Best Staff / Greatsword Build (PvE)

This Staff and Greatsword build for Throne and Liberty (TL) makes use of the Staff's bind-inflicting freeze skills in conjunction with the Greatsword's charged skills to cut down opponents. Read on to learn how to use the Greatsword and Staff build, including the best gears to equip, skill rotations, traits, and more.

Attention!	This build is based on the Korean version of the game with some adjustments to match the features available in Global. We’re working on updating our builds to be fully accurate for the Global release. Thank you for your patience!

Staff / Greatsword Build Overview

Build Summary

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Summary				Skills				Weapons
Equipment			Mastery			Guardian			Rotations

Build Summary
Staff and Greatsword	Focus: PVE, Burst Damage, Mobbing Stat Priority: Strength, Dexterity
Skill Setup
Pros	Cons
High Burst Damage Consistent Crowd Control with Bind and Stun Low Mana Consumption	Long Cooldowns Range Options are Limited Mediocre Self Sustain

This Staff / Greatsword build's concept is built around the Staff's ability to inflict opponents with binds, activating the additional damage boost that the Greatsword's charged skills have.

Since this build has extensive cooldowns, its playstyle acts like a sniper where you wait until the opportune moment to unleash your devastating attacks with the proper sequencing.

Regarding allocation of Stat Points, always prioritize getting 50 Strength for the additional Heavy Attack chance, which is a requirement for dealing optimal damage with your skills. The second priority would be 50 Dexterity to increase your overall DPS with criticals as this allows you to reset with Judgement Lightning! Third, you can get 30 Perception for the additional 100 Hit.

Skills and Specialization

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Summary				Skills				Weapons
Equipment			Mastery			Guardian			Rotations

Active Skills
Precision Dash				-
Stunning Blow				Hit Rate ▲ Additional Damage Boost
Death Blow				Damage ▲ Damage Collection
DaVinci's Courage				Instant Healing
Gaia Crash				Critical Hit ▲ Frost Cleaving
Willbreaker				Damage Area Change
Ascending Slash				Effect Duration ▲ Additional Damage Boost Cooldown ▼ Charging Slash
Devastating Smash				-
Guillotine Blade				Cooldown ▼ Area Damage Damage Collection
Ice Spear				Damage ▲ Bind Ice Spear Bombardment
High Focus				Base Damage Boost
Judgement Lightning				Chain Damage Guaranteed Damage Transfer
Passive Skills
Robust Constitution		Cold Warrior		Vital Force		Raging Frenzy
Victor's Morale		Asceticism		Mana Amp		Forbidden Sanctuary
Defensive Skill
Iron Point Parry

Active Skills

The Greatsword skills will be the foundation for your skill rotations since most of your damage will derive from the bonuses you receive upon exploiting a Bind/Stun/Shock. It is imperative to include and level up Death Blow and Guillotine Blade as they fully exploit those effects by providing additional damage bonuses on inflicted targets.

DaVinci's Courage is one of the key skills for this build as it provides passive sturdiness and increased AS (Attack Speed). Willbreaker then provides a damage increase by stripping the overall defense of enemies on hit. Devastating Smash was included for mobbing purposes but can be swapped for alternatives so it should be leveled last.

The main Staff skill that needs to be leveled up alongside your Greatsword skills will be Ice Spear Bombardment as it applies the binding status and is what you will often use to start your rotations. Judgement Lightning is also included to capitalize on the Heavy Attack Chance and Critical consistency this build offers. As this build has extensive cooldowns, High Focus is included to attempt to patch up this blaring weakness.

Passive Skills

This build utilizes a 5/3 split between Staff and Greatsword passives, all of which try to enhance this build's ability to damage consistently and self-sustain.

The two best passives that you should prioritize leveling are Mana Amp and Vital Force as not only do they increase essentials such as Health and Mana, these two passives also synergize by possibly scaling up Vital Force's additional stats by 10%.

