Crossbows shoot equipped bolts and cannot be retrieved. Loading itself takes 3.5 seconds and uses 4 stamina, however, with the firing, loading, and readying animations, it can only be fired every 6 seconds.
Jumping and sprinting resets the loading progress and bolts cannot be loaded while sprinting. After the crossbow is loaded it can be fired at any time at no stamina cost. After firing, another bolt will need to be loaded. The bolts do not stay loaded when switching to other weapons, so a bolt is loaded whenever the item is equipped.
