Wand / Dagger PvE Build Guide

Last Updated:December 6, 2024|Changelog

Welcome to the Wand / Dagger PvE Build Guide! The Wand / Dagger weapon combination is primarily a support build that revolves around mixing ranged and melee playstyles to ensure you can be anywhere on the battlefield.

Unlike a more traditional Support or DPS build, you need to keep a close watch on both allies and enemies alike to make the best use of your Curse Explosion, Cursed Nightmare, Blessed Barrier, and Swift Healing abilities. Knowing when and where to use these skills for maximum value makes all the difference between a good support and a great one.

Wand / Dagger DPS PvE Build

If you're interested in PvP, check out our Wand / Dagger PvP Build Guide!

Pros

Hybrid DPS
High AoE DPS
High Crit Healing

Cons

Low Mobility
High Mana Cost

Skill Builds

Bossing

AOE

Primary Healer

Poison DPS

Active Skills

DPS Skills

The Block we use is Chaotic Shield. It gives you a new skill called Healing Spell that heals and restores the stamina of a target (including yourself) when you perfect block. It also lowers the cooldown of your Curses, making it the ideal choice for this playstyle. If you find yourself struggling for Mana regen, change to Block Blade instead.
Use Touch of Despair and Decaying Touch to apply Curses and set up for Curse Explosion.
Curse Explosion does damage based on how much of your DOT is remaining on the enemy from both Touch of Despair and Decaying Touch.
Lightning Infusion is used to reduce enemy Defense from Destructive Fang and set up massive damage from Thunderclouds Bombing.
Fatal Stigma is used as a last bit of extra burst damage to the build.
Take Cleaving Moonlight and Thunderclouds Bombing for massive single target burst damage.

Utility Skills

Shadow Strike is taken to add a bit of extra mobility to the build.
Enchanting Time boosts your targets Skill Damage for its duration. This is cast on yourself.
Fighting Spirit Barrier gives your target a large Base Damage boost for the duration and is used to boost our burst as well.
Unlucky Clock is taken to add burst to our Curse Explosion, and is best used in combination with Fighting Spirit Barrier and Enchanting Time.

Support Skills

Swift Healing is the only heal you take when doing DPS, and is reserved for emergency situations.

Passive Skills

Destructive Fang is used to decrease the Defense of any target affected by Lightning Infusion.
Wrathful Edge and Assassin's Instincts serve a dual purpose in this build as both your DPS and healing skills can critically strike.
Vampiric Contract for a bit of easy self sustain.
Selfless Soul helps to add a bit more healing to the build in case of emergencies.
Devotion and Emptiness and Noble Revival serve to scale your healing and provide CDR which is useful across all of our skills.
Wraith's Beckon increases the duration of your Curses, and by extension the damage of Curse Explosion.

Active Skills

DPS Skills

The Block we use is Chaotic Shield. It gives you a new skill called Healing Spell that heals and restores the stamina of a target (including yourself) when you perfect block. It also lowers the cooldown of your Curses, making it the ideal choice for this playstyle. If you find yourself struggling for mana regen, change to Block Blade instead.
Touch of Despair and Corrupted Magic Circle are used to apply Curses for the Full of Corruption passive and to combo with Curse Explosion.
Curse Explosion is used to hit a large amount of mobs at once after they have been grouped up and Cursed
Take Thunder Spirit to add a burst of extra AOE damage when in combination with Cleaving Moonlight and Lightning Infusion.
Cleaving Moonlight and Thunderclouds Bombing for much needed single target damage as well as burst potential in our otherwise AOE centered build.
Take Ray of Disaster to apply steady damage to entire groups of enemies as well as apply Lightning Infusion.
Use Fatal Stigma for a bit of extra burst AOE damage.

Utility Skills

Lightning Infusion is used to set up half of our AOE with Cleaving Moonlight and Thunder Spirit.
Shadow Strike is taken for its ability to proc the passive skill Shadow Walker, as well as its ability to engage or disengage from a fight.
Enchanting Time increases our Skill Damage Boost, bumping up our AOE damage even more.

Support Skills

Swift Healing is the heal you use the most due to its short cooldown.

Passive Skills

Shadow Walker is invaluable for providing much-needed Evasion to the build.
Wrathful Edge and Assassin's Instincts serve a dual purpose in this build as both your DPS and healing skills can critically strike.
Vampiric Contract helps to provide healing from all of our damage dealt to Cursed enemies..
Destructive Fang is taken to increase Crit Rate.
Assassin's Step for Movespeed and Mana Regen while farming.
Full of Corruption for extra Base Damage and Mana Regen while farming.
Wraith's Beckon for extra Curse duration and damage from Curse Explosion.

