[Updated to version 5.2.3]

This guide is meant both to teach the specific mechanics of weapons and talents of the character, as well as to showcase many different builds for distinct playstyles.
The goal is that you can find interesting, yet effective builds that best suit your preferences, even those weapons and talents which everyone keeps saying are trash simply because they are not "meta".
Everything you see here has been properly tested throughout several games.

Disclaimers:
When talking about breakpoints, I don't consider Wargors specials even though they technically are. What I mean is, if you read "all specials", that means all specials EXCEPT Wargors.

I tried to adjust the properties' percentages to the bare minimum required to reach the intended breakpoints, but sometimes it's just impossible. If you want to make sure you reach them without perfect stats, use the breakpoint calculator (link below).

Legend:
THP = Temporal Health Points
Pv* = Power vs *something* (S for Skaven, C for Chaos, I for Infantry, etc.)
BCR = Block Cost Reduction
CDR = Cooldown Reduction
AS = Attack Speed
DRv* = Damage Reduction vs *something* (S for Skaven, C for Chaos, AoE for Area of Effect)
SBS = Shot Body Shot
SHS = Shot Head Shot
CW = Chaos Warriors
SV = Stormvermin
LAtt = Light Attack
HAtt = Heavy Attack
PAtt = Push Attack
L* = Light attack number *something*
H* = Heavy attack number *something*
BlockCancel = Pressing block input to reset attack combos

Check my other guides:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3032728547
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3081382002
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3176406871
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3186904330
Here are some links to other great stuff made by the community:

• Breakpoint calculator v14.11b (thanks to OrangeChris [original author] and VernonKun [current author]): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1n8fq0MF6xvZlwSSM__O6N8mEsgHbPKbrBWA8NJOSPx8/edit?gid=62597031#gid=62597031
  
• Royale w/ Cheese guides (thanks to, well, Royale w/ Cheese): https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/id/dylanrong/myworkshopfiles/?section=guides&appid=552500&p=1
  
• Armory mod wiki: https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/guide-armory-weapon-stats-info/49286
  
• Vermintide 2 Arsenal comparator (by me. This a WIP spreadsheet made to quickly compare different weapons): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NfBK30PuLJGwoOSqrah24tMRUh53WGE2AwvZzbijSyU/edit?usp=sharing

Sienna is capable of doing great damage to all types of enemies and at all ranges thanks to the flexibility of her weapons and career skills. This means that building her properly is super important, but also tricky. Thankfully I can help with that.
Most of her weapons have many different attack patterns effective against different types of enemies and in different situations. This can make her extremely powerful, but it also means that it's really hard to learn how to play her properly.
Sienna's ranged weapons (from now on, staves) generate heat when casting and charging spells. This mechanic is known as 'overcharge' and is shared with Bardin's drakefire weapons and Kerillian's Deepwood Staff.
Each staff generates a different amount of heat, but the consequences are always the same. After surpassing certain thresholds, Sienna's heat will cause her to attack and move slower, but also gain specific buffs depending on the career and talents chosen. Additionally, if your heat meter exceeds the limit, Sienna will rapidly start loosing health for a few seconds just to explode (and get knocked down) right after.
Heat will dissipate slowly over time automatically; but you can force it by holding the 'Reload' input. This action is known as venting and it will cause heat to dissipate much faster at the cost of a bit of health, so it shouldn't be used too often.
Given the nature of Sienna's weaponry, staves are very important when playing her. Natural Bond allows you to manually vent overcharge more frequently, since you will quickly regain the health lost by doing it. It's important to note that Natural Bond should only be picked if you are very good at defending yourself, as in you don't get hit more than 10 times in an entire mission, otherwise the other necklace traits will be better for you.
Sienna requires constant changes in positioning, weapon swaps and overheat management.
She's is a very difficult character to play and to build but, if done properly, she can deal with all kinds of threats easily.
Either if you want to toast enemies to their deaths or bully them with infinite stagger, Sienna can fit in any team composition and carry them to victory.

