Fire Staff Abilities and Skill Trees for New World

While this page focuses on assessing the viability of abilities and skill tree nodes, it also gives a bit of advice on how to use them. The gameplay section Fire Staff guide has additional information regarding the usage of abilities and each of our Fire Staff PvP Builds and Fire Staff PvE Builds has a detailed gameplay section that explains how to play the build.

• Pillar of Fire — 15 mana, 10s CD: Invoke a burst of flames with a 2 meter radius at the target area that deals 170% weapon damage.
• Strike the Match — 25 mana, Pillar of Fire deals 5% more damage for each stack of smolder on the target.
• Arson's Advantage — Gain 15% of your max mana per enemy hit by Pillar of Fire.

Summary: This ability has incredible burst damage and can double hit. At times it can be seen as a flex pick for some players who choose to take Flamethrower. It can be difficult to aim at times due to ground targeting. If used correctly this can provide fantastic AoE damage, or be used well in a single target scenario.

Crafting Material: Steel Fire Staff Charm - Refreshing Pillar of Fire: Reduce this ability's cooldown by 17% (30% on weapon) per enemy hit with Pillar of Fire. (2 hits max.)

• Void Blade — 5 mana per second, 18s CD: Call down a rain of meteors for 6 seconds in a targeted 4.5 meter radius area up to 20 meters away. Deals 75% weapon damage to targets upon entering the area, then dealing an additional 25% weapon damage every 0.75s while targets remain inside.
• Immolation — Meteor Shower gives you 1% of your max mana for each instance of damage dealt.
• Fiery Determination — Adds grit while casting Meteor Shower.
• Judgment of Helios — All hits after the initial impact now deal 40% weapon damage.

Summary: This ability will function similarly to Ice Storm in Season One. While it does not have the most damage, it can certainly be an impactful AoE ability.

Crafting Material: Starmetal Fire Staff Charm - Empowering Meteor Shower: When Meteor Shower hits gain 2% (2.9% on weapon) Empower for 10s. (Max 10 stacks)

• Fireball — 25 mana, 15s CD: Shoot a heavy fireball that deals 140% weapon damage on impact and leaves behind a 3 meter burning field that lasts 6 seconds. The burning field deals 10% weapon damage each second.
• Scorched Earth — Fireball hits now apply a stack of smolder on targets, dealing 10% weapon damage each second for 6s.
• Catch — Direct hits with Fireball give you 10% of your max mana and reduce your fire staff ability cooldowns by 7%.

Summary: This ability is a fantastic source of burst damage. It is easy to use, consistent, and will always apply damage pressure. Additionally, it can be a source of cooldown reduction.

Crafting Material: Orichalcum Fire Staff Charm - Empowering Fireball: Fireball impact deals 32% (58% on weapon) additional damage.

• Incinerate — 22 mana, 12s CD: Cause a fiery explosion in a 3 meter radius area around yourself that deals 130% weapon damage and pushes back all enemies 3 meters. Inflicts burning on struck foes, dealing 10% weapon damage each second for 6 seconds.
• Scorched — Each hit of Incinerate causes an additional stack of burning.
• Cauterize Wounds — Restore 20% of Incinerate damage dealth as health.
• Flame out! — Gain a stack of 3% empower for 7s for each target hit with incinerate.

Summary: After being buffed in Season One, this ability is much more impactful. It will occur much faster and is easier to secure hits with. It can be an option in some builds, but it will be difficult to play in melee range.

Crafting Material: Reinforced Steel Fire Staff Charm - Empowering Incinerate: Incinerate gains grit, and deals 12% (20% on weapon) additional damage

• Flamethrower — 5 mana per second, 8s CD: Create a 4 meter jet of flame from the staff dealing 50% weapon damage every half second. Each hit inflicts a stack of burning, dealing 10% weapon damage each second for 6 seconds. (Max 5 stacks.)
• Fire's Reach — Increase the range of Flamethrower by 50%.
• Infernal Flames — Increase the base damage of Flamethrower by 25%.
• Pyro Dancer — Flamethrower has no cooldown.

Summary: This can be used in a few different variations of Fire Staff builds. It is incredibly powerful due to its ability to critically hit from behind like a melee weapon. This makes it the go-to pick in PvE as well. In PvP it can be used to apply pressure to AoE clumps, or harass healers and other squishy targets. Its damage should not be underestimated. This will hit the target, critically strike, proc Attunement, and leave a damage over time effect that stacks 5 times, resulting in high damage output.

