Build with Life Staff and Sword
Why play this combo? The Life Staff is excellent for beginners as it provides a lot of healing and many generally useful survivability skills. Additionally, it is used to attract enemies from a great distance and deal initial damage before you then switch to the sword.
Moreover, the ability “Sacred Ground” is ideal for PvE since you can simply stand in it and thereby gain passive lifesteal with the sword. The sword, in turn, is a good melee weapon when it comes to a mix of survivability and damage.
This build is, however, not really useful in the endgame, unlike the other two from this guide. You are not helpful for a group since you do not play a classic healer and it takes a long time to bring down enemies in the end. However, it works well for leveling and especially for beginners.
How do I distribute the attributes? You should invest about 100 to 150 points in Focus. This significantly increases your mana regeneration, which is important for the Life Staff. The remaining points go into Strength to improve your sword or Constitution to optimize your survival.
Which skills do I use with the Life Staff?
- Blessed Ground
- Protective Sphere
- Beacon
Your first skill points should be invested in the Protector skill tree. There, you unlock the abilities “Protective Sphere” and “Beacon”. Around weapon level 6, you will then reach the last ability “Blessed Ground”.
The special thing about this build is that you do not unlock any of the last abilities in the skill trees. Both focus on healing teammates, but the build is more about allowing you to cope on your own in the world.
Therefore, you focus on many passive effects that make life easier for you. This includes effects such as “Protector’s Touch,” which protects you from damage when you attack enemies, or “Balance,” through which you gain movement speed when you fall below 50 percent health.
Which skills do I use with the Sword?
- Whirling Blade
- Shield Charge
- Shield Ripper
With the sword, you mainly focus on the Defender tree. Here, you strengthen your two abilities Shield Charge and Shield Ripper. Passive abilities also play an important role here to secure your survival.
Therefore, you skill “Robust Shield” which passively gives you 15 percent more armor, “Elemental Resistance” which brings you ten percent less damage from magic, and “Bravery” which gives you ten percent additional health when wielding a sword.
In the Swordmaster tree, on the other hand, you ensure a bit of offense. Here, you skill “Whirling Blade” down to “Tactical Strike” and use passive effects like “Empowering Thrust” and “Opportunist” for additional damage.
What does the equipment look like? In this build, it’s mainly about having a shallow entry. The choice of your equipment does not play a big role, but you should pay attention to the attributes Strength and Constitution. These basically improve your gaming experience.
As always, lighter armor allows you to dodge better while heavier armor allows you to take hits better. A lot also depends on how well you are at blocking and dodging.
What does the skill rotation look like? You start the fight with the Life Staff and the ability “Beacon.” After that, you follow up with light attacks and a heavy attack. The heavy attack activates the buff “Intensify,” which causes you to deal more healing.
Once the enemy has reached you, use the ability “Blessed Ground” to heal yourself with the weapon damage dealt. Then switch to the sword, use “Shield Ripper” to stun the enemy and follow up with “Whirling Blade” to deal heavy damage. You finish the rest with light attacks.
