How to Build a Ballista in Mordhau

You don’t have to strap on your heaviest armor and grab a Zweihander to contribute in Mordhau‘s Frontlines mode. You can also help your team by taking on a support role as you can build structures and ballistas to help them win the day.

The ballista, or mounted crossbow, is one of the most powerful structures you can put together, but it will significantly limit your mobility. It will also make you a prime target for enemies. This siege weapon will pump out massive bolts, dealing huge damage from a safe distance.

In order to build a ballista, you will need to set up a few things before entering a game, and find some items on the map. Here’s how you do it.

Before Starting A Game

In order to even give yourself a chance to build structures, you’ll need to have a class with access to a Toolbox. You can either get this item by choosing an Engineer default class, or by creating your own class equipped with the Toolbox.

The Toolbox is a two-handed weapon, and it will cost eight equipment points to put into your loadout — half of your available points. Your account also has to be Level 2 or higher in order to equip the item.

Now jump into a game of Frontline and choose the class you just made.

How to Build a Ballista Once You’ve Started a Game

Once you have started the game as your Toolbox-equipped class, you still have a little more work to do before you can build your ballista.

You need to find an ammo supply box — the ballista will cost six charges of your toolbox to build, which is more than you begin with.

Once you’ve found the ammo supply box, you’ll have enough charges in your toolbox to build a ballista and start firing away. The default key to switch what structure you want to build is “R,” the same key you would use to switch between weapon modes. Find a flat piece of ground and build your new arrow cannon!

There are a few perks and items you can also equip to make your ballista-building round go smoother. The Blacksmith’s Hammer and the Smith perk will both help your items build quicker and make your engineer the most feared fighter on the battlefield.

Wondering how to get more gold and XP in Mordhau? We have a guide for that. Wondering what we think of the game itself? Head over to our review.