Bow Staff Leveling Build Guide

Introduction

Welcome to our Bow Staff Leveling build guide. In this guide, we’ll go over the process of leveling with this weapon combination and the best way to utilize it. This includes quest rewards. Bow Staff is the perfect magic/archer power fantasy. It is also one of the fastest combinations to go from 1-50.

Skill Prioritization

Below is our go-to for Skill Prioritization with Bow Staff during leveling:

A large majority of your core Skills begin the journey with you at Level 1. This includes:

Serial Fire Bombs
Inferno Wave
Zephyr’s Nock
Chain Lightning
Strafing
Ensnaring Arrow
Decisive Sniping

You can use any filler Skill you wish, however, begin to fit & replace higher level Skills as you continue. For example, Ice Spear at level 18 and High Focus at level 30. The same applies to Passives. Start with Rapidfire Stance and Manaball Eruption, replacing Manaball Eruption with Asceticism and more later on.

Skill Specialization Priority

At Level 15, you’ll unlock Skill Specialization. This system awards you with 10 starting points to allocate and empower your existing Skills. You’ll earn 2 additional points per level up until level 31, where you then start to earn 3 additional points per level. We recommend the following set-up:

The most important ordering priority in the Skill Specializations is to get Chain Thunder online as soon as you hit Level 15 and to work on getting Strafing and Serial Fire Bombs upgraded. In the mid-leveling experience, Specializing Ice Spear and Judgement Lightning is ideal for nuking targets.

Skill Upgrade Priority

Every Skill in Throne and Liberty starts at “Uncommon Level 1“. By using Active and Passive Skill Growth Books obtained from the MSQ and Side Quests or crafting them with Marind Ores of different rarities – you can level up each Skill until Epic Level 5. Below is our recommended upgrading priority for your Skills while leveling:

Once you have upgraded these Skills to Rare and then Epic, upgrade the rest as you see fit.

Stat Allocation

While leveling 1-50 with the Bow Staff leveling build guide, we recommend the following stat allocation:

Dexterity – 20 Points
Wisdom – 20 Points
Perception 9 Points

This spread helps you to deal as much damage as possible while maintaining Mana

Weapon Mastery

Weapon Mastery in Throne and Liberty takes some time to grind up to the maximum level. For the sake of the Bow Staff leveling build guide, we’ve set our goal as Level 7 Mastery. For leveling, follow the Mastery lines below:

These are some of the more offensive masteries of both weapons that’ll assist you in pushing through content.

Gearing and MSQ Rewards

Early on in leveling, crafted Uncommon gear is something you’ll only have to worry about upgrading, rather than looking for specific pieces. Around Chapter 4 of the MSQ, you’ll have enough materials and Lithographs to craft a full Uncommon set of gear. We recommend crafting gear with Melee Evasion or Mana Regen if you’re struggling. Melee Evasion gear (especially the Accessories) can be quite powerful early on in PVP too – so consider crafting them for this reason too!

If you craft the Worshiper’s Staff early on, you can use it later in the Lithograph Book for a free Elite Resistance Staff!

MSQ Reward Selection

While the large majority of gear you’ll receive from the MSQ is Rare, we do not recommend moving straight over to them until you’re at least Level 50. Ultimately, this gear will be replaced with BIS Epic Tier 1 gear, but for now – we recommend the following rewards:

Chapter 1 – Hunter Longbow
Chapter 2 – Quality Marind Ore (only real option)
Chapter 3 – Rare Marind Ore
Chapter 4 – Any of the rings (this is the least important)
Chapter 5 – Longbow of the Resistance
Chapter 6 – Visor of the Resistance
Chapter 7 – Handguard of the Resistance
Chapter 8 – Trousers of the Resistance
Chapter 9 – Glade Stalker Boots OR Sabatons of the Resistance
Chapter 10 – Heroic Armor of the Resistance OR Heroic Tunic of the Resistance

How to Play The Bow Staff Leveling Build

During the very early levels playing Bow and Staff, both weapons immediately put in work from Level 1. The weapon combination might feel a little single-target heavy at the start with small bits of cleave (namely Inferno Wave). However, the combination truly opens up at level 15 onward. Skill Specializations help to turn this combination into an AoE powerhouse. Once you have your Chain Lightning and Judgment Lightning full Specialized alongside Serial Fire Bombs – you’re really cooking. Decisive Sniping can cleave targets and Skills such as Zephyr’s Nock and Strafing melt single targets.

Skill Rotations

Your bread and butter rotation comes from both the Staff and Bow. We recommend getting used to the following string on single targets:

Ensnaring Arrow
Decisive Sniping (if bursting a high-health target)
Strafing
Zephyr’s Nock

While short and sweet, this rotation uses every aspect of the Bow’s base kit. Ensnaring Arrow activates your Steady Aim Passive, while Strafing and Zephyr’s Knock are quick burst DPS Skills. During leveling, this is usually more than enough to deal with single targets. However, if you need to add more damage into the rotation, simply use the standard Staff rotation of:

Serial Fire Bombs
Inferno Wave
Chain Lightning

The above rotation is also your early game AoE rotation with Skill Specializations, too.

To navigate and move from quest to quest faster, you can use Frost Smokescreen to traverse.

Skills such as Ice Spear with the Ice Spear Bombardment Specialization and Judgment Lightning are quick yet powerful single-target nukes. However, Judgment Lightning also doubles up as a cleave tool.

Leveling Tips

Finally, a few additional leveling tips to keep in mind on your 1-50 journey:

Check out our general Leveling guide for more information
Focus on the MSQ as much as you can, however, make sure to do a couple of Side Quests in each area to avoid any leveling walls.
Do not skip on crafting Uncommon gear, it’ll be important to put into your Rare gear or the Lithograph book.
During the Resistance Contracts quest from the MSQ, try to pick out any Accessory or Weapon Lithograph rewards. These can help you massively in getting good early game gear.
Remember to use Healing Touch to keep your Health in check and Inner Peace for Mana Regen – this class is VERY mana hungry.