Ballistician

Ballisticians (called Shooters in the Japanese version) are soldiers who operate catapult weapons. They typically have high defense and attack range, but possess low movement. They are the only unit able to use the Ballistae weapons which often have elemental properties.

In TearRing Saga: Utna Heroes Saga, the class is known as Ballista, an enemy-only class.

History and Role
In Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi, Ballisticians were quite different from their present form as they functioned as high defense archers, somewhat like the later Bow Armor class. They can use arenas in that game only.

Starting from Mystery of the Emblem, Ballisticians were revamped as an unplayable class with an attack range of 3-10 and zero movement. This continued in Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776 where Poison Arch and Iron Ballista where introduced.

In the remake, Shadow Dragon, Ballisticians were once again revamped as a combination of both versions of the class. While Ballisticians had their long range from the SNES games, the playable Ballisticians and many enemy Ballistician units had their low movement from the NES games.

Ballistician typically wear the same uniforms as Soldier units. The exception is in the original NES game and Jugdral game, where they wore a similar uniform to cavaliers. It should also be noted that soldiers did not exist in either Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi or Genealogy of the Holy War.

In Fire Emblem: Fates, Ballisticians are a DLC class. The Ballista used by them is a tank that the Ballistician rides around in.

Strategy
Ballisticians, like archers, can be very effective versus air units because a common ballista, called Arrowspate, has Weapon effectiveness against Pegasus and Draco Knights. Recruitable characters belonging to this class are Jake and Beck. Ballisticians are one of the classes that cannot visit Arenas. Because of this, they cannot reach insanely high levels using Arena Abuse.

Ballisticians are usually best for outdoor maps, but are good in smaller ones, due to their range. However, they cannot do damage well enough to kill enemy units without help from other units, especially with Fortify Curates in later levels. However, they are very useful in taking out far-off Curates, therefore greatly damaging the enemy's healing options. The strength of Ballisticians can be greatly increased by leveling and especially forging their ballistas.

They are not very useful in multiplayer, since they cannot defend themselves, except from Longbow attacks if these attack from a range of three spaces. An exception to this can be in the Fog Of War stages, where the Ballisticians can remain hidden from the enemy units.

Shadow Dragon / Shin Monshō no Nazo ~Hikari to Kage no Eiyū~

 * HP: 60
 * Str: 25
 * Mag: 20
 * Skl: 20
 * Spd: 20
 * Lck: 30
 * Def: 25
 * Res: 20

Fates

 * HP: 50
 * Str: 39
 * Mag: 25
 * Skl: 31
 * Spd: 25
 * Lck: 32
 * Def: 27
 * Res: 26
 * Bow: B

Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi / Shadow Dragon

 * Jake
 * Beck
 * Grigas

Mystery of the Emblem / Shin Monshō no Nazo ~Hikari to Kage no Eiyū~

 * Toras

Trivia

 * In Shin Monshō no Nazo, Beck tells the Avatar in his first support conversation that to move around, ballistae require the oil from a special fruit. This fruit supposedly died out after the War of Shadows, explaining why there are no recruitable Ballisticians in the game, and why none of the enemy Ballisticians in Shin Monshō no Nazo are capable of movement.
 * Despite this, if the class is hacked on a playable unit, their movements are still coded in the game.
 * Ballisticians and their weapons are unusable in Mystery of the Emblem and its remake. If players ever want to use Ballistae, they will have to hack a unit.