Ballistae are a type of Weapon in Elden Ring. Ballistae are ranged weapons that can be used to inflict high damage on hostile characters from afar and with great potential to break guard. Unlike Crossbows, they do not need to be loaded before firing each shot. They grant no guard protection, encouraging users to maintain distance from advancing enemies. Ballistae do not share the ability to fire mid-jump with crossbows. Ballistae require Great Bolts as ammunition.
Ballistae can not be given new Ashes of War, greased, spell buffed, or given new affinities.
Ballistae deal Pierce Damage with their ammunition, though this is not reflected in their weapon descriptions.
Shadow of the Erdtree, adds only 1 Ballista to the game: Rabbath's Cannon
See also: Crossbows
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Ballistae
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Ballistae Base Value
Quick Search of All Weapons
Name |
Phy | Mag | Fire | Ligh | Holy | Crit |
Str | Dex | Int | Fai | Arc | Wgt | Skill |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rabbath's Cannon |
135 - |
135 - |
- - |
- - |
- - |
100 - |
28 - |
16 - |
- - |
- - |
- - |
15 | - |
Hand Ballista |
135 - |
- - |
- - |
- - |
- - |
100 50 - |
30 - |
14 - |
- - |
- - |
- - |
10 | - |
Jar Cannon |
192 - |
- - |
- - |
- - |
- - |
100 50 - |
34 - |
12 - |
- - |
- - |
- - |
15 | - |
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Ballistae Max Standard Values
Quick Search of All Weapons
Name | Phy | Mag | Fir | Lit | Hol | Cri | Sta | Str | Dex | Int | Fai | Arc | Any | Phy | Mag | Fir | Lit | Hol | Bst | Rst | Wgt |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
378 | 378 | - | - | - | 100 | 140 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 15 | |
Hand Ballista | 600 | - | - | - | - | 100 | 150 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 10 |
Jar Cannon | 672 | - | - | - | - | 100 | 180 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 15 |
- Anonymous
I was HARD COPING for a repeating crossbow equivalent for these.
- Anonymous
Everyone would’ve loved a cannon that was one of the bigmouth imp’s head
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Imagine they add a multi shot balista that fires in a random shotgun spread. Low accuracy but high damage. Imagine 3-4 explosive balista shots raining down on mesmer soldiers like mortar
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Aside from damage and weight and more strength requirement, the Jar cannon consumes more stamina per shot compared to the heavy ballista but its most notable trait is reduce bullet drop. If you go to Palace approach ledge road grace in Mohgwyn Palace and set your reticle on the golden illusory tree and shoot a lightning great bolt, it will hit the tree with barely any noticeable drop. Doing the same with the heavy ballista and it will fall into the blood. With arrows reach talisman it will only make up halfway the difference.
I’m not too entirely sure if it just flats out shoot faster out of the jar cannon, but you can always rely on it while the heavy ballista will take some getting used to.
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Dlc balistas will probably have ammo feeders to shoot like 3 greatbows in a row, like the ds3 giant avelyn. The reload time will be atrocius tho.
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I don't care what poise you have, you should get blasted back and forced to sit your ass down through my reload animation if I clock you with these. I shouldn't be punished for hitting a shot.
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I don't care what poise you have, you should get blasted back and forced to sit your ass down through my reload animation if I clock you with these. I shouldn't be punished for hitting a shot.
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These things are fantastic for dragon slaying. Aim for the head and watch them get massive damage and break their stance for a critical.
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I committed several war crimes in the lands between with these bad mamas
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I reckon these need to be usable one handed, Bloodborne style
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when you want golem arrows but can't be arsed to farm or install Collector's Edition
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This thing feels awesome. It's not very practical in a fight, as it takes an age to fire and reload, but it hits pretty hard and can penetrate enemies (at least the regular ballista bolts can)
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Honestly I'd like to see these get some improvements done to them, yeah the damage is cool but they're just not very interesting beyond the cool factor of wielding a big ass crossbow/cannon. Bows have gotten some worthwile improvements to make them more interesting such as roll/jump/running attacks, along with the addition of a few weapon arts, but crossbows have always kinda just been used for basic point and shoot gameplay. If they can't diversify the moveset due to the limitations of crossbows, I think they should make the ammo types more interesting. Maybe we could get a magic bolt that explodes into one of those cuckoo glintstone soulmasses, or a holy bolt that would leave a lingering litany of proper death AoE attack, or maybe even a gravity bolt that could have a gravitas like effect to pull enemies off cliffs or into hazards. I'd like to see these used in more interesting ways than just stack damage and do big hit.
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I would like to see them do a bit more with the Ballistas in maybe the dlc
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Jar Cannon is just better but Ballista has a place on lower level builds with stricter stat requirements. With 10 STR you can run Radagon Soreseal and Starscourge Talisman you can reach the min requirement with ease.
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A shame there's only 2 - I feel like you can get creative with the "massive cannon" weapon category.
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Maybe it's just my opinion, but the one eye greatshield, having a built-in cannon, should at least be mentioned here. Even if it's in a corner.
