Introduction
Welcome to our Longbow and Dagger Leveling build guide. In this guide, we’ll go over the process of leveling with this weapon combination and the best way to utilize it. This includes quest rewards. Longbow and Dagger is the ultimate Archer-style class.
Skill Prioritization
Below is our go-to for Skill Prioritization with Longbow and Dagger during leveling:
A large amount of your core Skills begin the journey with you at Level 1. This includes:
- Zephyr’s Nock
- Ensnaring Arrow
- Strafing
- Decisive Sniping
- Inject Venom
- Brutal Incision
- Shadow Strike
You can use any filler Skill you wish, however, begin to fit & replace higher level Skills as you continue. For example, Brutal Arrow at level 15 and Deadly Marker at level 30. Passives for this build line-up pretty well and often do not need to be replaced.
Skill Specialization Priority
At Level 15, you’ll unlock Skill Specialization. This system awards you with 10 starting points to allocate and empower your existing Skills. You’ll earn 2 additional points per level up until level 31, where you then start to earn 3 additional points per level. We recommend the following set-up:
The most important ordering priority in the Skill Specializations is to get Ensnaring Arrow’s Cooldown Speed online as soon as you hit Level 15 and to work on fully activating your Strafing, Zephyr’s Nock and Decisive Sniping Specializations above.
Skill Upgrade Priority
Every Skill in Throne and Liberty starts at “Uncommon Level 1“. By using Active and Passive Skill Growth Books obtained from the MSQ and Side Quests or crafting them with Marind Ores of different rarities – you can level up each Skill until Epic Level 5. Below is our recommended upgrading priority for your Skills while leveling:
Once you have upgraded these Skills to Rare and then Epic, upgrade the rest as you see fit. However, if you’re looking to prioritize PVP-mandatory Skills, such as the “Shadow Walker” Passive – check out our PVP guide for Longbow and Dagger.
Stat Allocation
While leveling 1-50 with the Longbow and Dagger leveling build guide, we recommend the following stat allocation:
- Dexterity – 20 Points
- Wisdom – 20 Points
- Perception – 9 Points
Weapon Mastery
Weapon Mastery in Throne and Liberty takes some time to grind up to the maximum level. For the sake of the Longbow and Dagger leveling build guide, we’ve set our goal as Level 7 Mastery. For leveling, follow the Mastery lines below:
These are some of the more offensive masteries of both weapons that’ll assist you in pushing through content.
Gearing and MSQ Rewards
Early on in leveling, crafted Uncommon gear is something you’ll only have to worry about upgrading, rather than looking for specific pieces. Around Chapter 4 of the MSQ, you’ll have enough materials and Lithographs to craft a full Uncommon set of gear. We recommend crafting gear with Melee Evasion or Mana Regen if you’re struggling. Melee Evasion gear (especially the Accessories) can be quite powerful early on in PVP too – so consider crafting them for this reason too!
If you craft the Swashbuckler’s Dagger early on, you can use it later in the Lithograph Book for a free Elite Resistance Knife!
MSQ Reward Selection
While the large majority of gear you’ll receive from the MSQ is Rare, we do not recommend moving straight over to them until you’re at least Level 50. Ultimately, this gear will be replaced with BIS Epic Tier 1 gear, but for now – we recommend the following rewards:
- Chapter 1 – Slayer Longbow
- Chapter 2 – Quality Marind Ore (only real option)
- Chapter 3 – Rare Marind Ore
- Chapter 4 – Any of the rings (this is the least important)
- Chapter 5 – Elite Resistance Knife
- Chapter 6 – Elite Resistance Visor or Elite Resistance Mask
- Chapter 7 – Elite Resistance Assault Gloves or Moonlight Wind Bracer
- Chapter 8 – Elite Resistance Leather Pants
- Chapter 9 – Moonlight Grace Leather Boots OR Elite Resistance Plate Boots
- Chapter 10 – Special Resistance Tactical Armor OR Special Resistance Ancient Dragon Armor
How to Play The Longbow and Dagger Leveling Build
During the very early levels playing Longbow and Dagger, your Longbow is the main source of power. The weapon combination is quite single-target heavy throughout leveling. However, the Longbow can quickly tear down one enemy at a time without losing too much time vs AoE combinations.
The Dagger is definitely the supporting act overall in this build while leveling, the Passives hold more power and priority over Dagger Skills. As a result, you should only look to use Skills such as Brutal Incision (Thunderclouds Bombing) if an enemy reaches you.
Skill Rotations
Your bread and butter rotation comes mainly from the Longbow. We recommend getting used to the following short string:
- Inject Venom (Lightning Infusion)
- Ensnaring Arrow
- Strafing (including all procs)
- Zephyr’s Nock
This is a quick and easy rotation to deal with most single mobs while leveling. Using Ensnaring Arrow as early as possible is important. Not only do you trigger your Steady Aim passive, but you can also reset the Cooldown of Ensnaring Arrow should you kill the mobs fast enough! As a result, you can keep chaining Ensnaring Arrow onto each target. Another option is to burst the mob down with Decisive Sniping after Ensnaring Arrow.
As you level up further, you can begin to throw Deadly Marker at the start of the rotation. Brutal Arrow is a nice instant-cast filler Skill to use mid-rotation also. Once you have Healing Touch and Nature’s Blessing unlocked, they can be used between rotations too.
The Dagger Skills mostly come into use situationally. For example, you only need to use Brutal Incision when a mob gets into melee range. Inject Venom (Lightning Infusion) is pretty much used at the start of every rotation. Finally, Camouflage Cloak can be used as a safe “reset” if you come close to dying or need to escape – or offensively for a free Critical Hit.
To navigate and move from quest to quest faster, you can also consider slotting Shadow Strike. However, you only need to do this if you want to speed run or min/max.
Leveling Tips
Finally, a few additional leveling tips to keep in mind on your 1-50 journey:
- Check out our general Leveling guide for more information
- Focus on the MSQ as much as you can, however, make sure to do a couple of Side Quests in each area to avoid any leveling walls.
- Do not skip on crafting Uncommon gear, it’ll be important to put into your Rare gear or the Lithograph book.
- As a Longbow and Dagger, make the most of the Dagger Block to regain bursts of Mana (after blocking a Fury Attack).
- During the Resistance Contracts quest from the MSQ, try to pick out any Accessory or Weapon Lithograph rewards. These can help you massively in getting good early game gear.
- Do not forget to use Healing Touch and Nature’s Blessing to keep your Health and Mana topped up.
Longbow and Dagger Leveling Build Guide Conclusion
That concludes our Longbow and Dagger Leveling guide. Now that you’re Level 50, consider checking out our PVE (Solo or Group) and PVP guides for the build. For more information on Throne and Liberty, check out our main page.