Warden - Longbow + Sword Small Scale PvP Build
- Easy to Play
- Tanky
- Great Self-Healing
- Decent Damage
- Low Movement
- Off-meta
Overview
This Longbow and Sword build is meant for Small Scale PVP and is a great off-meta choice for those looking to spice things up and play something that isn't part of meta but can still do well in small scale PVP environment like Dominion events, Arena or night time PVP. It does particularly well when played solo and isn't reliant on allies even though it lacks in damage when compared to other builds.
Attributes
Perception
Dexterity
Strength
WisdomPrioritize Dexterity and Perception to maximize your damage potential, aiming to reach key breakpoints when possible. However, don’t overlook Strength, as it provides a crucial HP boost that is vital in large-scale PvP, where survivability is key. Allocating 30 points into Strength, through a mix of gear and attributes is a great choice to enhance your overall survivabilty in PVP.
Skills
With the build focusing on doing its main damage through its Longbow skills, you should focus on upgrading 
Decisive Sniping, 
Zephyr's Nock & 
Strafing as early as possible to help you progress easier when playing solo or in a small groups or even while leveling. Don't neglect 
Ensnaring Arrow though as its root is very strong and helps greatly with controlling range during every engagement while also boosting your damage thanks to 
Steady Aim.
The Longbow also acts as your healing weapon thanks to 
Healing Touch allowing you to heal yourself throughout fights and making it very difficult for players to to kill you!
Counter Barrier stands out as the defensive you will use the most often. Upgrading it first is an obvious choice as it makes you considerably tankier and capable of holding your own ground. Additionally, 
Shield Strike is fantastic for quick bursts of damage and as followup after using 
Strategic Rush.
Immortal Pride and 
Stalwart Bastion are your self buffs! While Immortal Pride increases your defense by boosting your defenses, Stalwart Bastion increases your damage AND your movement speed.
Regarding passives, this build incorporates mostly defensive passives to help you stay alive. The primary aim is to enhance this defense with 
Distorted Sanctuary, 
Skillful Evasion and 
Devoted Shield providing great defense. The other two defensive passives are 
Impenetrable and 
Aegis Shield which increase your defenses based on how many enemies are around you and how much shield block chance you have (this is also the reason why you want to use the Sword & Shield as main weapon).
Your offensive passive is Steady Aim increasing the damage you do to bound targets (those affected by Ensnaring Arrow).
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 |
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Health Regen |
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Weaken Chance |
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Max Health |
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Melee Evasion |
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Shield Block Chance  |
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Buff Duration |
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Damage Reduction |
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Stun Resistance | ||
| Shield Block Chance  |
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Melee Hit Chance  |
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Damage |
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Boss Endurance |
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Max Health |
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Stun Resistance |
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Boss Damage Reduction |
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Mana Cost Efficiency |
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Melee Hit Chance |
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Bonus Boss Damage |
| Max Health |
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Melee Hit Chance |
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Collision Chance |
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Damage Reduction |
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Weaken Chance |
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Collision Resistance |
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Damage |
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Melee Defense |
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Cooldown Speed |
| Max Health |
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Magic Defense |
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Health Regen |
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Movement Speed |
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Buff Duration |
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Skill Damage Resist |
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Magic Evasion |
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Perception |
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Bind Resistance | ||
Mana Regen |
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Ranged Hit Chance |
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Movement Speed |
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Bind Chance |
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Max Mana |
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Mana Regen |
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Cooldown Speed |
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Movement Speed |
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Mana Cost Efficiency |
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Bind Duration |
| Ranged Hit Chance |
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Ranged Crit Hit Chance |
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Damage |
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Bonus Damage |
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Damage |
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Skill Damage Boost |
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Added Attack Speed |
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Ranged Crit Hit Chance |
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Critical Damage |
Sword: Place 6 points into Provoke & Counter first to unlock the early shield block benefit. Follow this by maxing out Collision for reduced cooldowns and better collision resistance and chance. Finish with 9 points in Provoke & Counter to solidify your shield block chance and resistance.
Longbow: Invest 9 points in Support to gain extra resistances. Follow up by putting 6 points into Check to reduce cooldown times. Finally, spend 7 points in Sniping to improve your damage potential.
Rotations
- This is your main damage rotation and it begins with Ensnaring Arrow to root your target and boost your follow-up damage thanks to Steady Aim. Follow up with Strafing 3 times before continuing with Zephyr's Nock for quick burst damage and to lower the cooldown of your next Zephyr's Nock so you can use it again just a few seconds later.
- Once you've used the second Zephyr's Nock, you can use
Blitz so you can re-use Zephyr's Nock once more.
- This rotation works best when used against a wall, pushing your enemy with Strategic Rush into a wall to stun them before using Blitz to reset the cooldown. Use Shield Strike to do some damage and then use Strategic Rush again to CC the target once more and lock them down.
- This rotation is best used to keep targets locked down while your team bursts them down but it also makes use of
Morale Boost to lower your own cooldowns.
Counter Barrier: Activate this skill when you expect heavy damage, but it can also be used during the beginning of a boss fight.
Stalwart Bastion: This is a great choice for boosting damage, use it before your rotations or just to boost your party's damage even though your abilities might be on cooldown.
Flash Arrow: This skill is the main counter to 
Camouflage Cloak as using it on top of a stealthed enemy will make them visible AND also stun them on the spot where you caught them.
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.