Fast strikes, horde-clear, high stamina
The Sword is a weapon with very fast attack speed and high damage and cleave against unarmored enemies, making it excellent at dealing with hordes.
Its damage against armored foes is very bad unless you hit headshots.
The Sword has high stamina, good dodge distance and good and cheap pushes.

It's also the only melee weapon in Sienna's arsenal that can't apply burn DoT.
Combos:
- vs hordes: L1+L2+BlockCancel
- vs mixed hordes: HAtt spam // H1+L2
- vs elites: LAtt spam // H1+H2+L3

Armor penetration, stagger, shieldbreaker
The Mace has very high single target damage, one of the best options to kill armored enemies with Sienna. It's also pretty good against hordes unless there are shielded or armored enemies in the way, since they interrupt its sweep attacks.
The Mace has decent stamina, good dodge distance and good pushes.

Heavy attack 1 (overhead) breaks wooden shields and applies burn DoT.
Combos:
- vs hordes: (PAtt+)L3+H2 // (PAtt+)HAtt spam
- vs mixed hordes: L1+L2+BlockCancel
- vs elites: H1+BlockCancel

Fast strikes, armor penetration, stagger, burn, shieldbreaker, headshot bonus
The Dagger is very fast, which makes it strong at killing hordes, but due to its low range it needs to be used carefully (mixing pushes in between attacks). It deals high damage to armored enemies with its heavy attack 2 (stab), and has really high stagger strength on its heavy attack 1 (sweep).
The Dagger has decent stamina, good dodge distance and half-cost pushes.

Heavy attack 1 (sweep) works like a shield bash attack, hitting all enemies in front of you (although its range is quite limited) and with very high stagger strength on the target in the center, even capable of interrupting chaos warriors normal attacks (NOT their overheads). It also applies burn DoT.
Heavy attack 2 (stab) breaks wooden shields and applies burn DoT.
Push attack applies bleed DoT.
Light attacks and Push attacks make you move faster.
Combos:
- vs hordes: LAtt spam
- vs mixed hordes: PAtt+L1+L2 // H1+L1+L2
- vs elites: HAtt spam

Fast strikes, horde-clear, stagger, burn
The Fire Sword is an excellent choice to clear hordes and mixed hordes, capable of applying burn DoT in a large area at the same time it staggers almost every enemy out of their attacks (with properties and traits it can even interrupt Plague Monks combos). Since most of its damage comes from burn DoT and can stagger them indefinitely, its not too bad against armored enemies.
The Fire Sword has decent stamina, good dodge distance and good pushes.

Heavy attack 1 (hand sweep) works like a shield bash attack, hitting all enemies in front of you with high stagger strength. It also applies burn DoT.
Heavy attack 2 (sword) and Push Attack also apply burn DoT.
Combos:
- vs hordes: H1+BlockCancel
- vs mixed hordes: HAtt spam
- vs elites: HAtt spam

Horde-clear, armor penetration, stagger, burn, shieldbreaker
The Flaming Flail is an extremely strong weapon in all situations and against all types of enemies. It has high damage, high armor penetration, high cleave and incredibly high stagger strength.
The Flaming Flail has decent stamina, good dodge distance and good pushes.

Attacks ignore shields.
Heavy attack 1 (overhead) burns enemies and creates an explosion that burns and staggers enemies in a small area around the first enemy hit. It also breaks wooden shields.
Combos:
- vs hordes: L1+H2+L3
- vs mixed hordes: HAtt spam
- vs elites: H1+H2+L3

Armor penetration, shieldbreaker
The Crowbill is a very niche weapon. With very high armor piercing attacks but low damage and extremely low cleave (capable of hitting one enemy per attack at most), it can only be used as a support weapon to kill elites; which is totally fine given that it compliments very well most staves.
The Crowbill has decent stamina, good dodge distance and good and cheap pushes.

