Ballista Guidebook for Dummies

If you want to beat up on players, Ballista is the option for you.  

Very first thing that must be done

First you need to obtain Ballista License. This key item is only available to players Rank 3 and at least level 30. You will need to head to your home nation to start this quest from the Conflict Commander:

After an cutscene you will need to head to the other nations and speak to Conflict Commanders. These commanders may order you to talk to the heads of the nations for key items. Once this has happened, report back to the conflict commander in your home nation.

After an event, you will obtain your key item "Ballista License". Now speak to the commander again to obtain "Ballista Earring". This key item lets you find out about upcoming ballista matches the moment you change zones in a town.

Now it is the time to prepare to fight. To get an upcoming schedule, speak to an NPC called Pursuivant. Pursuivant is located in the 4 major cities:

There are several types of ballista. Ballista is played only in Junger Forest, Pashhow Marshlands, and Meriphutand Mountains. You have an option of 30 cap, 40 cap, 50 cap, 60 cap, and uncapped. They are held once per game month in each zone.  Please check with Pursuivant for a schedule of upcoming matches.

Gear selection

While EXP gear is considered good in ballista, it isn't always the best. When looking for gear, you need to look for these attributes:

Elemental resistance gear is a must because it increases chance of an resist from the overpowered elemental magic spells.  Gear like Carapace Breastplate and Scorpion Breastplate may not do you any good in a normal situation but are big bargains in uncapped ballista due to the elemental resistance and latent effects they give.  Sniper Rings, on the other hand, are overpriced and overrated because they put you a likely candidate for Drain, Aspir, and Sleepga.  Even for mages, Drone Earrings are a godsend, as a pair will give you +12 wind resistance that will increase resist from Silence.  HP bonus gear is always a good idea, as more hp means you stay alive longer.  Do not invest in gear that reduces your HP base unless it gives a Evasion or elemental resistance bonus.

Gear that gives evasion bonuses should always be invested, even if it compensates defense or another key attribute of your job. Evading more attacks means you live longer, and makes your opponent work that much harder. The only time gear that gives evasion bonuses should not be invested if it gives you an weakness to an element. If you cannot put an evasion bonus gear in a slot, use a gear that gives AGI bonus if possible.

You are only allowed to macro out Ammo during ballista. Any other equipment change will cause you to suffer an penalty that could range from medicated status to giving your opponent gate breach status, depending on how many times you get caught.  Thus your equipment must be prepared before the match even begins.

Starting at 50 cap, all melee should be using Life Belt.  Optical Hat is a must for uncapped, all jobs can equip it, and it gives both accuracy and evasion bonuses.

What are the rewards for ballista

You can gain exp through ballista, which is a godsend for those high level melee damage dealers that lack invites for EXP under normal circumstances, or for people that have real life that prevents them from joining parties. The exp gained is based on your current level of the job that you bring to ballista, not on the type of ballista you do.

The only catch is that you must be level 30+ and you must at least try to beat up opponents (or let them beat you). You are not penalized for getting killed in ballista. You cannot gain XP in Ballista Royale, ballista reserved in the private arena, or if the match is cancelled, however. You may do ballista under level 30 if you have the license, but you will gain no XP.

The biggest advantage of this: there is no limit how much XP you can gain per day. A level 65 that does an average of 3 ballistas per day is getting 1350 XP per day, or 9450 XP per week (majority of them average 10k per week). This XP adds up fast, although it can take two to three weeks to level through this method. This means you can gain more XP than Eco Warrior, Escort For Hire, and ENM combined, and have zero risk of losing XP.  In addition, level 75 characters can gain limit points through Ballista. It only takes 20 ballistas to gain a merit point, which is why some high level characters find Ballista very appealing, since limit points cannot be gained through Eco Warrior or Escort for Hire. From level 30 to 51, you only need an average of 20 ballistas to gain 1 job level. Starting at level 52, the number of ballistas to gain a job level goes up considerably. You will need an average of 40 ballistas by level 55, 45 ballistas by level 60, and 70 ballistas by the time you hit level 70 just to gain a job level. This is why high level characters stick to a routine to do a certain number per day if possible. The bottom line is that it will take about 2 to 4 weeks to gain a job level on average.

You will always gain an Instaport and Instawarp key items after a ballista that you take part in.  The Instaport item can be used by talking to Herald or Pursuivant but not until 1 day before a match.  Instawarp key item can be used only if Herald is in the same zone.

The other reward is gil.  If you win the match, you will win gil, right about 2x the match entry fee on average.  If the match is a draw, the entry fee is returned.  If you lose the match, you receive no gil.  If the match is canceled, your gil is returned and you are handed the port and warp key items.

How to participate in ballista?

Now you decided on gear, a job, and what ballista you want to attend, it is time to make the trip.  For the first time, you will have to take regional teleport or chocobo to the Herald.

