Greatsword / Crossbow PvP Build Guide
Last Updated:October 4, 2024|Change Log
Welcome to the Greatsword / Crossbow PvP Build Guide. At first glance, Greatsword / Crossbow synergies seem non-existent. However, with the added Skill Damage Boost and Heavy Attack Chance gained from Greatsword skills like Vital Force and Cold Warrior increases the damage of the Gale explosions with Annihilation Barrage Shot substantially!
If you ever wanted to play an off-meta Assassin build, this may just be the weapon combination for you! With the ability to engage from over 24m away, Greatsword / Crossbow can leap into fights with an AoE stun and spin around the battlefield like a Beyblade! Annihilation Barrage Shot gives stacks of Gale which explodes at 10 stacks. Against a single target, Gale Explosions may not do much, but when many people are grouped in a small area, each player takes damage from all nearby Gale Explosions. This damage can also be increased exponentially!
End Game Greatsword / Crossbow PvP Build
If you're interested in PvE, check out our Greatsword / Crossbow PvE Build Guide!
- High Hit
- High AoE
- High Mobility
- High Survivability
- High amounts of CC
- No Stealth
- Predictable Engage
- Lower Base Critical Hit
- Lower Base Critical Damage
Skill Builds
In large scale PvP the goal is to dive the backline and try to pick off as many people as possible with Annihilation Barrage Shot. Coordinating pushes with your guild and party members is key!
Some skills appear different in the Tooltip due to its Skill Specialization.
- Detonation Mark = Mortal Mark
- Annihilation Barrage Shot = Wild Barrage
Active Skills
Damage Skills
- Quick Fire - Paired with Mother Nature's Protest, this skill is great for single target damage before getting in Melee range.
- Annihilation Barrage Shot - THE AoE skill! Whenever you see a clump of enemies, jump in there before they can expect it. The closer everybody is together, the more damage you do since Gale Explosions can do damage to everybody in the surrounding area.
- Guillotine Blade - Heavy hitting single target damage skill. Be sure to CC the target before using this skill.
Buffs/Debuffs
- DaVinci's Courage - This skill can be used offensively, or saved to act as a big defensive heal.
- Mother Nature's Protest - Having this on when you use Annihilation Barrage Shot further increases the amount of Gale stacks you put on the target.
- For higher single target damage, consider Lightning Arrow Skill Specialization instead.
- Mortal Mark - Ideally, you'd use this before starting your burst.
CC + Mobility Skills
- Devastating Smash - This is your core Ranged Engage as it can land an AoE stun. Using Nimble Leap before this skill increases the range you can use this skill by a little bit.
- Stunning Blow - This is an important skill because even if the target immunes the stun, you shock them and gain the bonus damage from your passive skill.
- Nimble Leap - With the Skill Specializations, this skill is usable twice and also gains CC immunity for 0.5s on use. Use it sparingly when kiting or trying to avoid CC.
- Nimble Leap's Whirlpool allows you to gain additional Gale stacks so be sure to use it right before Annihilation Barrage Shot to increase the number of explosions you do.
- Precision Dash - While being an unblockable Bind with the Skill Specializations, you can re-use it a 2nd time if activated again within a few seconds. This makes it a big engage tool.
- Selfless Infiltration - While you can use this offensively, it's best to save this to break CC's. This is similar to a "trinket" from other MMO's that acts as a partial CC Break.
- You cannot get up from Prone, but you can use it to break Stuns.
- Ascending Slash - Using this after Precision Dash is fast and hard for players with higher ping to react to.
Passive Skills
- Vital Force - Combined with Adentus's Savage Blade you get a ton of additional damage.
- Cold Warrior - Important to increase your damage on CC'd targets.
- Victor's Morale - This allows you to maintain your Mana when divebombing the backline.
- Robust Constitution - More Health = More DMG + Survivability.
- Ambidexterity - This is a strong passive that increases your Crossbow damage.
- Nature's Power - With access to two mobility skills that have low enough cooldowns, you are almost able to permanently keep this buff up if stacking high enough Buff Duration.
- Detection - This skill procs quite often in large scale, so it helps if you are stacking Evasion.
