Ballista Turret
Mount this to fire large piercing Spear Bolts, useful for bringing down large dinos and structures.
Details
- Category
- Structure
- Games
- ASE + ASA
- Expansion
- Base
- Recipe
- 6 ingredients
- Loot crates
- 71 crates
- Item ID
- 190
Engram
How you unlock it
- Required level
- 29
- Engram points
- 25
- How to unlock
- Manual
Maps
Found on 12 maps
Video guides: search YouTube for Ballista Turret guides
How to craft Ballista Turret
Ballista Turret is crafted from 6 ingredients. The engram unlocks at level 29, costs 25 engram points, takes 5 seconds, gives 120 XP.
SmithyRaw materials
If you craft every ingredient yourself
600MetalCrafted along the way: Metal Ingot ×300.
How to get Ballista Turret
Ballista Turret is found in 71 loot crates.
Loot crates
71 crates
- Aberration BlueAberration and Valguero · ASA
- Aberration Blue BonusAberration and Valguero · ASA
- Aberration GreenAberration and Valguero · ASA
- Aberration Green BonusAberration and Valguero · ASA
- Aberration Surface BlueAberration · ASA
- Aberration Surface Blue BonusAberration · ASA
- Aberration WhiteAberration and Valguero · ASA
- Aberration White BonusAberration and Valguero · ASA
- Astraeos BlueAstraeos · ASA
- Astraeos Blue BonusAstraeos · ASA
- Astraeos Desert BlueAstraeos · ASA
- Astraeos Desert Blue BonusAstraeos · ASA
Show all 71 crates
- Astraeos Desert PurpleAstraeos · ASA
- Astraeos Desert Purple BonusAstraeos · ASA
- Astraeos PurpleAstraeos · ASA
- Astraeos Purple BonusAstraeos · ASA
- Genesis BlueGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Genesis CyanGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Genesis GreenGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Genesis OrangeGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Genesis PurpleGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Genesis RedGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Genesis WhiteGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Genesis YellowGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Island BlueThe Island, The Center, Ragnarok, and Valguero · ASA
- Island Blue BonusThe Island, The Center, Ragnarok, and Valguero · ASA
- Island PurpleThe Island, The Center, and Ragnarok · ASA
- Island Purple BonusThe Island, The Center, and Ragnarok · ASA
- Mission 'Bulbdog Fetch' EasyGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Bulbdog Fetch' HardGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Bulbdog Fetch' MediumGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Circuit Chase' EasyGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Circuit Chase' HardGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Circuit Chase' MediumGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Downriver Run' EasyGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Downriver Run' HardGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Downriver Run' MediumGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Ferox Cull' EasyGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Ferox Cull' HardGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Ferox Cull' MediumGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Maewing Poach' EasyGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Maewing Poach' HardGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Maewing Poach' MediumGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Paracer Roundup' EasyGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Paracer Roundup' HardGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Paracer Roundup' MediumGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Shadowmane Prowl' EasyGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Shadowmane Prowl' HardGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Shadowmane Prowl' MediumGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Slide and Glide' EasyGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Slide and Glide' HardGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Slide and Glide' MediumGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Slipstream Sweep' EasyGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Slipstream Sweep' HardGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Slipstream Sweep' MediumGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Starwing Strike' EasyGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Starwing Strike' HardGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Starwing Strike' MediumGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Team Downriver Run' EasyGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Team Downriver Run' HardGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Team Downriver Run' MediumGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Velonasaur Stalk' EasyGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Velonasaur Stalk' HardGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Mission 'Velonasaur Stalk' MediumGenesis Part 2 · ASE
- Scorched BlueScorched Earth, Ragnarok, and Valguero · ASA
- Scorched Blue BonusScorched Earth, Ragnarok, and Valguero · ASA
- Scorched Buried WhiteThe Island, Scorched Earth, Aberration, Extinction, Lost Colony, The Center, Astraeos, Ragnarok, and Valguero · ASA
- Scorched PurpleScorched Earth, Ragnarok, and Valguero · ASA
- Scorched Purple BonusScorched Earth, Ragnarok, and Valguero · ASA
- Valguero PurpleValguero · ASA
- Valguero Purple BonusValguero · ASA
Ballista Turret — Detailed Guide
A mounted bolt thrower
Often shortened to the Ballista, the Ballista Turret is an emplacement in ARK: Survival Evolved that looks like an oversized 
Crossbow. Its in-game text: "Mount this to fire large piercing Spear Bolts, useful for bringing down large dinos and structures." The ARK Wiki notes that it is the earliest emplacement players can unlock.
Bolts, bolas and damage
According to the wiki, its 
Spear Bolts deal exceptionally high damage per shot and pierce armor in a way that resembles 
Metal Arrows. It can fire 
Chain Bolas as well, and the wiki calls it great for trapping and for taming many larger creatures. Taming the 
Titanosaur with it, however, is no longer possible.
Unlocking and crafting it
The engram unlocks at level 29 for 25 engram points. Crafting is done in a 
Smithy or on an 
Argentavis Saddle, takes 5 seconds and gives 120 XP. The recipe:
- 500
Wood (or 
Fungal Wood) - 300
Metal Ingot (or 
Scrap Metal Ingot) - 250
Stone - 200
Fiber - 100
Thatch - 100
Hide
Together those materials weigh a great deal, yet the assembled turret weighs only 4. Its stack size is 1.
What can damage it
The turret counts as a stone structure. The wiki's figures: metal weapons deal 5%, explosives 150%, a 
Cannon about 137% and the 
Tek Sword about 218%, while another Ballista Turret does 40%. Alpha Creatures and bosses do 10%, the 
Dunkleosteus 15%, and the 
DodoRex and 
Dodo Wyvern 300%. The 
Giganotosaurus (15%), the 
Tek Rifle (about 50%) and the 
Rock Elemental can damage stone too, even though auto turrets are safe from them.
Maps, loot and history
Our records list it on 12 maps, for example Ragnarok, Genesis Part 1, Crystal Isles and Fjordur. As loot, 71 crate types can contain it, among them the Aberration Green and Aberration Surface Blue crates. It was added in version 214.0 and was once spelled Balista Turret. Its paint regions cover parts such as the crossbow and stakes, the counterweight and the metal plating.