Witchwork Staff Group PvE Build

Overview

Weapon: Arcane Staff

Focus: Range DPS

Mode: Group Dungeon and Hardcore Expedition

Strengths

• High Single Target DPS
• Easy to play

Weaknesses

• Low Mobility

This build is up to date for the November 6, 2024 Horizons Patch #1.

Overview

This Elder's Witchwork Staff build offers great single target DPS but also has decent AOE it can provide. The most important however remains the use of Black Hole as it can aid tanks with their pulls by adding a secondary pull and pushing mobs that move away from the clump back in place. This build is easy to play and can be played well by players of all skill levels. The build performs well in most group settings like Group Dungeons, Avalonian Roads or Hardcore Expeditions (up to level 10).

Equipment

Main Hand Weapon

Elder's Witchwork Staff

Off Hand Weapon

Elder's Cryptcandle

Head

Elder's Royal Cowl

Cape

Elder's Morgana Cape

Armor

Elder's Royal Robe

Shoes

Elder's Shoes of Tenacity

Potion

Major Poison Potion

Food

Pork Omelette

Keep in mind: Gear shown in this build is meant as a reference. Choosing the correct tier of gear is very tricky as there are many variables. Some of them being your budget, your spec and minimum Item Power requirements of your guild if used for ZvZ.

You should always check prices based on IP of the items. For example, a masterpiece quality 4.3 Elder's Cryptcandle could be cheaper while providing roughly the same IP as an 8.0.

Usage

Elder's Wildfire Staff

Chain Missile — This is the skill you will use the most as it reliably triggers Lingering Power while applying an Arcane Charge on all enemies hit by the bounce. Follow up with an auto-attack on each enemy hit by the skill to make use of the Arcane Charge and maximize the damage done.

Enigma Blade — Use this AOE skill to hit all mobs in a pull but don't use the secondary cast that teleports you as it will increase the time you have to wait for another cast. Unless, of course, you find yourself in a situation where you can use the teleport to dodge out of incoming damage.

Black Hole — This ability not only does damage but also pulls mobs together. Often enough mobs will jump out of tank's pulls and move away (Morgana mobs in particular). You can use this ability to pull all mobs back together and deal damage, making it easier for your group to apply DPS.

Lingering Power — This passive triggers after every skill cast and increases your auto-attack speed for the next 3 auto-attacks. Use this to blow up all Arcane Charges applied by your Chain Missile.

Elder's Royal Robe

Magic Rune — Wait for your tank to pull mobs before you place this onto the ground wherever your fellow Ranged DPS players stand so they can make use of the extra damage too. Try to always stand on top of this rune as the damage increase is significant.

Aggression — The perfect passive choice as it increases your flat damage.

Elder's Royal Cowl

Perpetual Energy — This is an important skill in your kit and helps a lot with your mana sustain. You should use this at the start of your rotation to bring your energy cost to 0.

Aggression — This passive grants you extra damage which is perfect for the build.

Elder's Shoes of Tenacity

Blind Spot — This ability will turn you invisible to players (not mobs) every time you cast it. However, most of the time you should use this to boost your damage as next attack will deal extra damage.

Balanced Mind — Just another damage increasing passive.

Elder's Morgana Cape

Mark of the Raven — This cape skill is used to lower the cast time of your Chain Missile while also increasing your auto-attack speed (alongside Lingering Power) to maximize your DPS. It triggers automatically whenever you use Black Hole so it can be integrated easily into your rotation.

Rotations

PvE Rotation ↴

• Start off by using Perpetual Energy to lower your mana usage to 0. Follow up by applying Magic Rune onto the floor then using Blind Spot and Enigma Blade to deal some AOE damage. Continue with Chain Missile followed by Black Hole in order to stack mobs and deal damage but also triggering Mark of the Raven that increases your auto-attack speed. Transition into using Chain Missile on cooldown while switching targets as you auto-attack them in order to deal extra damage with the Arcane Charges applied by Chain Missile.

Consumables

Major Poison Potion — With the use of Perpetual Energy coupled with the fact that the build doesn't use all that much mana, you should focus on using at least a t4 poison. It has many uses but most important use comes when facing bosses, decreasing resistances and also dealing true damage over time.

Pork Omelette — Only good choice for food, the Pork Omelette decreases your cooldowns and also increases your cast speed, that for improving your DPS. Use at least a 7.1 version if you do higher tier content.