Spear / Crossbow PvE Build Guide
Last Updated:March 8, 2025|Changelog
Welcome to the Spear / Crossbow PvE Build Guide! Similar to Scorpion, Spear / Crossbow is very combo oriented when it comes to maximizing its damage against bosses. During AoE farming in the open world however, it's as simple as rotating between Spear's Javelin Inferno on one pack and Crossbow's Annihilation Barrage Shot on another.
Spear / Crossbow increases the party DPS like no other combination! Spear grants buffs to an entire party with Heavy Attack Chance using Sentinel's Bastion and Crossbow grants Critical Damage to the party with Weak Point Shot. Pushing high tier Challenge Dungeons are a breeze for any Spear / Crossbow user provided they have the proper gear.
End Game Spear / Crossbow PvE Build w/ Runes
PvE Gear Progression
- There is no "Best Build", Talandre Gear allows for a wide variety of builds leading to different metas depending on your Server.
- Use the builds as a base, and swap different pieces around to gain the specific stats you desire.
- AGS is limiting gear availability for the launch of Talandre so Loot Tables may not be fully correct at during the first month of Talandre in Global Servers.
Chaos Harbinger Set
- 4 Piece Chaos Harbinger Set gives 100 Critical Hit + 9% Crit Damage.
- Use Monster Bird of the Plains: Solar Stone and Monster Bird of the Plains: Lunar Stone to further increase Weapon Damage by up to 30!
T2 Early Transitional Buiild
- This build is used just as a transitional phase to get started with T2/Talandre.
- 2 Pieces of Death Set and Abyss Slayer Set ensure high damage output.
- Abyss Slayer Set items are from 2 Star Dungeons so no milestones needed to unlock.
T2 Full Build
- This build reaches high levels of Critical Hit so Abyss Slayer Set helps to further the Maximum Weapon Damage being used on those Crits!
- The Imperial Seeker Set allows the user to gain even higher Critical Damage!
- The tooltip is wrong, gain a base 15% Critical Damage with 1% extra per stack (up to 10 stacks)
4 Piece Void Stalker
- This build is an alternative which is great to use during Solo Content.
- Maintaining high damage stats, its now paired with relatively high sustain.
- 4 Piece Abyss Slayer Set ensures high survivability without sacrificing damage.
- Bercant's Spineflower Crossbows ensures high Mana Sustain without needing to spec into Mana Regen.
Archboss Build
Crit Damage + Melee Heavy Attack Version
Crit Damage + Bonus Damage Version
Non-Archboss Builds
Crit Damage + Melee Heavy Attack Version
- This version prioritizes increasing the Critical Damage and the chances of landing Heavy Attacks from your Spear.
- Between 50 Strength, Swirling Essence Robe, and Unyielding Sentinel the additional 150 Melee Heavy Attack Chance isn't really as strong as it seems.
- However, this build does result in higher Maximum Weapon Damage and slightly higher Attack Speed.
Crit Damage + Bonus Damage Version
- This version prioritizes increasing the Critical Damage while increasing Bonus Damage which synergizes well with Shadowdancer.
- Bonus Damage is flat damage added per hit on attacks.
- Both weapons from Spear / Crossbow have high amounts of hits which is why the Bonus Damage synergizes so well.
PvE Stats and Traits
- Hover over each item to see the specific traits recommended.
- Prioritize the Offensive Traits on Weapons and Accessories.
- Next up is Mana / HP Traits on Armors and Accessories.
- Evasion is good defensively as it helps evade attacks from NPCs.
Runes for PvE
PvE Runes are straightforward. You want the most damage output, so use Critical Hit Chance and Skill Damage Boost. Without Daggers, Critical Hit leans toward the lower end and the Offensive Runes are a way to increase that. Mana Cost Efficiency is a great way to reduce Mana Consumption as Shadowdancer consumes a ton of Mana. Skill Damage Resistance and Max Health also help you survive Challenge Dungeons.
Most items are easier to obtain by farming 2-Star Dungeons. Click on the links to see the mechanics for each of the dungeons.
- Valley of Slaughter Co-Op Dungeon
- Shadow Harvester Mask
- Island of Terror Co-Op Dungeon
- Greaves of the Field General
- This is for the Melee Heavy Attack Build.
- Phantom Wolf Breeches
- This is for the Bonus Damage Build.
- Greaves of the Field General
- Voidwastes Co-Op Dungeon
- Eldritch Whispers
- Gauntlets of the Field General
- This is for the Melee Heavy Attack Build.
- Also drops from mobs in Saurodoma Island.
- Phantom Wolf Gloves
- This is for the Bonus Damage Build.
- Also drops from mobs in Syleuss Abyss Floors 5 and 6.