Active Skills

DPS Skills

The Block we use is Chaotic Shield. It gives you a new skill called Healing Spell that heals and restores the stamina of a target (including yourself) when you perfect block. It also lowers the cooldown of your Curses, making it the ideal choice for this playstyle. If you find yourself struggling for mana regen, change to Block Blade instead.
Use Touch of Despair and Decaying Touch to apply curses for a bit of extra damage and to provide the Curse stacks for Curse Explosion.
Take Cleaving Moonlight and Thunderclouds Bombing for massive single target burst damage.
Lightning Infusion is used to proc the extra crit rate from Destructive Fang and set up massive damage from Thunderclouds Bombing.

Utility Skills

Shadow Strike is taken to add a bit of extra mobility to the build.
Time for Punishment lowers the Skill Damage Resistance of the target, which translates to dealing more damage.

Support Skills

Swift Healing is the heal you use the most due to its short cooldown.
Take Fountain of Life to quickly stack Selfless Soul.
Clay's Salvation is to heal the entire party when needed.
Invincile Wall is taken to reduce the damage of hard hitting attacks for the whole party.

Passive Skills

Destructive Fang is used to increase our crit on any target affected by Lightning Infusion.
Wrathful Edge and Assassin's Instincts serve a dual purpose in this build as both your DPS and healing skills can critically strike.
Vampiric Contract for a bit of easy self sustain.
Selfless Soul helps to add a bit more healing to the build in case of emergencies.
Devotion and Emptiness and Noble Revival serve to scale your healing and CDR which is useful across all of your skills.
Wraith's Beckon increases the duration of our Curses, and by extension the damage of Curse Explosion.

Active Skills

DPS Skills

The Block we use is Block Blade. Due to the massive Mana cost of this build, this block is the only option to maintain your rotation.
Use Touch of Despair and Decaying Touch to apply Curses and set up for Curse Explosion.
Curse Explosion does damage based on how much of your DOT is remaining on the enemy from both Touch of Despair and Decaying Touch.
Inject Venom is used to proc the Defense Reduction from Destructive Fang and increase the damage from your Curse Explosion.
Fatal Stigma is used as a last bit of extra burst damage to the build.
Take Cleaving Moonlight and Brutal Incision an increase to your sustained damage.
Knife Throwing is used to rapidly apply Poison from Inject Venom and does decent damage on its own.
Umbral Spirit adds extra hits to all of your melee based attacks and even more if they are Poisoned, giving it great synergy to the rest of the build.

Utility Skills

Fighting Spirit Barrier and Enchanting Time are used to amplify all of your damage. Make sure both are up before casting Curse Explosion.
Unlucky Clock increases the duration of any Curses on your target, making Curse Explosion hit even harder than ever.

You take NO healing skills. You don't need to heal if they are dead.

Passive Skills

Destructive Fang is used to decrease the Defense of any target affected by Inject Venom.
Wrathful Edge and Assassin's Instincts serve a dual purpose in this build as both your DPS and healing skills can critically strike.
Vampiric Contract for a bit of easy self sustain.
Selfless Soul helps to add a bit more healing to the build in case of emergencies.
Devotion and Emptiness is strictly taken on the off chance the dungeon/boss you are doing is at night, increasing your Curse damage.
Wraith's Beckon increases the duration of your Curses, and by extension the damage of Curse Explosion.
Murderous Energy will increase the effectiveness of your Poison and by extension Curse Explosion whether it's day or night.
You have no other passives to take for increased damage, so grab Assassin's Step to help with mana sustain when clearing trash mobs.

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.

PvE Gameplay and Skill Rotation

PvE Bossing

AoE Combo

Poison DPS

Opening Rotation

Lightning Infusion
Enchanting Time
Touch of Despair
Shadow Strike
Fatal Stigma
Lightning Infusion
Fighting Spirit Barrier
Cleaving Moonlight x2
Let Fatal Stigma explode
Thunderclouds Bombing
Touch of Despair
Decaying Touch
Unlucky Clock
Curse Explosion

This is your opener in boss fights. Focus on using Touch of Despair off CD as much as possible.

If you need to conserve mana, you can cycle between Cleaving Moonlight, Touch of Despair, and Thunderclouds Bombing to deal steady damage.

