Ballista

A ballista is a Northern siege weapon which resembles an enormous crossbow. King Foltest had given the Maria Louisa La Valette some ballistae as a birthday present two years prior and later found himself on the receiving end of said gifts.

These weapons with arms strengthened with bronze plates and strung with horsehair are capable of propelling heavy bolts up to a mile away, but because of their sheer strength, the recoil of each shot causes the weapon to shift from its original position, so the same target cannot be hit on two consecutive fires. An experienced crew can cock and release two bolts each minute. It is a deadly and very costly weapon. In Nilfgaard, the cost of one of this engine is around 80 Florens.

CD Projekt's The Witcher franchise

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

In the Prologue, Geralt helps Foltest's soldiers aim one of their own ballistae at Count Etcheverry. He then later uses one himself to take out some of the La Valette troops on one of the towers. In Chapter I, Vernon Roche asks him to sabotage a different ballista in the compound outside Loredo's residence.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Although there is no siege in the third game, however a decent number of balistae appears randomly placed on the border between Velen ruled by Nilfgaardian vassal Phillip Strenger and Redania ruled by Radovid V. Also during the Battle of Kaer Morhen, Vesemir and Lambert fix one of the first balistae to help them against the Wild Hunt.

The book Golem, or Man's Most Faithful Servant describes that a ballista was used some hundred years prior, to defeat the first golem ever created, during a pogrom of nonhumans in Maribor.

Notes

In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, there is a Gwent card thats bears its name.

Videos

Sniper Geralt Proper way to shoot ballista. Eagle Eye Achivement (The Witcher 2)

Gallery

Ballista mounted on a War Wagon

External links

• Gwent: The Witcher Card Game
• Gwent: The Witcher Card Game