Dagger Wand PVE Build Guide

Introduction

Welcome to our Dagger Wand 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. This difficult but rewarding combo of weapons creates the “Darkblighter” Class.

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 Dagger Wand 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 a good spread of stats and 60 Strength while participating in a dungeon run – gear depending. Below is our recommended baseline Stat allocation:

Dexterity – 16 Points
Perception – 15 Points
Strength – 16 Points
Wisdom – 2 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.

If you’re specifically a PVE-Only player, then we suggest looking to obtain the Shadow Harvester Mask and Shadow Harvester Grips for more Critical Hit Damage.

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 Dagger Wand PVE Build

Our Dagger Wand 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 Dagger Wand in a PVE dungeon is simple. You’re a ranged/melee hybrid DPS that should play in melee range, dealing high DPS. You also have the ability to play as a party healer or “off-healer”. As a result, you’ll find yourself flexibly and quickly finding Dungeon parties. Through the use of Dagger burst combinations and Wand DoTs and Curse Explosion, you can hold your own as a DPS in PVE.

Skill Rotations

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

Inject Venom (Lightning Infusion)
Time for Punishment (Enchanting Time)
Touch of Despair
Shadow Strike
Fatal Stigma
Lighting Infusion 2nd cast
Blessed Barrier (Fighting Spirit)
Cleaving Moonlight (both activations)
Brutal Incision (Thunderclouds Bombing, but only AFTER Fatal Stigma explodes)
Touch of Despair
Corrupted Magic Circle (Decaying Touch)
Karmic Haze (Unlucky Clock)
Curse Explosion

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.

In-between these larger rotations, you’re free to use quick cooldowns such as Cleaving Moonlight to fill gaps.

Healing Focus

If in a specific party you’re finding yourself having to heal the team more, focus on Skills in this order:

Blessed Barrier: The standard Blessed Barrier should always be cast first on a target you want to heal. This is because they become tankier but also receive more healing.
Fountain of Life: Dropping this under the player(s) taking the most damage gives them a little safety net of HPS.
Clay’s Salvation: Your standard AoE heal, take this to provide burst AoE healing in a pinch.
Swift Healing: A bread and butter heal in every Dagger Wand Skill set-up. Heals single-targets.