Heavy attacks break wooden shields and have decent stagger.
Light attack 4 (stab) applies burn DoT.
Combos:
- vs hordes: LAtt spam
- vs mixed hordes: L1+L2+H2+L4
- vs elites: L1+H3 // HAtt spam

Horde-clear, armor penetration, burn
The Ensorcelled Reaper (from now on Scythe) is a great crowd control weapon. Its heavy attacks are wide horizontal swings with good cleave and high damage against unarmored enemies, while light attacks (specially the first one) have a lot of armor penetration.
The Scythe has decent stamina, short dodge distance and good pushes.

It has a special attack that causes an explosion that damages and staggers all enemies in front of you. This special attack generates THP.
Light attack 1 break wooden shields.
Light attack 2 (upswing) and Push attacks apply burn DoT.
Combos:
- vs hordes: HAtt spam // (L1/Special+)H2+L3
- vs mixed hordes: HAtt spam // Special+L2
- vs elites: L1+L2+BlockCancel

Mid range, horde-clear, special sniping, AoE, stagger, burn, friendly fire
Left click
Throws a small fireball forward. Good damage at close to mid range to kill specials. Bodyshots don't do well against armor, but its relatively easy to aim to the head at those ranges.
Generates a decent amount of heat.

Useful to snipe key enemies, although it's best not to use it against armored elites.

Right click
Throws a big fireball forward that deals damage to all enemies it goes through. Once it hits an armored unit or terrain, it explodes, dealing extra damage to all enemies in a big area. This explosion has good stagger, but not enough to interrupt elites' attacks.
Both the main projectile and the AoE apply burn DoT.
Generates heat both when charging the fireball and when throwing it which, combined, is a big amount.

Its a great antihorde tool due to its high AoE, damage and stagger. Since the hitboxes of both the fireball and the explosion are very big, it's easy to hit allies with them, therefore you should use it from the flanks and aim to the middle of the horde instead of the frontline. It can be used to hit specials that are mixed in a horde (very typical of packmasters).

Mid range, horde-clear, special sniping, AoE, stagger, burn
Left click
Throws a small fireball forward. Good damage at close to mid range to kill specials. Bodyshots don't do well against armor, but its relatively easy to aim to the head at those ranges.
Generates a decent amount of heat.

Useful to snipe key enemies, although it's best not to use it against armored elites.

Right click
While charging, it marks an area in the ground (allies can see this area). If you press left click you create an explosion that affects the marked area, damaging, staggering and applying a burn DoT to all enemies inside. The farther away from the center an enemy is, the less damage and stagger they will receive.
The stagger strength applied to the enemies in the center of the AoE when fully charged is the highest in the game, capable of interrupting all attacks without any extra buffs.
Generates heat both when charging the fireball and when throwing it which, combined, is a big amount.

Its a great antihorde tool due to its high AoE, damage and stagger; just like the Fireball Staff, but its easier to aim and easier to prevent friendly fire, so you can use it from any position. It can be used to hit specials that are mixed in a horde (very typical of packmasters).
I personally recommend positioning yourself behind your allies, in a safe spot, since it takes a while to fully charge it.

Long range, special sniping, armor penetration, rapid fire, headshot bonus
Left click
Throws sparks that deal low damage at a super quick fire rate. Good to take care of infantry units at mid range and to trigger the weapon traits 'Barrage' and 'Hunter'.
Each individual spark generates very little heat, but when you hold your fire it can go up surprisingly fast.

Right click
Hold it to charge a high damaging bolt that moves fast in a straight line when fired. Excellent to snipe specials and elites at all ranges, since its damage doesn't decay when fully charged.
The projectiles ignore shields and have high cleave through unarmored enemies.
Charging it doesn't generate heat, nor does it stop automatic venting. Throwing it generates a fare amount of heat.

