Welcome to the Greatsword / Crossbow PvE Build Guide. At first glance, Greatsword / Crossbow synergies seem non-existent. But the added Skill Damage Boost and Heavy Attack Chance gained from Greatsword skills like Vital Force and Cold Warrior increases the damage of Mortal Mark exponentially! You see anywhere from 50k - 200k+ damage when Mortal Mark pops with this Greatsword / Crossbow PvE Build Guide. Normally Mana Regen is the bane of every Crossbow user's existence however, with passives like Victor's Morale you never have to worry about Mana Regen again!
End Game Greatsword / Crossbow PvE Build
If you're interested in PvP, check out our Greatsword / Crossbow PvP Build Guide!
- High Hit
- High Sustain
- High Heavy Attack
- High Skill Damage Boost
- Low base Critical Hit
- Low base Critical Hit Damage
Skill Builds
Active Skills
Damage Skills
- Quick Fire - Use this skill every few seconds whenever it is off cooldown.
- Annihilation Barrage Shot - This is where a lot of your damage is going to come from, combined with Mortal Mark you're sure to maintain high DPS.
- Guillotine Blade - Be sure to use after Ascending Slash or when the target is Stunned / Shocked to ensure highest damage possible.
- Cruel Smite - While technically a damage skill, the additional Skill Specialization allows for increased damage afterwards.
CC + Mobility Skills
- Stunning Blow - Bosses can still be Shocked so this is a great skill to increase your damage.
- Ascending Slash - While you can't Prone a boss, you can still gain the added Skill Damage Boost from the Skill Specialization.
Buffs/Debuffs
- Mother Nature's Protest - Whilevv Lightning Arrow can do more damage per hit, Flame Arrow helps to lower cooldowns during Selfless Diffusion as it's considered a Weaken against Bosses and regular mobs.
- Selfless Diffusion - This is used to maximize damage output of Quick Fire and other Crossbow Skills.
- Pairing this with Flame Arrow can help to lower your cooldowns.
- Mortal Mark - You should always have this up, especially before using your core damaging skills.
- DaVinci's Courage - You can use Instant Healing as well if you feel like you need additional healing.
- Willbreaker - This should be used off cooldown.
- Weak Point Shot - You can cancel the animation with a stationary block so don't be afraid to use this whenever there's a Fury Attack.
- Feel free to replace Willbreaker with this skill if your party doesn't have any other Crossbow users.
Passive Skills
- Vital Force - Combined with Adentus's Savage Blade you get a ton of additional damage.
- Cold Warrior - Important to have this slotted while using Stunning Blow on cooldown to increase your damage.
- Victor's Morale - Your main source for Mana Regen.
- Robust Constitution - More Health = More DMG + Survivability.
- Ambidexterity - Since most of the time your Crossbow damage skills are used alongside Selfless Diffusion, you almost always land offhand attacks.
- Nature's Power - Your mobility skills have a low enough cooldown that you almost always permanently keep this buff up if you stack high buff duration.
- Piercing Strike - Your main crossbow skills land many hits so the bonus damage should increase overall DPS.
- Bloodlust Stack - With the amount of "Attack" type skills in this build, you'll have no problems getting stacks.
Skill Prioritization
- Use Quality Marind Ore to craft Quality Passive Skill Growth Book and Quality Active Skill Growth Book
- Use Rare Marind Ore to craft Rare Passive Skill Growth Book and Rare Active Skill Growth Book.
- 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.
PvE Gameplay and Skill Rotation
The idea behind this weapon combination is to use some skills that increase your damage and then rotate into your main damage skills. Using Mortal Mark right before dumping all your DPS to further increase your burst. Using Selfless Diffusion before Annihilation Barrage Shot will extend the duration of Mortal Mark and allow it to pop for even higher damage.
Rotation
- DaVinci's Courage
- Willbreaker
- Valiant Brawl
- Selfless Diffusion
- Mortal Mark
- Stunning Blow
- Quick Fire
- Annihilation Barrage Shot
- Ascending Slash
- Guillotine Blade
- Quick Fire
- Valiant Brawl
- Nimble Leap
- Quick Fire
Tips
- Use Weak Point Shot every time the enemy uses a Fury Attack to maintain high DPS.
