Spear Dagger PVE Build Guide

Introduction

Welcome to our Spear 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. The weapon combination forms the “Shadowdancer” 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 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 Dagger PVE build:

These particular Specializations focus around the Poison aspect of Inject Venom and damage increases associated with other Skills, resulting in 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 70 Dexterity and 50 Strength in standard gear. Below is our recommended baseline Stat allocation:

Dexterity – 20 Points
Wisdom – 13 Points
Strength – 16 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.

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.

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 Dagger PVE Build

Our Spear 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 using Spear Dagger in a PVE dungeon is simple. You’re a melee DPS that plays as close to melee range as possible, dealing large strings of damage through multi-use Skills. The build leans into Dagger a little more to make the most of Skill Specialization synergies involving Inject Venom. between major rotations.

Skill Rotations

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

Inject Venom
Unyielding Sentinel
Gale Rush
Fatal Stigma
Umbral Spirit
Knife Throwing
Cyclonic Fury
Explosive Fury x5
Cleaving Moonlight x2
Rising Slash
Brutal Incision

The above rotation utilizes the full build available to you. However, there is times where pulling this off may be disrupted due to mechanics or attacks you have to avoid. The main focus of the rotation is to ensure you’re buffed up with Poison attacks and using Gale Rush to boost your Attack Speed. Your Umbral Spirit, Cleaving Moonlight and Brutal Incision all receive damage boosts based on the target being poisoned. As a result you can fully stack up Poison very quickly through the use of Cyclonic Fury and Explosive Fury, all while applying Ignite and Burst. Ignite and Burst assist with several attacking options from Spear to increase damage.

As a result, the rotation heavily revolves around having multiple de-buffs in the boss for you to take advantage of, dealing far more damage when managed well. Javelin Inferno is mainly used for the trash mobs of the dungeon, however, you can use the ammo you build up as filler.