- Piercing Strike - Your main Crossbow Skill does many hits so the bonus damage should increase overall DPS.
- Raging Frenzy - You can replace this skill with Piercing Strike whenever you're doing more Small Scale PvP content.
Skill Prioritization
- This is a general list of skills used across all forms of content that's recommended to upgrade.
- Should there be a skill here that you don't ever plan to use in your build, skip it.
- Use Quality Skill Growth Books to upgrade your skills from Green to Blue in the order shown below. Once all skills below are Green, use the rest on other skills used in the builds above.
- Use Rare Skill Growth Books to upgrade your skills from Blue to Purple in the order shown below. Once all skills below are Blue, use the rest on other skills used in the builds above.
- Prioritize getting all these skills to blue first before getting them to purple. These are universal skills you always use.
- Upgrade the rest of your skills as you play the game.
PvP Gameplay and Skill Rotation
Greatsword / Crossbow has multiple different ways of securing kills. Your playstyle doesn't change between Large Scale and Small Scale PvP. The only real difference is that in Large Scale you can take advantage of the chaos and land an AoE stun with Devastating Smash easier. In Small Scale PvP it's a bit easier to spot the animation for the AoE Stun so you tend to be more successful using other engages like Precision Dash.
Ranged AOE Stun Engage
- DaVinci's Courage
- Devastating Smash
- Nimble Leap
- Annihilation Barrage Shot
- For Large Scale, move Skill Specialization points from Detonation Mark to Devastating Smash for additional Stun Chance.
- You can increase the engage range by using Precision Dash before Devastating Smash.
- You can save DaVinci's Courage and use it defensively if need be.
- Damage from Gale Explosions scale with the amount of players in the area.
- For example, If 5 people get hit and proc an explosion of each person, that's 5 explosions worth of damage dealt to all the users in that area.
Single Target Combo
- Mortal Mark
- Quick Fire
- Nimble Leap
- Quick Fire
- Precision Dash
- Ascending Slash
- Guillotine Blade
- Devastating Smash can be used instead of Precision Dash and Ascending Slash.
- However, it's easy to see coming so there are higher chances of the enemies Perfect Blocking it.
- Alternatively, use Devastating Smash as a follow-up CC after Guillotine Blade.
- Lightning Arrow would do higher single target damage compared to Gale Arrow.
- Nimble Leap has great utility as it can be used to reset Quick Fire or be used as a short burst of CC Immunity.
- Use Nimble Leap based on what the situation calls for but keep in mind you only have 2 charges.
Stat Priorities
Use the following stat priorities when using this Greatsword / Crossbow PvP Build Guide:
- Primary Stat
- Strength
- Secondary Stats
- Dexterity and Perception
You have 49 Stat Points to distribute however you see fit, and gear gives additional stat points that you cannot change. It's free to reset the Stat Points so that you can "respec" whenever you need to as you progress and swap out items. Above are the main Stats you should prioritize with the given builds in this Greatsword / Crossbow PvP Build Guide.
Greatsword / Crossbow gains a number of buffs when stacking HP. The Greatsword's skills and passives also allow you to reach high amounts of Heavy Attack Chance. Due to these reasons, Strength is one of the most valuable Stat Attributes to stack.
Mid-Game
Your first goal is to hit 50 Strength and 40 Dexterity. As a Greatsword / Crossbow user, you care mainly about increased Heavy Attack, HP, Critical Hit, Attack Speed, and Maximum Weapon Damage. First, put points towards Strength for the added HP and Heavy Attack Chance. Secondly, place points into Dexterity to gain the additional Critical Hit and Bonus Damage to ensure high damage on your Crossbow skills.
End Game
With Purple Gear in the End Game, we can reach all of our desired Stat Breakpoints. Getting 50 - 60 Strength grants even higher HP and 100 Heavy Attack which can give you higher chances at doing double damage. 30 - 40 Perception increases Hit and Buff Duration to ensure you're able to maintain your buffs and always land your debuffs. Finally, 40 - 50 Dexterity grants increased Critical Hit, Bonus Damage, and high amounts of Attack Speed before using our buffs.
Gear Progression
If ever there's a chance to obtain Tevent's Despair Blade or Queen Bellandir's Annihilation Crossbow, get them and use no matter what.