Bolt Staff is an excellent choice to secure special kills and it can fit both a melee-focused and a ranged-focused playstyle.
Also, it's the only ranged weapon in Sienna's arsenal that can't apply burn DoT.

Close range, horde-clear, rapid fire, burn, friendly fire
Left click
Sprays some fire in front of you, slightly damaging and staggering enemies, although the stagger strength is not high enough to interrupt elites' attacks.
Generates a big amount of heat.

Useful if you see an elite getting a little too close to you, but has to be used before they start an attack, since you won't be able to interrupt it.

Right click
Charge the staff, then hold your fire button to release a constant stream of fire that inflicts a lot of damage to unarmored enemies and burns them. The more you charge it, the more time you can keep on the stream at an exponential rate. Learning how much charge time you will need requires a lot of practice, but helps prevent overcharging.
Charging generates a lot of heat and shooting the fire stream generates a super small amount (still enough to cause you to overheat if you are at the limit, so be careful).

Flamestorm Staff is by far the best anti-infantry weapon in the game, capable of melting dozens of enemies in a matter of seconds. The only problem is that it does almost no damage to armored enemies which, in Legend and specially Cataclysm, tend to mix themselves with infantry hordes quite often.
Additionally, being a close ranged weapon puts you at risk of being hit; that would interrupt the stream of fire and you would be surrounded by enemies in no time. All in all a high risk, high reward type of weapon.

Long range, special sniping, AoE, stagger, burn
Left click
Channel a beam of fire that deals a miniscule amount of damage at first, but grows stronger the more you hit the same enemy. Note that if you miss even just one tick of the beam or hit a different target, the damage will completely reset.
After the third tick, it starts applying burn DoT.
Generates very little heat.

Right click while holding left click
While channeling the beam, press right click to shoot a charged shot that causes a big burst of damage to the target you are aiming at. The stronger the beam was before firing it, the more damage it will do. It also applies a burn DoT that scales with the beam strength.
Generates a decent amount of heat.

This combo is the bread and butter of the Beam Staff, allowing you to snipe specials and elites consistently if you have good aim tracking.
Quickshot tech: Shoot the charged shot ASAP, good against Assassins.

Right click
Holding right click and then pressing left click shoots a blast of fire in front of you, staggering all enemies in a big arc at melee range. The blast deal a bit of damage and applies burn DoT.
Generates a decent amount of heat.

Great to stagger infantry units in front of you and to apply burn DoT to triggers sinergies.

Close range, horde-clear, burn
Left click
Similar to a shotgun, it deals high damage to unarmored but lacks a bit of armor penetration.
Generates a lot of heat.

Mostly useful to quickly increase your heat meter, to kill nearby specials or to stagger stormvermin.

Right click
Hold it to aim, shoot to create a pillar of flames in the ground that continuosly damages and applies a strong burn DoT on enemies that step on it.
Charging slowly builds up heat, its creating the pillars what generates a huge amount.

Coruscation staff is a great multipurpose support weapon; it severely damages enemies while they walk towards you and allows you to control their pathing since they try to avoid the flame pillars. It can also kill specials that get too close.

(Necromancer only)
Infinite range, special sniping, armor penetration, stagger, burn
Left click
Throws a small and slow fireball that bounces after hitting an enemy (up to 2 bounces for a total of 3 hits). These fireballs deal low damage and apply a long-lasting burn DoT. Only the first hit triggers other on-hit effects like traits and talents. It generates little heat.

Useful to quickly stagger infantry and non-attacking elites and to apply burn DoT.

Right click
Hold it to aim. While doing so, one enemy will be outlined in red (it overwrites the blue outline from tagging); and you can also zoom in by using the weapon special button for better accuracy.
While aiming, hold the shoot button to start channeling the charged spell (called soul reap). After one second holding it, you reap the soul of the enemy, dealing massive damage that ignores armor and shields and causing massive stagger (can interrupt all attacks except CW overheads).
Aiming generates an almost negligible amount of heat, holding the left click generates a bit more but the explosion generates a lot (more than 1/3 of the bar).

