Rapier / Fire Staff PvP Build
This build excels at close quarter fighting and uses its extreme mobility to attack and escape. The rapier is built to hit super hard with this spec, giving it enough damage to kill even the most tanky healers, and allowing it to very quickly kill any light armor opponents. The fire staff provides decent ranged offensive options that can do good damage thanks to the high critical rate of this build, while providing excellent utility with its gap closer and easy access to the Keen Speed weapon perk. This build also has the best stamina sustain you could get, making it excellent for tons of dodging, especially when outnumbered.
A personal favorite of mine, hope you enjoy!
You can find an older version of this build here.
Check out a video guide with gameplay for this build!
This build does big damage with the rapier, which scales off both Dexterity and Intelligence. The 150 points in Dexterity are not only great for damage, but a huge part of the builds defensive gameplay! The 150 points in Constitution is a must have for the critical damage reduction in endgame PvP. Having 200+ intelligence is not only great for both the rapier and fire staff damage, but also provides that all important mana return on roll passive. If you aren’t high enough gear score to reach these attributes you will have to run mana potions for sustain!
Dexterity
50: +5% chance to critical hit. +10% skinning speed.
100: +5% thrust damage. +20% haste for 3s after skinning.
150: Dodges cost 10 less stamina. -10% decrease in weight of skinned items.
Intelligence
50: +10% damage to light and heavy magic attacks. +10% harvest speed.
100: +10% critical hit chance. 5% chance for 1 Azoth when harvesting.
150: +15% to elemental damage. -10% decrease in weight of harvested items.
200: +10 mana after a dodge. +10% harvest speed.
Constitution
50: All health consumables 20% stronger. +10% logging speed.
100: Increase max health by 10% of your physical armor. -10% reduction on durability loss for tools.
150: -10% to critical damage taken. -10% decrease in weight of logging items.
Equipment
Rogue is the best rapier damage perk hands down. Since the nerf to rapier cooldowns I think Refreshing Move is the best second perk, and the perfect rapier would have Keenly Empowered for the third!
Keen and Keen Speed for the fire staff are perfect to keep this build very mobile, and Keen Speed is super easy to proc with all the fire staff’s AOE. Vicious or Plagued Crits are perfect for the final perk, and the new Shirking perks coming with the blunderbuss would also be a great option next patch.
The armor perks are ideally Resilient and Refreshing. Empowering Fireball and Sundering Riposte are the two desired weapon skill perks for the build. The 3rd armor perk is up to the user, Freedom and Physical / Elemental Aversion are the best options!
The necklace perks I have are all perfect. A Healthy and Divines necklace is great for durability and healing. Hearty on the ring is massive for additional rolls during a fight, and keen awareness is the perk of choice for both damage and utility by procing Keen Speed. Refreshing Toast on the earing to give us a huge boost in healing power long term, and finally regenerating for even more healing over time. The elusive and very expensive 3rd perk of choice is Refreshing for all the jewelry, the earing however could also benefit from the Nimble perk as a 3rd.
The armor gem distribution is all up to you, I like Wilderness Ward because it focuses more on physical defense and this build odes a lot of close quarter fighting. A more even defensive speared by mixing in malachite’s is also another good option.
As always, you want to try to use the best food and potions that you have available! I use a Tier 5 Dexterity / Intelligence food (Filet In Mushroom Sauce) to increase the maximum attributes of the build. You can use whatever food works best for your situation. Also a honing stone helps up your damage even more. Defiantly use Health and Regeneration potions for PvP!
Active Skills
Rapier
Riposte - 4/4 Upgrades
A fantastic counter-move that allows you to absorb an incoming attack and return with a stun. You also gain a moment of invulnerability if you successfully Riposte an attack. This is an excellent defensive skill if you get stuck in a bad snare or immobilize. After a successful counter-stun, you can roll behind your opponent and hit them with a huge backstab heavy attack!
Evade - 5/5 Upgrades
Evade is arguably the Rapier’s best skill. It not only allows you to have a brief moment of invulnerability, but makes you more mobile, can be used to attack, and can cancel any ability or action! This is a very unique effect and gives the Rapier a high skill ceiling for PvP combat. Evade is also great when chained with dodge roll, especially since you gain stamina for using it! With the high cooldown on evade now, playing offensively and having Refreshing on your gear helps a ton!
Fleche - 4/4 Upgrades
This is not only an amazing gap-closer for attacking and getting away, but it is also a quick way for you to get behind an opponent and hit them with a strong backstab. This is also a very fast skill to cast and does quite a bit of damage on the initial hit too!
Fire Staff
Fireball - 1/3 Upgrades
This skill hits hard, is rather quick to cast, and has a large AOE blast radius that makes it much easier to hit a moving target. Fireball is one of the easiest ways for this build to apply pressure and proc the Keen Speed perk for utility.
Pillar Of Fire - 2/3 Upgrades
This skill is much faster to cast then it used to be, and has also had it’s damage buffed quite a bit! It is an excellent first hit on your opponent, especially if it crits. While pillar can be hard to aim at a distance, it is an excellent move to cast at your feet when melee opponents charge at you. Being an AOE it can easily proc Keen Speed!
Burn Out - 3/3 Upgrades
Burn Out is amazing. It causes you to quickly rush forward quite a distance, while dealing damage to anyone you hit, leaving a strong burn on them. This skill is great for applying offensive pressure and also for escaping to safety. It can also be used to easily proc the Keen Speed perk! The only downside is that burnout has a longer cast time.
