Ballista (weapon)

"Long Arch" redirects here. For the weapon in The Binding Blade, see Iron Ballista. For the combat art, see Longearche.

Ballista Artwork of a Ballista from the Fire Emblem Trading Card Game. A long-range weapon for use by archery units. It is very effective against flying enemies.

Type Bow (Ballista) First game Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War

The Ballista (Japanese: ロングアーチ Long Arch) is the basic model of ballista which was introduced in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War and is present in eight games in the Fire Emblem series. True to being a basic mode, Ballistae tend to have the lowest power of the weapon type and tend to have no special effects beyond being effective against flying units.

In Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776, Ballistae are—like all ballista variants—enemy-only and are used by units of a class specific to the weapon; in the latter, they cannot be stolen owing to their immense weight. Enemies wielding ballistae have no movement and are effectively fixed in place.

Outside of the Jugdral duology, Ballistae are found stationed as objects on certain maps throughout the games, and in maps where they are found can be ridden and used by any Archer and Sniper belonging to either army. In The Binding Blade, Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn Ballistae are fixed to a specific tile and cannot be moved, while The Blazing Blade and The Sacred Stones instead allow them to be piloted around the map by their rider, albeit limited by being unable to traverse anything other than a normal floor or plain. Once the Ballista's durability reaches 0, the map object does not disappear and can still be ridden, but is unable to attack owing to its lack of ammunition.

In Fates, Ballistae again appear as map objects which can be used by any unit capable of using bows or yumi. Like the game's other two turret types, the Fire Orb and Launcher, Ballistae inflict damage across multiple tiles in a plus-shaped formation, hitting a maximum of five units at once, and affect both allies and enemies of the turret's user. Different maps tend to have different stats from each other. Ballista objects can be constructed in the player's My Castle for use in castle battles, and the Ballistician class also has its own in-built Ballista which it can access on command.

Stats

---

This section is missing stats, calculations, or growth rates which may be currently unknown. If this information is available, please help improve the page by adding it.

---

Game	Icon	Level	Might	Weight	Hit	Crit	Range	Uses	Worth	WEXP	Other effects and notes
Genealogy of the Holy War		C	15	30	60	0	3–10	255	65,535	--	Deals bonus damage to flying units. Target cannot counterattack.
Thracia 776		Prf*	15	20	75	0	3–10	10	2,200	1	Deals bonus damage to flying units. Target cannot counterattack.
The Binding Blade		E	8	20	70	0	3–10	5	Cannot be sold	1	Deals bonus damage to flying units. User and target cannot counterattack. Accessible only as an object on certain maps.
The Blazing Blade		E	8	20	70	0	3–10	5	Cannot be sold	4	Deals bonus damage to flying units. User and target cannot counterattack. Accessible only as a rideable object on certain maps.
The Sacred Stones		E	8	20	60	0	3–10	5	Cannot be sold	4	Deals bonus damage to flying units. User and target cannot counterattack. Accessible only as a rideable object on certain maps, except for enemy Fleets in Chapter 10B.
Path of Radiance		E	18	20	100	0	3–10	5	Cannot be sold	4	Ignores the user's strength. Deals bonus damage to flying units. Target cannot counterattack. Accessible only as an object on certain maps.
Radiant Dawn		E	18	20	100	0	3–10	5	0	0	Ignores the user's strength. Deals bonus damage to flying units. Target cannot counterattack. Accessible only as an object on certain maps.
Fates (map object)	--	E	Varies	--	Varies	??	Varies	--	--	--	Inflicts spread damage to units of any affiliation in a 3×3 + shaped radius. Ignores the user's strength. Deals bonus damage to flying units. Targets cannot counterattack. Leaves the targets with 1 HP if the attack would kill them. Accessible only as an object on certain maps.
Fates (Ballistician)	--	E	Same as chosen weapon	--	Same as chosen weapon	Same as chosen weapon	3–4	--	--	--	Inflicts spread damage to units of any affiliation in a 3×3 + shaped radius. Deals bonus damage to flying units. Targets cannot counterattack. Leaves the targets with 1 HP if the attack would kill them. Accessible via "Cannon" command.
Three Houses	--	D	5	5	80	0	3–12	15	--	--	Target cannot counterattack. Deals bonus damage to flying units. Accessible only as an object on certain maps.

Individual Fates statistics

Map	Range	Might	Hit rate
My Castle level 1	3–7	20	85
My Castle level 2	3–7	30	95
My Castle level 3	3–7	40	105
Birthright Chapter 22 (Both)	3–8	20	120
Conquest Chapter 10 (Both)	3–8	18	95
Conquest Chapter 23 (Southern and eastern)	3–8	28	120
Conquest Chapter 23 (Western)	3–8	30	125
Revelation Chapter 14 (Both)	3–8	20	95
Revelation Chapter 17 (Both)	3–7	25	110
Beach Brawl/Royal Royale	3–8	25	110
IV: Light's Sacrifice (Southern and eastern)	3–7	18	90
IV: Light's Sacrifice (Western)	2–6	20	95

Locations

Genealogy of the Holy War

Unavailable

Exclusively wielded by enemy Ballistae.

Thracia 776

Steal

Steal from Ballistae with Thief staff.

Path of Radiance

Map object

Chapters 19 (×3) • 23 (×1)

Radiant Dawn

Map object

Part 1: Chapter 6-2 (×2)

Flavor text

Game	Text (English)	Text (Japanese)
Genealogy of the Holy War	Cripples flying units.*	??
Thracia 776	Long range Effective against units*	ひこう系に有効 射程がながい
The Binding Blade	Long-range weapon.*	離れた敵にとどく発射台
The Blazing Blade	Long-range weapon.	離れた敵にとどく発射台
The Sacred Stones	Long-range weapon.	離れた敵にとどく発射台
Path of Radiance	A long-range weapon for use by archers and snipers.	遠距離の敵に攻撃できるアーチ アーチャー　スナイパーがあつかえる
Radiant Dawn	A long-range weapon for use by archery units. It is very effective against flying enemies.	遠距離の敵に攻撃できる大弓型シューター 翼系に高い効果　【弓兵とその上位クラス専用】
Three Houses	Requires Bow Skill of D or higher. Range: 3-12	弓技能Ｄ以上時で使用可能 射程３－１２

Trivia

• In The Blazing Blade and The Sacred Stones, the Ballistae used by archers make the game use no animations for the attacks, even though animations for using the Ballistae exist in the game's data.

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology and in other regions
Language	Name	Definition, etymology, and notes
English	Ballista	--
Japanese	• ロングアーチ • アーチ • 弓砲台	• Romanized as LONGARCH in its internal file name. The weapon is known by this name in every game except The Binding Blade and Fates. This name is also used for the Iron Ballista in The Binding Blade. • Arch. This name is used only in The Binding Blade. • Bow Turret. The weapon is known by this name in Fates.
Spanish	Ballesta	Ballista
French	Baliste	Ballista
German	Ballista	Ballista
Italian	Balista	Ballista

Gallery

• 

  Artwork of a Ballista from the Fire Emblem Trading Card Game.

• 

  An Ilian soldier using a Ballista in The Binding Blade.

• 

  Rolf using a Ballista in Path of Radiance.

• 

  Leonardo using a Ballista in Radiant Dawn.