Longbow / Staff PvP Build Guide

Last Updated:November 15, 2024|Changelog

Welcome to the Liberator Longbow / Staff PvP Build Guide! In PvP, your role is to deal huge AoE damage at long range. Typically, in MMOs, this type of playstyle resembles a "Glass Cannon," where you're extremely squishy, and any mistake in positioning can lead to your doom. In Throne and Liberty, bad positioning definitely gets you killed, but Longbow / Staff users stack a good amount of survivability with Endurance and Distorted Sanctuary. This makes you much more sturdy, even if you do get caught.

Longbow / Staff players build for as much Range as possible to maximize their Passive Buff from Sniper's Sense. With Shadow Harvester Grips, Karnix's Hell Bow, Insightful Ring of Dimension, and 50 Perception, you reach 29% extra Range on your abilities.

In addition to all the AoE abilities you get from Staff, Longbow users have access to Flash Wave and Limit Break, allowing you to do even more AoE damage. This makes Longbow / Staff particularly strong in Castle Sieges.

End Game Longbow / Staff PvP Build

If you're interested in PvE, check out our Longbow / Staff PvE Build Guide!

Pros

Self-Sustain
High AoE Burst
Long Range DPS
High Single Target DPS

Cons

Mana Hungry
Weak to Melee
Limited Escapes

Skill Builds

Large Scale PvP

Small Scale PvP / Arena PvP / PvPvE

Riftstone, Boonstone, Conflict Bosses

Castle Siege

Swap Frost Smokescreen with Inner Peace if you're having Mana Problems.

Active Skills

Damage Skills

Chain Lightning and Judgment Lightning are your instant cast AoE abilities.
Flash Wave is an amazing AoE ability, but it takes time to cast. Use it for more spread out enemies.
Focused Fire Bombs and Inferno Wave are great for clumped targets.
Ensnaring Arrow, Strafing, and Zephyr's Nock are single target finishers.

Utility Skills

Limit Break is a great skill to reset Flash Wave or other high CD skills.
Victorious Energy offers a nice Hit bonus and lasts 18 seconds with 50% Buff Duration.
Tornado is your team's peel or disruption tool. You aren't using it for damage.
Use Frost Smokescreen preemptively if you need to get away, as it won't break you out of Bind.

Passive Skills

Sniper's Sense complements your build well, as you want to be at max Range.
Forbidden Sanctuary provides you Skill Damage Boost.
Distorted Sanctuary and Devoted Shield are great defensive Passives.
Echoic Barrier won't help you on the first CC but helps prevent follow-up CCs.
Mana Amp offers more Health.
Steady Aim and Rapidfire Stance fill the last 2 slots as there are no better options.

Alternatives

You honestly have a lot of room to customize depending on your playstyle.

Possible Removals

Remove Inferno Wave.
Remove Limit Break from Blitz.
- The most important benefit is the reset, not the 20% extra damage on Flash Wave.
Remove Cooldown ▼ from Zephyr's Nock.
Remove Consecutive Use from Strafing.
Remove Frost Smokescreen.

Possible Additions

Use Nature's Blessing for the extra Movement Speed and sustain for your party.
Add Victorious Energy Specialization for High Focus.
You can slot in Decisive Bombardment.
- Consider Collection Time ▼ if taking Nature's Blessing.
Bring Ice Spear Bombardment for more single target DPS.
Slot in Infernal Meteor.
You can keep Frost Smokescreen but spec Use the Designated Location and place it on chokes.

Dominion

Arena PvP

Active Skills

Damage Skills

Decisive Sniping is best used after a target is binded.
Flash Wave is used only when you see a large group of players.

Utility Skills

You have two Binds, Ensnaring Arrow, Ice Spear Bombardment. Always lead with one to proc Steady Aim.
Use Icebound Tomb to remove targets from the fight.
Using Healing Touch and Nature's Blessing is a great healing combo.

Passive Skills

All Passives are the same, except you replace Rapidfire Stance with Earth's Blessing.

Alternatives

If you don't find yourself optimally using all 3 Bind skills, switch one out with Frost Smokescreen.