Robust Constitution and Victor's Morale increase your overall survivability. Cold Warrior is included to further home in on this build's emphasis on Stun/Shock playstyle! Raging Frenzy is then included only for mobbing and can be replaced anytime depending on the situation so only level this passive up sparingly.

Forbidden Sanctuary and Asceticism, are included to synergize with each other as well. When these two are combined, Forbidden Sanctuary increases your damage at the cost of Mana Efficiency but is backed up by Asceticism's additional Mana properties. While not a full net positive, these two are must-have passives and should be leveled up over Cold Warrior or Raging Frenzy.

Active and Passive Alternatives

Active Skill			Specialization
Devastating Smash	>	Salvation Chain	-
Judgement Lightning	>	Infernal Meteor	Hellfire Rain
Passive Skill			Explanation
Raging Frenzy	>	Manaball Eruption	When you are not mobbing and require additional single-target damage.
Raging Frenzy	>	Echoic Barrier	When you are not mobbing and need to reduce the potency of the enemy's Crowd Control

Depending on the situation, you can change Raging Frenzy to different skills to address certain situations:

• Salvation Chain - For when a boss fight has a mechanic that poses danger for an entire group and requires you to position specifically like Lequirus. Save your teammates by pulling them to you
• Infernal Meteor - For when you prefer the DPS increase at the cost of casting time.

Best Weapons

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Summary				Skills				Weapons
Equipment			Mastery			Guardian			Rotations

Primary Weapon
Duke Magna's Fury Warblade	・Heavy Attack ・Critical Hit ・Hit ・Hit
Weapon Effect
Duke Magna's Berserk	Melee Heavy Attack 95 ▲ for 6s upon applying Stun or Shock with Stunning Blow

The primary weapon for this build will be Duke Magna's Fury Warblade as it provides us an essential increase to Maximum Health and Strength. Furthermore, Duke Magna's Berserk gives us more consistency with Melee Heavy Attacks, meaning that your skills can reliably multiply your damage by two.

The best traits to give Duke Magna's Fury Warblade would be Heavy Attack, Hit, and Critical Hit. Prioritize farming for Heavy Attack to further increase the chances of x2 damage.

Secondary Weapon
Toublek's Shattering Quarterstaff	・Cooldown Speed ・Heavy Attack ・Hit ・Heavy Attack Chance
Weapon Effect
Toublek's Boost	Magic, Melee, and Ranged Critical Hiy 30 ▲ per 1m of distance between you and the target

Note: As an alternative, Talus's Crystalline Staff is a great sub for its Weapon Skill

The secondary weapon for this build will be Toublek's Thunderous Soul since the massive boost to your Dexterity is essential to access the additional 100 Critical Hit and 15 Bonus Damage. While Toublek's Boost does not help this build out by much, your starting combo gets a boost in critical hit rate before dashing into the enemy!

The best traits to give Toublek's Thunderous Soul would be Heavy Attack, Critical Hit, and Hit to further synergize with our Staff Skills. It is best to prioritize Heavy Attack to add consistency to Judgment Lightning's second cast.

Best Armors and Accessories

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Summary				Skills				Weapons
Equipment			Mastery			Guardian			Rotations

Armors
Ascended Guardian Hood	・Melee Endurance ・Magic Endurance ・Mana Regen ・Max Health
Forsaken Embrace	・Max Health ・Skill Damage Resistance ・Debuff Duration ・Max Health
Swirling Essence Robe	・Max Health ・Melee Endurance ・Ranged Endurance ・Max Health
Ascended Guardian Gloves	・Melee Endurance ・Magic Endurance ・Max Mana | Attack Speed ・Max Health
Greaves of the Field General	・Ranged Endurnace ・Magic Endurance ・Debuff Duration ・Max Health
Sabatons of the Field General	・Melee Endurance ・Ranged Endurance ・Max Mana | Move Speed ・Max Health
Accessories
Collar of Decimation	・Max Health ・Skill Damage Boost ・Buff Duration ・Max Health | Max Mana
Bracers of the Primal King	・Max Health ・Skill Damage Resistance ・Debuff Duration ・Max Health
Amber Dimensional Band	・Max Health ・Skill Damage Boost ・Buff Duration ・Max Health
Etched Alabaster Band	・Max Health ・Skill Damage Boost ・Buff Duration ・Max Health
Belt of Endless Slaughter	・Max Health ・Skill Damage Resistance ・Debuff Duration ・Max Health

