Basic Builds: Nature Staff

Welcome to another of our Basic Builds guides for beginner-to-intermediate players. Each guide presents a suggested build and describes how its abilities work in tandem. You can try these out as-is, or use them as a starting point to create new builds of your own.

[h3]Characteristics[/h3]

This build features the Nature Staff, a healing weapon located in the hunter tree that is characterized by its large area healing abilities and its thorns abilities that offer continuous damage.

Here’s the full breakdown!

[h3]Equipment and Skills Used[/h3]



Adept’s Nature Staff

• Thorn Growth
  • Your Q creates a field of thorns on the ground that applies charges to all enemies within every 0.5 seconds; it has a short cooldown and can be recast 3 times
• Brambleseed
  • Your W places a line of seeds on the ground that will grow after a short time, throwing all enemies on top of it into the air; both these effects deal damage, the latter more so
• Circle of Life
  • Your main ability heals up to 5 allies in a large radius around you; if enemies within that radius have at least 3 thorn charges on them, they take additional damage and are rooted for a short time

Adept’s Mage Cowl

• Firebreath
  • Your Cowl has an offensive spell that briefly ignites enemies in a small cone in front of you

Adept’s Mercenary Jacket

• Bloodlust
  • This jacket's active ability allows you to regain some health every time you auto-attack or cast a damage spell

Adept’s Soldier Boots

• Rejuvenating Sprint
  • Your shoes’ active ability is a sprint that also heals you slightly

Adept’s Bag: Increases carry weight capacity

Adept’s Cape: Increases Energy and passive Energy Regeneration

Minor Poison Potion: Inflicts damage-over-time effect on targets and decreases their resistances for its duration

Pork Omelette: Increases your cast speed and cooldown rate, allowing you to use your abilities more frequently

Journeyman’s Riding Horse: Brings you swiftly across the map while adding more carrying capacity



[h3]Pros and Cons[/h3]

Pros:

• Fast clear speed
• High sustain
• Good for healing small PvE groups
• Affordable

Cons:

• No additional mobility besides boots spell
• High standtime and cast time
• Not suited to large-scale fights

[h3]Playstyle[/h3]

• Your Q-spell creates a field of thorns on the ground that repeatedly applies a charge to enemies within it. It can also be recast within three seconds up to three times. Using an auto-attack on an enemy within the thorns consumes them while dealing bonus damage.
• Your W-ability places bramble seeds on the ground that shoot up after a short delay, launching enemies into the air and interrupting them. Its two damage instances allow for good synergy with the Mercenary Jacket.
• You may change your W to Revitalize for tougher enemies. This will allow you to increase your sustain at the expense of some damage and crowd control.
• Your E-spell is a large-area heal that can be used for group play. It has a strong synergy with Thorn Growth, as it roots all enemies that have at least 3 charges on them. It also deals some bonus damage.
• The whole weapon kit can alternatively be used to heal groups, by switching the Q to Rejuvenation or Rejuvenating Flower and the W to anything other than Brambleseed.
• The cowl has an additional damage spell that allows you to take down groups of enemies more quickly.
• The jacket can be used to regain health. It is best used in combination with your W and E-abilities as they can hit multiple targets and apply lifesteal charges more quickly. Your Q does not trigger Bloodlust as it doesn’t deal direct damage. Auto-attacks are also advised while using this jacket.
• Your boots offer a sprint ability that can regain a small amount of health quickly, while providing increased movement speed.
• An enemy encounter should look something like this:
  • Stack multiple Thorn Growths and try to get all enemies inside the areas.
  • Use the W to keep them away from you or to interrupt their key abilities.
  • Cast your E when all enemies have multiple thorn stacks on them.
  • Use auto-attacks on the enemy you’re trying to finish off for additional damage.
  • When you drop to low health, use your jacket followed by Brambleseed and auto-attacks. You may also use your boots to create space and heal even more.
• Energy can be an issue, so it’s recommended to use the energetic passive and auto-attack enemies in between cooldowns.

That's it for this week - stay tuned for more Basic Builds guides coming soon!