Skill Prioritization

Use Quality Marind Ore to craft Quality Active Skill Growth Book and Quality Passive Skill Growth Book.
Use Rare Marind Ore to craft Rare Active Skill Growth Book and Rare Passive 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.

PvP Gameplay and Skill Rotation

Large Scale PvP

Small Scale PvP / Arena PvP

Instant Cast AoE Skills

Chain Lightning
Judgment Lightning

Instant cast skills, cast them on enemies CC'd by your team.

Charging AoE Skills

High Focus
Flash Wave
Limit Break
Flash Wave

traits=1370405946,1370405947,1370405949,1370405948]Focused Fire Bombs[/tal-skill]
- Follow up with Inferno Wave.

Single Target

Ensnaring Arrow
Strafing 2x
Zephyr's Nock

Simple single-target finisher.

Utility Skills

Tornado
Victorious Energy or High Focus
Blitz

Tornado can be used to peel off Melee or as an engage tool.
If using Victorious Energy, always pre-buff before an engagement. Consider using Blitz for this skill if you expect a prolonged fight.
With High Focus, make sure you use your longer Cooldown skills like Blitz before the buff is over.
Blitz can reset important AoE skills.

Longbow Single Target

Ensnaring Arrow
Strafing 2x
Zephyr's Nock

Always use Ensnaring Arrow with Strafing because they have similar Cooldowns.

Instant Burst Bind

Ice Spear Bombardment
Judgment Lightning
Zephyr's Nock (Optional)

You can always swap Binds used and any DPS skills in any combo. You don't need to be super strict about it.

Freeze

Icebound Tomb

This is a fantastic skill that lets you take out enemies from the fight in Arena PvP.

You can always swap Binds used and any DPS skills in any combo. You don't need to be super strict about it.

Self-Sustain

Healing Touch (Optional)
Nature's Blessing

These two skills alone give you great sustain in the absence of a Healer.

Tips

Always have your Longbow as your main hand weapon so that Anti-magic Arts is active.
Always use Frost Smokescreen preemptively to escape from incoming Melee.
Stay at maximum Range of targets. You have no easy escapes, so your positioning on the battlefield is paramount to your survival.
Pre-buff with Victorious Energy for the extra Hit if you specced High Focus for it.

Stat Priorities

Use the following stat priorities when playing a Longbow / Staff build in PvP:

Primary Stats
- Strength and 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 our points based on acquiring these bonuses.

Early Game Gear

In PvP, Hit and survivability are incredibly important. So, with full green gear, you want 30 Perception for 100 extra Hit and 30 Strength for 750 extra Max Health.

Mid Game Gear

The same philosophy with Green Gear still holds true. But now you can reach 50 Perception for the extra 5% Buff Duration and the extra 7.5% Range. 50 Strength is an important breakpoint to hit for the extra 100 Heavy Attack Chance. This should be possible as long as you have both recommended Purple weapons below.

End Game Gear

Your End Game goals are hitting the 60 Perception and 50 Strength breakpoints. 60 Perception provides an additional 120 Hit.

PvP Gear Progression

Acquiring Gear pieces and upgrading them is incredibly expensive and time-consuming. If you enjoy both PvE and PvP content, just use these sets for PvE as well.

Evasion vs Endurance Philosophy (Click to read)

If you're interested in PvE Gear Progression, check out our Longbow / Staff PvE Build Guide here!

Early - Mid
Transition

Mid - End
Transition

End Game
Umbra

End Game
Talus

End Game
Evasion

End Game
Archboss

End Game
T2 Dungeons

Story Gear Longbow / Staff PvP Build

Early Game Longbow / Staff PvP Build

You should do contracts immediately to acquire Contract Coins so you can buy Quality Lithograph: Weapons, Quality Lithograph: Armor, and Quality Lithograph: Accessories to craft Green Gear to complete Lithograph Book entries for Blue Gear.

If you didn't follow our Leveling Guide and didn't choose Heroic Tunic of the Resistance as your final Story reward, don't worry. Instead, use Elite Resistance Plate Armor.

