Introduction
Welcome to our Sword and Shield Longbow Leveling 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. Sword and Shield Longbow is an interesting tank hybrid with your typical Hunter-like qualities. You have the ability to flex as a Healer/Utility Support or play a full sustain tank. The weapon combination forms the “Warden” Class.
Skill Prioritization
Below is our go-to for Skill Prioritization with Sword and Shield Longbow during leveling:
A large amount of your core Skills begin the journey with you at Level 1. This includes:
- Shield Strike
- Counter Barrier
- Chain Hook
- Strafing
- Decisive Sniping
- Ensnaring Arrow
- Strategic Rush
You can use any filler Skill you wish, however, begin to fit & replace higher level Skills as you continue. 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 make turn your Shield Strike into Piercing Attack and boost up Strafing and Zephyr’s Nock as soon as you can.
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 “Counter Barrier”, “Healing Touch” and “Stalwart Bastion” should be upgraded immediately.
Stat Allocation
While leveling 1-50 with the Sword and Shield Longbow leveling guide, we recommend the following stat allocation:
- Strength – 14 Points
- Wisdom – 7 Points
- Perception – 20 Points
- Dexterity – 8 Points
Weapon Mastery
Weapon Mastery in Throne and Liberty takes some time to grind up to the maximum level. For the sake of the Sword and Shield Longbow leveling guide, we’ve set our goal as Level 7 Mastery. For leveling, follow the Mastery lines below:
These are generally the best masteries to push for while leveling to help you get started.
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 Sniper Longbow early on, you can use it later in the Lithograph Book for a free Longbow of the Resistance!
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 – Arena Sword
- 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 – Blade of the Resistance
- Chapter 6 – Visor of the Resistance or Mask of the Resistance
- Chapter 7 – Handguards of the Resistance or Glade Stalker Gloves
- Chapter 8 – Trousers of the Resistance
- Chapter 9 – Glade Stalker Boots OR Sabatons of the Resistance
- Chapter 10 – Heroic Armor of the Resistance
How to Play The Sword and Shield Longbow Leveling Build
The Sword & Shield Longbow build is heavily focused around being a ranged tank that has access to Crowd Control, utility and sustain while leveling. The build plays off of a high Health pool while dealing decent ranged damage and self-healing. During the leveling process, you’re focused less on tanking, but more of dealing damage to progress faster.
Skill Rotation
A very simple rotation to get you started involves gathering a couple of mobs and cleaving them down. For example:
- Ensnaring Arrow
- Strafing (and each re-activation you proc)
- Zephyr’s Nock
- Decisive Sniping
- Chain Hook
- Shield Strike
Your defensives only need to be used if you’re in a pinch. However, Counter Barrier with the correct Skill Specializations increases your DPS output by lowering your Shield Strike (Piercing Attack) cooldown. Spamming Shield Strike (Piercing Attack) accounts for a lot of your damage while leveling. Outside of this, the basic Longbow rotation while leveling serves every purpose it needs to help you along smoothly. Strafing has great synergy with Zephyr’s Nock. Strafing stacks up “Bullseye” onto a target, whereas Zephyr’s Nock consumes the stacks to deal more damage.
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 Sword and Shield, make the most of the Shield Block to gain Damage Reduction and more on a perfect block
- 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.
- Keep yourself topped up with your Healing Touch and Nature’s Blessing.
Sword and Shield Longbow Leveling Guide Conclusion
That concludes our Sword and Shield Longbow 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.