At Blizzcon 2010, pistol 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 xbow with a one-handed a weapon or a shield.

This was thought to be a balance issue; the pistol 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/]

This will probably not be ::''[Can the case Demon Hunter use] two separate and unique one hand crossbows w/ different stats on them?''::'''Bashiok: '''Yes, that is in. A lot of work is being done right now on demon hunter weapons so some things are still up in the final game thoughair, but dual-wielding one handed crossbows in each hand, each with their own unique enchants and gems, as [[Bashiok]] explained while answering some forum questions etc. is now in November 2010the game.

::'''''Question:''' [Can the Demon Hunter use] two separate and unique So, one could now wield a one-handed crossbow in one hand crossbows w/ different stats on them, and a shield in the other?''::'''[[Bashiok]]: '''YesPotentially, that is in. A lot of work is being done right now on demon hunter weapons so but some things are still up in the air, but dual-wielding one handed crossbows in each hand, each with their own unique enchants and gems, etc. is now in the game.

::''I do wonder what other classes will be able to use 1 handed crossbows.::'''QuestionBashiok:''' So, No other class is planned to use one could now wield -handed crossbows. It’s a one-demon hunter thing. There are two handed crossbow in one handcrossbows that the witch doctor and wizard can use. It's unclear how the developers would balance this out; if a pistol xbow is the fastest firing weapon, and <u>AND</u> it can be used with a shield in , 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 would have to be much lower, the item bonuses limited, the other?''::'''Bashiok: '''Potentiallynumber of sockets capped, butetc.