Welcome to the 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 max Range to maximize their Passives from Sniper's Sense and Toublek's Thunderous Soul. With Flying Dragon Scale Gloves, Karnix's Hell Bow, Toublek's Thunderous Soul, Insightful Ring of Dimension, and 50 Perception, you reach 43.6% 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
With Trait Resonance
If you're interested in PvE, check out our Longbow / Staff PvE Build Guide!
- Self-Sustain
- High AoE Burst
- Long Range DPS
- High Single Target DPS
- Mana Hungry
- Weak to Melee
- Limited Escapes
Skill Builds
This build was made for long-range sniping in Castle Siege, Riftstones, Boonstones, and Conflict Bosses.
Active Skills
Damage Skills
- Chain Lightning and Judgment Lightning are your instant cast AoE abilities. Use these first on grouped CC'd targets.
- Flash Wave is an amazing AoE ability, but it takes time to cast. Use it when enemy players aren't as clumped for your lightning skills.
- Focused Fire Bombs and Infernal Meteor are great for clumped targets.
- Ensnaring Arrow, Strafing, and Zephyr's Nock are single target finishers.
Utility Skills
- Blitz is a great skill to reset Flash Wave or other high CD skills.
- Victorious Energy offers a nice Hit bonus for engagements and lasts 18 seconds if you have 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.
Removals
- Removed Consecutive Use from Strafing.
- Removed Cooldown ▼ from Zephyr's Nock.
- Removed Infernal Meteor.
- Removed Victorious Energy Specialization from High Focus.
- High Focus is a good skill by itself because it offers Cooldown Speed and Move Speed. Using it before skills like Flash Wave and Blitz's is better in certain situations, especially if you don't need the Hit from Victorious Energy
- Removed Frost Smokescreen.
- You can keep Frost Smokescreen but spec Use the Designated Location and place it on chokes.
Possible Additions
- Use Nature's Blessing for the extra Movement Speed and sustain for your party.
- 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 Inferno Wave.
This Longbow / Staff PvP build is mainly used for small-scale fights like Dominion Events or Arena, where players aren't grouped together as much.
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 three Binds, Ensnaring Arrow, Ice Spear Bombardment, and Icebound Tomb. Always lead with one to proc Steady Aim.
- 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
Instant Cast AoE Skills
- Chain Lightning
- Judgment Lightning
- Instant cast skills, cast them on enemies CC'd by your team.
Charging AoE Skills
- Focused Fire Bombs
- Infernal Meteor
- Flash Wave
- Your use of these skills depends on the situation.
- Use Flash Wave for more spread-out enemies.
- Use your Fire AoE for clumped groups.
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)
Evasion Shred Bind
- Icebound Tomb
- Decisive Sniping
- Focused Fire Bombs
You can always swap Binds used in either combo and any DPS skills in any combo. You don't need to be super strict about it.
Self-Sustain
- Healing Touch
- Nature's Blessing
- These two skills alone give you great sustain in the absence of a Healer.
Tips
- Always have your Longbow out 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 7.5% Range.
End Game Gear
With Purple Gear, you start working towards hitting the 60 Perception and 50 Strength breakpoints. 60 Perception provides an additional 120 Hit. 50 Strength provides you 100 Heavy Attack Chance.
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.
If you're interested in PvE Gear Progression, check out our Longbow / Staff PvE Build Guide here!
Game
Transition
Transition
Reaper's Pants
Solo Self Found
Early Game Longbow / Staff PvP Build
Optimal blue gear is hard to trait early in the game launch. Green gear is much easier to Trait, offering better PvP gear for the early game.
With Distorted Sanctuary, you easily hit 800 for all Endurances as you get 60 per person in your party. This provides a hefty resistance to Critical Hits.
This build allows gives you up to 870 Ranged Hit and around ~1300 with Victorious Energy.
Unfortunately, your base Critical Hit isn't too high, but you have Sniper's Sense so make sure you're sufficiently far from targets.
Gear Sources
All below gear pieces come from completing certain Lithograph Book entries.
- Elite Resistance Staff
- Staves from Archwizard
- Ravenous Zombie in Shattered Temple
- Elite Resistance Longbow
- Marksman's Arsenal
- Spineback Lizard in Moonlight Desert
- Lethal Fortune Ring
- Rustic Mother Nature Rings
- Elite Sharpshooter's Cloak
- Cloaks that Wield Victory
- Elite Tracker's Belt
- Sources of Abdominal Strength!
- Evil Eye in Manawastes
- Guard's Endurance Necklace
- Rustic Mother Nature Necklaces
Longbow / Staff PvP Build
If you're following this guide from when the game launches, you won't be able to acquire some Purple pieces due to Open World Dungeons being gated by Milestones. So this build assumes you're unable to get certain pieces for the first 30-40 days of server launch.
- You reach 1000+ Ranged and Magic Endurances as well as 850 Melee Endurance with Distorted Sanctuary.
- You have to rely on Sniper's Sense to get any decent Critical Hit.
- You have 15.7% extra Range.
Lithograph Book
- Guard's Endurance Necklace
- Rustic Mother Nature Necklaces
- Precious Blessing Pouch
- Elite Resistance Mask
- Hawk's Eye
- Precious Blessing Pouch
Dungeon Farming Priority
- Death's Abyss
- Karnix's Hell Bow
- Darkness Distorted Plate Boots (Drops from Roaring Temple too)
- If these drop, keep them for fighting Melee heavy comps and Small Scale PvP.
