Changes

The pistol hand crossbow is a class-specific item that can only be used by the [[Demon Hunter]].

Unlike other [[crossbows]], the pistol hand crossbow is a double item. The item graphic shows two small crossbows together; there are no single pistol hand crossbows, so it's not possible to use one with a shield or melee weapon. Pistol hand crossbows have the fastest firing rate of any [[ranged weapon]] in the game, but they do less damage than other [[bows]] or crossbows to compensate.

At Blizzcon 2010, pistol hand xbows could <u>only</u> be dual wielded. The bows came in a pair, and looked something like you see in the paperdoll mock-up to the right. A Demon Hunter could only equip both at once, or neither; it was not possible to equip just one pistol hand xbow with a one-handed a weapon or a shield.

This was thought to be a balance issue; the pistol hand xbow was the fastest firing ranged weapon in the game, but as a trade off they had to be used two at a time, trading defense for offense. This may not be the case in the final game though, as [[Bashiok]] explained while answering some forum questions in November 2010. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blue-on-pistol-crossbow-changes/]

It's unclear how the developers would balance this out; if a pistol xbow hand crossbow is the fastest firing weapon, <u>AND</u> it can be used with a shield, or two of them can be used at once, that seems like an enormous bonus, since that doubles the item modifiers, gem bonuses, etc. The damage of the PXB hand crossbow would have to be much lower, the item bonuses limited, the number of sockets capped, etc.

The Demon Hunter makes extensive use of dual pistol hand crossbows in her introductory cinematic, devastating a horde of demons with the weapons.