Make sure you have enough materials to craft by taking some contracts that reward you Rare Base Material Selection Chest and Rare Polished Crystal.
If you happen to Crit craft an item (20%), sell the item on the Auction House for Lucent.

Your Goals

Farm accessible gear by doing Open World Dungeons.
Trait those accessible gear.
Extract traits from gear to sell in the Auction House for Lucent.
Turn valuable gear into Lithographs and sell them in the Auction House.

Stats

You reach high Endurance with Distorted Sanctuary.

Traits

Trait this gear as best as you can. You don't need to go hard until you start acquiring Purple Gear.
Fully trait your blue gear before transferring over to purple gear. A fully traited blue piece will give you 960 Blessings for you to use.

Lithograph Book

Elite Resistance Plate Armor
- Shiny Metal Armor
Guard's Endurance Necklace
- Rustic Mother Nature Necklaces
Elite Sharpshooter's Cloak
- Cloaks that Wield Victory
Lethal Fortune Ring
- Rustic Mother Nature Rings

Dungeon Farming Priority

Death's Abyss
- Karnix's Hell Bow
  - You can also pity craft Recipe: Karnix's Netherbow using 2 Dimensional Essence: Salvation instead of relying on RNG.
  - You must do each Co-Op Dungeon at least 5 times to acquire enough tokens to craft 2 Dimensional Essence: Salvation.
Sapphire Dimensional Band
- Precious Epic Accessory Selection Chest
  - Requires Recipe: Dimensional Essence: Salvation to craft.
  - You must do each Co-Op Dungeon at least 3 times to acquire enough tokens to craft it.
Cursed Wasteland
- Flying Dragon Scale Secret Art Pants
- Lethal Fortune Ring
- Feathered Drakeskin Gloves

Open World Farming Priority

Ant Nest
- Corrupt Witch's Hat from Worker Ant
Shadowed Crypt
- Guard's Endurance Necklace from Dark Shaman
- Elite Sharpshooter's Cloak from Dark Assassin
Sanctum of Desire
- Alacritous Invoker Gloves from Avolos Hydromancer

Mid Game Longbow / Staff PvP Build

Your Mid End transition is where you start getting more Purple armor pieces. Some will also drop from Open World Dungeons.

Fully trait your blue gear before transferring over to purple gear. A fully traited blue piece will give you 960 Blessings for you to use.

Your Goals

Target farm Purple Gear from Co-Op Dungeons.
Craft Recipe: Common Trait Unlockstone Bundle to unlock Traits for your gear.

Here you can hit 50 Strength for that extra 100 Heavy Attack Chance. With 50% Buff Duration, Victorious Energy lasts close to 18 seconds. With 14.5% extra Attack Speed, casting skills feel incredibly smooth.

Weapon Sources

Staff of the Umbramancer
- Avolos Geomancer in Sanctum of Desire

Armor Sources

Heroic Tunic of the Resistance
- Mysterious Shadows in the Fog
- Mitran in Purelight Hill
- Precious Blessing Pouch
- Craft Recipe: Precious Lithograph: Heroic Tunic of the Resistance
Swirling Essence Shoes
- Cursed Wasteland
- Precious Epic Equipment Selection Chest: Salvation

Accessory Sources

Tukun's Cast Iron Belt
- Avolos Guardian in Sanctum of Desire
- Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Desire
Abyss Conqueror's Necklace
- Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Abyss

Umbramancer Longbow / Staff PvP Build

Full Purple Longbow / Staff PvP Build

Always use Transcendent Magic Ring, Queen Bellandir's Domination Wand, or Tevent's Screaming Bow if you get them.

Transcendent Magic Ring makes hitting your Stat breakpoints of 50 Strength and 60 Perception much easier.
Unshakeable Gold Ring is a great alternative.
- Demonhoof Tracker in Syleus's Abyss 5F-6F
- Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Abyss

Fully trait your blue gear before transferring over to purple gear. A fully traited blue piece will give you 960 Blessings for you to use.