- Torture Chamber of Screams
- Swirling Essence Robe
- Band of the Silent One
- Carmine Rage Island
- Shadow Harvester Boots
The only things in this build that can't be dropped from Dungeons are two accessories.
- Band of Universal Power
- Drops from Queen Bellandir.
- Girdle of Spectral Skulls
- Drops from Adentus.
While these items can be dropped from bosses, it's recommended to use Substance Transformation or purchase from the Auction House as they're quickly falling in price every week.
Skill Builds, Rotations, and Mastery
- Spear / Crossbow PvE relies on combos while bossing due to the way skills interact with each other.
- Below is a list explaining some of the more important interactions as well as an opener.
- Replace Lightning Arrow with Flame Arrow during longer fights for potentially higher DPS.
- The burning from Flame Arrow can Heavy Attack and maintains increased Attack Speed from Spear's Passive, Fatal Precision.
Global Cooldown Priority
During Bosses, most of the time the party has 1-2 Longbow users with Deadly Marker allowing for low cooldowns. Combining the previous skill with Selfless Diffusion from Crossbow, your cooldowns come back up extremely quickly. Below are skills / skill rotations to prioritize as the skills come off cooldown.
- Detonation Mark
- Use almost entirely off cooldown so long as there are other damaging skills to follow up.
- While Selfless Diffusion is active, skills with high amounts of hits help to extend the duration of the Mark.
- Use Culling Arc to gain Burst Stacks.
- Brutal Fury can be used multiple times and has increased damage so long as the target has 5 Burst Stacks.
- Use Slaughtering Slash only after the other two skills are used as it explodes the Burst Stacks.
Spear / Crossbow Opening Combo
- Mother Nature's Protest
- Just make sure this is active.
- Selfless Diffusion
- Extends the duration of Detonation Mark as well as the Ignite + Burst Stacks from the Spear Skills while lowering cooldowns.
- Unyielding Sentinel
- Gale Rush
- This is for the increased Attack Speed and to proc Nature's Power.
- Detonation Mark
- Quick Fire
- Culling Arc
- Use both hits to get 5 Burst Stacks.
- Phoenix Barrage
- Brutal Fury
- Having Burst Stacks on an opponent allows for multiple uses.
- Slaughtering Slash
- This explodes the Burst Stacks which is why it's used at the end.
Mana Sustain
Use Mana Exchange as frequently as possible to maintain Mana.
The masteries are the same as the Bossing Skill Build.
- This is your general-purpose AoE PvE clearing build for Spear / Crossbow. You have the best AoE abilities from some of the best weapons here.
- Don't use both Annihilation Barrage Shot and Javelin Inferno on the same pack!
- Mana Consumption gets really high doing so, if you have to use both to finish a pack just turn off Mother Nature's Protest during one of the two skills.
Javelin Inferno Combo
This is your Spear AoE Combo which is pretty straight forward.
- Sentinel's Bastion
- Mortal Mark
- This is an optional use skill, don't waste the Mana if you don't have to.
- Phoenix Barrage
- Brutal Fury
- Spam this as up to 4-5 times to get max Ember Stacks.
- There is kind of a cleave behind the target with this skill so position yourself, so the other mobs are near/behind the target.
- Javelin Inferno
- Combined with Mother Nature's Protest, this skill bounces and does tons of AoE damage.
Crossbow Spin to Win Combo
- Sentinel's Bastion
- Selfless Diffusion
- Mortal Mark
- This is an optional use skill, don't waste the Mana if you don't have to.
- Phoenix Barrage
- Annihilation Barrage Shot
- Combined with the Skill Specialization, Gale, this skill outputs high AoE Damage.
- The closer the mobs are the better as each mob gets their own Gale Explosion which hits all others within range.
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.
- This is a general priority list. Should there be skills that aren't used by your unique build, skip them.
Active Skills Priority
Passive Skills Priority
Guardians
Guardians are special transformations that add offensive or defensive buffs or attacks to your character for 30 seconds.
- Shade Revenant Stheno
- This is the premiere DPS Guardian available.
- The projectiles do proc Mother Nature's Protest so consider turning this skill off while using if Mana Sustain becomes an issue.
Summary
- Spear / Crossbow is combo oriented when it comes to bossing.
- Spear / Crossbow's AoE Combos are relatively simple but very Mana intensive.
- Bonus Damage synergizes well with Spear / Crossbow due to its many hits.
- Heavy Attack Chance pairs well with Spear's high damaging abilities.
- PvP Gear is able to be used for most PvE content in the game however, for higher tiers of Challenge Dungeons (T20+), it's recommended to get a full PvE set.
Credits
Written by Bloo
Reviewed by Tenkiei