Disciple - Staff + Sword Small Scale PvP Build
- Good Mobility
- Tanky
- Versatile
- Low damage compared to other DPS builds
- Off-meta
Overview
This Disciple Staff and Sword build combination for Small Scale PVP is perfect for newer players that want an alternative off-meta choice over other builds like Staff + Longbow or Staff + Dagger. This build is considerably more tanky than other alternatives and offers great sustain for all PVP content, exceling in defending through 
Counter Barrier and passives like 
Impenetrable and 
Aegis Shield.
Attributes
Strength
Dexterity
Perception
WisdomWith this build, your primary attribute focus should be strength and dexterity, especially as Strength provides high max HP and boost your defensive stats, improving your resistance to ranged, magic, and melee attacks, along with enhancing health regeneration allowing you to remain very tanky while going into PVP fights, capable of drawing a lot of attention to yourself while your team kills your opponents. Your secondary focus should be perception for extra damage while wisdom increases your cooldown speed but shouldn't be a priority as it doesn't provide all that much to the build.
Skills
The most important skill remains 
Serial Fire Bombs as the specialization turns it into a large fireball capable of dealing high burst damage to a target and in an area around it. The staff also provides a great mobility skill to pair with 
Strategic Rush, and while it doesn't lower your cooldowns, 
Frost Smokescreen is great for moving around the battlefield. 
Fireball Barrage is a fantastic skill for burning down enemies when your main cooldowns are already used.
The 
Judgment Lightning and 
Chain Lightning skills further add high burst damage while also spreading to multiple nearby enemies. This build also offers good CC with 
Ice Spear being able to catch an enemy with considerable damage, allowing you to take quick kills by only pressing a single button if they are already low.
The main defensive skill from the Staff side of the build is 
High Focus, greatly increasing your evasion rate, making it difficult for enemies to land hits on you during the duration of this skill while also boosting your offense. Keep in mind that evading attacks will also trigger 
Gerad's Patience.
The Counter Barrier Sword & Shield skill remains a core defensive tool, making it a priority to upgrade first. It allows you to effectively counter both ranged and magical attacks, significantly boosting your survivability. In addition, 
Stalwart Bastion extends protection not only to yourself but also your party members.
This build enhances your survivability with Sword passives that bolster your defenses in PVP fights. The key focus is remains upgrading Aegis Shield, which scales your defense based on your shield block chance, making it essential to use swords with a high shield block rate. Furthermore, 
Skillful Evasion and Impenetrable significantly increase your defenses when surrounded by enemies. These passives work exceptionally well when combined with High Focus, allowing you to stay alive much more during fights.
The Staff comes into play with some defensive passives too while also helping you sustain mana as 
Mana Amp increases both max HP and mana. The main damage improvement comes from 
Forbidden Sanctuary and 
Flame Condensation though as it increases all your fire damage potential.
Equipment
These are the first items you should strive for through the leveling period as they are very easy to get and upgrade or trait as needed. However, you shouldn't try to trait these items too much as you won't be spending too much time playing with this setup before you start changing pieces into the Midgame. The green accessories however are very easy to trait as you can craft many of them quickly in order to get the correct traits so you should consider traiting them until you change into purples. The same goes for the blue ring as you keep it for a long time.
This is the gear you should transition to once you're leveled to 50 and start grinding gear. It is comprised of gear you can get either from dungeons or by completing Litographs, they are relatively easy to trait up and you will spend most of the time wearing this set before advancing into the late game so traiting these items is very important and should be your main focus.
This is the current endgame gear you should aim for, and while it isn't easy to acquire, it offers great power without the need of acquiring archboss gear pieces. However, items like 
Tevent's Fangs of Fury or other archboss weapons are superior but difficult to acquire for the majority of players. If you do manage to get the archboss weapons for your build, feel free to use them over the weapons shown here.
Weapon Masteries
Melee Defense |
 |
Health Regen |
|
Weaken Chance |
|
Max Health |
|
Melee Evasion |
|
Shield Block Chance  |
|
Buff Duration |
|
Damage Reduction |
|
Stun Resistance | ||
| Shield Block Chance  |
|
Melee Hit Chance  |
|
Damage |
|
Boss Endurance |
|
Max Health |
|
Stun Resistance |
|
Boss Damage Reduction |
|
Mana Cost Efficiency |
|
Melee Hit Chance |
|
Bonus Boss Damage |
| Max Health |
|
Melee Hit Chance |
|
Collision Chance |
|
Damage Reduction |
|
Weaken Chance |
|
Collision Resistance |
|
Damage |
|
Melee Defense |
|
Cooldown Speed |
| Melee Defense |
|
Mana Regen |
|
Mana Cost Efficiency  |
|
Magic Hit Chance |
|
Melee Evasion |
|
Mana Regen |
|
Mana Regen |
|
Melee Defense |
|
Silence Resistance | ||
Mana Regen |
|
Damage |
|
Magic Hit Chance |
|
Magic Critical Hit Chance |
|
Damage |
|
Mana Regen |
|
Skill Damage Boost |
|
Cooldown Speed |
|
Bonus Damage |
|
Cooldown Speed |
| Mana Regen |
|
Weaken Chance |
|
Burning Damage |
|
Max Mana |
|
Magic Hit Chance |
|
Burning Chance |
|
Weaken Chance |
|
Wisdom |
|
Magic Damage Dealt |
Sword: Focus 9 points on Provoke & Counter to improve your Shield Block Chance, Stun Resistance, and overall defensive capabilities. Then, upgrade Collision with your remaining points to increase both its effectiveness and resistance. Add the final 1 point to Boss for extra damage.
Staff: Start by putting 9 points into Destroy to reduce cooldowns and boost damage output, a key advantage for this build. Follow up with Attribute to amplify burning damage and chance but also magic damage dealt. Use the last 1 point on Mana for a minor defense increase.
Rotations
- Start by binding your target with
Icebound Tomb before channeling Judgment Lightning followed by a re-bind using Ice Spear and a fully charged Serial Fire Bombs then finish them off with Chain Lightning and 
Inferno Wave
Fireball Barrage: This skill can be used after every Serial Fire Bombs when other skills are on cooldown, it is the perfect follow-up for when your main burst rotation is on cooldown.
Icebound Tomb: This ability is fantastic for resetting engagements or immobilizing a target to help with your escape. This skill allows you to fully cast skills like Judgment Lightning or Serial Fire Bombs while also improving the damage you do to the target by lowering their resistances.
Counter Barrier: Use this skill when you expect heavy damage, but it can also be used during the beginning of a boss fight.
High Focus: Use this in the same manner as Counter Barrier as it increases your evasion and makes it so you can evade mob hits.
Comments
We are seeking an experienced Build Admin for Throne and Liberty with a deep understanding of the meta across most weapons and game modes. Get in touch with Galaxian on Discord if you're a good fit for the role or know someone else who is. This is a paid position.