Always use Shadow Strike or Cleaving Moonlight before your Curse Explosion and Thunderclouds Bombing to get the most out of the passive proc from Lequirus's Thorny Edge

Healing

Blessed Barrier
Fountain of Life
Clay's Salvation
Swift Healing
Chaotic Shield
Vampiric Contract

You may not have all these skills equipped depending on your party role. However, use the order of skills to help you determine how much healing you can provide. This ensures you use the right ability for the right situation to manage resources.

When someone is at death's door, use this skillset from top to bottom (except for Vampiric Contract as it's a passive) to fully heal anyone in the game. Lastly, with tools like Fountain of Life and Clay's Salvation you are also more than capable of healing your entire party as well.

General AoE

Lightning Infusion
Enchanting Time
Thunder Spirit
Ray of Disaster
Fatal Stigma
Touch of Despair
Cleaving Moonlight x2
Lightning Infusion
Let Fatal Stigma explode.
Thunderclouds Bombing
Touch of Despair
Corrupted Magic Circle
Curse Explosion

The main goal of this DPS rotation is to spread as many of your Curses over as many targets as possible. During downtime, spam Cleaving Moonlight and Touch of Despair to upkeep steady damage while waiting for Curse Explosion.

Enchanting Time
Inject Venom
Fighting Spirit Barrier
Umbral Spirit
Touch of Despair
Cleaving Moonlight x1
Fatal Stigma
Knife Throwing
Brutal Incision
Decaying Touch
Touch of Despair
Unlucky Clock
Curse Explosion

This is your opener in boss fights. Focus on using Touch of Despair off CD as much as possible.

In order to use this rotation effectively you need a LOT of mana regen. When low on mana, cycle between Touch of Despair, Cleaving Moonlight, Brutal Incision, and Curse Explosion while you regen.

Enchanting Time you can keep up almost 100% of the time thanks to your Buff Duration. Be sure this and Fighting Spirit Barrier are up before you cast your final set of Touch of Despair into Decaying Touch into Curse Explosion. Keep in mind your Curse damage is snapshot at the time of cast. Using either Enchanting Time or Fighting Spirit Barrier after casting Curses does almost nothing for your damage.

Stat Priorities

Use the following stat priority when following the Wand / Dagger PvE build.

Primary Stat
- Dexterity and Strength
Secondary Stat
- 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 unless absolutely necessary.

You get bonuses for every 10 Stat Points you invest from 30 to 60. You invest your points based on acquiring these bonuses.

Consider Stat Points as a way to fine-tune your secondary stats, such as Attack Speed, Crit Chance, Evasion, HP, Hit Rate, and even CC Chance.

The end goal is to hit the 50 point stat threshold for Strength and the 50 stat threshold for Dexterity for the bonus 100 Heavy Attack Chance and the additional Crit Hit/Bonus Damage. The remaining points are placed into Wisdom and Perception for extra stats like Hit Chance, Cool Down Speed and Mana Regen.

Mid Game Gear

Once you start slotting blue gear pieces into your build, aim to get your Stat Points to the 40 Dexterity threshold, with the remaining Stats going into Wisdom. If you find you need the extra Hit Chance, you can sacrifice points in Dexterity to hit the 30 Perception threshold for the extra 100 Hit.

End Game Gear

With optimized end game gear, you can hit powerful Stat Point thresholds. We aim for 50 Strength for the extra 100 Heavy Attack and the 50 Dexterity threshold for the extra 5% Movespeed and overall extra Critical Hit and Max Damage.

PvE Gear Progression

Gearing for Wand / Dagger can be fairly varied, and depending on if you want to be a primary Healer or a primary DPS your priorities can change greatly.

If you plan on PvPing in the future, just use the PvP gear shown in our Wand / Dagger PvP Build Guide for PvE. Unless you're going for record clears, you can use the PvP gear to clear all content.

With 2-Star Dungeons being introduced, there are new BiS builds because of more accessible armor pieces and accessory pieces.
The main difference is the slightly higher Base Damage and much higher Attack Speed.
The next time these builds will be revamped entirely will be when T2 Epic gear comes out. This could possibly happen in January. No more changes will be made to this gear until T2 gear comes in January or earlier.
If you already have most of the build in the Archived section, stick with it until T2. You can use Rune Synergies with it as well.

Early Game Gear

Mid Game Gear

End Game Gear

Archboss

Old Archived
End Game Builds

Early Game Wand / Dagger PvE Build

If you've been following the leveling guide, transfer over your greens to the story quest blues if you haven't done so already. Make sure to upgrade them before doing these Dungeons for items. It does not matter what Blue gear you have as you will be replacing them shortly.

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.

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.

