Inaringo's Ballista Guide

This is a guide for all jobs in Ballista. If you are interested in participating in Ballista, don't forget to acquire Ballista License, required to participate, and Ballista Band, which gives the option to drop the first petra you pick up, an important mechanic in PVP gameplay.
Thief
One of the easier jobs to play and along with WAR, one of the most common jobs. THF has a lot of great tools for PVP. Sleep bolts are great self protection and line up opponents for Sneak Attack. Bloody bolts heal you while doing impressive damage. Flee is both a means of self protection and a finisher against opponents. Acid bolts remove Cocoon, perhaps the strongest buff in PVP. And on top of all that you can steal Petras! Since your damage largely comes from Sneak Attack crits and bloody bolt drains, eating defense food is an easy choice. Similarly, no need to think about any subjobs besides NIN. Don't forget to use Tonko for that extra assassin flavor.
Warrior
Another common ballista job with a lot of powerful tools. As with THF, status bolts are a major part of your arsenal, though you'll need a little bit more Ranged Accuracy to reliably land your shots. Provoke forces the opponent to target you for all attacks and abilities, including self buffing and healing. This is tremendously effective against mages, making it one of the better subs for other brawling classes. Unlike THF, WAR relies mostly on regular melee hits and weapon skills. The consequence of this is a heavier focus on aggressive play with higher risks. There are also more choices in food and subjobs. Both Defense and Attack food are valid, and you can choose from several subjobs: NIN, BLU, THF, and SAM. Because of all this it is one of the more difficult jobs to play. You must make the proper combination of choices and be ready for high stakes brawling. The reward is high however, as WAR is the most versatile melee job and top tier in competitive play.
Monk
Melee white damage (as in regular melee hits) plays a greater role in Ballista than in Weapon Skill heavy PVE content, and MNK is the queen of white damage. It's the brawl style of WAR but more simple, with only one weapon to choose from and no ranged attacks. Therefore choosing a subjob is more straightforward. WAR gives the best offensive abilities with Double Attack, Provoke, and Berserk. BLU provides the best defensive abilities with Cocoon, Battle Dance, and self healing. THF is a runner up, with Flee and the Evasion Bonus that synergizes with Dodge. NIN is commonly chosen as a subjob, but its weaker on MNK than other jobs for a couple reasons. Unlike jobs that can manipulate distance with ranged attacks, MNK always wants to play close and brawl. Playing this way means shadows are cleared quickly and there is little time to recast, lest your casting be interrupted or your opponent runs out of reach of your attacks. Furthermore, there is no added benefit from dualwielding, a special consideration in PVP where faster attacks equal more spell interruptions.
Red Mage
Mages in Ballista are heavily oriented towards defensive play. White magic is oriented towards buffing and healing, and black magic is oriented towards crowd control. Red mage uses both while also having the largest variety of self buffs. These self buffs are the strongest part of your kit, and the first mistake RDM make is not casting them enough. A RDM with full buffs, if not unkillable, is very annoying to deal with, while a RDM without buffs is an easy target and will not be able to cast through spell interruptions. Naturally RDM's best subjobs add even more buffs: NIN for Utsusemi shadows and BLU for Cocoon. BLU has the extra benefit of a buffed (from Healing Magic skill) Healing Breeze (becoming an AOE Cure III for the same cost), and Battle Dance, a cheap non-DOT AOE to clear shadows. Once your buffs are up you can heal, crowd control, debuff, or do damage. The world is your oyster.
White Mage
WHM has less buffs and less crowd control than RDM, making it an easier target and more difficult to play. In exchange it has some AOE buffs, enhanced healing capabilities, and some underrated damage spells, most notably Banishga and Holy. Divine Seal and Benediction have limited uses, but if timed right provide for massive saves that will devastate the other team. The lower your teammates HP, the more the desperately your opponent will use their cooldowns and risk their own HP, and therefore the more they lose when you pull off a save. Similarly, the importance of timing in Ballista gives Holy a unique value as a finishing move. Sometimes, such as in the case of a fleeing THF, it's the only move with the range and speed to confirm a KO. In exchange for high potential for big plays, the opponent melees will be riding your ass the whole game. This gives a unique value to Cocoon from a BLU subjob, the best buff for absorbing many melee hits that synergizes well with the the high Defense equipment WHM has access to, such as Divine Plate and Holy Shield. Stack lots of MND to make your Stoneskin, Banishga, Silence, and Paralyze extra annoying. You will probably die at least once, but as long as you make them pay for it the calculus is in your favor.
