Throne and Liberty Sword & Shield and Wand PvE guide: Leveling, skills, itemization, and scaling

Throne and Liberty's Sword & Shield or Sword & Wand combo is currently one of the most-played Tanking specs in-game. This comes equipped with a stout shield to mitigate damage, skills to pull distant enemies and draw aggro off party members. There's also a ranged weapon that is useful for tagging mobs and getting off some quick heals. The SnS/Wand build can thus get into the thick of it and come out unscathed.

This guide will provide an adequate template of a standard Sword & Wand build from leveling to early endgame, with gear suggestions, stat distribution, skill priority, and more.

Throne and Liberty Sword & Wand skill build for leveling

Leveling up a tank is painful in almost every other MMORPG, and unfortunately, the situation in Throne and Liberty is only slightly better than most. Players will have limited damage in the early campaign, along with a few spammable skills to make leveling easier. Damage will come from stat allocation, gear quality, skill levels, and mixing curses and martial skills to finish off enemies.

Active Skills

Shield Strike is the bread and butter of the Sword & Wand leveling build. This skill should be prioritized above anything and leveled up to Purple-tier fast. Counter Barrier and Swift Healing are the next two skills that should be updated whenever possible.

The active skill priority is as follows:

Shield Strike
Swift Healing
Counter Barrier
Shield Survival Technique
Touch of Despair
Shield Throw
Blessed Barrier
Stalwart Bastion
Karmic Haze
Annihilating Slash

Use Shield Strike for everything (Image via NCSoft)

Players can upgrade Shield Throw and Annihilating Slash earlier if they need additional damage sources during leveling. Likewise, leveling up Clay's Salvation can be a good choice if personal or group healing starts to fall off.

At Level 50, players effectively get a choice between two ultimate skills for each of their weapons. To keep it simple, this build advises using A Shot at Victory and Ray of Disaster from the Sword and Wand skill lines, respectively.

Skill specialization can change skill functionality (Image via NCSoft)

Upon reaching Level 25, players can take advantage of Skill Specializations. They can expend specialization points to customize each skill's functionality. There are a total of 100 obtainable points, gained between Level 25 and Level 50.

Here are the most important specialization choices. Note that these are not in order and should be taken according to the player's needs.

Shield Strike: Piercing Strike (Invaluable and should be the priority, turns the skill into a frontal cone AoE attack)
Counter Barrier: Cooldown Reduction
Shield Throw: Consecutive Use
Strategic Rush: Range Widened
Annihilating Slash: Consecutive Use - Radius Increase
Touch of Despair: Radius Increased - Effect Duration Increased - Curse Application
Swift Healing: Healing Transfers - Consecutive Use
Curse Explosion: Damage Increased
A Shot at Victory: Annihilating Blade - Skill Effect Enhanced - Effect Duration Increased

Passives

Passive skills bolster the Sword & Wand build and grant many quality-of-life enhancing effects, like a persistent life leech or increasing defensive stats based on enemies in proximity. Like active skills, our suggestions are merely a template and should be changed based on one's situation.

The passive skill priority list is as follows:

Resilient Mind
Wraith's Beckon
Vampiric Contact
Aegis Shield
Devotion and Emptiness
Impenetrable
Morale Boost

If you are in a party and the healer keeps you topped off, switching Vampiric Contract out for Gerad's Patience for extra crowd-control protection is a good choice. Taking Saint's Oath and Selfless Soul for a passive team healing boost will make your healer's life easier.

Weapon Mastery

Passives drastically boost your defenses or offense (Image via NCSoft)

Weapon Mastery is a weapon-specific mechanic that allows players to gain proficiency with their equipped weapons, granting powerful in-combat passive boosts. They are only affected by the equipped Weapon Mastery passives, hence switching weapons while casting skills can be the difference between a dungeon clear or a party wipe.

Weapon Mastery is passively accumulated whenever players gain XP. The equipped weapon has the full XP gain benefit, while the offhand only gets 50% of the current weapon's XP gain. Each weapon has three upgrade branches with clear role distinction. Players can freely switch their upgrade choices but it'll cost them Sollant in Throne and Liberty.

The SnS and Wand mastery progression path is as follows:

Sword & Shield: Skillful Block > Decayed Sword God > Impregnable Stance > Indomitable Spirit > Calculated Rush > Steely Physique

Wand: Pure Healing > Spiritual Focus > Witch's Contract > Regenerative Meditation > Greedy Need > Deep Pain

Gear progression:

Despite having a considerable effect on the endgame, gearing won't be a major issue. Players will mostly equip whatever they can get their hands on from the Codex quest chapter completion rewards and fill the rest with cheaply crafted Green-tier gear.

Getting the most out of the gear will depend on the upgrade levels. We suggest players level their Green-tier gear to Rank 6 and hold on to Blue quality growthstones for mid- to endgame upgrades.

The first gear we suggest picking up from the Codex completion is the Inquisition Rod. Upon unlocking crafting, players should craft an Arena Sword. As they slowly make through the chapters and exploration sub-quests, they'll gain Quality Lithograph: Armor. Use these to craft armor pieces and swap out your prologue gear.

Items you equip make a difference (Image via NCSoft)

As the de-facto tank, you should maximize your defense and hit chance. You can't draw aggro on yourself if your attacks miss. Hence, items like Ironclad Plate Gauntlets or Layered Iron Helm will be great, and only one should be enough to see your hit chance at maximum.

