This build is up to date for the March 14, 2025 patch.
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
PRIMARY
Strength
+
Dexterity
SECONDARY
Perception
+
Wisdom
With the unique stats and attributes system in Throne and Liberty, it can be difficult to determine exactly where to invest your attribute points at each stage of the game. This is because gear pieces provide attributes just like leveling up does, meaning everyone will have a different number of attribute points depending on what gear they are wearing at the time.
Given this variation, it's best to reset your attributes regularly to adjust to the new gear you acquire. Aim to reach the achievement effects, which provide extra benefits at milestones like 30, 50, and 70 points.
With 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.
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
Blade of the Resistance
Heavy Attack Chance
Max Health
Hit Chance
Primary
Staff of the Resistance
Heavy Attack Chance
Critical Hit Chance
Hit Chance
Duskblood Mask
Magic Endurance
Ranged Endurance
Cooldown Speed
Warlord's Shroud
Max Health
Skill Damage Resistance
Debuff Duration
Plate Armor of the Resistance
Max Health
Melee Endurance
Ranged Endurance
Feathered Drakeskin Gloves
Added Attack Speed
Magic Endurance
Ranged Endurance
Trousers of the Resistance
Max Health
Magic Endurance
Ranged Endurance
Feathered Drakeskin Boots
Ranged Evasion
Magic Endurance
Ranged Endurance
Necklace of Clarity
Skill Damage Boost
Buff Duration
Bracelet of Conquest
Max Health
Skill Damage Resistance
Sophia's Ring of Strength
Ring of Precision
Max Health
Skill Damage Boost
Belt of Deftness
Skill Damage Resistance
Max Health
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.
Karnix's Netherblade
Heavy Attack Chance
Max Health
Hit Chance
Primary
Staff of the Umbramancer
Heavy Attack Chance
Max Health
Hit Chance
Visage of the Executioner
Magic Endurance
Ranged Endurance
Mana Regen
Blessed Templar Cloak
Collision Resistance
Max Health
Skill Damage Resistance
Plate Armor of the Resistance
Max Health
Melee Endurance
Ranged Endurance
Resolute Crusader Gauntlets
Max Health
Ranged Endurance
Melee Endurance
Trousers of the Resistance
Magic Endurance
Ranged Endurance
Max Health
Heroic Shoes of the Resistance
Max Health
Magic Endurance
Melee Endurance
Guardian Torque
Skill Damage Boost
Mana Regen
Buff Duration
Ruby Bangle
Max Health
Skill Damage Resistance
Debuff Duration
Sapphire Dimensional Band
Skill Damage Boost
Max Health
Buff Duration
Imperial Ring
Skill Damage Boost
Max Health
Buff Duration
Flamewrought Bindings
Max Health
Debuff Duration
Skill Damage Resistance
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.
Nirma's Sword of Echoes
Heavy Attack Chance
Critical Hit Chance
Hit Chance
Primary
Staff of the Umbramancer
Heavy Attack Chance
Max Health
Hit Chance
Shock Commander Visor
Mana Regen
Ranged Endurance
Melee Endurance
Blessed Templar Cloak
Collision Resistance
Max Health
Skill Damage Resistance
Shock Commander Plate Armor
Max Health
Melee Endurance
Ranged Endurance
Shock Commander Gauntlets
Added Attack Speed
Melee Endurance
Ranged Endurance
Phantom Wolf Breeches
Max Health
Magic Endurance
Ranged Endurance
Shock Commander Sabatons
Max Health
Ranged Endurance
Melee Endurance
Thunderstorm Necklace
Skill Damage Boost
Mana Regen
Buff Duration
Eternal Champion Bindings
Max Health
Skill Damage Resistance
Debuff Duration
Sapphire Dimensional Band
Skill Damage Boost
Max Health
Buff Duration
Etched Alabaster Band
Skill Damage Boost
Max Health
Buff Duration
Flamewrought Bindings
Max Health
Collision Resistance
Skill Damage Resistance
While runes can be applied to different types of gear, you should make sure that you invest into the gear pieces that you plan on using for a long time. However, if the build you are using uses the same items between Mid Game and End Game, you can invest into adding runes to them as early as you get the items.
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.
Nirma's Sword of Echoes
Heavy Attack Chance
Critical Hit Chance
Hit Chance
Primary
Staff of the Umbramancer
Heavy Attack Chance
Max Health
Hit Chance
Shock Commander Visor
Mana Regen
Ranged Endurance
Melee Endurance
Blessed Templar Cloak
Collision Resistance
Max Health
Skill Damage Resistance
Shock Commander Plate Armor
Max Health
Melee Endurance
Ranged Endurance
Shock Commander Gauntlets
Added Attack Speed
Melee Endurance
Ranged Endurance
Phantom Wolf Breeches
Max Health
Magic Endurance
Ranged Endurance
Shock Commander Sabatons
Max Health
Ranged Endurance
Melee Endurance
Thunderstorm Necklace
Skill Damage Boost
Mana Regen
Buff Duration
Eternal Champion Bindings
Max Health
Skill Damage Resistance
Debuff Duration
Sapphire Dimensional Band
Skill Damage Boost
Max Health
Buff Duration
Etched Alabaster Band
Skill Damage Boost
Max Health
Buff Duration
Flamewrought Bindings
Max Health
Collision Resistance
Skill Damage Resistance
Bulwark of Invulnerability
Heavy Attack Chance
Max Health
Hit Chance
Primary
Daigon's Charred Emberstaff
Heavy Attack Chance
Max Health
Hit Chance
Auric Vanguard's Barbute
Max Health
Melee Endurance
Ranged Endurance
Cloak of Victorious Destiny
Max Health
Weaken Resistance
Skill Damage Resistance
Auric Vanguard's Full Plate
Max Health
Melee Endurance
Ranged Endurance
Auric Vanguard's Gauntlets
Hit Chance
Ranged Endurance
Melee Endurance
Auric Vanguard's Gaiters
Melee Endurance
Ranged Endurance
Max Health
Royal Praetor's Sabatons
Ranged Endurance
Melee Endurance
Max Health
Noble Birthright Brooch
Skill Damage Boost
Max Health
Buff Duration
Bangle of the Clearest Night
Max Mana
Skill Damage Resistance
Debuff Duration
Solitare of Purity
Max Health
Skill Damage Boost
Buff Duration
Honor's Promise Signet
Skill Damage Boost
Buff Duration
Max Health
Hero's Legacy Warbelt
Max Health
Debuff Duration
Skill Damage Resistance
Weapon Masteries
Sword
Staff
You should be aiming to reach and unlock masteries (the corner nodes) as soon as possible as they usually make the largest impact in the build. While minor nodes shouldn't be forgotten, make sure to unlock masteries as fast as possible before spreading out and spending into less important nodes.
Artifacts
Greedseeker Talistone I
Damage: 10
Hit Chance
Heavy Attack Chance
Melee Heavy Attack Chance
Ancestral Armor Solarstone
CC Chance
Stun Chance
Bind Chance
CC Chance
Abyssal Beast Talistone III
Max Health: 1750
Max Stamina
CC Resistances
Healing Received
Abyssal Beast Talistone II
Defense: 200
Endurance
Magic Endurance
Magic Heavy Attack Evasion
Greedseeker Lunarstone
CC Resistance
Collision Resistance
Weaken Resistance
CC Resistances
Ancestral Armor Talistone IV
Max Health: 1750
Endurance
Magic Heavy Attack Evasion
Melee Hit Chance
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.