To make full use of the weapon synergies between Staff and Greatsword, focus on gathering as much Strength, Dexterity, and Perception as possible to get Heavy Attack Chance, Cooldown Speed, as well as the additional range. The additional range is surprisingly great on Greatsword since this will increase your Dash range and AoE radius of Guillotine Blade.

The substats these provide will be Cooldown Speed from the main set. An alternative cloak would be Supreme Devotion for the additional Cooldown Speed, but the additional Max Health and Damage Reduction provided by Forsaken Embrace increases your survivability by a significant amount!

The build also utilizes some 2-part bonuses for additional consistency. The Imperator set provides the build with an additional 150 Heavy Attack Chance to Melee. The Transcended One set then provides further Cooldown Speed to lessen the idle time between your skill rotations.

The defensive traits will focus more on Endurance rather than Evasion as you will be passively responsible for tanking enemies up-front while dealing your damage.

Best Weapon Mastery

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Summary				Skills				Weapons
Equipment			Mastery			Guardian			Rotations

For the Greatsword, prioritize the Face Off tree as it provides you with a substantial boost in damage as well as providing you with more Heavy Attack Chance! After that, spend five points in the Charge tree for the necessary increase in Cooldown Speed and more durability.

The Staff's Destroy tree provides additional Cooldown Speed, Skill Damage, and consistency with Critical Hits! After that, spend the remaining 6 points in the Mana tree primarily for the increased defenses, but the additional mana is helpful.

Best Guardian

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Summary				Skills				Weapons
Equipment			Mastery			Guardian			Rotations

Skill Rotations

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Summary				Skills				Weapons
Equipment			Mastery			Guardian			Rotations

How to Play Staff / Greatsword
Mobbing Single Target w/ Prone Single Target w/o Prone

Note: These combos always assume that High Focus and DaVinci's Resolve are active!

Mobbing

▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ x2

This combo allows you to quickly burst down a group of mobs by making use of the natural synergy between Frost Cleaving and Guillotine Blade. Group up enemies using Ice Spear and your attacks, then proceed with the combo.

The main goal of this combo is to jump into the center with Devastating Smash and weaken their defenses with Willbreaker to set up Frost Cleaving. After that, apply Ascended Slash's additional damage to Guillotine Blade for a massive AoE critical.

If there are remaining mobs, finish them off with the guaranteed damage transfer of Judgement Lightning.

Single Target w/ Prone

▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ x2

When you are fighting only a single opponent that can be proned, utilize this combo for the maximum amount of damage. Use Ice Spear Bombardment to bind the target, allowing Ascending Slash to inflict prone and apply a massive damage buff to Guillotine Blade.

After that, use Stunning Blow to buff up the damage of Death Blow. While your skills are on cooldown, you can reposition far back and then cast Judgement Lightning to make use of Toublek's additional critical rate.

As a variation for when you are close to the target, you can input Willbreaker before Ascending Slash to further increase the damage of Guillotine Blade!

Single Target w/o Prone

▶ x2 ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ x2

Assuming that the opponent has immunity to the Stun and Prone Status, adjust the rotation to fit the Bound and Shock debuff. Instead of using Ascending Slash to dash in, use Precision Dash then weaken the opponent's defense with Willbreaker, using Death Blow to capitalize on the bound status effect.

After that, use Stunning Blow to inflict the Shocked to the target, then buff up Guillotine Blade using Ascending Slash. Like the previous combo, reposition far back again then cast Judgement Lightning to make use of Toublek's additional critical rate.

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