Stats

Staff of the Umbramancer allows you to hit 50 Strength and 60 Perception extremely easily.
40% Buff Duration allows High Focus to last 5 seconds longer.
Your high Endurance with Distorted Sanctuary is enough to mitigate most unbuffed Ranged and Magic attacks from being Crits. Be careful about your low Mana Regen, though.
Unbuffed, you reach ~1100 Hit Chance with full purple gear.
- If you specced Victorious Energy for Victorious Energy, you will hit 1500+ Hit Chance.
Your Critical Hit Chance is compensated by Sniper's Sense.
Your accessories have Collision Resistance traited to help you avoid enemy Tornado. If you find that you don't get hit by that skill, use other traits.
Additionally, you have Collision Chance to help land more Tornado.
If you want more Max Health, you can swap your chest piece with Heroic Garb of the Resistance.
- Your Hit Chance will be lower with this chest.

Gear Sources

Special Resistance Hawk Hood
- Crown Blessed by Moonlight
- Black Boar in Purelight Hill
- Precious Blessing Pouch
- Craft Recipe: Precious Lithograph: Heroic Hood of the Resistance.
Reaper's Interring Pants
- Junobote
Shadow Harvester Grips
- Temple of Slaughter
- Precious Epic Equipment Selection Chest: Salvation
Sabatons of the Field General
- Dark Wizard in Shadowed Crypt
- Precious Epic Equipment Selection Chest: Abyss
Belt of Bloodlust
- Aridus

Swirling Shoes Longbow / Staff PvP Build

General Boots Longbow / Staff PvP Build

Talus's Crystalline Staff is the main center of this build. Talus's Crystalline Staff is your BiS staff, as it allows you to survive getting jumped on by Greatswords.

Fully trait your blue gear before transferring over to purple gear. A fully traited blue piece will give you 960 Blessings for you to use.

Stats

Stats are basically the same as the Umbramancer End Game build but you will have less Hit Chance.
You can consider Heroic Tunic of the Resistance for more Hit Chance, but it will give you less Max Health.

Gear Sources

Talus's Crystalline Staff from Talus

Umbra Longbow / Staff PvP Build

Talus Longbow / Staff PvP Build

Do not run Evasion on Bow/Staff unless you know other players are not geared on your server or you plan on playing multiple weapons. You do not have Shadow Walker to help buff your Ranged and Magic Evasion either.

You reach 1600+ Ranged Evasion and 1200+ Magic Evasion with Victorious Energy.

Bell Longbow / Staff PvP Build

Tevent Bell Longbow / Staff PvP Build

Spec the Burning Smokescreen and Use the Designated Location Specializations for Frost Smokescreen. You can proc Queen Bellandir's Hivemind Staff Passive effect with it.

Tentative November Longbow / Staff PvP Build

Stated by Amazon, Tier 2 Dungeons will come in Late November Early December, but without T2 Weapons and T2 Gear.

In the AGS game files are the following chests, one for each T2 Dungeon.

Kertaki's Armor Selection Chest
Shakarux's Armor Selection Chest
Turka's Armor Selection Chest
Gaitan's Armor Selection Chest
Kaligras's Armor Selection Chest

This resembles what the Korean version has. If these chests come in the November update, then many gear pieces that only drop from Archbosses and Field Bosses will be available, making gear accessible for all players.

This build assumes the above to be true, but this is NOT CONFIRMED.

Guardians

Guardians are special transformations that add offensive or defensive buffs or attacks to your character for 30 seconds. These are the recommended Guardians for this class in both PvE and PvP situations.

Lady Knight Kamarshea is a useful Guardian for defense.

Summary

If you prefer a long-range playstyle that bombards enemies with skills, Longbow / Staff is the weapon combination for you.
Depending on the situation, you have multiple options to customize your skill build.
With skills like Judgment Lightning and Flash Wave, Longbow / Staff is the king of AoE.
At End Game, you can reach 50 Strength, 60 Perception, and close to 1000 Hit.

Credits

Written by Yaen
Reviewed by Tenkiei and Nymphellas