Black Mage
Among the starting mages, BLM has the largest range of crowd control spells: Bind, Sleepga, Stun, and Gravity if you have RDM subjob. Without the buffs and self-healing potential of RDM or WHM, these become the main means of self-defense for BLM. Unlike passive buffs these spells must be cast on the spot, meaning one must carefully manage one's distance to have enough time to cast. Therefore it's important to play passively and maintain your cooldowns. Imagine you are a spider with a web: the ideal situation is for enemies to enter your web one at a time, so you can manage their movement and drain their lifeforce at your convenience. BLM of course has a high damage potential, but this hinges on self-protection and defending your “web”. Silence is particularly devastating for BLM, so baraera/barsilence from RDM subjob is an important line of defense. NIN is an alternative subjob, but it is particularly vulnerable to RDM and WHM who can clear shadows and silence.
Blue Mage
BLU is the first advanced job I am covering since it's the last kind of mage and has a peculiar relation to the others. Like BLM, BLU has a large range of crowd control with AOE bind, gravity, and sleep, as well as various forms of stun. Unlike BLM, most of these spells have a more restricted range, mostly around the caster. There is one interesting exception: Pinecone Bomb is single target sleep+damage that has a higher range than any White or Black Magic spell, as far as a ranged attack. Overall, these spells are mostly effective on jobs that get within melee range. Cocoon also makes BLU resistant to melee damage, unless it's removed with an Acid Bolt. On the other hand, these spells are easily dodged by other kinds of mages who can themselves hit BLU with their own crowd control. BLU is also vulnerable to Silence. Therefore BLU is strong against melee and weak against mages. NIN subjob enhances this advantage over melee even further by adding Utsusemi shadows, while RDM or WHM subjob provide baraera/barsilence to defend against mages. Healing Magic skill enhances your healing spells as well. Because of the lopsided nature of your kit, it's important to be careful of your spell order. You should lead with spells that are harder to land, such as the Headbutt>Bludgeon combo or Sheep Song, and then save your Blastbomb, Pinecone Bomb, and Mysterious Light for select opportunities or as combo finishers.
Paladin
PLD is a very balanced and easy to play ballista job, having nearly everything one could want: high HP and DEF, great defensive abilities and traits, multiple sources of self-refresh, melee and magic damage, healing, and a stun. WHM subjob then adds the few things that are missing, such as barspells to defend against Silence/Gravity, Banishga to clear shadows and do chip damage, and Divine Seal for those big WHM saves. Other common subjobs are WAR, NIN, and BLU, but these are susceptible to silence and, in my opinion, provide less benefit. Dualwield has some appeal, but don't forget that PLD has Shield Mastery, allowing shield blocks to prevent spell interruption.
Dark Knight
As the other spell casting knight job, DRK has a very diverse kit of melee and magic. However, because its abilities are more oriented towards offense than PLD, it takes a little bit more skill to play. Souleater can provide very fast kills, but can also be easily defended against if they see it coming. Souleater is best used as part of an invisible ambush, or when you're already close and an opponent is busy casting a spell. DRK has some crowd control such as Sleep, Bind, and Stun and some self-healing in the form of Drain, but overall the job has less self-protection than other magic users. DRK also has the same status bolts as WAR and THF, but at E skill you should expect to land your shots only in lower caps. DRK has many different subjobs to choose from: SAM, NIN, BLU and RDM. Which of these is the best is an open question, and depends on your style of play and whether you are using outside items.
Samurai
SAM is one of the more straightforward brawling jobs, similar to WAR and MNK. The extra Weapon Skills SAM receives are generally harder to land in PVP than PVE since your opponents are moving targets. The solution to this is to work around your opponents movements and find opportunities. Sprint is particularly useful since you can overtake your opponent and then WS as they run in your direction. Alternatively, you can sub RNG and use ranged WS. It's worth noting that while SAM doesn't have status bolts, it does have Sleep Arrows and in 75 cap, Kabura Arrows with Silence additional effect. Subjobs for SAM include WAR, NIN, and BLU. Some people like subbing RNG as well, but my opinion is that the lack of defense and/or mage counterplay make it inferior to the other options.
Ranger
Ranger has perhaps the highest damage output in Ballista. Barrage and your Weapon Skill together are often enough to kill opponents at full HP. This can be done at a distance, but distance is also your main means of self-protection that must be conserved. Unlike melee attacks you must remain still to shoot, giving your opponent opportunity to take advantage. Shadowbind is a good defensive ability, providing a quick bind that ignores shadows but its use is limited. Shadows from NIN subjob pair naturally with this distance based, hit-and-run style play. In 60 and 75 cap SAM subjob is also a valid option, since Weapon Skills are so powerful at these levels. Don't forget Ranged Attack food to up those numbers!
Ninja
There are several ways to play NIN based on your subjob. With a RDM subjob you can focus on casting spells, using RDM job traits to power up your spells and using barspells to defend against enemy Silence. RNG subjob lets you play like a RNG with an extra set of shadows, utilizing Barrage and Slugshot to deal large damage from a safe distance. BLU gives an extra layer of defense beyond shadows, allowing for a focus on brawling and throwing shurikens.