This spell is excellent to kill elites and specials without having to aim, but it's slower than it's counterparts (Beam and Bolt staves).

Soulstealer Staff has great synergy with the Necromancer's core passive and some of her talents, making this weapon extremely good with low effort.

Battle Wizard is first and foremost a ranged-focused career, but that doesn't mean that she can't deal huge amounts of damage with melee weapons as well.
One of her passives increases spell charge speed based on the amount of overcharge, but this is a double-edged sword since high overcharge will make you move and attack slower, making you more vulnerable in melee combat.
The other important passive is "Tranquility". This one is simple to understand, but not so simple to fully take advantage of. "Not casting spells for 6 seconds increases Overcharge decay speed by 200%". There are two talents that slightly modify this passive, but the philosophy remains the same: throw a bunch of spells, swap to your melee weapon for a while, then go back to using your staff.
This constant flow between weapons is something that you must learn if you want to master this career.

• Strengths: Insane dps with DoTs, great horde-clear, good mobility, easy to play.
  
• Weaknesses: Squishy (can compensate with high THP generation), low single target damage.

"Fire Walk" is one of the strongest career skills in the game. It makes your character dash forward, pushing all enemies in the way and leaves a trail of flames for several seconds that applies a strong burn DoT on enemies that touch it (including the enemies pushed while dashing). It can be used both aggressively and deffensively, and that's what makes it so strong.
The trail of flames is great, as it does a lot of damage during hordes, but it will blind you and your allies due to its high brightness, which can be annoying.
Just like any other career skill, it can be used while reviving a downed ally. This is particularly useful since it allows you to cc nearby enemies that could interrupt you or even keep reviving the ally while far away from them.
Unlike most other career skills though, using it doesn't interrupt your actions, so you can charge melee heavy attacks or ranged charged spells while dashing and throw them once you reach your destination.

• THP on stagger is insanely strong with Fire Sword and Dagger. Sword and Flaming Flail are ok with it, but for the latter it depends on what use you are going to make of it.
  
• THP on kill is the most viable option with weapons that will be used mainly for killing elites such as Mace and Crowbill. Flaming Flail is ok with it, but depends on what use you are going to make of it.

• "Volcanic Force" is the star of the Fireball, Conflagration and Bolt staves, granting a huge increase in damage for their charged spells (which you should be using most of the time). It has great synergy with Level 20 talent "Rechannel".
  
• "Famished Flames" is the top tier dps talent for Battle Wizard, buffing not only the burn damage from many of her weapons, but the damage of her career skill as well. It increases damage against elites for the Dagger quite substantially and, by reducing its light attacks' damage, you will hit (therefore stagger) more times, which helps with THP generation.
  Unfortunately, weapons which's main source of damage is not burn DoTs will be significantly nerfed (Mace, Crowbill, Sword, Flamestorm Staff, Fireball Staff, Conflagration Staff and Bolt Staff).
  
• "Ligering Flames" helps Beam Staff reach breapoints on elites and specials better than Famished Flames does, and it also upgrades its blast (charged spell) quite significantly, since it applies burn to all enemies right in front of you. The downside is that you loose a lot (and I mean a lot) of monster damage, so none is strictly better than the other. For the Flamestorm Staff though, it is the best choice in this row, since its burn DoT doesn't stack anyways, there is basically no downside to picking this talent with it.

• "Bulwark" is one of the weakest stagger talents unless you play defensively, and Battle Wizard doesn't fit in that playstyle.
  
• "Smiter" is an excellent choice to boost your melee damage consistently and helps a lot at dealing with armored enemies. Don't pick it if you chose "Famished Flames" as your level 10 talent, since they counteract each other.
  
