Crossbow Staff PVE Build Guide

Introduction

Welcome to our Crossbow Staff 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 Staff PVE build:

These particular Specializations unlock reduced cooldowns and increased single-target burst for bosses. The core of this weapon combination is to push a large damage window with Selfless Diffusion. 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 as much Wisdom and Dexterity as possible while participating in a dungeon run – gear depending. Below is our recommended baseline Stat allocation:

Strength – 1 Point
Dexterity – 23 Points
Wisdom – 21 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.

For advice on Uncommon and Rare gear progression options, check out our Leveling guide.

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 Staff PVE Build

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

Crossbow Staff is a hybrid ranged-magic combination. The build in PVE aims to play around the Skill “Selfless Diffusion”, which creates a window of increased cooldown speed each time you proc a Weaken. As a result, Staff pairs well with the Crossbow in order to creates a large amount of Weaken effects in a short space of time. Additionally, “Mother Nature’s Protest” from the Crossbow has a chance to shoot burn projectiles. These projectiles synergize with the Staff passive “Flame Condensation”.

All in all, the build weaves plenty of strengths together and leads to a satisfying experience once you are well practiced.

Skill Rotations

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

Toggle Mother Nature’s Protest
High Focus
Inner Peace (cancel this Skill with your Block Skill)
Selfless Diffusion
Mortal Mark
Quick Fire
Judgment Lightning (at the end of the Quick Fire cast)
Ice Spear Bombardment
Quick Fire
Chain Thunder
Nimble Leap
Quick Fire
Fireball Barrage
Nimble Leap (use this to cancel the Fireball Barrage cast animation)
Quick Fire

The combo seems very long-winded, however, this sequence of Skill casting happens in a very short window. As a result, it takes some time to master. But, when you do manage to master this class – it is extremely rewarding! The general idea is to pop all your major buffs to gain Cooldown Speed, Mana Cost Efficiency, and the “Selfless Diffusion” Skill effect. With all of these buffs popped, you’ll have insanely fast cooldowns. This allows you to place a Mortal Mark and go to town at a very fast speed. As a result, this is one of the highest single-target DPS classes in the game. Finally, you can use several abilities as filler while waiting for your next burst window without causing a DPS loss.

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.