- Anonymous
For people that think that one is a direct upgrade of the other. Well, that's just plain stupid. One requires somber smithing stone and the other requires normal ones. At max level the damage should be relatively the same, but the ballista le has the bonus of being lighter and having lower requirements. So yeah fromsift really is spoiling you
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two of them, where one is a direct upgrade from the other!? oh fromsoft truly you spoil us
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This has to be one of, if not the, smallest group of weapons I've ever seen
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And the winners for the best item descriptions in the game go to both ballistas
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i feel like the ballista should have less reload time, so that the description on the jar cannon would make sense, and so the two could be a little more distinct from another
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Can anyone confirm the differences between the two? Such as range or reload time? Or are they exactly the same w different weight and stat requirements?
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Very fun to use in invasions, Invader Hunting, and even dueling if you're crafty enough. I just hate how long it takes to recover after every shot. I think they should either increase ballista damage a bit to increase the reward of landing a shot, or decrease the recovery time to decrease the risk factor.
Shame, there are only 2, it'd be cool to have more of these
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Any chance we would have a mock gatling gun in a future DLC? Rephrasing the question: any medieval equivalent to such a rapid fire weapon?
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So I just found out that you can tank these shots with enough poise. If you’re over the poise threshold it doesn’t knock you over you just do a slight dizzy animation and recover faster than the shooter can reload. Watch out if using it close range on heavy armor opponents.
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These are just about my favourite things in the game! I really hope DLC gives us nonsense like a Pulley Ballista, or a Black-Key Greatcrossbow for dedicated sniping ;)
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Jar Cannon is hilarious for low level stormveil invasions. Knocking people off the wall as the progress from the front gate, or sniping them as they try and clear the courtyard.
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Best kept as a utility in your inventory instead of being a part of your build due to the high weight requirement and long recovery time. Very useful for picking off small enemies like bleed dogs, or knocking a single target on their ass, or harassing other players.
Pro tip, in your weapon menu accessed through your equipment, press L3 and select the last option and remove any weapons that stop it being your first option. Now make sure your first right hand weapon slot. You can now equip it by pressing options and pressing X 4 times and circle twice. You can unequip it in the same way. This is super handy for any form of pvp when there's more than 5 seconds running distance between you and your target.
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I wish they could be fired with one hand like the Cannon in Bloodborne :/
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Man, I just wanted those to not have to be reloaded *immediately* after each shot. 200 recovery frames (pulled the number out of my ass) is way too much.
Would have really loved those if they worked like crossbows and let you reload whenever you want to.
Why do these need more DEX than the normal crossbows? it doesnt make sense
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Never thought I would be playing as a sniper in a Souls game but here we are
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Use this to invade right before the fire giant boss fight. You normally spawn on an overlook right on top of the summoning grace for some explosive bolts to the face. And then you go hide for some lols
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The Jar cannon has WAY more range than the hand ballista, despite the stats showing the same number, especially with thunder great bolts, there is almost no drop
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Reminds me of the heavy bow in Monster Hunter, but waaaaay slower.
- Anonymous
The Jar cannon has WAY more range than the hand ballista, despite the stats showing the same number, especially with thunder great bolts, there is almost no drop
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The Jar cannon has WAY more range than the hand ballista, despite the stats showing the same number, especially with thunder great bolts, there is almost no drop
- Anonymous
too bad there aren’t any more of these. definitely feels like someone at From saw mortal shell and went “hey... i like that thing shell guy has. let’s make one too! or rather, let’s make two too!!”
- Anonymous
too bad there aren’t any more of these. definitely feels like someone at From saw mortal shell and went “hey... i like that thing shell guy has. let’s make one too! or rather, let’s make two too!!”
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I really want to do a crossbow and ballista only run but ballista ammo is so expensive :( Need an ability or weapon that doesn't require a lot of odd stats to farm in the farming spot.
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Ballistae are super fun to use, but since your character holds them so low its easy to shoot the ground you're standing on if you're trying to shoot low off of a platform. I've messed up a lot of shots because I wasn't close enough to the edge.
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I don't really know what I was expecting but unfortunately they can not be powerstanced (not sure about 2 of the exact same ballista weapon though)
therefore Time for tears!
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As far as I can tell there are NO ashes of war that can be equipped to ballistas
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Perfect for Guts build If they only shrunk these to fit on the arms.
Ballistas are so awesome. Jar Cannon at max level can almost reach 700 damage with the right bolts, and the Hand Ballista isn't too shabby either with it's lighter weight. When we get more DLC, I hope they add a couple more cause they're really fun.
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So what other things can I use to increase the damage from these besides upgrades and the Arrow talisman? because the Jar Cannon hits like a truck and I want to make a build around it.
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has anybody found more? i've only found these 2 throughout my entire playthrough
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any idea where the cannon shield lookin thing from the launch trailer is?
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cant be only 2 of those... there has to be something else, Like atleast 2 or 3 more
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Why is there such a huge discrepancy in damage between the Hand Ballista and the Jar Cannon? Does the Hand Ballista fire much faster?
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