- Cursed Wasteland
- Flying Dragon Scale Gloves (Drops from Cave of Desperation too)
- Flying Dragon Scale Secret Art Pants
- Flying Dragon Claw Leather Boots (Drops from Specter's Abyss too)
- Lethal Fortune Ring
- Insightful Ring of Dimension
- Craft Precious Epic Accessory Selection Chest using Dimensional Essence: Salvation.
- You need 10 Tokens from each Co-Op Dungeon to craft.
- Butcher's Canyon
- Destiny Worship Barbaric Staff (Drops from Cave of Desperation too)
- Cave of Destruction
- Beast King's Gilded Bracers
- Furious Sniper's Longbow
Toublek Longbow / Staff PvP Build
Umbramancer Longbow / Staff PvP Build
As more Milestones unlock, you are able to farm Open World Dungeons (Abyss Dungeons) for gear. The most desirable gear unlocks ~38-44 Days into server launch.
Transcendent Magic Ring, Abyss Conqueror's Necklace, and Tukun's Cast Iron Belt can be acquired earlier than normal if you use Substance Transformation.
- (Toublek range is nerfed on Korean version, guide subject to change) The Toublek build offers an extra 43.6% Range with this build, giving you massive spacing to do damage from afar. With 50% Buff Duration, Victorious Energy lasts close to 18 seconds. With 14.5% extra Attack Speed, casting skills feel incredibly smooth. The only unfortunate part here is the 7% Cooldown Speed.
- The Umbramancer build lets you reach 60 Perception. Check the End Game Reaper tab for its future use.
Weapon Sources
- Toublek's Thunderous Soul
- Tyrant's Isle
- Umbramancer's Staff
- Avolos Geomancer in Sanctum of Desire
- Craft Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Desire.
Armor Sources
- Miracle of Mother Nature Clothing
- Cave of Destruction
- Special Resistance Hawk Hood
- Crown Blessed by Moonlight Lithograph Book entry
- Black Boars in Purelight Hill
- Reaper's Footsteps
- Avolos Tracker in Sanctum of Desire
- Craft Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Desire.
Accessory Sources
- Tukun's Cast Iron Belt
- Avolos Guardian in Sanctum of Desire
- Stamina Acknowledged by Resistance
- Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Desire
- Substance Transformation
- Abyss Conqueror's Necklace
- Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Abyss
- Transcendent Magic Ring
- Queen Bellandir
- Substance Transformation
Toublek Longbow / Staff PvP Build
With Trait Resonance
Grand Aelon Longbow / Staff PvP Build
With Trait Resonance
Toublek Build
- Equip Flying Dragon Scale Gloves for more Range, but less Hit.
- Higher Range and base Critical Hit.
- Toublek's Range stat has been nerfed on the Korean version, so these builds are subject to change.
- With Distorted Sanctuary, all 3 Endurances reach up to at least 900+.
Grand Aelon Build
- Higher Hit but less Critical Hit and Range.
- Knight's Resistance Bracelet for 200 more Melee Endurance.
- With Distorted Sanctuary, all 3 Endurances reach up to 1100.
Stats are the same as previous builds, but you reach as high as 58% Buff Duration. Your high Endurance is enough to mitigate most unbuffed attacks from being Crits. Be careful about your low Mana Regen, though.
Your 950 Hit is supplemented by Victorious Energy, allowing you to reach 1300+. Your low base Critical Hit is compensated by Sniper's Sense and Toublek's Thunderous Soul's Passive.
Gear Sources
- Special Resistance Hawk Gloves
- Blessed Moonlight Touch
- Gallu Archer
- Reaper's Interring Pants
- Junobote
- Tukun's Cast Iron Belt
- Avolos Guardian in Sanctum of Desire
- Stamina Acknowledged by Resistance
- Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Desire
- Substance Transformation
- Abyss Conqueror's Necklace
- Craft Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Abyss with 40 Abyss Currency.
- Substance Transformation
- Transcendent Magic Ring
- Queen Bellandir
- Substance Transformation
- Knight's Resistance Bracelet
- Reptilian Fighter in Sanctum of Desire
- Precious Blessing Pouch: Tyrant
Alternatives
Evasion Longbow / Staff PvP Build
With Trait Resonance
Reaper's Mask Longbow / Staff PvP Build
With Trait Resonance
Evasion Build
If you only ever want to play Longbow / Staff, don't run Evasion. If you want to play multiple weapons that involve Dagger, then you may consider running Evasion.
- With Victorious Energy active, you hit somewhere around 1750 Ranged Evasion and 1850 Magic Evasion.
Reaper's Mask Build
You can still hit the same Stat breakpoints with Reaper's Black Mask, but you lack Hit compared to the build with Reaper's Interring Pants. But if your time is limited and the situation arises where you got Reaper's Black Mask but can't get Reaper's Interring Pants, then this is the build for you.
Gear Sources
- Reaper's Black Mask (Adentus)
- Ghost Wolf Alter Ego Pants (Aridus)
Umbramancer SSF Staff / Dagger PvP Build
No Trait Resonance
- This build's primary purpose is to allow you to be able to PvP without using Substance Transformation, Auction House, or attending Guild Bosses.
- Everything here can be found or crafted yourself. Technically, you can get drops by going to Field Bosses, but since there's such a low chance the drop goes to you, no pieces that drop from them are included.
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, bombarding enemies with skills, Longbow / Staff is the weapon combination for you.
- You have multiple options to customize your skill build, depending on the situation.
- 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