Raider - Crossbow + Sword PvE Build
- Easy to Play
- Tanky
- Good Single Target & AOE DPS
- Mediocre Defenses
- Low Mobility
- Off-Meta Build
Overview
In this Crossbow and Sword PvE build, your role transitions to that of a dungeon tank while maintaining versatility for open-world activities such as grinding events and contracts or open world dungeons. While it may not boast the same high resistances as other combinations, it compensates by delivering solid sustained DPS. This enables faster progression in the open world and helps a great deal when playing TNL solo.
Attributes
Strength
Perception
Wisdom
DexterityWith this build, prioritize investing points into Strength and Perception as your primary stats. Strength not only increases your maximum HP but also enhances your defensive stats when coupled with Perception increasing your buff duration and hit chance while ALSO increasing your overall damage.
Skills
In order to increase your DPS and allow your build to shine, prioritize upgrading 
Mortal Mark and 
Quick Fire! These two abilities will help you with sustaining aggro on targets while inside group dungeons while also debuffing the target and dealing extra damage to it based on how much damage you've done while the debuff is active.
Shield Strike is your main aggro retaining ability alongside 
Provoking Roar, both capable of AOE taunting mobs. They deal a decent amount of damage as well as it is part of your sustained DPS. 
Counter Barrier stands out as your most crucial defensive ability. Upgrading it first is strongly advised, as it enables you to counter both ranged and magic attacks effectively. An upgraded 
Spectrum of Agony and Provoking Roar will pair well with Quick Fire and Mortal Mark to deliver good AOE damage and maintain aggro.
Upgrading both 
Merciless Barrage and 
Mother Nature's Protest should also be a priority as they play into eachother and offer incredible AOE DPS to the build.
Resilient Mind is essential for much-needed mana regeneration during dungeon boss fights to prevent running out of mana too quickly.
When it comes to passives, prioritize upgrading 
Ambidexterity for a significant damage boost, enhancing your off-hand weapon critical hit for the crossbow, which already has a high off-hand weapon hit chance. Another useful damage increasing passive is 
Piercing Strike as it not only increases your damage but also provides much needed stamina regen.
Your defensive passives shouldn't be neglected either, upgrade 
Impenetrable as your first defensive option helping a great deal when dealing with multiple mobs. Follow up by upgrading 
Aegis Shield too.
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 |
| Health Regen |
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Magic Defense |
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Amitoi Heal |
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Max Health |
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Magic Endurance |
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Health Regen |
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Debuff Duration |
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Cooldown Speed |
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Mana Cost Efficiency  | ||
Mana Regen |
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Ranged Hit Chance |
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Mana Regen |
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Ranged Heavy Attack Chance |
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Weaken Chance |
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Mana Cost Efficiency |
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Ranged Hit Chance |
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Magic Defense |
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Ranged Crit Hit Chance |
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Movement Speed |
| Damage |
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Skill Damage Boost |
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Off-Hand Weapon Attack Chance |
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Damage |
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Buff Duration |
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Added Attack Speed |
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Cooldown Speed |
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Mana Regen |
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Ranged Damage Dealt |
Sword: Allocating 9 points into the Provoke & Counter to boost your shield block chance while 9 remaining points should go into Boss for some extra defenses against bosses and 1 point goes in Collision for max health.
Crossbow: Allocate 9 points into Chain Fire to bolster your raw damage output and improve your ability to secure kills. Allocate 3 points into Regen to further augment Amitoi Heal amount by 30% which can also be paired with Quality Vienta-Style Seafood Fritters for extra Amitoi heal. 7 remaining points will then go into Move for a bit more defense and damage.
Rotations
- Make sure you have Mother Nature's Protest active before doing anything else. Start the rotation by buffing yourself with Counter Barrier while pulling mobs onto you. Use Provoking Roar to taunt the mobs and make use of Spectrum of Agony to deal damage to all mobs that attack you.
- Continue your rotation with Shield Strike straight into Merciless Barrage before transitioning into your Sword & Shield part of the rotation. Use
A Shot at Victory to boost all your Sword damage before following up with 2 casts of both 
Annihilating Slash and 
Witty Strike.
- This is a much simpler rotation for dealing with mobs with little HP. Make sure you have Mother Nature's Protest active before doing anything else. Use Mortal Mark to put a debuff on your target and boost the follow up DPS you do before using Shield Strike to lower mob's defenses. Finish the rotation with Quick Fire and Witty Strike.
Weak Point Shot: Use this skill on bosses when they do their fury attack in order to boost yours (and your party's) critical rate on the boss.
Selfless Diffusion: This ability proves invaluable when you're rooted by boss mechanics or find yourself in a precarious position due to a previous misplay. It effectively frees you, allowing for recovery and repositioning.
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.