- You want to try and have as many buffs up as possible when you use Merciless Barrage but the three most important skills you want up 24/7 are Selfless Infiltration, Mother Nature's Protest, and Mortal Mark.
- Ideally, you want to use Precision Dash whenever it is up to increase your Heavy Attack Chance.
- Against mobs in the Open World, you don't have to rotate all your buffs. Most damage skills are able to kill Open World mobs with ease.
Stat Priorities
Use the following stat priorities when following this Greatsword / Crossbow PvE Build Guide:
- Primary Stat
- Dexterity and Strength
- Secondary Stat
- Perception
You have 49 Stat Points you can freely allocate to any of the 4 primary Stats. Once you put 20 points into an individual Stat, it takes 2 points to increase the Stat by 1. Do not put more than 20 points into a Stat unless you are trying to reach a certain breakpoint.
You get bonuses for every 10 Stat Points you invest from 30 to 60. You invest your points based on acquiring these bonuses.
Greatsword / Crossbow excels when stacking high amounts of HP, Heavy Attack Chance, Critical Hit, Attack Speed, and Maximum Weapon Damage. All of these things are given to you by stacking Strength and Dexterity!
Mid-Game
Your first goal is to hit 60 Dexterity and 40 Strength. As a Greatsword / Crossbow user, you care mainly about increased Heavy Attack, HP, Critical Hit, Attack Speed, and Maximum Weapon Damage. First, put points towards Dexterity to gain the additional Critical Hit to ensure high damage on your Crossbow skills. Secondly, place points into Strength for the added HP.
End Game
With Purple Gear in the End Game, we can reach all of our desired Stat Breakpoints. 60 Dexterity grants us increased Critical Hit, Bonus Damage, and rather high amounts of Attack Speed before using our buffs. Getting to 60 Strength also grants even higher HP and 100 Heavy Attack which can give you higher chances at doing double the damage. 40 Perception grants increased Hit and Buff Duration to ensure you're able to maintain your buffs and always land your debuffs.
Gear Progression
If you're interested in PvP gear progression, check out our Greatsword / Crossbow PvP Builds!
Story Gear for Greatsword / Crossbow PvE Build
- Do not sacrifice your Green Gear for your Blue Gear during the Early Game while leveling. Most often, it's easier to trait out Green Gear instead of Blue Gear during the early stages of the game.
Mid Game Greatsword / Crossbow PvE Build
As you progress further into the game, you gather more gear with flat Stat buffs and Dexterity to boost your raw damage. It's also more costly to trait due to the low supply in the early game.
You might find yourself still using green accessories and know THAT'S OK.
Slowly transition to Blue Gear as you play the game.
- All of these items can be farmed either in the Open World, or Co-Op Dungeons.
- As soon as you're level 50, you should prioritize farming Dungeons to get your weapons as soon as possible.
No Rune Synergies or Resonance
With Rune Synergies and Resonance
- The General's set grants you an additional 150 Melee Heavy Attack Chance.
- You focus on damage traits like Skill Damage Boost and Heavy Attack Chance. Max Health and Skill Damage Resistance are important for surviving in the more challenging dungeons.
No Rune Synergies or Resonance
- This setup allows you to acquire all the pieces yourself through grinding. You do not need to use the Auction House or go to Field Bosses for any of these drops.
WARNING - The following content is from the Korean version of the game, there is no release date for this content for the Global version. If you want to see what you need for the future, peruse at your leisure.
(**Read the warning!**) T2 Greatsword / Crossbow PvE Builds
Guardians
Guardians are special transformations that add offensive or defensive buffs or attacks to your character for 30 seconds.
- Shade Revenant Stheno - This guardian launches projectiles every second that can Crit and Heavy Attack! Since you're stacking so much Heavy Attack Chance, it's a clear decision to choose this Guardian!
- This is the go-to Guardian for DPS.
Gameplay
Summary
- Greatsword / Crossbow allows you to play like a Bruiser with access to Melee and Mid-Ranged Damage in Throne and Liberty!
- Greatsword's skills and passives allow you to stack high amounts of Heavy Attack Chance, Hit, and Skill Damage Boost!
- Victor's Morale helps to sustain HP and Mana.
- While having high HP, you still have high amounts of damage due to Vital Force.
Credits
Written by Bloo
Reviewed by Dredscythe