Welcome to the Staff / Crossbow PvE Build Guide! The build centers around Mother Nature's Protest to capitalize on the projectile-heavy nature of both weapons.
This build works by making sure all your projectile skills like Quick Fire and Fireball Barrage come off Cooldown as quickly as possible. Selfless Diffusion and High Focus aims to do just that, but you need to party with Deadly Marker Longbow users for even more Cooldown reduction and more damage.
As you are trying to spam your skills, high Mana Regen is a must. Make sure to use Inner Peace cancel tech and Mana Exchange as much as possible so that your Mana doesn't become an issue.
End Game Staff / Crossbow PvE Build
If you're interested in the Leveling Guide, check out our Staff/Crossbow Leveling Build Guide!
- High AoE Damage
- High Single Target Damage
- Mana Hungry
- Cooldown Speed Reliant
Skill Builds
Bossing Staff / Crossbow PvE Build
Active Skills
Damage Skills
- Quick Fire, Fireball Barrage, and Ice Spear Bombardment are your main projectile skills.
- Focused Fire Bombs deals extra damage against bosses. Let it charge to full whenever possible.
- Judgment Lightning is one of your high damage skills.
- Mortal Mark synergizes with multi-hit skills.
- Weak Point Shot is a team buff skill. Switch it out if a boss doesn't have many Fury Attacks.
Utility Skills
- High Focus and Selfless Diffusion are incredibly important as they are your Cooldown reduction skills.
- Whenever Mana Exchange is off Cooldown, use it immediately to maximize your Mana gain.
- Use Inner Peace, then cancel the cast with Rupturing Parry to acquire the Mana Efficiency buff.
- Mother Nature's Protest not only adds additional damage to every projectile but also applies Burn debuff on the target.
Passive Skills
- Manaball Eruption synergizes well with all your projectile skills.
- All other passives you pick offer free stat boosts.
Alternatives
- If a particular boss you're fighting doesn't have many Fury Attacks, replace Weak Point Shot with Chain Thunder, Hellfire Rain or Wild Barrage.
- Remove Gale from Quick Fire and add Damage ▲. Do this if your team has a lot of Deadly Marker users to reduce the Cooldowns of your skills.
- Take Nature's Power instead of Eagle Vision if your skills come off cooldown quickly. If this is the case, always proc it with Rupturing Parry roll as much as possible.
PvE Mobbing Staff / Crossbow PvE Build
Active Skills
Damage Skills
- Focused Fire Bombs, Inferno Wave, Chain Lightning and Judgment Lightning are your AoE clearing skills. Group mobs first before using them.
- Ice Spear Bombardment is for ranged targets or high HP targets that your AoE abilities cannot clear.
- Annihilation Barrage Shot is your best wide AoE clearing ability.
- Use Quick Fire with Selfless Diffusion to reduce the Cooldowns of your other skills.
Utility Skills
- Use Nimble Leap to get around a bit quicker.
- Mother Nature's Protest uses the Frost attribute as it procs more frequently for Selfless Diffusion.
Passive Skills
- Detection is there for extra survivability as you get hit often by mobs.
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.
Active Skills
Passive Skills
PvE Gameplay and Skill Rotation
Opening Rotation
- Mother Nature's Protest (If not already activated)
- High Focus
- Inner Peace (Cancel with block)
- Rupturing Parry (Block cancel)
- Selfless Diffusion
- Mortal Mark
- Quick Fire
- Fireball Barrage
- Ice Spear Bombardment
- Make sure Mother Nature's Protest is activated at all times.
- Cancel your Inner Peace cast with Rupturing Parry for the Mana Efficiency buff.
Mana Sustain Combo
- Inner Peace
- Rupturing Parry
- Using Rupturing Parry cancels Inner Peace, but you still get the Mana Efficiency buff.
- Always use it when you know you have to cast multiple skills.
Tips
- Mother Nature's Protest applies Burn with every hit, which triggers Flame Condensation. The Burn damage is based on the skill level of Focused Fire Bombs.
- You use Focused Fire Bombs and Judgment Lightning whenever they're up.
- Quick Fire comes off cooldown quickly, so make sure to spam it as much as possible.
- Spam Mana Exchange as much as possible for more mana.
- Try and time Mortal Mark with your projectile skills if you see them coming off Cooldown momentarily.
- Always have Mother Nature's Protest activated. You can use either the Fire or Frost attribute.
Cooldown Combo
- High Focus
- Selfless Diffusion
- Annihilation Barrage Shot
- Quick Fire
- If you're grouping high HP mobs, start with this combo.
- High Focus and Selfless Diffusion helps reduce the CDs of all followup skills.
Basic Fire Combo
- Focused Fire Bombs
- Inferno Wave
- Gather mobs before using this combo.
Lightning Combo
- Chain Thunder
- Judgment Lightning
- Additional clearing combo for grouped obs.
Stat Priorities
Use the following stat priorities when playing a Staff / Crossbow build in PvE:
- Primary Stat
- Dexterity
- Secondary Stats
- Wisdom 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 your points based on acquiring these bonuses.
Dexterity not only adds maximum Weapon Damage but also increases your Crit Chance, Evasion, and Attack Speed. Increasing Dexterity is your best method of increasing your damage output.
Mid Game
For PvE, you care mainly about maximum damage output so put points into Dexterity. Reaching 30 Strength is worthwhile if you think you need the extra Health to survive. 40 Perception is important for the extra 5% Buff Duration.
End Game
You're aiming for as much Dexterity as possible. When your skills come off cooldown, you want to be able to cast them as quickly as possible so you can cast the next skill.