You speak to the herald to sign up.  If your nation is not up for that match, you will have to wait until 18:00 to sign up.  Sometimes the Herald will restrict entries from a nation in an effort to balance out the teams.  If you just did a ballista, you will have to wait until 16:00 to sign up.  At 18:00, temporary entry will begin.  You will temporarily be placed on a side.  At 22:00, teams are officially determined, and participants with temporary entry may be switched depending on main job.  Regardless, you have until 22:00 to sign up.  You don't always have a choice in what side you want, but you can find out how many peeps that are on each side by checking with the Herald.  Sometimes the sides will remained unbalanced even with temporary entry, but that totally depends on how many people signed up.  More people, the higher of chance that the sides will be unbalanced when it comes to jobs.

There is an entry fee for ballista. This fee depends on the type of ballista that is going on. 100% of gil collected is used for gil payouts at end of the match.

At 22:00, as long as 3 people on each side has signed up, opening ceremonies will take part.  At the end of the ceremony, all buffs except food will cancel and you will be asked to move into starting position. If not enough people signed up, the match is canceled and your entry fee is returned.

Ballista commands

Once the match begins, you will need to learn how to use the /quarry command.  You can dig up temporary items and petras.  It is important to keep /quarry until you get a poison potion.  This will prevent you from falling asleep if Horde Lullaby or Sleepga is cast.  If poison potion wears off, quarry until you get another.  You will have to spend a lot of time /quarry other meds such as Potions and Echo Drops.  You may have up to 10 temporary items if items are not restricted; 15 if items are.

When attacking, mages are the first priority.  Do not go alone, always go with a group.  If you go alone, you are opening yourself up for an easy kill, even if the opponent is the only one there.  Opponents that go alone that see large groups of enemies will always retreat!  Very few jobs can effectively solo in ballista.  Instead, try to get that person to follow you towards the rest of your teammates.  Kills happens as a result of teamwork.  1 v 1 requests will never be honored, if you want to 1 v 1 with someone, you are better off reserving the private ballista arena in Ru Lude Gardens.

Once an opponent is defeated, the person that defeated that opponent and his/her party members in a certain range will attain gate breach status.  At this point it is time to locate a rook.  Sometimes the rook may be guarded.  Scout for enemies before attempting to score.  If you got no petras, do not quarry near a rook, as you will never get petras.  Gate breach status can last as few as 3 minutes and as long as 7 minutes.  If your team has a big lead, you will have a harder time getting petras and a much shorter gate breach.

If you do not have petras, you have another command. It is called /sprint. It has a 1 minute recast and it lasts for 20 seconds. It is useful in running away from opponents or catching up to teammates. You do not get this ability if you possess any petras.

Temporary Items

Sometimes you can quarry up items. These are temporary items. They do not fill up your inventory, and you can use them like normal items. You may only have one temporary item of a given name at a time. You may carry up to 10 temporary items in ballistas that allow normal items to be used, and 15 if normal items are banned. At the end of the match, any leftover temporary items are discarded. The key item Petra Shovel obtained from Pursuivant will put the quarried items directly into the inventory. You will not quarry items that are useless to you (i.e. Melee will not quarry up ethers unless they sub a mage job). You may purchase certain items with ballista points from Marshal prior to a match.  For the Pashhow Marshland matches, you are automatically handed 5 random items, which one will always be a Petra Eater.  Some temporary items have HQ versions available, mostly in the form of Lethe Water, Catholicsm, and Demoralizer.

Below are some of the most important temporary items that can be obtained:

Ballista Titles

Based on your performance in Ballista, the Marshall may hand you a new title after a recently completed match. There are 21 titles out there that you can earn in a match. These titles can be changed in San d'Oria for 1600 gil.

The Private Ballista Arena

If you want to 1 v 1 against someone, it is in the best interest to reserve a private Ballista arena called Diorama Abdhaljs-Ghelsba.  This place must be reserved in order to use it.

You may reserve this arena for up to 2 earth hours.  Upon reserving a time, you will receive a Redbook.  You may hand out pages of the Redbook to other players.  The pages are used for entry into this private ballista arena. Anyone can receive a page to a Redbook or a Whitebook, whether or not that player has a Ballista License.  The only person that has to have a ballista license is the Redbook owner.

When the time comes, you will be transported to the arena for a small amount of gil.  The Redbook holder is considered the Master of Ceremonies, and can adjust Ballista settings and rules.  Players sign up for competition by trading their pages to the Herald that is stationed in this arena.  All entries are considered "temporary" and sides will be determined when the match begins.

EXP cannot be gained in Diorama Abdhaljs, and these matches are not subject to Ballista Point Standings.  Because these matches are private, they provide the best opportunity for friends to go 1 v 1 against someone, as 1 v 1 requests in real matches are NEVER HONORED.