Hand Ballista

hand ballista ballista weapon elden ring wiki guide 200px
attack power elden ring wiki guide 18Attack
Phy 135
Mag 0
Fire 0
Ligt 0
Holy 0
Crit 100
Rng 50
guarded damage negation elden ring wiki guide 18Guard
Phy 0
Mag 0
Fire 0
Ligt 0
Holy 0
Boost 0

attribute scaling elden ring wiki guide 18Scaling
-

attributes required elden ring wiki guide 18Requires
Str 30
Dex 14
Ballista None
Kick FP -
Wgt. 10.0 passive effects elden ring wiki guide 18Passive -

Hand Ballista is a Ballista in Elden Ring. The Hand Ballista does not scale with any stat attributes but requires 30 Strength and 14 Dexterity to wield.  It is a good Weapon for ranged combat to break an enemies stance for more effective upcoming attacks targeted towards this recipient of this weapon's attacks. 

 

An unconventional ballistic device modeled on a weapon used to besiege castles. Only capable of firing greatbolts.

Perfect for reckless acts such as storming a castle or facing an entire army alone.

 

Where to Find Hand Ballista in Elden Ring

The Hand Ballista weapon can be found at the following location:

 

Elden Ring Hand Ballista Notes & Tips

  • Weapon Skill: Kick
  • Cannot be infused with Ashes of War
  • Can be upgraded by using Smithing Stones
  • Ammunition: Ballista Bolt 
  • You cannot carry more than 20 Ballista Bolt at any given time.
  • Like all weapons in the crossbow/ballista family, the Hand Ballista has no scaling with any stat.
  • While the Hand Ballista is stated to require 30 Strength to use, the actual requirement is only 20 Strength, as the weapon can only be fired two-handed.
  • You cannot shoot bolts while mounted. Instead you will physically hit with the weapon (comes with light and charged attacks).
  • Sell Value:  er runes 13 200
  • Other notes and player tips go here

 

Moveset & Videos in Elden Ring for Hand Ballista

  • Videos for the Hand Ballista Coming Soon

 

Hand Ballista Upgrades in Elden Ring

Please see the Upgrades page to understand the weapon bolstering process.

Requires regular reinforcement with Smithing Stone [1]Smithing Stone [2]Smithing Stone [3]Smithing Stone [4]Smithing Stone [5]Smithing Stone [6]Smithing Stone [7]Smithing Stone [8], and Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone.

This upgrade can't be enchanted with Magic nor boosted with Consumables.

  Attack Power Stat Scaling Passive Effects Damage Reduction (%)
Hand Ballista Phy Mag Fir Lit Hol Sta Str Dex Int Fai Arc Any Phy Mag Fir Lit Hol Bst Rst
Standard 135 - - - - 75 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +1 153 - - - - 78 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +2 172 - - - - 81 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +3 190 - - - - 84 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +4 209 - - - - 87 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +5 228 - - - - 90 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +6 246 - - - - 93 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +7 265 - - - - 96 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +8 283 - - - - 99 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +9 302 - - - - 102 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +10 321 - - - - 105 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +11 339 - - - - 108 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +12 358 - - - - 111 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +13 376 - - - - 114 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +14 395 - - - - 117 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +15 414 - - - - 120 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +16 432 - - - - 123 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +17 451 - - - - 126 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +18 469 - - - - 129 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +19 488 - - - - 132 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +20 507 - - - - 135 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +21 525 - - - - 138 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +22 544 - - - - 141 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +23 562 - - - - 144 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +24 581 - - - - 147 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Standard +25 600 - - - - 150 - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

 




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    • Anonymous

      Best strategy for dps: shoot just when you're half a second away from being hit. You'll shoot the enemy down and it will stun you, skipping the reload animation and allowing you to load the next shot way sooner.

      • Anonymous

        One important note besides lower stat investments and weight to use this weapon over the Jar Canon is the utility of it is more reliable. The Jar Canon sometimes will “Misfire”, as in the projectile just disappears (not sure if this is a bug or a feature) but it does this roughly 1 in 10 shots. The other problem the Jar canon has is it’s not as reliable when point blanking a player sized opponent. You can do this quite consistantly with the ballista; wait till your opponents attack animation and counter fire. But the canon will sometimes not go off in time or misfire.

        • Anonymous

          As cool as this weapon looks, it doesn’t feel very fun to play. I get that it’s mostly for sniping, and if you do snipe, you better have the Arrows Reach talisman and the thunder greatbolt or it’s still not going to feel fun to use.
          They fixed the problem of most playstyle not one-shotting but keeping that “fun factor” with combos etc.
          But the fact that this takes an age to reload and you can’t even reload separately after firing really limits this weapon’s playstyle. For all the trouble it takes to hit someone it should atleast one shot point blank.

          • Anonymous

            How to start every run off right: Go to weeping peninsula, get the ballista, get Radagons scarseal from the evergaol to wield said ballista, buy all the ballista bolts from patches and both merchants in weeping peninsula. You are now ready to siege a mother****ing castle

            • Anonymous

              Um don't quote me but I think the bolt goes through enemies, I was at that farming spot and shot one of those gray dudes hit him and the guy behind him. So I think the hand ballista can hit multiple enemies.

              • Anonymous

                I've had this in the storage chest for a good while, but I tried it earlier on out of curiosity, I was on the high platform near the underground roadside grace, there's a horned omen standing opposite the platform, when I shot him the ballista bolt knocked it right off its feet, the damage wasn't all that great even with arrows sting talisman, but it was still really funny seeing these omen being knocked flat on their backs,.

                • Anonymous

                  Does it deal a lot of stance break dmg? Im considering making a new character kept at low lvl with this weapon to help new tarnished with early bosses.