Crafting Material: Reinforced Starmetal Fire Staff Charm - Accelerating Flamethrower: Applying 3 stacks of burn damage on a target with Flamethrower grants Haste, increasing movement speed by 20% for 2 seconds. Burn from flamethrower lasts 15% (19% on weapon) longer

• Burnout — 30 mana, 20s CD: Dash forward up to 11 meters through targets dealing 129% weapon damage on hit. Passing through a target will inflict burning that deals 10% weapon damage each second for 8 seconds.
• All In — Fire Staff cooldowns are reduced by 5% for each foe hit by Burn Out.
• Heat it Up! — Burn Out now triggers an explosion right as it ends dealing 100% damage to all targets in a 2.5m radius.

Summary: This is the Fire Staff's only mobility option, and its only true defensive cooldown. It does have a long animation before launching yourself forward, so it requires some thought before using it. If you use it with enemies in your face you will most likely be stunned, rooted, or pulled, and have no escape. It has to be used preemptively while enemies are still a distance away. It does have offensive potential through its damage effect, but most importantly it can be used to "deliver" a Brutal Heartrune of Detonate into a clump of enemies. This ability is not needed, and can be dropped especially with a healer in your group.

Crafting Material: Reinforced Orichalcum Fire Staff Charm - Fortifying Burnout: Burnout applies a stack of 10% (13% on weapon) Fortify for 5s for each target hit.

• Spell Focus — Mana restoration is not needed in mana magic damage builds. As such, this perk should not be taken.
• Fiery Restoration — This is an essential skill that helps with ability output. Since the Fire Staff has high damage abilities, like Fireball or Pillar of Fire, any form of cooldown reduction is appreciated--especially 10% when landing a heavy attack.
• Clear Mind — Free empowerment effect as long as you are above 50% mana. As long as you are dodging and taking advantage of the Intelligence passive to get mana back, or using Infused Regeneration Potion, this will have high up time.
• Singe — In most cases you will want to prioritize heavy attacking. While this can be dropped in favor of other passives, it can be beneficial in PvE environments, or for additional damage in PvP when you cast light attacks to sneak in quick damage or secure a kill.
• Spellslinger — Free critical hit chance; this should always be taken.
• Clear Casting — Great source of increased damage. In most cases you will be playing farther back, resulting in high up time. This should always be taken.
• Prophet of a Fire God — Free critical hit damage; this should always be taken.
• Flare — This synergizes well with Fiery Restoration and Clear Mind since we want to prioritize heavy attacks over lights. This will help maintain empowerment and allow us to be able to cast more frequently.
• Runes of Helios — This should almost always be taken. It provides incredible burst potential, especially when using Empowering Fireball. Try to time your ability usage with this ultimate, and be sure to stay within its radius. It is a great source of increased damage output.

• Pyromania — This can be valuable over other passives when you have additional points to distribute. It will hopefully have low up time, but it can be a great source of additional damage to try and kill an enemy who has a lot of pressure on you.
• Heat Up — You will almost never be blocking with a Fire Staff. To add insult to injury, you also never need to restore 5% of your mana, this is an insignificant amount. As such, it is not recommended.
• Let it Burn — This is necessary in all builds. It is one of the only defensive passives with the Fire Staff, and there are many sources of burn to activate it and help reduce incoming damage.
• Kindle — This can be a decent choice when you have additional points to spend. The 20% duration increase is not a large amount, but it can apply a little extra offensive pressure.
• Watch it Burn — This should almost always be taken. It just adds more damage potential to all of your abilities.
• Extended Suffering — This perk has minimal value. The debuff duration extension when heavy attacking is not significant enough to warrant picking up this passive. There are plenty of other ones that have significantly more value. In all, this should not be taken since the debuffs it applies to will be frequently refreshed regardless.
• Trial by Fire — The cooldown for this passive is 2 minutes long. On top of that, you only deal 5% weapon damage to all enemies in a 4 meter radius. While it does last 10 seconds, this cooldown mixed with its incredibly low damage output makes it a passive that is generally seen as a waste. This passive is not recommended.
• Combat Speed — This has some value when using something like Flamethrower. Outside of that, it is generally not a passive worth picking up unless there is extra points to be spent.
• Reheat — This is never worth taking, even in builds where you do not take Runes of Helios. Mana regeneration is generally a waste when playing with a Fire Staff. This ultimate is not recommended.