Gear Progression
If you're interested in PvP Gear Progression, check out our Staff/Dagger PvP Build Guide here!
Gear
Transition
Transition
Reapers
Solo Self Found
Story Gear Staff / Crossbow PvE Build
If you've been following our Leveling Guide, you should have ended up with most of the blue gear in the equipment shown. If you don't, don't worry, most of them are placeholders until new gear. Check the next tab for more details.
Do not upgrade or destroy Special Resistance Magic Garb. You should leave it at 0. You might use it at End Game.
You want to get some easy upgrades before any Dungeons by completing your Lithograph Book.
- Elite Resistance Crossbow
- Bows that Pierce the Target
- Lethal Fortune Ring
- Rustic Mother Nature Rings
- Elite Sharpshooter's Cloak
- Cloaks that Wield Victory
Staff / Crossbow PvE 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. This section shows you what to build for the first month.
Traits are extremely important to this build. Mana Regen, Buff Duration, and Attack Speed are all necessary Traits to make sure you do as much damage as possible.
Dungeon Farming Priority
Mana Regen is extremely important. Acquiring the blue gear is more important than Purple.
- Temple of Slaughter
- Rex Chimaerus's Rake Bow
- Grace of Mother Nature Linen Pants
- Butcher's Canyon
- Scales of Time Necklace
- Icy Storm Cloth Gloves
- Cave of Destruction
- Miracle of Mother Nature Clothing
- Archpriest's Devotion
- Beast King's Gilded Bracers
- Tyrant's Isle
- Toublek's Thunderous Soul
- Eternal Ring of Dimension
- Comes from Precious Epic Accessory Selection Chest
- Requires Dimensional Essence: Salvation to craft. You need 10 Tokens from each Co-Op Dungeon to craft.
Staff / Crossbow PvE Build
As more Milestones unlock, you can acquire more Purple Gear from Open World Dungeons.
Mana Regen is always prioritized as the Trait you should get on your gear first.
As you approach End Game, you want to complete the Ghost Wolf Set for more Bonus Damage. Stacking Bonus Damage is important as many of your skills are multi-hit skills.
Gearing Sources
Prioritize getting Purple gear and then move on.
- Substance Transformation
- Substance Transformation is the easiest way to acquire the coveted accessories earlier than normal.
- Transcendent Magic Ring
- Tycan's Bloodlust Belt
- Abyss Conqueror's Necklace.
- Substance Transformation is the easiest way to acquire the coveted accessories earlier than normal.
- Ghost Wolf Alter Ego Armor
- Cursed Wasteland
- Great Spirit's Grace Visor
- Wandering Soul Arbiter and Wandering Soul Knight in Syleus's Abyss 3F-4F
- Reaper's Footsteps
- Avolos Tracker in Sanctum of Desire
- Ghost Wolf Incision GlovesSyleus's Abyss 5F-6F
- Demonhoof Butcher in Syleus's Abyss 5F-6F
- Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Abyss)
- Abyss Conqueror's Necklace
- Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Abyss
- Tycan's Bloodlust Belt
- Aridus
- Transcendent Magic Ring
- Queen Bellandir
Reaper's Pants Staff / Crossbow PvE Build
With Trait Resonance
Reaper's Mask Staff / Crossbow PvE Build
With Trait Resonance
Both the Reaper's Interring Pants build and the Reaper's Black Mask build have similar stats.
- The Reaper's Interring Pants build has higher Heavy Attack Chance and can replace the chest piece with Special Resistance Magic Garb for more Mana Regen.
- The Reaper's Black Mask can replace the chest piece with Miracle of Mother Nature Clothing. If you do that, you must replace Special Resistance Ancient Dragon Pants with Ghost Wolf Alter Ego Pants.
Pants Sources
- Reaper's Interring Pants
- Junobote
- Ghost Wolf Alter Ego Mask
- Talus
Mask Sources
- Special Resistance Ancient Dragon Pants
- Even As the Shadow in the Fog Sprays Blood Lithograph Book completion
- Precious Blessing Pouch
- Reaper's Black Mask
- Adentus
- Ghost Wolf Alter Ego Pants
- Adentus
- Skulls Spectral Belt
- Adentus, Substance Transformation
- Transcendent Magic Ring
- Queen Bellandir, Substance Transformation
SSF End Game Staff / Crossbow PvE Build
- This setup allows you to acquire all the pieces yourself through grinding. You do not need to use the Auction House or Substance Transformation.
Gear Sources
- Ghost Wolf Alter Ego Armor (Cursed Wasteland)
- Grim Judicator's Touch (Death's Abyss)
- Special Resistance Hawk Pants (Aura of Settled Moonlight)
- Lethal Frost Ring (Cursed Wasteland)
- Heavenly Arbiter Mask (Butcher's Canyon)
- Butcher's Belt (Butcher's Canyon)
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.
- Shade Revenant Stheno is THE DPS Guardian in PvE. No other explanation is required.
- Lady Knight Kamarshea is a useful Guardian while you learn new dungeons. It helps in dangerous situations as an emergency button to survive mechanics that deal a significant amount of damage. Not many other situations arise where this is necessary.
Summary
- Staff and Crossbow synergize well due to the projectile nature of their skills as Mother Nature's Protest proc on every cast of those skills.
- Your End Game build focuses on stacking Mana Regena, Cooldown Speed, and Bonus Damage.
- Run as much Dexterity as possible to make sure your skills are cast as quickly as possible.
Credits
Written by Yaen
Reviewed by Tenkiei and Bloo