Handcrossbows useless?

[Lowen]

Hi, I just looked at the list and none of the hand crossbows reaches the dps of bows or crossbows. Is there an other advantage they have or just not worth using?

[~FaMe~]

You can use 2 of them at the same time giving you 15% ias.

[maverikki]

You can use a shield with one.

[Karth]

They're also faster, so all those affixes that give more flat damage (not percentile) boost the dps of a hand crossbow or other fast weapon more than they boost the damage of a slower weapon.

Edit: I'm not saying they're the best weapon, just that they're definitely in the running.

[MustBHacks]

Hand xbows allow dual wield & shields.
They also work much better with certain builds, than xbow/bows do.

[maverikki]

Also one thing, they are available in AH because mages cannot use them.

[saint_of_killers]

but keep in mind, if you DW them, you want them to be close in dmg. DW also reduces dmg, so if they're close in dmg, the reduction won't be too noticeable.

[Kurokaze]

I use then exclusively because they provide the highest attacks-per-second, which translated to more crits and more stuns/fears/other on-hit effects .

[tramik]

As mentioned, you have to keep in mind the 15% attack speed bonus for dual-wielding.

If you've got that in mind, then it's just a matter of maximizing your equipment. You might have a really good bow, but the affixes on your off-handed handbow might make that irrelevant. Then you might find a quiver that has a 13% attack speed increase on it. Assuming your off-handed handbow doesn't have an attack speed affix, then you're evaluating the affixes, keeping in my the loss of the 2% attack speed.

Some people here might say, "Just go with the one with the most dps." - and most of the time they would probably be right. However you might be stacking other important qualities, such as Life on Hit, or Magic Find, or even Critical Damage.

[lucidlore]

Most of the so called "advantages" of using a hand crossbow are illusory. Sure, you can wield one in each hand and get an extra 15% attack speed, but an end game quiver can do the exact same thing without the hassle of alternating between 2 crossbows on your attacks. Using a shield also doesn't make a whole lot of sense, since you're not made to take hits, you shouldn't be taking hits, and even if you do take hits, the benefits of using a shield for the ~ 5% of the times when it would actually benefit you to have one is greatly outweighed by using a quiver, which provides far greater benefits 100% of the time.

The true worth in using hand crossbows are 1) if it works well with your build, most likely a crit-centric build, and 2) like someone has previously stated, it's class specific, so demon hunters don't have to fight the auction-house market with other classes, like standard bows and crossbows.

I personally am using a 1h crossbow in inferno but I'm using it with a quiver in the offhand. It works quite well for me and my build.