Puppetmaster
PUP is traditionally considered to be one of the weaker ballista jobs. This is because the puppet is on a 20 minute timer, unless you use Deactivate when the puppet is at full health. The puppet is also hard to defend and gives Gate Breach, making it an easy target for the opposing team. Or alternatively, they can also force the timer by killing the master while the puppet is out. Therefore, PUP's success hinges on how well you can protect the puppet and protect yourself. There are three main ways to protect your puppet: defensive puppet attachments (such as Smokescreen, Shock Absorber, Flashbulb, Equalizer), Repair, and Deactivate. With Smokescreen, three Dark Maneuvers provides quite a bit of evasion, but this lasts less than a minute and needs to be followed up by other abilities. You can follow up with Earth for Stoneskin and Equalizer damage reduction, Light for Flash and Self-Curing, or Water if the puppet is safe and you want to start the cycle again with Condenser. All of these abilities can be exhausted if enough damage is coming in, and in such cases the only options are Repair and Deactivate. Ideally you can use them together, using the Repair to set up the full health Deactivate. All of this requires a fair bit of finesse and is always open to some chance of failure. Therefore at least some of the time, you'll have to forego the puppet and fight with only the master. Luckily Hand-to-Hand is fairly strong in ballista and BLU subjob provides a fair bit of defense. Overcoming all of these difficulties is extremely rewarding, as you'll have two sources of constant melee and spell casting. Master and puppet together are a force that cannot be ignored, and force the opponent to coordinate and expend resources working through your defenses.
Summoner
It used to be that SMN was considered unplayable. Recently, however, it has been revealed by Ballista Science that in fact, if played in a certain way with a particular subjob, it does win matches. Part of the origin of this perception is that Blood Pacts are hard to land. Blood Pacts have a charge up time and usually lack range, meaning they won't land on a running opponent and they can step away if they see it coming. This is made worse if one exclusively plays from a distance in the PVE style. Therefore in PVP it is extremely important that the SMN be ready for close range brawling. So get a high damage pole, put on your Cocoon and maybe some Ice Spikes from Shiva, and get in there! Melee hits from both the pet and master together do a surprising amount of damage. This forces the enemy to turn around and fight you, at which point it's easier to land Blood Pacts. Being focused just makes it that much easier to land a huge Astral Flow. Be ready to summon early to avoid having your casting interrupted, and don't worry too deeply about using your MP. This includes using Battle Dance and Blastbomb, which clear shadows and soften the opponent with chip damage. If you fall below 100 MP, simply Release and play like you're a /BLU melee job. In this state you can play aggressively, knowing that if you die you'll get your MP back.
Beastmaster
Traditionally BST has been the pet job of choice in PVP. This has multiple factors: the timer to summon your pet is exceptionally low at 5 minutes and it has various defensive debuffs that are easy to use and whose cost is low. These include AOE paralyze, sleep, dispel, and a single target Bind with an exceptionally long range. NIN subjob is a natural choice for dualwield axes, but as with other pet jobs BLU might be useful as well. Focusing the pet is a less effective counter-strategy than against other pet jobs, so expect to be focused on the master. Because the pet is so cheap relative to other jobs however, kiting the enemy while letting your pet do the work is valid. Pets that are slept or low HP can easily be dismissed and quickly summoned again, so use this to your advantage.
Dragoon
Dragoon are brawlers with high damage output, especially at level 50 and above when they receive perhaps the strongest Weapon Skill in Ballista, Penta Thrust. Jump is very effective as either a finisher when running down an escaping opponent or to interrupt scoring. Your wyvern adds damage as well and can provide some healing, but it's also likely to be focused. Like other pet jobs, be ready to dismiss your pet to avoid providing Gate Breach. BLU is a natural subjob choice for Dragoon as it provides Healing Breath and defensive spells, but focusing on offense with SAM or WAR is valid as well.
Bard
On the face of it, Lullaby seems like a powerful crowd control tool in PVP, but its use is more limited than in PVE. This is because you never know when your opponent might have used a Poison Potion, and also because resistance to debuffs increases upon multiple uses in PVP. Because you'll commonly be separated from your teammates, you'll more often be using buffs on yourself. By far your best choice for defensive buffs is Paeon giving you free healing that is very valuable in PVP, but Ballad has its place as well depending on your teammates and subjob. Options for subjobs include WHM, BLU, and NIN. Adding Regen to double Paeon feels great and the extra healing is useful, but NIN or BLU can be helpful if you need to brawl for extra damage and you're not worried about being silenced. Aside from Lullaby, Magic Finale is also a fast debuff, fast enough to catch a THF with Flee.
Corsair
Because of the vast distances that players run in a typical PVP match, there is a lot of time to recover Job Abilities that are on timer, thereby making them more effective in PVP. Therefore the timer on Quick Draw feels short and provides exceptional damage that ignores shadows. It also comes out extremely quickly and can be chained together for a double shot, making it one of the best finishers in PVP. RDM and BLM subjobs provide extra Magic Attack Bonus with some extra mage utility that can be buffed with Evoker's Roll.