Longbow and Crossbow Build Guide for Throne and Liberty

Welcome to the Throne & Liberty Longbow and Crossbow build guide, Starchild! If you wanted to be a pure ranged DPS build, then this build is for you.

This Throne and Liberty Longbow and Crossbow build focuses on high-impact, single-target damage paired with exceptional mobility, making it powerful for both PvP and PvE. The player can stay agile, moving in and out of range while landing precise, devastating attacks—perfect for one-on-one duels, larger PvP battles, and PvE boss encounters without relying on AoE skills.

In PvP, the build shines through stuns, roots, and crowd control removal, allowing players to keep enemies at bay. Decisive Sniping deals massive damage, especially against stunned or trapped enemies, while the crossbow’s Quickfire and Recoil Shot enable a steady barrage of hits. Movement skills like Nimble Leap and dodge rolls provide brief immunity frames and reset cooldowns, helping players stay nimble and maintain offensive pressure.

The build demands fast reflexes and cooldown management, with survivability enhanced by crowd control avoidance and the Selfless Diffusion trinket for breaking stuns. In PvE, it excels on damage leaderboards, as the Longbow and Crossbow combo offers sustained, high-frequency DPS, making it ideal for boss fights and tough mobs.

The versatile skill rotation combines damage, control, and mobility, allowing players to engage and reposition effectively. With its high-frequency attacks, burst potential, and control options, this build is a top choice for impactful, agile play in both PvP and PvE.

If you want to get this build and the bis gear for it, then buy Custom TL builds where you can choose from starter, mid-game, or late-game versions of a build and specify the weapon combo. Click the link to find out what’s included in each build version.

Read our other Throne and Liberty guides:

• Throne and Liberty Gearing Guide
• Throne and Liberty Contracts Guide
• Throne and Liberty Beginner's Guide
• Throne and Liberty Best Builds
• Throne and Liberty Best Weapons Tier List

 

 

Pros and Cons

Let’s start our Longbow and Crossbow DPS guide with some pros and cons. It’s the best way to learn about a new build and decide whether it’s for you or not.

Pros:

1. High Single-Target DPS: This build excels at dealing substantial single-target damage, making it ideal for PvP duels, larger skirmishes, and PvE boss encounters. Skills like Decisive Sniping allow for lethal precision when timed correctly, especially on stunned or trapped enemies.
2. Mobility and Control: With a range of movement abilities like Nimble Leap and dodge rolls, combined with crowd-control tools such as stuns and roots, this build allows players to stay elusive and control the battlefield. This mobility makes it harder for enemies to land hits, ensuring the player can stay on the offensive while remaining protected.
3. Effective PvE Performance: This setup shines in PvE due to its continuous DPS output and the build’s ability to maintain a steady barrage through high attack speed and low cooldowns. This makes it excellent for prolonged battles, especially against tough bosses.

Cons:

1. Complex Skill Management: The build’s effectiveness relies heavily on timing and managing multiple cooldowns. Players need quick reflexes and careful skill rotations to maximize damage and avoid downtime, making it challenging for beginners or those unfamiliar with cooldown juggling.
2. Lack of AoE Damage: Focused primarily on single-target damage, this build lacks strong area-of-effect (AoE) abilities, which can make it less efficient for mob clearing in PvE. It may struggle when faced with large groups, as its toolkit is not optimized for multi-target situations.
3. Gear-Dependent: The build requires specific gear and traits, such as Eagle Vision and Piercing Strike, to reach its full potential. Acquiring and upgrading these items can be time-consuming, and without them, the build’s effectiveness may suffer, particularly in endgame content.

From all of the above, one can surmise that this build has outstanding DPS potential, but it does come at the cost of zero AoE damage and generally low defense values. In other words, this is a high-risk, high-reward build that demands flawless execution, at least a basic understanding of all active passives and active skills and some thotfully combined gear. Not to worry, though, as we’ll explain Longbow and Crossbow how to play and help you make your own build.