If you're interested in PvE Gear Progression, check out our Greatsword / Crossbow PvE Builds!
End-Game Alternative
Early Game
Greatsword / Crossbow PvP Build
If you followed our Leveling Guide for Greatsword / Crossbow, you may have some of these pieces already.
Most of this gear is replaced very quickly so don't stress too much unless you plan on PvP'ing a lot in the first week or two of the game.
Don't go out of your way to trait this build out UNLESS you plan on PvP'ing in the first week.
Gear Sources
- Elite Resistance Broadsword or Elite Resistance Crossbow is obtained from the Main Story Quest.
- Whichever one wasn't obtained, can be receive by completing their Lithograph Book entries.
- Bigger, Better Greatswords
- Bows that Pierce the Target
- Whichever one wasn't obtained, can be receive by completing their Lithograph Book entries.
- Elite Assassin's Cloak
- Dropped by mobs in Purelight Hill
- Elite Resistance Mask
- Main Story Quest reward
- Hawk's Eye Lithograph Book entry
- Special Resistance Tactical Armor
- Main Story Quest reward
- Armor of Unfaltering Protection Lithograph Book entry
- Dropped by mobs in Shattered Temple
- Lethal Fortune Ring
- Complete Rustic Mother Nature Rings Lithograph Book entry
- Cursed Wasteland Co-Op Dungeon
- Elite Tracker's Belt
- Complete Sources of Abdominal Strength! Lithograph Book entry
- Evil Eye in Manawastes
Mid Game Greatsword / Crossbow PvP Build
As you progress further into the game, you gather more gear with flat Stat buffs and Dexterity to boost your raw damage. It's also more costly to trait due to the low supply in the early game.
You might find yourself still using green accessories and know THAT'S OK.
Transition to gear dropped from Dungeons as you play the game.
- Elite Resistance weapons should be used only as a placeholder while working towards Dungeon Weapons.
- Elite Resistance Broadsword or Elite Resistance Crossbow is obtained from the Main Story Quest.
- Whichever one wasn't obtained, can be receive by completing their Lithograph Book entries.
- Bigger, Better Greatswords
- Bows that Pierce the Target
- Whichever one wasn't obtained, can be receive by completing their Lithograph Book entries.
Gear Sources
- Replacing your weapons with Dungeon Weapons result in the highest damage upgrade.
- Butcher's Canyon Co-Op Dungeon
- Duke Magna's Taunting Blade
- Temple of Slaughter Co-Op Dungeon
- Rex Chimaerus's Rake Bow
- Butcher's Canyon Co-Op Dungeon
- Eternal Ring of Dimension
- Obtained by crafting Recipe: Precious Epic Accessory Selection Chest
- Craft Dimensional Essence: Salvation by gaining 10 Boss Tokens from each T1 Dungeon.
- Obtained by crafting Recipe: Precious Epic Accessory Selection Chest
- Elite Assassin's Cloak
- Dropped by mobs in Purelight Hill
- Elite Resistance Visor
- Main Story Quest reward
- Overhead Protection Lithograph Book entry
- Orc Brawler in Fonos Basin
- Special Resistance Tactical Armor
- Main Story Quest reward
- Armor of Unfaltering Protection Lithograph Book entry
- Dropped by mobs in Shattered Temple
- Cursed Wasteland Co-Op Dungeon
- Flying Dragon Scale Gloves
- Reflection Breakthrough Leather Boots
- Cave of Destruction Co-Op Dungeon
- Beast King's Gilded Bracers
Melee Evasion
Greatsword / Crossbow PvP Build
Ranged / Magic Endurance
Greatsword / Crossbow PvP Build
- Both these builds can work however, Melee Evasion builds tend to require sacrificing additional damage from Gear Sets such as the Critical Damage from the Death Set or additional Bonus Damage from the Ghost Wolf Set.
- The Ranged / Magic Endurance build can work as an Evasion build by swapping the traits around however, Endurance is more consistent as it always gets used to lower an enemy's Critical Hit Chance.
- Evasion only works when higher than the enemy's Hit.
- Detection's tooltip has been bugged for over a year and only has a 10% chance to proc.
