7 Days to Die: How to Craft and Use the Iron Crossbow

Learn how to craft and use the Iron Crossbow

If you’re looking for a sturdy weapon boasting stealth, accuracy, and power in 7 Days to Die, you may want to consider a crossbow. The Iron Crossbow is a deadly mid-tier weapon capable of precision shots and high-damage stealth attacks to help you put down the undead, medieval style.

This guide will walk you through crafting an Iron Crossbow in 7 Days to Die and offer some advice on utilizing it best.

How to craft an Iron Crossbow in 7 Days to Die

Though certainly not as complex as the Compound Crossbow, the Iron Crossbow is still a hefty piece of weaponry that will take some skills and decent materials to craft. You’ll need to have reached the third tier of the Bows crafting skill and have access to a Workbench before you can successfully assemble this weapon. The amount of crafting materials required will depend on the quality of the crossbow being constructed:

• Bow / Crossbow Parts can be found by scrapping non-Primitive Bows and crossbows, searching weapon chests and gun safes, or may be purchased from traders.
• Forged Iron can be crafted at a Forge or salvaged from machines like refrigerators, construction equipment, and rusted cars.
• Duct Tape can be crafted by combining Glue and Cloth Fragments or found in parts containers.
• Leather can be obtained by carving up animal carcasses or scrapping leather furniture such as couches, car seats, and office chairs.
• Wood can be gathered by chopping trees and shrubs or smashing wooden furniture and structures.
• The Bows crafting skill can only be improved by finding and reading issues of the Bow Hunter skill magazine.

Iron Crossbow Overview

Base Stats

Ammo

The Compound Crossbow can only fire Crossbow Bolts, of which there are 5 kinds: Stone, Iron, Steel, Flaming, and Exploding. Crossbow Bolts function very differently than bullets, and a crossbow’s performance may vary dramatically based on its quality and the type of ammunition loaded.

Stone Crossbow Bolt

Crafting Stone Crossbow Bolts will require the following materials:

• 1 Feather
• 1 Wood
• 1 Small Stone

Iron Crossbow Bolt

Crafting Iron Crossbow Bolts will require the following materials:

• 1 Feather
• 1 Wood
• 1 Iron Arrowhead

Steel Crossbow Bolt

Crafting Steel Crossbow Bolts will require a Workbench and the following materials:

• 1 Steel Arrowhead
• 2 Scrap Polymers

Flaming Crossbow Bolt

Crafting Flaming Crossbow Bolts will require a workbench and the player to have read the Ranger’s Guide to Archery Vol. 5 perk book, as well as the following materials:

• 1 Steel Arrowhead
• 2 Scrap Polymers
• 2 Gun Powder
• 5 Cloth Fragments
• 1 Animal Fat

Exploding Crossbow Bolts

Crafting Exploding Crossbow Bolts will require a workbench and the player to have read the Ranger’s Guide to Archery Vol. 2 perk book, as well as the following materials:

• 1 Steel Arrowhead
• 2 Scrap Polymers
• 8 Gun Powder
• 1 Duct Tape

Mods

The Iron Crossbow accepts the following mods. Note that only one mod of any category may be attached at a time except accessory mods.

• Bowstring: Polymer String
• Sights: Reflex, Scope x2, Scope x4
• Accessory: Fore Grip, Bipod, Cripple ‘Em
• Tech: The Hunter, Rad Remover
• Rail: Laser Sight, Weapon Flashlight

Tips and tricks for using the Iron Crossbow

As a member of the Bow weapon class, the Iron Crossbow scales in power with the player’s Agility attribute and the Archery perk.

Standard crossbow bolts (stone, iron, and steel) increase in damage, range, and velocity as the quality of the material increases. The only benefit lower-quality ammunition provides is a lower crafting cost. Flaming crossbow bolts fly slower but apply a deadly burning effect to enemies they hit, dealing significant damage over time, and may also be used to trigger inert explosives. Exploding Crossbow Bolts don’t fly nearly as far or as straight, but the stick of dynamite attached to them causes a dangerous explosion on impact that can kill tough targets or wipe out crowds in a single shot.

Unlike bullets, most arrows and crossbow bolts can often be retrieved from dead enemies or whatever else they stick into. Of course, you aren’t going to be able to retrieve exploding or burning ammunition, but standard ammunition can typically be retrieved and reused. Ammo stuck into a dead body that has despawned or left too long in the environment will eventually turn into brown bags and drop to the ground, making them easier to see and retrieve.

The Iron Crossbow is a highly effective stealth weapon and can be utilized as a sniper weapon by players with the proper skills and modifications. Crossbows benefit from the same stealth bonus as bows and therefore deal additional damage to unaware targets. What’s more, firing this weapon produces very little noise, allowing it to be used near sleepers without waking them. That being said, its clanking can still be overheard by other players and should be considered when facing them.

This weapon boasts a remarkably high damage value that can be further improved with better ammunition. When utilized from stealth, this damage value jumps even higher and can even be used to kill armored or feral enemies with a single shot to the head.

The two downsides to using this weapon are its rather limited range and reload time. It doesn’t take especially long to reload the crossbow, but you will have to load in a new bolt after every shot, making this weapon rather unsuitable for close-range combat and crowd control. Explosive bolts can be used to help manage hordes, but we wouldn’t recommend using those in close quarters or indoors, as the blast is just as likely to kill you or destroy your loot.

Depending on the projectile velocity of your individual weapon and the ammo loaded into it, players will likely need to adapt to leading moving targets by a larger margin than with guns, as it may take a moment for the projectile to reach where you are aiming. Projectile velocity can be increased by loading in higher quality ammo or attaching the Polymer String modification.

In addition to a slow-moving projectile, bolts fired from crossbows will also drop faster than bullets fired from most guns. The Iron Crossbow is especially bad about this. When firing at enemies from mid-range, players will likely need to aim slightly above their target to still land a hit. However, bolts and arrows have the benefit of a much longer damage falloff range. That means that even though it may be more difficult to hit an enemy from long range, chances are the arrow or bolt will still deal full damage if the player does land a hit.

The Iron Crossbow is actually a remarkably mobile weapon, maintaining its accuracy rather well when on the move. That being said, we’d still recommend taking careful aim before firing, as you’ll need to reload between each shot and should try to make each bolt count as much as possible. Headshots are a particularly effective way to do this.

Crossbows are the only ranged weapons that can be fired underwater.

Final thoughts on the Iron Crossbow

It’s a bit clunky and takes some skill to use, but it’s hard to deny the raw power of medieval engineering when it comes to piercing armor and splitting skulls. We love the design The Fun Pimps concocted for this weapon, as it looks and feels just like an antique weapon of war revived for the apocalypse!

Looking for some more pointers to help you survive Navezgane? Check out our 10 Tips for Getting Started or our in-depth Beginner’s Guide.