Welcome to the Staff / Dagger PvE Build Guide! This is the closest you get to playing a Mage Assassin in Throne and Liberty. The build leverages the strengths of both weapons for satisfying, single-target burst damage comparable to other weapon combinations.
At its full potential, Staff provides up to 200 extra Heavy Attack Chance and 150 extra Skill Damage Boost. Thanks to the Dagger Passives Assassin's Instincts, Destructive Fang, and Wrathful Edge, your Judgment Lightning and Thundercloud Bombing hits like a truck.
Due to the high cooldowns in this build, you need plenty of Cooldown Speed for this build to feel good. Without high Cooldown Speed, you have downtime where a DPS skill isn't up for use. Grouping with a Longbow user with Deadly Marker should alleviate this issue.
End Game Staff / Dagger PvE Build
With Trait Resonance
If you're interested in PvP, check out our Staff Dagger PvP Build Guide!
- High Mobility
- High AoE Damage
- High Burst Damage
- Requires High CDS
- Heavy Attack Reliant
Skill Builds
Active Skills
Damage Skills
- Focused Fire Bombs is your Burn stacking skill. Inferno Wave helps to upkeep your Burn stacks and deals significantly more damage against targets with higher Burn stacks.
- Use Lightning Infusion to build your Thundercloud stacks. Once at 20 stacks, use Thunderclouds Bombing to maximize the skill's single-target damage.
- Always use Cleaving Moonlight for the additional Attack Speed buff.
- Don't spend your second charge until the Attack Speed buff is about to expire, because using the skill again consumes the buff.
- Once you acquire Lequirus's Thorny Edge, Cleaving Moonlight also procs the passive for additional 50 Base Damage.
- Use Ankle Strike before Thunderclouds Bombing and Cleaving Moonlight. The extra offhand proc chance from the Specialization helps you do more damage on average.
- Judgment Lightning, Ice Spear Bombardment and Fireball Barrage are great single target DPS skills.
- Hellfire Rain is one of your strongest skills since each meteor hits a boss due to their large hitbox.
Utility Skills
- With the correct Specialization High Focus offers more Base Damage.
Passive Skills
- Assassin's Instincts, Destructive Fang, Wrathful Edge are your flat damage boosts.
- Flame Condensation, Asceticism, Forbidden Sanctuary offer free stat boosts.
- Mana Amp is a great utility passive for additional Health.
- There aren't any other good damage options for your last slot, so you take Manaball Eruption.
- Murderous Energy is a good skill to prolong the last tick of Thundercloud until Lightning Infusion can be cast again.
- With enough Cooldown Speed and Buff Duration later in the game, this Passive is no longer needed.
Alternatives
- Inner Peace or Ankle Strike can be replaced.
- Shadow Strike and Icebound Tomb offer nice utility for certain dungeons.
- Use Camouflage Cloak for a guaranteed critical on your next attack. This is a significant DPS boost when used correctly.
- Fatal Stigma can be a great skill to use, but hard to weave into your rotation since Thunderclouds Bombing consumes all 20 Thundercloud stacks.
Full Range Build
- If you're too lazy to be in Melee, You can use this full Range build.
- You just need to get in range for Fatal Stigma and stay at that range.
- This is 100% a lower damage output build.
Active Skills
Damage Skills
- Chain Lightning and Judgment Lightning are your hard hitting AoE clearing skills.
- Inferno Wave is an additional mobbing skill.
- Ice Spear Bombardment is for ranged targets or high HP targets that your AoE abilities cannot clear.
- Cleaving Moonlight is your AoE clearing ability at Melee range. Combine it with Thunder Spirit for more AoE damage.
Utility Skills
- When Specialized High Focus, offers both Cooldown Speed and Base Damage.
- Camouflage Cloak can help you out if you aggro too many mobs and can set up Infernal Meteor without being hit.
Passive Skills
- Assassin's Step is a great Passive for moving from mob to mob.
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
Opening Rotation
- Lightning Infusion
- High Focus
- Hellfire Rain
- Focused Fire Bombs
- Inferno Wave
- Ankle Strike
- Cleaving Moonlight x1
- Thunderclouds Bombing
- Fireball Barrage
- You want to play mainly in Melee range. On stationary bosses, make sure you don't move around too much so that you get the 100 Heavy Attack Chance from Asceticism.
- Hellfire Rain gets you to high Burn stacks to activate Flame Condensation.
- After the opening rotation, feel free to use your DPS skills whenever they're up. Prioritize getting 20 Thunderclouds stacks and consistently using Thunderclouds Bombing.