When choosing offensive stats, focus on things that increase your Base Damage, Crit Hit, and Attack Speed for the most damage output. Focusing Wisdom and Dexterity early on provide the most damage and give every stat you need.

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. You can use a trash blue gear piece and fill it up with cheap traits before transferring it to a purple piece in the same slot.

Gear Sources

Both Weapons can be acquired through Lithograph Book entries.

Elite Resistance Knife
- Sharp Blades that Cut Through Darkness
- Evil Eye Sentry in Manawastes
Elite Resistance Magic Scepter
- Mystical Wands
- Evil Eye Sentry and Imp Lancer in Manawastes
Lethal Fortune Ring
- Rustic Mother Nature Rings Lithograph Book entry.
- Cursed Wasteland
Elite Sharpshooter's Cloak
- Cloaks that Wield Victory Lithograph Book entry.
- Dark Assassin in Shadowed Crypt
- Gallu Archer in Shattered Temple
Robert's Focus Bracelet
- Temple of Sylaveth Codex Completion
Robert's Focus Ring
- Adventure Codex

Mid Game Wand / Dagger PvE Build

Your Mid Game build is the point from where you should farm 1-Star Co-Op Dungeons and the Open World Dungeons for gear.

You will see that there was a jump from Blue to Purple gear in the Early to Mid Game. Below are easily farmable blue armor piece replacements. For accessories, use whatever blues you want.

Ruthless Enforcer Chest Plate
Resolute Crusader Sabatons

Before transferring or upgrading your Purple pieces, fully trait and upgrade a Blue gear piece first and use it to transfer over to your Purple piece. A fully traited blue piece will give you 960 Blessings for you to use.

You can use the cheapest Blue gear pieces you can find with the cheapest Traits. You can use any Blue accessory you want because there is no recommended Blue piece for accessories. Just make sure it's easy to trait the item.

Your Goals

Farm accessible gear by doing Open World Dungeons.
Extract traits from gear for Lucent.
Turn important Purple Gear acquired from Co-Op Dungeons into Lithographs and sell them on the Auction House.

Stats

Put as many points into Dexterity and Wisdom as possible.

Traits

Prioritize damage traits.
If you want Evasion traits, trait Melee Evasion first and the rest afterward.
Acquire Trait Unlockstone through Recipe: Common Trait Unlockstone Bundle.

Dungeon Farming Priority

Cave of Destruction
- Lequirus's Thorny Edge
- Lequirus's Grip
- Archpriest's Devotion
Tyrant's Isle
- Specter's Frost Bracers
Other Locations
- Lethal Fortune Ring
  - Rustic Mother Nature Rings Lithograph Book entry.
  - Cursed Wasteland
- Eternal Ring of Dimension
  - Precious Epic Accessory Selection Chest
    - Requires Dimensional Essence: Salvation to Craft. You need 10 tokens from each Co-Op Dungeon.

Open World Dungeon Sources

Ant's Nest
- Elusive Hexweaver Hat from Worker Ant
- Elusive Hexweaver Pants from Acid Ant
Sanctum of Desire
- Shadow Harvester Boots from Avolos Tracker

These are Rune Builds for when Runes come out on December 5th; these builds assume you will eventually reach the full blue Rune Synergy effect for Weapons and Accessories.
For non-rune builds, visit the dropdown at the bottom.

Wand / Dagger PvE Build

DPS Build

This end game set is primarily designed around being Melee DPS, stacking Crit Hit, Crit Damage, Heavy Attack, and Attack Speed. Getting all of this gear is going to take a long time so don't be afraid to get other suitable pieces in the meantime to hold you over. It is worth noting that the large Strength investment is not worth it UNTIL you can get to 50 Strength for the Heavy Attack bonus. Until then, your Stat Points are better focused into Wisdom for more overall damage.

The bonus damage from Lequirus's Thorny Edge is strong enough that you don't worry about traits before putting it on. Use it as soon as possible.
When making decisions on Stat points, the 40 Dexterity breakpoint isn't that important. When gearing, feel free to drop this to 30 so you can fit points elsewhere.

You can also fit Excavator's Mysterious Scepter into this build without sacrificing any Stat breakpoints. It offers more Base Damage and a solid bonus to Swift Healing via its passive.

