave him alone.

** The rapid crossbow has a low damage output, but makes up for it by having high speed, a large ammo supply and can be shot repeatedly if the ranged attack button is held down. Its unique variants also qualify, with the butterfly crossbow shooting an additional arrow for every shot fired near two or more enemies and the auto crossbow being the closest the game can get to a machine gun (that can chew up ammo very quickly).

** Piglin hunters downplay this. Despite using the same crossbow as pillagers, piglin hunters shoot noticeably faster than them, but only do so in short bursts and are weaker than arrows shot by pillagers.

** Crossbows in the game normally take 1.25 seconds to reload. However, a crossbow with a Quick Charge V enchantment reloads instantly, being effectively this trope.

* An artillery version was developed by the Roman Empire (the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheiroballistra cheiroballistra]]), while some Roman auxiliaries carried bullet-firing crossbows. Wile some of the repeating variants were much weaker than the regular crossbows and used poison-tipped bolts, a body recovered from the site of a Roman siege in south-western Britain showed that a bolt-head typical of a Roman repeating crossbow had enough force to go right through a human body from the front and lodge in the luckless target's spine, with the point penetrating out of his back. Ref. Adam Hart-Davis, below.

* ''VideoGame/MinecraftDungeons'': Despite using the same crossbow as Pillagers, Piglin hunters shoot noticeably faster than them, to the point where fighting a group of them feels like fighting a firing squad. This comes at the cost of them doing less damage, making it possible for a player to be able to defeat one of them without being quickly shot to death.

* In ''ComicBook/ScareTactics'', members of the vampire hunting Graveyard Shift tote multi-shot, stake firing crossbows.

* The titular Daemon in ''VideoGame/DaemonSummoner'' is a SealedEvilInACan and serves as the last boss; when appearing before you the Daemon seems to tick every single box associated with classical depictions of Satan, from gigantic horns to leathery wings and huge claws. It's even fought in a burning, hell-like environment.

* In ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'', the Chinese use Chu-Ko-Nus as their special unit. Despite having shorter range, it could fire several bolts at once.

* The PC RPG ''VideoGame/{{Albion}}'' tells the story of an Earth astronaut who crash lands on an alien planet that's part alien jungle and part fantasy land. The local civilization hasn't developed guns, but later in the game repeating Automatic Crossbows (referred to as bolt guns) become available as weapons.
* In ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'', most crossbows hit hard but have a low rate of fire. Coupled with the relative scarcity of their ammunition [[note]]every bandit or kobold has a full quiver of arrows, but bolts must generally be bought in shops[[/note]] this makes them inferior to handbows. Not so with "The Army Scythe", a magical crossbow that fires faster than most handbows and has according to the FlavorText been used to carve out a small kingdom in the past. The only drawback is that you go though bolts even faster than before.
* In ''VideoGame/BloonsTowerDefense6'', the third path of the Dart Monkey uses a crossbow without a quiver to pull arrows from, which becomes especially apparent with the Crossbow Master upgrade, which shoots out bolts at machine gun speeds. [[RuleOfCool Doesn't stop it from being awesome, however.]]
* Emperor Zemeckis of Esgares Empire from ''VideoGame/{{Brigandine}}'' wields a big crossbow called 'Tempest Bow', where he can call out lightning to enhance its bolts. In the vanilla game, he can shoot while moving, but in ''Grand Edition'', [[{{Nerf}} he cannot move and shoot.]]
* The Orc monsters in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaCurseOfDarkness'' have these.
* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} IV'' has the Chinese Cho-Ku-Nu specialty unit. While not stronger then a normal crossbow, it has the added advantage of causing collateral damage to a stack of units.

* Pajiramon of ''Anime/DigimonTamers.'' When one arrow is fired, the next immediately slides into place. It's only seen to hold three, but anytime it's offscreen for an instant, it's fully reloaded when we see it again.

* Lu in ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'' has an Auto Crossbow styled vaguely like a [[CoolGuns/SubmachineGuns Tommy Gun]], which is actually four crossbows in one.

Subtrope of BowsAndErrors. Compare with {{Multishot}} when one gets similar results with a regular bow.