I will show you one of my favorite builds, which is the Boltcaster. I am sure you will like this one too. So, I wanted to go over some upgrades that I’ve made, as well as some discoveries of why this build is so good, and what not to use. First, we’re going to take a look at some of the gear changes that I made, and then we’re going to dive into the attributes and finally the weapon perks that I’ve been running. Don't forget to prepre for enough New World Coins to upgrade your gear.
Gear
Some upgrades that I’ve been looking to make on this build include picking up Lightning Harnessing on every single piece. You can get more lightning damage too if you use the Lightning Runglass on all your gems. I haven’t invested that into this build, but I’ve definitely made a lot of upgrades that include Lightning Harnessing.
On the gear, I use the Imbued Marine’s helm of the Ranger, which is a heavy helmet with 2% lightning Harnessing and health. Featherweight definitely allows us to run 2 heavy pieces, but I put health on it just so I can generically use it on all builds, not Lightning Harnessing. Then on the gloves, I prefer the Azoth Crystal Gauntlets. Then I will use the Imbued Guardian Flanker Pants of the Sentry. Finally, we will get some light boots, which is the Burnished Guardian Flanker Shoes of the Scholar.
These are going to have Lightning Harnessing again, then Slash Conditioning and Health. I actually put a Moonstone in here too because I definitely have a bit of melee resistance on this build, Boltcaster. I’m using Keenly Jagged as my perk. I picked the old great sword called Electrified Glacial Tarn Greatsword of the Ranger. It has keen Trenchant Strikes and Keenly Jagged.
When it comes to amulet, I always using the Primeval Brutish Exemplary Amulet of the Ranger. I think I must have Divine and Health and then you’re going to want a Protection. I’m choosing Thrust Protection here because I’m mostly fighting bows. On the ring, I use the Azoth Crystal Ring as before. Then I actually switched back to using Endless Thirst, specifically in PVP because I just really like the Empower and Fortifying Toast, as well as just the increased heal or increased strength of my healing consumable. So, my health pot heals for like 5-6k, which is pretty helpful.
Attributes
Next we’re going to dive into the attributes. We’re really just doing the 50 in Intelligence to get the damage increase to targets inflicted by damage over time. Our Boltcaster has Keenly Jagged as well as our great sword and stuff, so we’re constantly making people bleed. That’s going to be giving us some damage. Then let's turn to the strength.
Many people are saying you don’t even bother with the 50 Strength, just go 25 or something like that or even drop it all together. But to be honest, this just specifically for the great sword, and I’m confident that my heavy attack damage is scaling with the great sword here, and I’m doing tons of heavy attacks with my great sword.
Another recommendation, with 350 Dexterity, just max out on that. I think I’m going to start making is minimum 150 Constitution on the PVP builds. I think that reduce crit damage taken is huge, and if you got any extra points right, just put the rest into Constitution. You are going to be getting in there in a bit of a melee with your great sword, so it’s good to have more Constitution for that.
Weapon Masteries
Then let's talk about the weapon masteries. Bow, I’ve kind of been playing around with this and I’ve actually dropped Poison Shot and Explosive Shot in favor of Penetrating Shot, Evade Shot, and then Rain of Arrows. It’s going to animation to cancel constantly on you, that’s after you dodge. But I really like this Evade Shot for kind of kiting and keeping people at a distance.
Pretty standard perks, the Archer's speed, I’ve been kind of rocking that a bit more too, along with the Dodge and Weave. I just need more speed. Mark is going to be another thing that helps deal more damage to foes suffering from a bleed. Then Evasive Tactics. You’re constantly dodging this build, make sure you’re throwing in a dodge if you’re at full stamina if you can. To take advantage of that 50% damage. Then Penetrating Shot. I actually like this for the PVP, like stacked groups. So just try and get multiple Penetrating Shots in there. Still using Aim True and Arrow Range. Then those are my other perks.
Previously I will recommend going all offensive, but to stay alive I have been liking this Calamity Counter skill. One because it triggers certain things, where you get Fortify after getting Defiance Stance. So if you’re in the right, just throw a calamity counter, it kind of works like a repost or something like that, where you block some attacks for a couple seconds, then it does some damage. It also can inflict a bleed, and if you’re in Onslaught Stance, you’re going to get some crit or through the counterattack to gain some crit.
Just going a bit into this Defiance side just to get some Survivability, and then the 2 skills that I definitely like rocking in PVP are going to be Skyward Slash and Relentless Rush. I really like both those, pretty standard perks, going all the way down to the Onslaught.
Tips On The Boltcaster Build
I need to mention that one of the reasons why the Boltcaster is so good, especially in PvP, is that when they made the reduction in damage to bows applied in PVP like OPR, it only applies to thrust damage from bows. Therefore, the Boltcaster bypasses that restriction, dealing 14% more damage than a normal bow or even 7% more than one that's half converted to an elemental. This currently exists in the game, and I don't know how long it will continue like that.
