Ballista Militia

Ballista Militia is a boss encounter that appears guarding the entrance to the mines in Radia. The encounter centers on a giant ballista operated by militia and a steady stream of weak knight minions that protect the weapon. The ballista is a high-damage, long-range threat: it fires a charged bolt on a recurring timer that damages and applies Confusion to the player, while any enemies in the bolt’s path are obliterated. The device was originally developed as a portable dragon-slaying weapon but proved too bulky for underground use, so it remains stationed at the mine entrance.

The ballista fires a bolt on a fixed interval (the encounter now begins firing on turn one). The bolt’s hit deals heavy damage and applies Confusion for two turns; it is visually telegraphed by the bolt loading animation on the turn before it fires. Enemies positioned in the bolt’s line take severe damage or are killed outright. Each turn a weak knight (mop bucket knight) is summoned to serve as a meat shield for the ballista; these knights have low health (50 on lower difficulties, higher on high difficulties) and die immediately after making their attack, dealing negligible damage.

Players should exploit the predictable charge cycle and the knights’ fragility. The arena’s triangular pegboard shape reduces average orb bounces, so strategies that boost orb durability or bounce are valuable. Relics and effects that increase bounces and peg interaction—such as Rubborbs, Electropegnet, Kinetic Meteorite, Splatorbs, and the Gift That Keeps Giving—help orbs rack up more damage before falling. Overflow, enemy-targeting, piercing orbs, and bombs are effective at clearing the weak knights quickly so damage can be focused on the ballista itself. Because knights block hits on the ballista, tools that hit multiple enemies or pierce shields accelerate the depletion of the 25 available knights; if the player survives enough bolts (roughly six bolts worth of raw damage without mitigation), the minion pool is exhausted and the ballista becomes vulnerable.

Defensive tactics include using Round Guard and discarding orbs on the turns the ballista fires; with proper timing and Ambidexterity this can reduce or even nullify the bolt’s damage. Blind can cause the ballista to miss occasionally, though Confusion is still applied even when damage is blocked or avoided, so blind does not fully negate the bolt’s secondary effect. Note that the bolt’s damage and the Confusion application are distinct: blocking the damage (for example with Round Guard) prevents the HP loss but does not prevent Confusion from being inflicted.

The Ballista Militia is visually represented by the ballista sprite and a distinctive pegboard layout; attack and death animations play when it fires or is destroyed. The encounter’s behavior and balance have been adjusted in updates (notably the firing now begins on turn one).