• "Enhanced Power" increases all forms of damage, including from ranged weapons and burn DoTs. Unless you specifically need more damage on your melee weapon to kill elites, this is the best option.

• "Unusually calm" allows more 'spammy' use of your ranged weapons. You will be able to swap between weapons more frequently.
  
• "Rechannel" is very good for staves that are used for their charged spells like Flamestorm Staff, Conflagration Staff or Fireball Staff. Great in combination with Level 10 "Volcanic Force". For the Flamestorm Staff, since most of the heat is generated when charging the spell, it aslo effectively reduces the amount of heat generated.
  
• "Centred" grants faster overcharge decay speed if you are at red overcharge. If you are not, "Unusually Calm" will be faster.

• "Soot shield" is a strong and consistent damage reduction buff for weapons that can constantly apply burns (Fire Sword, Flaming Flail, Dagger, and all the ranged weapons except Bolt Staff). Really good in builds with which you fight at melee range frequently.
  
• "Fires from ash" works extremely well with Level 30 talent "Volan's Quickening", allowing you to use the career skill almost constantly during hordes.
  
• "Immersive inmolation" grants a big attack speed buff and, since it can be triggered by your ranged weapon as well, it can be a great choice when using the Fireball Staff or the Conflagration Staff in combination with slow melee weapons such as Flaming Flail or Mace.

• "Volan's Quickening" is a solid choice, but without Level 25 "Fires from Ash", "Burnout" is overall better.
  
• "Kaboom!" doesn't really increase the damage, it simply applies 3 stacks of the burn DoT instead of just one with the initial explosion. But because it doesn't leave a trail of fire, you are effectively applying less burns in the long term, so it can be considered a nerf. What it does, is to increase the AoE and the stagger strength of the explosion, although I'm not sure if the latter really makes any difference. Another plus for this talent is that it doesn't blind your allies (or yourself) with the absurdly bright flames.
  
• "Burnout" is a bit of an overkill on Legend difficulty, but can be helpful to reposition if you are not used to playing this career yet. In Cataclysm though, the amount of elites and density of the hordes make the double stagger and double trail of flames extremely valuable, not just as a safety tool but as an aggressive skill.

Honestly, for this row you can choose "Kaboom!" or "Burnout" indistinctly based on your personal preference. In the builds below you will always see "Burnout" instead of "Kaboom!", but that's just because I like it more, you can go with either.

This build focuses on causing burn DoTs to kill enemies of all types with both melee and ranged weapons.

---

Dagger and Fire Sword already have very high THP generation so Boon of Shallya would be overkill. Flaming Flail is the complete opposite, making Boon of Shallya vital when using it.
Regarding Flamestorm Staff's properties, choose between killing faster Maulers and specials (infantry) or Plague Monks and Savages (berserker). The difference is only noticeable in clutch situations.
For the last two rows of talents (Level 25 and Level 30) you can choose the "Fires from Ash"-"Volan's Quickening" combo for more damage, or "Soot Shield" and "Burnout" for more defense and utility.
As mentioned in the 'General tips' section of this guide, this build requires you to constantly swap between weapons to get the best out of both. In terms of positioning, this means that you will have to dance between the frontline and the backline constantly.
Note that the weapon that will define your playstyle mostly is the staff, so choose carefully a melee weapon that you think will compensate its weaknesses.

• Fire Sword is the safest choice being the most reliable at staggering, killing infantry and generating THP, but also the one with less damage against armored elites.
  
• Dagger is very flexible, fast and with good damage against all types of enemies; but the short range on attacks and pushes puts you at a bigger risk.
  
• Flaming Flail is super good at everything, so good in fact that it can't generate THP consistently with either Level 5 talent.

