Crossbow / Dagger PvP Build Guide

Gear Progression

In all of these builds, once you have Queen Bellandir's Annihilation Crossbow or Tevent's Massacre Blade, you should always use them no questions asked.

Artifact Set Choices (Click Me!)

Set Effect Options

1. 2 Pieces of Abyssal Beast for Hit Chance and Wildlands Protector for Evasion helps to reach the two important stats for Scorpion.
2. Chaos Harbinger is a popular damage set effect for those that don't need to worry about added Evasion/Hit stats.
3. Some servers end up having over 60-70% of the PvP playerbase as Sword and Shield users. Because of this, 4 - 6 piece Deathless One Set results in a great option to reach 85%+ Shield Block Penetration.
4. Enchanting Pyromancer: Solar Stone is a solid choice for a quick burst of additional Hit for times you want to ensure the kill on a priority target.

T2 Gearing Meta (Click Me!)

Consider the defensive and offensive breakpoints other classes can reach when building your gear.

• Melee
  • Fully built Sword and Shield users reach 1500+ base Endurance.
    • The amount varies depending on Trait Resonances and Runes.
    • With the Palace Guard's Plate Armor item set, they will take even less damage. If you are targeting Sword and Shields, use the Shield Block Penetration Chance Rune Synergy.
  • Greatswords can reach 2500+ base Melee Hit Chance fully geared without sacrificing damage.
  • Spears can reach 2000+ base Melee Hit Chance before buffs.
• Ranged
  • Ranged Classes can reach 2000+ base Ranged and Magic Evasion or 1700+ Endurance pre-buffed without sacrificing damage. The specific numbers depend on the Runes the player slots and the Trait Resonance they use.
• Support
  • If Bow / Wands follow the builds on this site, they can reach 2000+ Ranged and Magic Endurance with 500+ Heavy Attack Evasion. As mentioned above, these numbers differ depending on the Runes and Trait Resonance.

Considering the above, it's hard to find a one-size-fits-all solution. How you gear will entirely depend on the meta of your server.

• Is your server full of high Evasion users? Do you usually target those players? If so, build more Hit Chance.
  • You might also need to spec Eagle Vision for the additional Hit.
• Is your server more Endurance-focused? Are you trying to kill those Endurance users? If so, build more Critical Hit Chance. Lightning Infusion will help against opponents Endurance as well.
  • At some point, it may be wise to build towards more Bonus Damage if you notice you're never landing Critical Hits.

Skill Builds

Skill Prioritization

• This is a general list of skills used across all forms of content that's recommended to upgrade.
  • Should there be a skill here that you don't ever plan to use in your build, skip it.
• Use Quality Skill Growth Books to upgrade your skills from Green to Blue in the order shown below. Once all skills below are Green, use the rest on other skills used in the builds above.
• Use Rare Skill Growth Books to upgrade your skills from Blue to Purple in the order shown below. Once all skills below are Blue, use the rest on other skills used in the builds above.
• Prioritize getting all these skills to blue first before getting them to purple. These are universal skills you always use.
• Upgrade the rest of your skills as you play the game.

Stheno Guardian Cheese

This "Guardian Cheese" was something most players used in PvE specifically. Once the Sword and Shield skill Counter Barrier was nerfed in Korea, many players realized that you could use it in PvP. While almost anybody can use this, Crossbow / Dagger users have a greater advantage than other Weapon Combinations because of skills such as Mother Nature's Protest that affect projectiles and the ability to do it from stealth.

After you pop your Guardian, you want to position yourself inside the enemy ball. More importantly, you want to be as close to as many of the enemy backline as possible. This is because you are then better able to spread damage on the squishier targets and have more choices of enemies to jump onto after you exit stealth for quick kills.

1. Lightning Infusion
2. Mother Nature's Protest
3. Shade Revenant Stheno
4. Camouflage Cloak

• This works even better with Queen Bellandir's Annihilation Crossbow because the additional hits from Mother Nature's Protest can proc the Bellandir Poison.
• You must first attack an opponent so that you are in PvP Combat mode. If you try before attacking an enemy the Guardian won't hit anybody.
• Stay in stealth as long as possible for free damage.
• DO NOT come out of stealth in the middle of the entire enemy ball! If your team is losing the fight, opt to reposition in a safer spot closer to your allies when you decide to come out of stealth.

