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If forced to assault a castle, there were many options available to the attackers. For wooden structures, such as early motte-and-baileys, fire was a real threat and attempts would be made to set them alight as can be seen in the Bayeux Tapestry. Projectile weapons had been used since antiquity and the mangonel and petraria – from Roman and Eastern origins respectively – were the main two that were used into the Middle Ages. The trebuchet, which probably evolved from the petraria in the 13th century, was the most effective siege weapon before the development of cannons. These weapons were vulnerable to fire from the castle as they had a short range and were large machines. Conversely, weapons such as trebuchets could be fired from within the castle due to the high trajectory of its projectile, and would be protected from direct fire by the curtain walls. Ballistas or springalds were siege engines that worked on the same principles as crossbows. With their origins in Ancient Greece, tension was used to project a bolt or javelin. Missiles fired from these engines had a lower trajectory than trebuchets or mangonels and were more accurate. They were more commonly used against the garrison rather than the buildings of a castle. Eventually cannons developed to the point where they were more powerful and had a greater range than the trebuchet, and became the main weapon in siege warfare.
Walls could be undermined by the creation of a sap; a mine would be dug to conceal the attackers' approach to the wall, with wooden supports to prevent the tunnel from collapsing. When the target had been reached, the supports would be burned, caving in the tunnel and bringing down the structure above. The best defence against this form of attack was to built a castle on a rock outcrop or to surround it with a wide, deep moat. A counter-mine could be dug towards the mine of the besiegers; assuming the two converged, this would result in underground hand-to-hand combat in the pitch black. Mining was an effective method of breaching walls and may have had a negative effect on the morale of the defending garrison. At the siege of Margat in 1285, Sultan Al Mansur Qalawun created a mine extending underneath the castle's keep. When the Knights Hospitaller were informed of the mine they surrendered the castle. Battering rams were also used, usually in the form of a tree trunk given an iron cap. They were used to batter down the castle gates, although they were sometimes used against walls with less effect. Those manning rams and entering mines required protection from a castle's defenders; small movable wooden structures called "penthouses" would cover the entrance or the ram. They were often covered in raw hides to offer some protection against fire.
As an alternative to creating a breach in the walls, which was time consuming and a task for skilled men, an escalade could be attempted to capture the walls, with fighting along the walkways on the curtain walls; in this instance, attackers would be very vulnerable to arrowfire, particularly from crossbows or the English longbow. A safer option for those assaulting a castle than climbing ladders was to use a siege tower, usually called a belfry. Once ditches around a castle were partially filled in, these wooden movable towers could be pushed against the curtain wall. As well as providing a degree of protection for those within, a belfry could overlook the interior of a castle and offer an advantageous position from which to unleash missiles. As a result, bowmen and crossbowmen were often in the siege towers.