Flamestorm Staff is a main weapon capable of melting unarmored enemies like butter, while Coruscation Staff and Beam Staff are support weapons useful for crowd control (placing flame pillars to damage and zone enemies) and special sniping respectively.
For the melee slot, Fire Sword is exclusively a main weapon meant to stagger and kill hordes, but both Dagger and Flaming Flail can work as either a main weapon or as a support weapon; very good at killing armored elites and can also deal with hordes pretty easily.
Beam Staff breakpoints: After the nerf to Famished Flames, most of these breakpoints changed.
Legend:
- Quickshot:
With Famished Flames, Enhanced Power, +8.5%PvS, +8.5%PvC and +13%PvI:
2SBS Monks, Savages and all specials
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus beam shot:
With Famished Flames, Enhanced Power and +5%PvC:
1SBS all specials and elites except CW and Wargors
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 plus beam shot:
Without buffs:
1SBS all specials and elites except CW and Wargors
Cataclysm:
- Quickshot:
With Famished Flames, Enhanced Power, +5%PvS, +5%PvC and +5%PvI:
2SBS Assassins and Packmasters
3SBS any other special
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus beam shot:
With Famished Flames, Enhanced Power, Barrage, +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +10%PvA:
1SBS all specials SV, Monks and Savages
The SV breakpoint is very tight and only guaranteed at close range.
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 plus beam shot:
With Famished Flames, Enhanced Power, Barrage and +10%PvC:
1SBS all specials and elites except CW and Wargors
1SHS Wargor

Full ranged dps build that relies on big bursts of damage coming from fully charged spells.

---

Since this build focuses on using the staves a lot, Natural Bond can be a great help to regenerate the health lost from manual venting. Boon of Shallya on the other hand helps with melee combat, since THP on kill is not very reliable. You can opt instead for THP on stagger, but in this build melee weapons' main goal is to kill elites while the staves kill infantry.
"Enhanced Power" increases the overall dps of the staves and helps reach breakpoints in both Legend and Cataclysm. Unfortunately, in Legend quickplay the average teammate won't protect you, which means that you will have to use your melee weapon to defend yourself more often, making "Smiter" the superior choice. For Cataclysm, check the breakpoints below to know which properties are the right ones depending on the Level 15 talent you chose.
For the Level 25 talent, "Soot Shield" is the safest choice, but "Immersive Inmolation" can be a great boost for the Mace and the Flaming Flail since they are relatively slow.
The best place to position yourself is at your allies' flanks, that way you can ensure vision and that you won't hit them with your spells. Even then, it's important to aim your spells towards the middle of the horde and not the enemies that your allies are in contact with to minimize the chances of friendly fire.
Use the staff to kill and stagger hordes and finish off stragglers and elites with your melee weapon. When a special gets at close or mid range, you can try to snipe it with light spells, but if they are too far away it won't be worth it due to the staves low accuracy and damage decay.
The career skill is a great tool to reposition and to help teammates with its stagger strength, but it's also good to kill infantry if your frontline is becoming overwhelmed. Charging your melee heavy attacks or your charged spells while dashing is a combo that takes time to master, but can be very useful in clutch situations.
Extra tip: Conflagration Staff's charged spells separate enemies, which creates a nice opportunity for the Crowbill to kill them one by one.
Fireball Staff and Conflagration Staff left click breakpoints:
Legend:
- With +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +10%PvI:
2SBS Monks, Savages and all specials except Ratlings and Warpfires
3SBS Maulers
Cataclysm:
- With +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +10%PvB:
2SBS Assassins
3SBS Monks, Savages and all specials except Ratlings and Warpfires
- With Enhanced Power, +20%PvS, +10%PvC and +10%PvM
2SBS Assassins and Packmasters
3SBS Monks, Savages, Globadiers, Leeches and Blightstormers
2SHS Monks, Wargors and all specials except Ratlings and Warpfires
3SHS Ratlings and Warpfires

Fireball Staff fully charged spells, if you hit with both the projectile and the aoe explosion:
Legend:
- With Volcanic Force and +10%PvI:
1SBS all specials
2SBS SV, Bestigors, Maulers, Monks and Savages
- With Volcanic Force, Enhanced Power, +10%PvS and +10%PvA:
1SBS all specials and SV
2SBS Bestigors, Maulers, Monks and Savages
Cataclysm:
- With Volcanic Force, +10%PvS and +10%PvC:
1SBS Ratlings and Warpfires
2SBS SV, Bestigors and Maulers
You are not supposed to get two fully charged shots on elites (as it takes a lot of time), but reaching those breakpoints means that you are helping allies and your own melee weapon reach key breakpoints as well.