The best Codex pickups are:

Inquisition Rod: Chapter 1
Rutaine's Ring of Wonder: Chapter 4
Blade of the Resistance: Chapter 5
Mask of the Resistance: Chapter 6
Handguards of the Resistance: Chapter 7
Trousers of the Resistance/ Pants of the Resistance: Chapter 8
Glade Stalker Boots: Chapter 9
Heroic Garb of the Resistance/ Heroic Armor of the Resistance: Chapter 10

Likewise, the best crafting choices are:

Arena Sword
Layered Iron Helm
Reinforced Buckskin Jerkin
Ironclad Plate Gauntlets
Reinforced Buckskin Trousers
Acolyte Shoes

The accessories are generally for filler stats and should be crafted accordingly. Some examples are Necklace of Vitality and Belt of Meditation, which add a lot of health.

Best stats to level up for Sword & Wand build in Throne and Liberty

The stat distribution page gives a lot of information (Image via NCSoft)

Stat points are gained for each level increase and can be invested into four core areas for beneficial effects. For simplicity's sake, we will only discuss the stats needed for comfortable leveling.

On their way to Level 50, players will obtain 49 stat points, distributed between Dexterity, Wisdom, and Perception. For the first 20 levels, allocating 15 points to Dexterity and around five points to Perception will solve any damage and hit chance-related issues. For the rest of the 29 points, 20 will go towards Wisdom, five to Dexterity, and four to Strength.

Best endgame setup for Throne and Liberty Sword & Wand build

As you move towards the endgame, your Sword & Wand build will steadily come along as you become more familiar with your setup and skills.

Important skills:

Shield Strike will continue to be your bread and butter for singular targets and AoE.
Counter Barrier should be up off cooldown.
Stalwart Bastion is a party-wide damage reduction.
Provoking Roar is your taunt of choice and hits around you. Useful for drawing in a crowd for your DPS to blow up.
Invincible Wall is a massive shield for all of your party. The skill is on a relatively short cooldown so use judiciously.
Blessed Barrier is a boost to your party's defenses and healing. Use it in precarious situations.
Swift Healing is a good burst heal with the triple charge.
A Shot at Victory is your personal burst window. Use it anytime the boss is incapacitated and get off all your damage skills.
Time for Punishment increases the damage of your entire party. Use it whenever you can spare the mana.
Touch of Despair is your damage-over-time skill and is a stackable secondary damage boost against enemies.
Curse Explosion is a good damage tool.
Fountain of Life and Clay's Salvation are excellent backup healing skills if your healer struggles to keep everyone healthy.

With changes to skills, skill specialization will also change from the leveling version.

Shield Strike - Piercing Strike > Aggro Increased
Provoking Roar - Effect Duration Increased > Cooldown Reduction
Shield Throw - Aggro Increased > Consecutive Use
Counter Barrier - Cooldown Reduction
Touch of Despair - Radius Increased > Effect Duration Increased > Curse Application
Swift Healing - Healing Transfers > Consecutive Use
Invincible Wall - Targets Expanded > Skill Distance Increased
A Shot at Victory: Annihilating Blade - Skill Effect Enhanced - Effect Duration Increased
Curse Explosion: Damage Increased

Ideal skill rotation

Start with curses, it's really good (Image via NCSoft)

Standard boss fights should begin with a Provoking Roar, followed by Time for Punishment and Touch of Despair. Your following burst should be something like:

A Shot at Victory
Shield Strike
Shield Throw
Touch of Despair
Curse Explosion

Keep casting Touch of Despair and keep three stacks on the boss if possible. Re-apply Provoking Roar to maintain taunt. Shield Throw or Chain Hook is your next best bet if Provoking Roar is on cooldown.

Endgame stat allotment

Stat allocation will differ in the endgame, as the primary goal will be to hit the 50-stat point milestone for Strength. With the mid-game transitory Blue-tier and Endgame's Purple-tier gear, players will get additional stat boosts, the allotment will be different in each stage.

They should aim to have Strength, Perception, and Wisdom-oriented allocation for the end-game setup as Dexterity starts to lose damage value with content level. Achieving a 70-strength threshold will allow players to bolster their health, as well as ranged and melee defenses. The remaining points should be allocated to Perception for the increased buff duration (Point milestone 40) and Wisdom for Cooldown Reduction (Point milestone 50).

Gearing Progression

Your first goal in the endgame is to swap out your assortment of Green and Blue-tier gear for entirely Rare gear. Try to scout out high-value items like Breeches of the Executioner, Etched Alabaster Band, and Flamewrought Bindings in open-world dungeons, while matchmaking for Co-op dungeons.

The best gear set for a Tank is undoubtedly the Shock Commander. This gearset provides flat damage reduction for the two-piece bonus, while the four-piece bonus is a 10% increased shield block chance. The Shock Commander Plate Armor gives the highest defensive values out of all pieces. For the cloak, Supreme Devotion is an excellent choice.

This enemy will be your worst nightmare (Image via NCSoft)

The other two gear pieces should be off the Ascended Guardian set, because the two-piece bonus offers a handy 7.5% Cooldown Reduction. Most of these items can be tracked via the in-game Codex.

For accessories, the Belt of Bloodlust, Etched Alabaster Band seems to be the most popular choice among players. Both items and the Plate Armor can be farmed inside Syleus's Abyss.

The Sapphire Dimensional Band and Amber Dimensional Band can be optional upgrades for their two-piece bonus of Stamina Regen, to help with Fury blocks. Lastly, Collar of Decimation and Ancient Saurodom Bracers should be the final upgrades. Blessed Templar Choker is an excellent option as well.

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Edited by Abu Amjad Khan