In this week’s Albion Armory we take a closer look at a build, that was designed to pierce the morale and the hearts of its enemies in a GvG – the Arbalist.

April 4, 2017 at 7:00 PM by UrzakeFrostgard

Albion Online offers a countless amount of possible builds. Some of them are designed for a more general playstyle and others are created with a specific goal in mind. The goal of this week’s build is to be as deadly as possible in a GvG. TimTheEnchant3r, in-game known as Sex and member of Echo of Silence, decided that the time is right to present his build to the community of Albion. Enjoy!

Creation of the Arbalist

“The reason I decided to create this build was to burst down my enemies in a GvG match while being durable enough to survive their damage and to counter their crowd control abilities,” Tim explains. “The build utilizes a deadly burst combo that can be mixed in with good sustained damage while adding enough utility to be able to react accordingly to your current situation. Defending your backline, leading the charge or putting pressure on your enemies’ healer – all of this is possible with this build!”

Build Overview - Summary

The Arbalist offers you a kit of abilities that allow you to quickly burst down a key target, pressure your opponent’s backline, and to escape/survive incoming focus fire on yourself.

Once your enemies know about your burst damage, you can draw out their defensive abilities with ease. This will give your team an advantage and will allow you to take them out one after another.

The downside of this build is a general lack of mobility and chasing potential, as all of your damaging abilities are either channeled or have a cast time. Positioning and timing are the two key factors that decide the outcome of the battle.

Equipment: Weapons

Mainhand: Light Crossbow (Tier 6+)

Auto Fire

A channeled attack which deals physical damage.

Noise Eraser (Skill shot)

Cast a bolt in any direction. On hit, it silences an enemy and deals damage.

Exploding Shot

Fires an exploding shot that deals physical damage and places a bomb on the target. After a few seconds, the bomb will explode, dealing damage to all enemies in a 5 meter radius around the detonation.

Passive: Furious

Every 5 activated spells, all your damage is increased by 10% for 4 seconds.

The Light Crossbow is a great weapon with a high burst potential in general. However, using the skills requires a lot of training and general awareness of the battlefield. Exactly knowing when to use your Auto Fire is the first thing you need to learn if you want to use this build efficiently, as it will render you stationary and vulnerable.

Your Noise Eraser is a game changer, if you are able to land it you can instantly stop your opponents’ engagement or secure a kill for your team.

Last but not least is your Exploding Shot. While the initial damage isn’t that high, the delayed damage of the bomb you apply with it can easily catch a healer off guard. If you time your follow-up correctly you are able to snipe down your target before the enemies’ healer is able to react.

Note: Until you unlock Noise Eraser use Sunder Shot.

Offhand: Sarcophagus Shield

Due to this build’s lack of mobility, you will find yourself quite often under attack. The Sarcophagus Shield adds the highest damage mitigation you can get in an offhand. This mitigation will save your life countless of times!

Equipment: Armor

Helmet: Cleric Cowl

Ice Block

Channeled ability, which instantly makes you immobile and invulnerable to damage for the duration of the spell.

Passive: Aggression

Increases your damage and heal power.

Ice Block can be used in a lot of different situations. Most of the time you will find yourself using your Ice Block when something went wrong, e.g. your engage was countered or you're suddenly surrounded by enemies. Yet, there are also situations when you can use this ability to bait out your enemies skills, by for example faking a misplay that puts you out of position.

Variant: If your team is supported by a Holy Staff you can use the Guardian Helmet with Stone Skin and Passive: Toughness as well. This will offer you more mobility for engages or disengages as a tradeoff for the invulnerability.

Chest: Mage Robe

Frost Shield

Increases your Armor and Magic Resist for a few seconds. Enemies that attack you are slowed. A percent of the incoming damage (before Armor/Magic Resist) is reflected back to its source.

Passive: Aggression

Increases your damage and heal power.

The Mage Robe itself is a huge boost to your damage and is essential to burst down a key target. Frost Shield, on the other hand, is a great defensive ability that allows you to escape an enemy’s engage or to use their own damage against them.

Boots: Knight Boots

Rejuvenating Sprint

Increases your move speed by 100% and heals you over the duration of 3 seconds.

Passive: Toughness

Decreases the damage your receive.

The Rejuvenating Sprint is a potent gap closer and a great disengage. The heal will allow you to stay alive just a moment longer before your healer is back in range.

Variant: Another option for your boots are the Royal Shoes with Evasive Jump and Constitution. As Evasive Jump makes you immune to incoming damage instead of healing you, you have to be more aware of the right moment to use it. Its main advantage is that you are able to bait out your enemies’ skills with as well.

Consumables: Food and Potions

Stew

Increases your overall damage.

Major Healing Potion

Regenerates a percentage of your total health over time.

The Healing Potion is used to keep you alive while the Stew increases your overall burst potential.

Tips, Tricks, and Combos

First things first! The correct usage of your Auto Fire will decide if you survive while your target dies. The most important thing to look for is everybody’s positioning and predict their next move, similar to playing a game of chess. While you are able to cancel Auto Fire at any given time, you are immobile as long as you deal damage. If your target runs out of range your attack will be cancelled and if the enemies’ damage dealers close on to your position, you are most likely forced to stop your attack to save yourself. Make sure you close in on your target so they cannot outrun you, but position yourself in a way your opponents cannot reach you.

Another way to use your Auto Fire is to force your enemies to reposition or to block off a certain area from them. The moment an enemy enters your Auto Fire range, you start attacking them leaving them with two options: Take the damage or move back.

Your Noise Eraser is an excellent way to engage your enemies. Thanks to the huge range it can be used to peel your enemies from afar and the silence also allows you to render your enemies’ team utility useless, for example by silencing their support. As Noise Eraser is not only a skill shot but also has a cast time it requires some training to hit your targets, but once you are able to land it, it will be a devastating weapon in combat.

Most of the time, your Exploding Shot is your combo starter. Once the skill hits your target, use Noise Eraser before starting Auto Fire. This will deal a massive amount of damage to your target in a very short amount of time. To increase your burst it is recommended to combine your forces with an Arcane Staff player.

Pro Tip: You can apply the bomb from Exploding Shot on a target while they are in Ice Block. As long as the detonation is after Ice Block wears off, they will receive damage. Starting your Exploding Shot roughly halfway through the duration of the Ice Block should do the trick.

If your team catches your opponents off guard, don’t hesitate to lead the charge and push into their backline. If you are able to kill someone or at least force the enemies’ healer away, your team will gain the upper hand in the following skirmish. In case something goes wrong you have your defensive abilities to survive until your team arrives. Communication is the key to make those kind of plays effective!

Don’t be afraid to split your damage between your enemies. Especially against a Holy support, spreading your damage is a great way to increase the pressure.

What is your opinion on the Arbalist? Let us know in on our forums !

Want your build to be featured on the Albion Online website? Contact me, UrzakeFrostgard, via the forums or on Discord (UrzaKeFrostgard#5431). Currently, I am looking for a PvE tank build for the black zones. If you think you are the most durable tank out there and you want to share your build with the Albion Online Community, hit me up!