Crossbow Fort

Crossbow Fort
Type	Ranged
Level	4
Introduced	Dunes of Despair
Build Cost	230
Damage	15-23 (16-25) (18-28)
Attack Rate	Fast (0.5s)
Range	Long (Great) (Extreme)
Scope in Major Axis	396

“

Time for target practice!

”

The Crossbow Fort is an advanced Ranged Tower that appears in Kingdom Rush: Frontiers. It shoots farther and faster than the Tribal Axethrowers but deals less individual damage per shot.

Description

"Trained under monastic discipline, these crossbow furies are masters of their craft."

The Crossbow Fort is a highly versatile unit that not only offers strong ranged DPS, but also can significantly boost all towers in range.

The Crossbow Fort has great range, and while less powerful than the Tribal Axethrowers it can deal its damage over a longer period of time. However, what distinguishes the Crossbow Fort are its great abilities.

Barrage has huge damage output, quickly firing a set of bolts that deal moderately high damage. They can retarget nearby foes within a limited angle. and also that barrage has a short cooldown. This practically doubles the Crossbow Fort's DPS, letting it readily weaken lesser foes or punch a hole in a bulkier fiend's health.

On the other hand, the Crossbow Fort also has Falconer. Falconer raises the Crossbow Fort's range and critical hit rate, making it more efficient (especially with the rapid fire rate of Barrage), but that isn't why it is useful. Falconer also boosts the range of other towers in range (this includes towers that fall in its range after the Falconer upgrade). As such, the Crossbow Fort has a useful support role than gives towers substantially more range and affords the player much more flexibility with creating chokepoints. Note that only the Crossbow Fort gets the critical hit chance, while all towers get the range boost.

It's worth noting that without its abilities, the Crossbow Fort is not particularly useful. Furthermore, while Barrage is strong and deals heavy damage, it is still physical, making it much weaker against armored foes. On top of that, Barrage has limited range when it comes to retargeting, potentially leading to missed shots if foes are spread out.

Abilities

Barrage

"Be quick or be dead!"

Shoots bolts in quick succession that deal 30-40 damage each. It can change to a new target within a limited angle. (Cooldown: 5 seconds - once after 10 basic attacks)

Level	Cost	Bolts
1	250	6
2	150	8
3	150	10

Falconer

"Aim through falcon eyes!"

Gains a chance to deal double damage and improves attack range of all towers (including itself) in its range. 

This effect does not stack. 

Level	Cost	Extra Range	Critical Chance
1	200	+10%	5%
2	200	+15%	10%
3	200	+20%	15%

Range

Sharpshooter to Crossbow Fort

Standard range without Upgrades

Falconer Upgrade 0 to I

Falconer Upgrade I to II

Falconer Upgrade II to III

• 42% wider than the Level 1 Archer Tower
• 24% wider than the Level 2 Marksmen Tower
• 10% wider than the Level 3 Sharpshooter Tower and Tribal Axethrowers

Strategy

• The Crossbow Fort is one of the most versatile advanced towers, and is useful in almost every situation.
• It should be placed in key strategic points to allow its Falconer ability to buff as many towers as possible. On most stages, up to 4 towers can be buffed, including the Crossbow Fort itself. The most towers that can possibly be buffed at once is 9 on Dusk Chateau.
• The Falconer bonus does not stack with multiple Crossbow Forts, e.g. a tower within range of two Crossbow Forts, one with Falconer Level 2 and one with Falconer Level 3, will only receive a 20% bonus to range from the higher-ranked tower.
• Barrage is one of the most powerful abilities in the series due to its raw physical damage output, and short cooldown. When upgraded to Level 3, it can fire off 300-400 damage with each use, and almost doubles the DPS of the Crossbow Fort.

Additional Stats

• DPS: 30 to 46 (average 38)
• Total Cost: 570 G (540 G with Lumbermill)
• Cost Efficiency: 15 gold per point of DPS (14.21 with Lumbermill)
• The Focused Aim and Accuracy upgrades increase base damage to 18 to 28, and the Twin Shot upgrade increases DPS by 10%: 39.6 to 61.6 (average 50.6)
• Falconer Level 3 increases DPS by 15%: 45.54 to 70.84 (average 58.19)
• Barrage Level 3 increases the DPS to 83 to 118 (average 100.5)
• Total Cost with abilities fully upgraded: 1720 G (1690 G with Lumbermill)
• DPS with max abilities and upgrades (single target): 87.95 to 125.7 (average 106.83)

Related Upgrades

• Steady Hand (1 Star)
  • Increases marksmen attack range (by 10%).
• Focused Aim (2 Stars)
  • Increases marksmen attack damage.
• Accuracy (2 Stars)
  • Increases marksmen attack range (+5% from Steady Hand) and damage.
• Twin Shot (3 Stars)
  • Marksmen have a 10% chance of shooting two projectiles at the same time.

Related Achievements

 HAWKEYE Apply one Falconer bonus to 4 towers.

 BLOT OUT THE SUN Have the Crossbow Forts shoot 10000 bolts.

Quotes

• "Time for target practice!" (main)
• "Be quick or be dead!" (Barrage)
• "Blackbird, fly!" (Falconer)

Trivia

• "Time for target practice!"
  • A line spoken by the Sniper in Dota 2.
• "Blackbird, fly!"
  • A line from the song Blackbird by The Beatles.
• "Be quick or be dead"
  • A song by heavy metal band Iron Maiden.
• It's possible the Falconer upgrade is referenced by the Crow's Nest upgrade for the Shadow Archers in Vengeance, although that upgrade is absolutely pitiful in comparison.
• "Blot out the sun"
  • A reference to the movie 300.

Gallery

Barrage

Falconer

changes in range with Falconer

View All Towers