Prowling Staff (outdated)

Prowling

Prowling Staff

FIEND COWL - MISTWALKER JACKET - ANY PLATE BOOTS - UNDEAD CAPE

A tier
Previously, this was the only S tier build. Currently, due to repeated nerfs, it is no longer nearly as oppressive as before, but it is still an A tier worthy build.

Awakening trats:

S tier: life steal

A tier:
HP, DEF, Ability Damage, IP, CDR

This build requires you to use your abilities on mobs for stacks. When escaping and chasing, putting a human form W on mobs to get stacks will give you a lot of healing if you have some life steal. Your cat form combos do a lot of damage, and having some life steal helps cancel a lot of damage you take from things like mob aggro and bleeds.

IP also gives this build a lot more value than most builds, as it increases not only your damage but also your HP while you are transformed, making you less squishy and vulnerable when you are in cat form.

HP, DEF, and Ability damage are the highest value common traits.

Warning: Prowling staff has not been very popular since they nerfed it repeatedly. This can no longer be called a meta build.

Default Abilities and Passives:
Prowling staff:

Q4, W1, passive2

Fiend Cowl:
Purge, passive 1

Mistwalker Jacket:
Mist Cloud, passive 1
Any Plate Boots:
Rejuvenating Sprint, passive 2

Explanation:

Gain stacks in human forms, transform and hit W and 2xQ’s every time you have enough stacks, do not triple Q in cat form unless you can get the kill, avoid the long cooldown on transformation. Use mistwalker jacket to avoid big damage skills or important cooldowns such as mercenary jacket and infernal shield. Purge is mostly used on enemy boots. For t4 t5 weapons, use q2, since q4 is not available. Against melees, use human form W to zone off your enemy. Standing on top of the W AOE makes it hard for melees to hit you without taking damage.

Strengths and weaknesses:

Excels at dismounting and ratting.

Limited ability to chase down high mobility targets and escape rats.

Variations:

Duskweaver helmet for more mobility. Having another gap close helps against kite builds such as frosts and bows. Using this ability on mobs can help escaping bad situations.

Main Food:

Eel stew

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