Weapon Sources

Excavator's Mysterious Scepter
- Excavator-9

Armor Sources

Reaper's Black Mask
- Adentus
- Valley of Slaughter
Archpriest's Devotion
- Cave of Destruction
Shadow Harvester Grips
- Temple of Slaughter
Swirling Essence Robe
- Island of Terror
Shadow Harvester Boots
- Carmine Rage Island
- Avolos Tracker in Sanctum of Desire

Accessory Sources

Slaughterer's Collar
- Marienne's Recommended Necklace Collection Lithograph Book entry.
- Kowazan
Specter's Frost Bracers
- Tyrant's Isle
Unshakeable Gold Ring
- Demonhoof Tracker and Demonhoof Head Shaman in Syleus's Abyss F5-F6
Tycan's Bloodlust Belt
- Aridus

Wand / Dagger PvE Build

Support Build

This gear setup is primarily focused on stacking Mana Regen, Cooldown Speed, and Crit Hit. This is so you can heal as often as possible with the largest heals you can get. Some of these pieces are difficult to both acquire and trait, so use gear from the Mid Game Gear section to hold you over in the meantime.It is worth noting that the large Strength investment is not worth it UNTIL you can get to 50 Strength for the Heavy Attack bonus. Until then, your Stat Points are better focused into Wisdom for more overall damage.

You can also fit Excavator's Mysterious Scepter into this build without sacrificing too much. It offers more Base Damage and a solid bonus to Swift Healing via its passive.

Gear Sources

Shadow Harvester Mask
- Adentus
Transcendental Saint Raiment
- Aridus
Transcendental Mystery Gloves
- Butcher's Canyon
Ascended Guardian Shoes
- Demonhoof Head Shaman in Syleus's Abyss F5-F6

Non-Rune Builds (Click Me!)

These are Rune Builds for when Runes come out on December 5th; these builds assume you will eventually reach the full blue Rune Synergy effect for Weapons and Accessories.

Wand / Dagger PvE Build
Archboss

DPS Build

This build is designed entirely around doing as much damage as humanly possible with no other considerations. You stack Crit Damage, Heavy Attack Chance, Attack Speed, Cool Down Speed, and Mana Regen to their limits so you can hit as hard as possible without stopping.

The bonus damage from Lequirus's Thorny Edge is strong enough that you don't worry about traits before putting it on. Use it as soon as possible.
When making decisions on Stat points, the 40 Dexterity breakpoint isn't that important. When gearing, feel free to drop this to 30 so you can fit points elsewhere.

Weapon Sources

Tevent's Grasp of Withering
- Tevent

Armor Sources

Reaper's Black Mask
- Adentus
- Valley of Slaughter
Archpriest's Devotion
- Cave of Destruction
Shadow Harvester Grips
- Temple of Slaughter
Swirling Essence Robe
- Island of Terror
Shadow Harvester Boots
- Carmine Rage Island
- Avolos Tracker in Sanctum of Desire

Accessory Sources

Slaughterer's Collar
- Marienne's Recommended Necklace Collection Lithograph Book entry.
- Kowazan
Specter's Frost Bracers
- Tyrant's Isle
Unshakeable Gold Ring
- Demonhoof Tracker and Demonhoof Head Shaman in Syleus's Abyss F5-F6
Tycan's Bloodlust Belt
- Aridus

These were the old End Game builds before 2-Star Dungeons came out. THEY ARE NOT CURRENTLY BIS.
The main difference between the new builds and the old builds is the increased Attack Speed.

Archived DPS Dagger / Wand PvE Build

This was the old End Game build for DPS before 2-Star Dungeons came out. IT IS NOT CURRENTLY BIS.
The main difference between the new build and the old build is the increased Attack Speed.

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 the Wand / Dagger PvE Build.

You can choose between Lady Knight Kamarshea, Shade Revenant Sthenoor Masked Warlock Dantalux.

Lady Knight Kamarshea gives you a shield based on your mana and lowers your cooldowns. This increases your DPS as a mage and allows you to heal more often, making it a solid choice.
If you find you and your party members are having Mana issues, take Masked Warlock Dantalux instead for the Mana sustain.
If you want to squeeze out as much DPS as possible use Shade Revenant Stheno.

Summary

Wand / Dagger is a Support build that mixes melee and ranged play-styles.
Combine a mixture of survivability and damage with skills such as Thunderclouds Bombing and Swift Healing to both deal damage and keep people alive.
Play next to your tank so it's easier to keep him alive/keep his stamina bar full.
Focus on durability, Dexterity, and Strength for your gear with traits that increase Health, Evasion, Damage, Buff Duration, and Mana Regen.
This build needs Mana Regen to perform well, and best-in-slot gear is gated behind Arch Bosses so it can take a long time to acquire.

Credits

Written by Nymphellas
Reviewed by Yaen and Dredscythe