Longbow and Crossbow Stat Priorities (Attributes)

Any build starts from choosing your attribute priorities. Every time you level up, you must decide where to allocate the attribute points. Every weapon has an attribute that it scales with. So, Longbow and Crossbow stat priority is as follows:

• Primary Attributes
  
  • Perception: 70 points
  • Maximizing Perception is critical for high critical hit rates, ensuring your attacks consistently land with increased damage. This high investment significantly boosts your DPS, making Perception a top priority.
  • Dexterity: 70 points BLOG20
  • Dexterity is equally essential, as it increases hit rate, helping your attacks land reliably. For this build, both Dexterity and Perception are core to maintaining a powerful, consistent DPS output.
• Secondary Attributes
  
  • Strength: 30 points
  • Investing 30 points in Strength provides an additional 750 max HP, adding a layer of survivability for tougher encounters. While it doesn’t contribute as heavily to DPS as Dexterity and Perception, the extra health can be valuable in prolonged fights.
  • Wisdom: 0 points investment
  • Wisdom is unnecessary for this build, especially in PvE, as it does not impact damage output or survivability in a meaningful way.

By focusing on Perception and Dexterity Longbow and Crossbow stats while balancing with some Strength, this attribute allocation optimizes damage and durability, providing a strong balance of power and resilience tailored for the Longbow and Crossbow playstyle.

Longbow and Crossbow Active Skills

Moving on to your quickbar, it’s time to look at what Throne & Liberty Longbow and Crossbow abilities you’ll be using in your rotation. First, we’re just going to name them so that you have a reference sheet for when making your build, and then we’ll give you a rotation. We’ll start with the core abilities that should be present no matter what type of content you intended to focus on:

To make a build for a specific type of content like PvE (leveling, dungeons, bosses), PvP (large-scale, small-scale), you’re going to have to think about additional abilities that fit the purpose of those activities. Here’s a quick overview of what abilities you should add and why:

Some abilities are must-haves for this build, no matter where you’re playing. These are the skills that make the core of your character strong, reliable, and ready for anything. They provide solid damage, essential defenses, or important support that works well in both PvE and PvP settings. So, these “core” abilities stay in every version of the build because they’re always helpful.

On the other hand, some abilities are more specialized and only come in handy for certain situations, like small PvP fights, big PvP battles, or PvE boss fights. These skills are what make each version of the build different, allowing you to swap them out depending on what you’re facing. For example, in PvP, you might want skills that help you dodge or control other players, while in PvE you might prefer skills that keep up consistent damage. This way, you can adapt your build to different challenges, choosing the most useful skills for each specific scenario.

 

Longbow and Crossbow Passive Skills

The best Longbow and Crossbow passives could also be separated into core ones, required for any build version and activity-specific ones.

Consider adding the following passives based on the type of content that you’ll be doing:

The core aim is to maximize damage output with passives like Rapidfire Stance and Roxie's Arrowhead, both of which should be prioritized for upgrades. Sniper's Sense and Eagle Vision provide a unique DPS boost depending on the distance from your target, making them especially valuable for ranged play. Bloodlust further enhances DPS by increasing skill damage each time you hit enemies with your abilities. For off-hand damage, Ambidexterity helps maximize dual-weapon effectiveness, while Piercing Strike provides a general damage boost across the board.

Mana Management: Since Mother Nature's Protest remains active in constant combat, it’s vital to pair it with Mana Exchange to counterbalance its mana drain, ensuring you maintain damage output without running out of resources. BLOG20

Healing and Recovery: This build’s only source of healing comes from Healing Touch, which, combined with Earth’s Blessing, allows for reliable health recovery mid-fight. Stacking these buffs during combat lets you heal between skirmishes or when out of range of a healer. Additionally, upgrading Healing Touch provides a quick recovery option, while Selfless Diffusion improves cooldown recovery, allowing for faster rotations by reducing downtime on abilities.

A well-rounded set of defensive passives includes Distorted Sanctuary and Devoted Shield. Devoted Shield activates whenever you take weakened damage, with no cooldown, providing solid durability against incoming attacks. Earth’s Blessing further boosts survivability by enhancing your healing effects.

In summary, the build’s combination of passive upgrades focuses on offense, defense, and resource management, tailoring your character for flexible play across both PvE and PvP settings. Prioritizing damage passives early on maximizes DPS, while incorporating recovery and defensive passives ensures you can withstand longer fights and adapt to varied encounters.

Defense Skill

The chosen Defense Skill—specifically, Overtaker—is an essential choice in this build due to its powerful blocking and counter effects, which provide both defensive boosts and offensive follow-ups. This skill is designed to not only defend against attacks but also reward precise timing, giving players who use it skillfully a tactical advantage in battle.