                  • Anonymous

                    I love this and the jar cannon both, but they highlight a seriously annoying UI function: Do not ever inform me that I need to two-hand this to use it. I know that. I have tutorial prompts turned off for a reason. Don't force me to do extra menuing for that. Lemme turn that crap off, From

                    • Anonymous

                      Feel like it should be in the wiki you only need 20str to use since you can only 2h it, especially since theres no damage difference

                      • Anonymous

                        Need to increase great arrow limit and allow dodging before reloading like a crossbow. It's nearly useless against bosses since everything is so hyper aggressive.

                        • Anonymous

                          nothing more satisfying then headshotting those giant trolls for like half their health and watching them fall over after another shot as they try to cover their face (the bolts have high penetration through targets so it seems to go through their hand protecting their face to hit their head regardless)

                          • Anonymous

                            As a Hint and a big up Note here , i Confirm you only need 20 Strength in order to Wield this Ballista. ( However you do need to 2 Hand it anyway , plus the only downside is that you cant Melee Hit attack with it on Horseback/Torrent ). Having just spending few extra Strength Point upto 15 STR , while Equipping Radagon's Soreseal which will make it upto 20 STR ahead. ( Then 2 Handing this Ballista is okay to Shoot Greatbolts with ). Ohh and another Cool Side note , Keep farming Big Bear Beasts there are 2 Farmable Bears in North Caelid by the Cliffside just before the Minor Erdtree from Dragonborrow. ( There's also a Mini-Boss shade called Hunter Bearing Boss that spawns at Night only which he can drop the Bell Bearing to have Inifinite Supplies of small thin Animl Bones and Hefty Animal Bones altho i suggest farming the Bears better as they are just 1 shot , Not Rune Bears just regular Bears in Dragonborrow Minor Erdtree ). There's also the Merchant ontop of Mt.Gelmir who sells infinite Explosive Bolts aswell.... Enjoy , as for the Jar Cannon you only need 25 or 26 Strength to 2 Hand it and Shoot with it altho the Ballista is fine. ( Golden Vow and Flame Grant Me Strength does also affect and increase the Damage further on with Regular Bolts from Golden Vow , and Flame Grant me Strength enhances the Explosive Bolts as they are considered Fire dmg-type ). Goodluck ;)

                            • Anonymous

                              This Ballista is actually really Handy in all situations specialy in Catacombs , Big Dungeons and entering Castles. ( Like Stormveil Castle , Raya Lucaria Academy , Lyndell Royal Academy , Volcano Manor , All Castle Areas and Sieges ). What you only need is a Bare-Minimum of 20 Strength and usually handling and shooting with this Ballista is that you have to 2 Hand it... So not neccessary 30 Strength.... Having this as a Back-up when your FP is finished like with my Build i'm focusing mainly High INT with Dex ( My Strength is still 25 and i could use this Ballista while 2 handing it ). With Maximum upgrade this Ballista goes to 600 Physical Damage , but equipping Bone GreatBolts and Crafting them they deal actually +150 per shot. ( That means the Total Physical Damage Value is 750 not 600 as mentioned ). So respectfully this Ballista legit shoots 750 damage per shot , and while i have 80 INT my normal Glintstone Pebbles deals around that range with a Fully Upgraded Staff at +10... So this Ballista is not Bad specialy when facing tough large enemies , many small Enemies and busting your way thru while your FP is finished and no Potions at hand. ( Altho i do have my Blackbow at +10 , but with the Bow i generally use it for Status effects like Sleep , Poison , Bleed and Rot ). However in terms of damage the Ballista is insanely great specialy with a good Supply of Explosive Greatbolts your gonna literally wreck things up... You could farm up Runes , and then visit the Merchant uptop Mt.Gelmir he sells the Explosive Greatbolts where you can save them up for Boss Fight or clearing up Enemy Strongholds or Castles with this Ballista... ( And personally the Ballista feels much better than the Jar Cannon , with Reload Speed as the Jar Cannon loads much slower with just abit of damage increase which isn't that much by that point ). Goodluck.

                              • Anonymous

                                Actually incorrect the hand Balista does 600 physical dmg plus 150 physical dmg of the bolt itself. Making it one of the strongest ranged weapons in the game.

                                • Anonymous

                                  Damage stacks with "Flame, Grant me Strength" & "Golden Vow" incantations. Boosts Attack rating up to nearly ~750 for about 30 seconds. Use with Explosive bolts for even more damage from the "Flame, Grant me Strength" incantation.

                                  • Anonymous

                                    Keep in mind that you can avoid the limited bolt supply by using the craftable Ballista Bolts and carrying extra Hefty bones (there is a ball bearing to allow you to buy infinite) to craft them on the fly. Save your explosive and holy bolts for bossfights

                                    • Anonymous

                                      there's a serious glitch here. not sure if its game breaking or not. i went into the fight with the black knife ash summon, and even after half health he would not transition, he using me with the rush stomp attack chains. for reference i was also using the rotten breath dragon spell and black flame, trying to stack of dot's on him, so that might have had something to do with it.

                                      • As a note (I will edit the article later) you will physically hit with the ballista while mounted (not with the arrows). It's a bit of a wtf.

                                        • Anonymous

                                          Can only be used 2 handed, so the real str requirement is 20.
                                          Can only hold 20 bolts at once.
                                          You can make bone bolts for this by buying nomadic warriors cookbook 13. Purchased from a merchant Down the path of bellum Church.

                                          • Anonymous

                                            Looks and used in almost the same way as a Heavy Bow Gun in Monster hunter, even has roughly the same no ammo shake too.

                                            • Anonymous

                                              This can be found on the Weeping Peninsula, in a chest at the top of a ballista tower near the center of the island.

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