Crossbow Dagger PVE Build Guide

Introduction

Welcome to our Crossbow Dagger PVE build guide. In this guide, we’ll go over our recommended way to set-up the weapon combination for PVE group activities, such as the Dimensional Circle. This set-up is used to fill a DPS spot in a 6-player dungeon group.

Skills

Below is our Skill set-up for PVE group dungeon runs:

This Skill set-up provides a large focus on single-target boss damage in 6-player dungeons.

Skill Specializations

With 100 total points to play with once you hit Level 50, below is our recommended Specializations for the Crossbow Dagger PVE build:

These particular Specializations unlock reduced cooldowns and increased single-target burst for bosses. See our Skill Specializations guide for more information.

Weapon Mastery

This guide assumes you are at least in the range of Level 13-16 Weapon Mastery. However, if you’re below this threshold, it’s not an issue. Simply spec into the mastery trees that provide the most damage first.

Stats

Stats once you reach Tier 1 Epic gear can vary frequently due to stats built into gear. As a result, try to push for at least 50 Dexterity and 60 Perception while participating in a dungeon run – gear depending. Below is our recommended baseline Stat allocation:

Dexterity – 20 Points
Perception – 20 Points
Strength – 9 Points

Gear & Equipment

The gear loadout largely, if not entirely, stays the same across all content once you reach Tier 1 Epic. Our Tier 1 Epic set assumes that most of the base content has been unlocked with the Milestones completed.

Early on, make use of your Rare gear you acquired through MSQ. It is totally fine and expected to be in Rare gear for quite a long time – so don’t worry too much! Gear between PVE and PVP usually doesn’t really change.

Guardian

Guardians are a unique transformation on a 10 minute Cooldown that gives powerful bonuses to you for 30 seconds. Some Guardians work as an additional “Active” Skill, while others provide buffs. We recommend the following Guardians for group play dungeons:

Shade Revenant Stheno – Stheno is the most offense-heavy choice in PVE. This Guardian dishes out consistent damage dealing projectiles to multiple targets.

How to Play The Crossbow Dagger PVE Build

Our Crossbow Dagger PVE build guide not only aims to teach you how to put it together, but also how to play it.

The main objective of playing Crossbow Dagger in a PVE dungeon is simple. You’re a ranged DPS that can play in melee range and at a short distance, dealing incredibly high DPS. Both weapons play a vital role in dishing out the highest single-target PVE DPS in the game. A big reason for this is “Off-hand” stat both weapons rely on which deals and additional hit when procced. Be warned, however, that this build requires a lot of fast button pressing (also known as Actions Per Minute).

Skill Rotations

As previously mentioned, to utilize your build and rotation effectively, use the following rotation for bosses:

Toggle Mother Nature’s Protest
Inject Venom (Lightning Infusion)
Mortal Mark
Cleaving Moonlight x1
Fatal Stigma
Quick Fire
Nimble Leap
Quick Fire
Selfless Diffusion
Brutal Incision (Thunderclouds Bombing)
Cleaving Moonlight x1
Knife Throwing
Brutal Incision (Thunderclouds Bombing)

There is plenty of times where you can do a smaller burst of damage using only the damage Skills above. However, you’ll want to keep perfect uptime of your buffs so they line up before you cycle your damage Skills. As always with Thunderclouds stacks, make sure to use Fatal Stigma BEFORE you use Brutal Incision (Thunderclouds Bombing). This is because Fatal Stigma does more damage based on the amount of stacks on a target. However, Brutal Incision (Thunderclouds Bombing) consumes the stacks to do increased damage. At 20 stacks of Thunderclouds, once Fatal Stigma is down – consume the stacks with Thunderclouds Bombing for huge burst.

Knife Throwing is a quick way to pump Thunderclouds stacks and lower your cooldowns during your Selfless Diffusion Window.

During Boss encounters, making use of Block Blade to perfect block “Fury Attacks” helps a lot to keep your Mana topped up along with Mana Exchange.