This strategy works well with skills like Lightning Infusion because then every attack can weaken an enemy. Piercing Strike increases the damage dealt on each individual attack from the Guardian and Mother Nature's Protest will throw out an additional attack as well!

Archboss Skill Builds / Playstyles

Archboss weapons can be major gamechangers when it comes to the Crossbow / Dagger PvP Build. A Scorpion with Tevent's Fangs of Fury becomes very deadly opening up a more aggressive assassin-like playstyle because of the ability to reset Camouflage Cloak. Queen Bellandir's Toxic Spine Throwers opens up more sustained damage types of playstyles where Scorpions can hang out in the backline and spread poisons to enemies all over the battlefield and kite without ever going in Melee Range.

Tevent Daggers

These daggers enable a more consistent single target playstyle burst playstyle however this requires the user to have high gear. So long as the user is able to kill targets fast enough to go in and out of stealth passive skills such as Assassin's Step are more desired.

Queen Bellandir Crossbow

Queen Bellandir's Toxic Spine Throwers has seen multiple changes since the initial launch of the game in Korea. At its current state, the Poison Ticks from the weapon's passive can Critical Hit and Heavy Attack but also takes the enemy's Defenses into account. Expect to see anywhere from 300-1000 damage ticks at 3 stacks on an opponent when using this weapon in combination with proper gear setups and passives such as Murderous Energy and Destructive Fang.

To make the most use of Queen Bellandir's Toxic Spine Throwers as a Scorpion, position yourself in a way that grants the opportunity to use Rapid Shot with Mother Nature's Protest to spread the Poisons every time the skill is off cooldown. Use Nimble Leap right before to increase the range of Rapid Shot.

Pure Kiting

This version is all about Kiting and utilizing your Crossbow Skills to provide consistent Damage Output.

Multi-Shot + Spin To Win

This version opens up the opportunity to bomb groups of enemies when the opposing alliances are grouped up really close together and locked down by CC.

Guardians

Guardians are special transformations that add offensive or defensive buffs or attacks to your character for 30 seconds. You'll have a few options for Guardians when it comes to PvP.

• Lady Knight Kamarshea - This guardian lowers your cooldown while also giving you a damage shield equal to 50% of your maximum mana. This is the go-to defensive guardian whenever the plan is to dive the ball to try and survive longer along with higher uptime on my skills.
• Pale Nemesis Hartach - This guardian allows you to reset your stealth if you get a kill within 3 seconds of engaging an opponent. It's useful when AoE Bombing because it almost always procs the invisibility at the end of the spin. This is also similar to the weapon effect of Tevent's Massacre Blade so until you get those daggers this is a good way to go in and out of stealth during fights. Sadly, however, it's only a 30 second duration so be careful when you pop it.
• Shade Revenant Stheno - This guardian shoots out projectiles and can synergize well with weapons like Queen Bellandir's Annihilation Crossbow, and skills like Mother Nature's Protest! You can spread poisons and do quite a lot of damage, not to mention you can use it while in stealth from Camouflage Cloak for some free damage that people can't avoid if they're in range.

Gameplay

Summary

• This Crossbow / Dagger PvP Build Guide explores the many different ways to play this weapon combination in detail.
• Crossbow / Dagger can play like Assassins or Rogues from other MMO's.
• You also have access to a Kiting Mid-Ranged playstyle like Ebonsong from Archeage!
• Crossbow / Dagger utilizes a variety of Buffs/Debuffs to provide additional damage hits to a target that can result in over 40+ Hits per second.
• Crossbow / Dagger has the highest single target DPS possible out of the various weapon combinations in the game!
• Selfless Diffusion is quite versatile of a skill, whether you need to get out of sticky situations, lower your cooldowns, or increasing your burst immensely, it should always be on your hotbar!
• Crossbow / Daggers can utilize Damage Bonus, unlike any other weapon combination due to the ability to output so many hits.

Credits

Written by Bloo
Reviewed by Dredscythe