I suppose dexterity may affect the arrow's chance to hit at all (and if it doesn't hit then it cannot apply the effect), but my impression was that special arrows are essentially like spells; they don't miss; they just might fail to apply the effect.
You are correct.
The arrow can never miss. Hence it is extremely beneficial for Warrior/Rogue to carry a bow in early game to help out while the mages blow up stuff from 15m.
Even a few bosses are trivial once hit with Knockdown arrows!
Oh tip:
If you want to know the dmg of the special arrow.
Un-equip your bow and mouseover the special arrow on your hotbar.
It will show the % of Bow dmg it will inflict!
So crossbow users definitely have an advantage over bow in this dept!