- This means if it doesn't proc, the Evasion version of this build is useless.
- Detection's tooltip has been bugged for over a year and only has a 10% chance to proc.
- Evasion only works when higher than the enemy's Hit.
Gear Sources
- Adentus's Barbaric Blade
- Drops from Adentus Field Boss
- Unshakeable Gold Ring
- Demonhoof Trackers in Syleus's Abyss 5th and 6th Floor
- Tycan's Bloodlust Belt
- Drops from Aridus Field Boss
Melee Evasion
- General's Fury Headgear
- Drops from Chernobog Field Boss
- Elite Gladiator's Cloak
- Drops from Living Armor Foot Soldier in Syleus's Abyss 3rd and 4th Floor
- General's Frenzy Gloves
- Reptilian Butcher and Reptilian Soldier from Saurodoma Island
- Craft Recipe: Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Tyrant
- Black Lion Black Gaiters
- Temple of Slaughter Co-Op Dungeon
- Black Lion Dash
- Tyrant's Isle Co-Op Dungeon
- Slaughterer's Collar
- Complete Marienne's Recommended Necklace Collection Lithograph Book entry
- Kowazan / Lycan Kowazan Field Boss
Ranged / Magic Evasion
- Heroic Hood of the Resistance
- Drops from Black Boars in Purelight Hill
- Forsaken Embrace
- Drops from Junobote Field Boss
- Ghost Wolf Alter Ego Armor
- Tyrant's Isle Co-Op Dungeon
- Shadow Harvester Grips
- Temple of Slaughter Co-Op Dungeon
- Phantom Wolf Breeches
- Drops from Reptilian Butcher and Reptilian Soldiers in Saurodoma Island
- Arcane Shadow Shoes
- Drops from Chernobog Field Boss
- Abyss Conqueror's Necklace
- Craft Recipe: Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Abyss
Melee Evasion
No Field Boss Alternative
Ranged / Magic Evasion
No Field Boss Alternative
- This build's goal allows you to PvP without ever needing to attend a single Field Boss or Guild Boss.
- Without being in a Guild, getting drops from Field Bosses are quite low so this provides an alternative solution.
- While damage with these builds may drop a little bit, it is still sufficient enough gear to PvP at all tiers of content.
Gear Sources
Melee Evasion
- Hell Guide's Visor
- Death's Abyss Co-Op Dungeon
- Elite Retainer's Belt
- Gray Lycan Sentry / Grayclaw Sentry in Grayclaw Forest
- Shade Wizard in Temple of Sylaveth
- Nightslayer's Mantle
- Contaminated Mitran / Mitran in Purelight Hill
Ranged / Magic Evasion
- Shadow Harvester Tunic
- Avolos Trackers in Sanctum of Desire
- Deadeye's Cloak
- Complete Beginner Cloaks of Victory Lithograph Book entry
- Drops from Gallu Archers in Purelight Hill
- Butcher's Belt
- Butcher's Canyon Co-Op Dungeon
- Sabatons of the Field General
- Dark Wizard / Berserk Dark Enforcer in Shadowed Crypt
- Breeches of the Executioner
- Abyssal Specter in Shadowed Crypt
Guardians
Guardians are special transformations that add offensive or defensive buffs or attacks to your character for 30 seconds. These are the recommended Guardians for Greatsword / Crossbow.
- Lady Knight Kamarshea is a useful Guardian that gives you a shield on engage.
- Perfect for times that require more survivability!
- Shade Revenant Stheno - This guardian launches projectiles every second and can Crit and Heavy Attack! The projectiles also synergize well with Mother Nature's Protest because each projectile launched also shoots another with this skill!
Summary
- Greatsword / Crossbow allows you to Dive Bomb groups of enemies with an AoE Stun followed by a "Spin to Win" type of move attacking all enemies in the area!
- Greatsword's skills and passives allow you to stack high amounts of Heavy Attack Chance, Hit, and Skill Damage Boost!
- Stacking HP not only gives you increased survivability but also grants increased damage!
- While having high offensive stats, you feel pretty tanky with the amount of HP and Evasion/Endurance you gain with these builds.
Gameplay
Credits
Written by Bloo
Reviewed by Dredscythe