Minecraft wiki entry for Combat, associated text: Due to the crossbow's ability to keep an arrow loaded whether it's held in hand or kept in the inventory, the player can have 9 hotbar slots full of loaded crossbows and can do rapid shooting. With each crossbow having the Multishot enchantment, it will shoot even more arrows, which is very useful when shooting multiple crowded mobs, or a boss mob. This also works with firework rockets.