Why Overtaker is the Best Choice:

In Throne and Liberty, the Defense Skill serves as a crucial layer of survival by allowing players to mitigate incoming damage and immediately turn a successful block into an offensive opportunity. When Overtaker blocks a Fury Attack (a type of specially-telegraphed, high-impact move from enemies), it provides a substantial boost to Magic, Melee, and Ranged Defense, increasing resistance to further damage. In addition, Overtaker transforms into Agile Shot, a high-damage follow-up attack, adding versatility by allowing players to maintain pressure on their opponent after successfully blocking.

Importance of Defense Skills in the Build:

A defense skill in this build is vital as it reduces the risk of high incoming damage, which can be difficult to withstand given the build’s focus on single-target damage rather than high durability. Overtaker combines both offense and defense by offering conditional boosts to critical hit chance and evasion, which are pivotal in staying agile and dealing damage without taking severe hits. The skill’s Swift Evasion form, activated when a Wrath Attack is blocked, allows for a quick escape, adding evasion bonuses and helping to avoid being pinned down by powerful attacks.

The Tactical Edge:

The Defense Skill requires skillful timing and quick reflexes, especially when defending against Fury Attacks within a narrow time window of 0.5 seconds. This timing adds a high-risk, high-reward element to gameplay, encouraging players to master precise blocking to fully capitalize on Overtaker’s effects. The flexibility to activate Agile Shot or Swift Evasion means players can adapt to each encounter, switching between defense and offense as needed.

In summary, Overtaker is chosen because it not only safeguards the player from powerful attacks but also provides situational boosts that enhance offensive capabilities, helping the player maintain control of the battlefield. This makes it invaluable for PvE boss fights, where timing and positioning are crucial, as well as in PvP encounters, where the ability to block and counter is key to gaining an edge.

Longbow and Crossbow Best Guardian

Guardians act as temporary transformations with specialized effects. They don’t replace your active skills but instead enhance your combat capabilities, adding both utility and power to help you survive tough encounters or deal more damage in crucial moments. Activating a Guardian lasts for 30 seconds or until a specific condition ends it, such as the Guardian’s shield breaking or a time limit expiring. Choosing the right Guardian can significantly influence your performance in both PvE and PvP situations, making Guardian selection an important aspect of building a well-rounded character.

Here are two popular Guardians and their unique benefits:

• Shade Revenant Stheno (PvE): Known for its high DPS potential and ease of use, Shade Revenant Stheno excels in PvE combat by firing projectiles that strike multiple enemies, often hitting more than once and applying effects like venom. This Guardian is particularly suited for PvE boss fights or situations requiring consistent area damage.
• Lady Knight Kamarshea (PvP): Lady Knight Kamarshea is a favorite for PvP due to its balanced mix of offense and defense. Upon activation, it provides a shield equal to 50% of your maximum Mana and boosts your cooldown speed by 40%. This shield protects you while allowing faster skill rotations, making it invaluable in PvP skirmishes where survival and rapid skill usage are key.

Unlocking these powerful Guardians requires completing specific Codex Quests:

• Shade Revenant Stheno: Obtainable by completing the Codex Quest "For Whom the Bell Tolls" in the Ruins of Turayne section of Laslan.
• Lady Knight Kamarshea: Obtainable by completing the Codex Quest "Elemental Tree Harvest: Daybreak Shore" in the Daybreak Shore section of Stoneguard.

By choosing the best PvP and PvE Longbow and Crossbow guardian for your build and gameplay style, you can amplify your strengths and handle difficult combat scenarios more effectively, adding an extra layer of strategy and versatility to your character.

Longbow and Crossbow Build Rotation

Naturally, your Throne & Liberty Longbow and Crossbow rotation will depend on the type of build and abilities you’re using. Here’s the rotation for high-HP mobs and bosses in PvE:

1. Mother Nature's Protest – Activate this first as it provides ongoing passive bonuses for the entire rotation.
2. Deadly Marker – Start with this to increase your critical hit rate on the target, boosting your chances for high damage.
3. Mortal Mark – Apply right after Deadly Marker to stack additional damage on the boss, amplifying your subsequent attacks.
4. Selfless Diffusion – Use to enhance your off-hand attack rate and reduce skill cooldowns, keeping your abilities ready for repeated use.
5. Quick Fire – Execute as a follow-up to begin dealing consistent damage.
6. Strafing – Apply right after Quick Fire for additional DPS while keeping up momentum in combat.
7. Zephyr's Nock – Use this next to maintain pressure with rapid shots, setting up for further damage.
8. Merciless Barrage – Cast for a significant burst of damage.
9. Blitz – Use to reset the cooldown of Merciless Barrage, allowing a second casting shortly afterward.
10. Quick Fire – Use again to fill in damage as you prepare for your next skill.
11. Merciless Barrage – Follow with this second use of Merciless Barrage for an extra damage spike. BLOG20
12. Nature's Blessing – Cast to gain the Whirlpool buff, which speeds up channeling for Decisive Sniping.
13. Decisive Sniping – With the Whirlpool buff active, use this high-damage skill to capitalize on the faster channeling.
14. Zephyr's Nock – Finish with this skill for a final damage output in the rotation.

For this rotation, staying as stationary as possible will maximize the benefits of Rapidfire Stance, boosting your DPS. When using Nature's Blessing, it’s helpful to let any mages in your group know in advance, as this allows them to cast Inner Peace to fully replenish their mana, ensuring they can maintain their own high spellcasting output. Together, these tactics will keep the group’s damage consistently high, especially during longer boss fights. This setup makes sure you maintain a steady, powerful flow of damage while coordinating with teammates for maximum impact.

Next, we have a small-scale PvP rotation that works best in 1 on 1 duels:

1. Selfless Diffusion – Start with Selfless Diffusion to reduce your skill cooldowns, allowing for a faster rotation and maximizing your burst potential. Although you can perform the rotation without it, opening with Selfless Diffusion gives you more frequent skill usage.
2. Ensnaring Arrow – Use Ensnaring Arrow to root the enemy in place, giving you the chance to follow up with powerful attacks. This is especially useful in keeping enemies within range, preventing them from repositioning easily.
3. Mortal Mark – Apply Mortal Mark to stack up damage on the target, increasing the effectiveness of your following attacks. This ability helps boost your overall damage output as you continue the rotation.
4. Strafing – Follow up with Strafing to deal consistent damage. When you hit the same target, this ability also contributes to lowering the cooldown of Zephyr's Nock, setting you up for a stronger finish.
5. Zephyr's Nock – After Strafing, use Zephyr's Nock for a high-impact shot. Hitting the same target as Strafing reduces its cooldown, allowing you to re-use it quickly in the same rotation.
6. Quick Fire – Transition into your crossbow skills with Quick Fire to maintain a steady stream of damage, ensuring your offensive pressure remains consistent.
7. Nimble Leap – Use Nimble Leap to reposition and avoid incoming attacks while staying close enough to continue your rotation. It provides both mobility and brief immunity, giving you an advantage in small-scale skirmishes.
8. Zephyr's Nock (Second Cast) – Finish the rotation with a second cast of Zephyr's Nock, leveraging the earlier cooldown reduction to apply maximum burst damage.

This rotation is designed to deliver quick bursts from range, maintaining control over the target with roots and cooldown-reducing shots. The sequence begins with Selfless Diffusion to optimize skill availability, making it easier to maintain pressure. Rooting with Ensnaring Arrow and stacking damage with Mortal Mark opens up a reliable burst window, while crossbow skills allow flexible repositioning to stay evasive and apply consistent damage.

This large-scale PvP setup focuses on maximizing both crowd control and burst damage. The Burst Ranged Rotation excels at targeting specific players within a crowd, while the AoE + CC Rotation aims to control large groups.

Burst Ranged Rotation

1. Selfless Diffusion – Begin with Selfless Diffusion to reduce your cooldowns, allowing you to maintain pressure over extended engagements. Though optional, it can significantly improve your overall skill availability in a high-stakes fight.
2. Ensnaring Arrow – Use Ensnaring Arrow to root enemies in place, making it easier to target specific players within the crowd. This helps create an opening for your high-damage skills.
3. Strafing (x3) – Follow up with three casts of Strafing, dealing damage while remaining mobile. This sequence also helps to reduce the cooldown on Zephyr's Nock.
4. Zephyr's Nock – After Strafing, use Zephyr's Nock to deliver a powerful shot. Target the same enemy hit with Strafing for additional cooldown reduction.
5. Quick Fire – Switch to your crossbow and use Quick Fire to maintain consistent damage output, especially useful for keeping up the pressure in a large-scale fight.
6. Zephyr's Nock (Second Cast) – Finish this burst rotation with a second cast of Zephyr's Nock, maximizing your burst potential thanks to the cooldown reduction from earlier.

