Spear Bow PVE Build Guide

Introduction

Welcome to our Spear Bow 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. The weapon combination forms the “Impaler” Class.

Skills

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

This Skill set-up provides cleave burst for trash mobs between bosses, and a large focus on single-target boss damage and top tier utility 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 Spear Bow PVE build:

These particular Specializations focus around the Ignition stacks from Spear and the Ignite specializations and damage increases given to Rising Slash, resulting in increased single-target burst for bosses. Additionally, several useful utilities and damage increases to Bow Skills. 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 60 Perception and 50 Strength in standard gear. Below is our recommended baseline Stat allocation:

Dexterity – 8 Points
Fortitude – 20 Points
Strength – 9 Points
Perception – 12 Points

These stats above represent the standard aim for Bow and Spear when it comes to point allocation. However, in PVE, you can take out points from Fortitude and Perception and push them into Dexterity and Wisdom for more Max Damage.

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.

Obtaining Archboss weapons is a huge bonus, however, not a required one. As a result, do not worry too much about getting these weapons if you cannot find a strong guild or purchase one.

Runes are set-up to focus on Heavy Attack Chance, increased Max Health and increased healing or other defenses. In PVE, Hit Chance, for example, is not required. As a result, we can focus on better optimization routes. However, Hit Chance runes are preferred for PVP scenarios and will often be in your gear.

As an alternative in PVE Dungeons, you can use the Heroic Polearm of the Resistance.

For early game progression gear, 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 Spear Bow PVE Build

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

The main objective of using Spear Bow in a PVE dungeon is simple. You’re a hybrid DPS that plays as close to melee range as possible. As a Bow player, you bring one of the strongest utility Skill in PVE to the table. That Skill is “Deadly Marker”. Deadly Marker once used on a Boss gives all players in your party more Critical Hit Chance AND immensely reduced Cooldowns. As a result, it is a must-bring for PVE and you’ll almost always be accepted.

Skill Rotations

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

Deadly Marker
Unyielding Sentinel
Gale Rush
Strafing (all procs)
Zephyr’s Nock
Decisive Sniping
Zephyr’s Nock (reduced Cooldown)
Phoenix Barrage
Blitz
Phoenix Barrage
Explosive Fury x5
Rising Slash

As always, starting with your buffs up to increase your Heavy Attack Chance sets you up to deal maximum damage in the rotation. Next, using Gale Rush to get on top of the Boss and boosting your Attack Speed even further puts you in position to complete the damage portion of the rotation. You should be using Deadly Marker at the start of every encounter AND as soon as it’s off cooldown every other time. The standard Bow combo is to use all your Strafing procs and then consume your Gale stacks with Zephyr’s Nock to deal increased damage. Following that rotation, the standard Spear combo of Phoenix Barrage (to increase Critical Damage) and Explosive Fury is straight forward and key burst. You can also use Blitz to reset Phoenix Barrage.

Skills such as Nature’s Blessing and Healing Touch can be used in a pinch to keep yourself and other teammates topped up.

Finally, using Rising Slash as late as possible lets you get the most out of having high Ignite stacks, boosting your damage.