- Combine Ankle Strike with Cleaving Moonlight and Thunderclouds Bombing to boost your off-hand proc chance.
- If you proc Off-Hand Attack for Thunderclouds Bombing, Cooldown ▼ will activate twice. In this case, it's important to get 20 Thundercloud stacks again and Fireball Barrage will help you do that.
Tips
- You must always be at Melee range when bossing.
- Upkeep 10 Burn stacks as much as possible. It might be hard unless you have high Cooldown Speed. Hellfire Rain and Inferno Wave can help you refresh the debuff on the boss.
- Use Fireball Barrage and Ice Spear Bombardment to easily upkeep high Thunderclouds stacks.
- Always use Cleaving Moonlight for the additional Attack Speed buff.
- Don't spend your second charge until the Attack Speed buff is about to expire because using the skill again consumes the buff.
- Once you acquire Lequirus's Thorny Edge, Cleaving Moonlight also procs the passive for additional 50 Base Damage.
Basic Fire Combo
- Serial Fire Bombs
- Inferno Wave
- This is your basic combo.
Lightning Combo
- Chain Thunder
- Judgment Lightning
- This usually takes care of any grouped mobs.
Melee Combo
- Thunder Spirit
- Ankle Strike
- Cleaving Moonlight
- Thunderclouds Bombing
- If all your other Staff skills are down and mobs are still up, you can use part of this combo to finish off grouped mobs.
- Cleaving Moonlight can be used to finish weakened mobs.
Stat Priorities
Use the following stat priorities when playing a Staff / Dagger build in PVE:
- Primary Stat
- Dexterity, Wisdom, 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.
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. Wisdom is the next best stat for improving your Weapon Damage. Each added point into Wisdom also provides extra Cooldown Speed and Mana Regen.
Mid Game
For PvE, you care mainly about maximum damage output. 50 Strength will give you 100 extra Heavy Attack Chance, and 40 Perception will give you 5% extra Buff Duration. These are your 2 primary stats to work towards with Dexterity being a tertiary stat.
End Game
With enough Purple Gear, you can now reach 50 Wisdom for the extra 5% Cooldown Speed. This is crucial because you want your skills back up as fast as possible.
PvE Gear Progression
If you're interested in PvP Gear Progression, check out our Staff/Dagger PvP Build Guide here!
Gear
Transition
Mid Game
Reaper
Solo Self Found
Story Gear Staff / Dagger PvE Build
If you've been reading our Leveling Guide for Staff / Dagger, the advice in the Leveling Guide was to transfer your Greens to Blues if you only care about PvE.
Do not upgrade Special Resistance Hawk Armor. You should leave it at 0.
If you didn't read the Leveling Guide and have completely different gear, that's fine; your Story Gear doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things. The only thing that matters here is that you upgraded your gear.
So let's go into what you can get easily as upgrades right as you hit Level 50.
- Elite Resistance Knife
- Sharp Blades that Cut Through Darkness
- Armadillo in Moonlight Desert
- Lethal Fortune Ring
- Rustic Mother Nature Rings
- Elite Sharpshooter's Cloak
- Cloaks that Wield Victory
- Gallu Archer in Shattered Temple
- Elite Tracker's Belt
- Sources of Abdominal Strength!
- Evil Eye in Manawastes
Staff / Dagger 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. So this build assumes you're unable to get certain pieces for the first 30-40 days of server launch.
You don't have to worry about Traits too much. If you are looking to do more damage, fill out your weapon Traits and Skill Damage Boost traits for your accessories.
Prioritize getting Purple gear and then move on. Whatever blue armor pieces you wear don't matter for PvE, as they are placeholders until your End Game gear. If you're curious, check it out in the End Game tab. The blue armor pieces that I recommend here are just for more damage and your own convenience.
Dungeon Farming Priority
- Cave of Destruction
- Lequirus's Thorny Edge
- Miracle of Mother Nature Clothing
- Archpriest's Devotion
- Beast King's Gilded Bracers
- Tyrant's Isle
- Deadly Fighter's Visor
- Deadly Barrier Chain Gaiters
- 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.
- Death's Abyss
- Dark Destruction Iron Gloves (Cave of Desperation too)
- Darkness Distorted Plate Boots
- Cursed Wasteland
- Flying Dragon Breath Mask
- Lethal Fortune Ring
- Butcher's Canyon (for Dimensional Essence: Salvation)
- If you happen to get Scales of Time Necklace to drop, wear it, use it for Marienne's Recommended Necklace Collection Lithograph, or sell it.