AoE + Crowd Control (CC) Rotation

1. Arrow Vortex – Start with Arrow Vortex to launch enemies into the air, setting up for a series of follow-up AoE attacks. This ability is excellent for disrupting large groups.
2. Flash Arrow – Once enemies have landed, use Flash Arrow to apply additional control effects. This combination maximizes the CC impact on grouped opponents.
3. Blitz – Use Blitz to reset the cooldown on Flash Arrow, allowing you to reapply its effects if needed or keep it ready for your next engagement.
4. Flash Arrow (Second Cast) – Optionally use Flash Arrow a second time to secure kills on any survivors or hold onto it for the next wave of enemies.

By leading with Selfless Diffusion for cooldown management and using Arrow Vortex to disrupt, this build can effectively handle both offensive pushes and defensive retreats. Combining Flash Arrow and Blitz allows for adaptable crowd control, ensuring the rotation can be repeated quickly in chaotic, large-scale engagements.

Longbow and Crossbow BiS Gear

The endgame Longbow and Crossbow best in slot gear is the same, no matter what content you’ll end up doing. 

• Longbow: Toublek's Deathmark Longbow (Heavy Attack Chance, Critical Hit Chance, Hit Chance)
• Crossbow: Rex Chimaerus's Crossbows (Heavy Attack Chance, Added Attack Speed, Hit Chance)
• Helmet: Phantom Wolf Mask (Magic Endurance, Ranged Endurance, Cooldown Speed)
• Shoulders: Forsaken Embrace (PvP) / Supreme Devotion (PvE) (Max Health, Debuff Duration, Skill Damage Resistance)
• Chest: Phantom Wolf Tunic (Max Health, Magic Endurance, Ranged Endurance)
• Gloves: Shadow Harvester Grips (Magic Endurance, Ranged Endurance, Mana Regen)
• Legs: Shadow Harvester Trousers (Magic Endurance, Ranged Endurance, Mana Regen)
• Boots: Swirling Essence Shoes (Max Health, Magic Endurance, Move Speed)
• Necklace: Clasp of the Conqueror (Skill Damage Boost, Max Health, Buff Duration)
• Bracers: Bracers of the Primal King (Max Health, Skill Damage Resistance, Debuff Duration)
• Ring 1: Sapphire Dimensional Band (Skill Damage Boost, Max Health, Buff Duration)
• Ring 2: Band of Universal Power (Skill Damage Boost, Buff Duration, Mana Regen)
• Belt: Belt of Bloodlust (Max Health, Debuff Duration, Skill Damage Resistance)

This gear setup balances offensive power with essential survivability, making it effective for both PvE and PvP. Focus on items with critical hit chance, heavy attack bonuses, and accuracy for reliable, high damage output. Cooldown reduction and skill damage boosts are also key, letting you use high-damage abilities more frequently, which is especially useful in extended fights or PvP.

Mana and health bonuses play an important role too, keeping your abilities available and extending your endurance in tougher encounters. Overall, this setup combines offensive precision, cooldown efficiency, and defensive resilience, making it versatile and adaptable across different combat scenarios.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Longbow and Crossbow build in Throne & Liberty offers a dynamic and versatile gameplay experience, allowing players to adapt their strategies for both PvE and PvP scenarios. This build excels in delivering high damage output while maintaining agility, making it particularly effective against powerful bosses and high HP mobs in Throne & Liberty Longbow and Crossbow PvE. By focusing on critical hit chances and skill cooldown reductions, players can ensure that they consistently deal damage while staying mobile and evasive.

When it comes to PvP, the same Longbow and Crossbow build can be fine-tuned for small-scale and large-scale engagements. The build's inherent flexibility allows players to adjust their skills and strategies to dominate in both close-quarters skirmishes and broader battlefield confrontations in Throne & Liberty Longbow and Crossbow PVP. With the right combination of skills, players can effectively control the flow of battle, utilizing the strengths of the Longbow and Crossbow to outmaneuver and outsmart their opponents.

Overall, whether you're focusing on PvE content or engaging in intense PvP battles, the Longbow and Crossbow build remains a top choice for players looking to maximize their effectiveness and enjoy a well-rounded combat experience.

F.A.Q.