Alternatives
- Slaughterer's Collar
- Using this allows you to invest more Stat points elsewhere. It can be difficult to Trait.
- It can be acquired by completing the Marienne's Recommended Necklace Collection entry in your Lithograph Book.
Toublek Staff / Dagger PvE Build
Umbramancer Staff / Dagger PvE Build
As more Milestones unlock, you will be able to farm Open World Dungeons (Abyss Dungeons) for gear. Transcendent Magic Ring, Tycan's Bloodlust Belt, and Abyss Conqueror's Necklace are acquired from sources that unlock from Milestones, but it is possible to acquire them earlier by using Substance Transformation. Accessories are the easiest ones to acquire from Substance Transformation, whereas getting the armor piece you want is more difficult.
Toublek vs Umbramancer
- If you're not lucky enough to acquire Transcendent Magic Ring or Tycan's Bloodlust Belt from Substance Transformation, you can use Umbramancer's Staff to reach 50 Strength for the 100 Heavy Attack Chance.
- Your final Staff weapon will be Talus's Resonance Staff, so either one of the above will be a transition item.
Gear Sources
- Toublek's Thunderous Soul
- Tyrant's Isle
- General's Frenzy Gloves
- Reptilian Soldier and Reptilian Butcher in Saurodoma Island
- Craft Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Tyrant.
- Umbramancer's Staff
- Avolos Geomancer in Sanctum of Desire
- Craft Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Desire.
- Reaper's Footsteps
- Avolos Tracker in Sanctum of Desire
- Craft Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Desire.
- Abyss Conqueror's Necklace
- Craft Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Abyss.
- Transcendent Magic Ring
- Queen Bellandir
- Substance Transformation
- Tycan's Bloodlust Belt
- Aridus
- Substance Transformation
Alternatives
- Slaughterer's Collar
- It can be acquired by completing the Marienne's Recommended Necklace Collection entry in your Lithograph Book.
Reaper's Mask Staff / Dagger PvE Build
With Trait Resonance
Reaper's Pants Staff / Dagger PvE Build
With Trait Resonance
- You transition to using Reaper's Black Mask to complete your Death Set 2 piece bonus.
- The Reaper's Interring Pants build is an alternative if you find yourself with it instead of the mask.
- You add another 2-piece set effect from Imperator Set that gives 150 Melee Heavy Attack Chance.
- Talus's Resonance Staff drops from Talus.
Mask Build Sources
- Reaper's Black Mask
- Adentus
- General's Melee Gaiters
- Grand Aelon
- Tycan's Bloodlust Belt
- Aridus
- Substance Transformation
- Transcendent Magic Ring
- Queen Bellandir
- Substance Transformation
Pants Build Sources
- Reaper's Interring Pants
- Junobote
- General's Thunder Heart
- Temple of Slaughter
- Ghost Wolf Alter Ego Mask
- Talus
- Specter's Frost Bracers
- Butcher's Canyon
Traits
- You focus on DPS Traits like Skill Damage Boost and Heavy Attack Chance.
- You focus on Max Health and Skill Damage Resistance for defensive Traits.
- Mana Regen is also an excellent trait to prioritize if you find yourself lacking Mana. Inner Peace usually takes care of your mana issues.
- Evasion traits are nice if you intend to solo farm Open World Dungeons or Events.
Alternatives
- Slaughterer's Collar. Read the Mid Game Alternatives section for more info.
- For the Reaper's Black Mask build, Grim Judicator's Pants is a great alternative if you feel that you are not able to acquire General's Melee Gaiters.
- For the Reaper's Interring Pants build, Heavenly Arbiter Mask can replace General's Fury Headgear if you don't find your getting it.
SSF End Game Staff / Dagger 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
- Grim Judicator's Pants
- Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Shadow
- Abyssal Specter
- General's Frenzy Gloves
- Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Tyrant
- Reptilian Soldier in Suarodoma Island
- Reptilian Butcher in Suarodoma Island
- Heavenly Arbiter Mask
- Butcher's Canyon
- Slaughterer's Collar
- It can be acquired by completing the Marienne's Recommended Necklace Collection entry in your Lithograph Book.
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
- Both Staff and Dagger passives help make the Staff / Dagger weapon combination into a high burst PVE build.
- The build revolves around maintaining 10 Burning stacks and 20 Thunderclouds stacks for high damage output.
- The Staff / Dagger build has both high single-target damage and exceptional AoE. Dungeons and Dynamic Events are not a problem for this build.
Credits
Written by Yaen
Reviewed by Tenkiei and Nymphellas