Stagger breakpoints:
- With Enhanced Power or +10%PvC:
Right click fully charged can interrupt all enemies if not attacking (the AoE as well).
Minimal charge right click can interrupt all enemies if not attacking except CW.attacks and Bestigors overheads.

A standard ranged dps build with insane breakpoints on elites and specials.

---

"Enhanced Power" makes Bolt Staff reach even more breakpoints and improves career skill damage. Both Sword and Fire Sword don't benefit much from "Smiter" or "Bulwark" and "Enhanced Power" gives them a little oomph. If you use Dagger, then you can consider the other two options, but since you will deal with elites with your staff, they are not really worth it.
For the Level 25 talent, "Immersive Inmolation" is the only viable option for the Sword, while "Soot Shield" is very good on the other two.
Your main priority should be to kill specials and elites at long range with fully charged bolts. It's important that they are charged to the maximum, otherwise they won't benefit from the level 10 talent "Volcanic Force" and won't do nearly as much damage. Pay attention to the icon of this talent appearing in the screen to make sure you got it right. While charging the Bolt Staff is faster than other staves, it still requires a safe space to do so, therefore positioning yourself behind your allies is the best strategy. Also, projectiles are thin enough to not really have to worry about friendly fire.
You should almost never use the main fire of the staff (the little sparks), as in doing so you won't get much benefit and you will slow down your overcharge venting coming from the passive "Tranquility". Be careful to not reach critical level overcharge (the last fraction, when the bar becomes red) during fights, as you will need to keep yourself mobile and able to fight enemies that get too close with your melee weapon.
Bolt Staff fully charged bolts breakpoints:
Legend:
- With Volcanic Force and either +5%PvC or +5%PvI:
1SBS all enemies except Chaos Warriors and Wargors
2SBS Wargor
4SBS Chaos Warriors
1SHS all enemies except Chaos Warriors
2SHS Chaos Warriors
Cataclysm:
- With Volcanic Force, Enhanced Power, +18.5%PvC and +15%PvI:
1SBS all elites and specials except Chaos Warriors and Wargors
1SHS Wargors
2SHS Chaos Warriors

Bolt Staff half charged bolts breakpoints:
Legend:
- With +20%PvS and +10%PvA:
1SBS Assassins
2SBS Globadiers, Leeches, Blightstormers and Packmasters
1SHS all specials
Cataclysm:
- With Enhanced Power, +17.5%PvC and +10%PvI:
2SBS all specials except Ratling Gunners and Warpfire Throwers
3SBS Maulers
1SHS Assassins, Leeches and Blightstormers
- With Enhanced Power, +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +17.5%PvI:
1SBS Assassins
2SBS Globadiers, Leeches, Blightstormers and Packmasters
3SBS Maulers, Ratling Gunners and Warpfire Throwers
1SHS Globadiers, Leeches and Blightstormers

While Pyromancer is a good hybrid career that can be built as either melee, ranged, or both; the most recent changes gave her a lot of extra tools to empower her ranged playstyles though, making them more optimal.
In order to capitalize on her passive "Critical Mass", which grants extra critical chance the more overcharge you have, its very important to keep you overcharge meter over half its maximum, dancing in between 3 and 5 stacks. This will increase your dps with both weapons and the career skill, and will also help trigger the weapons' traits almost constantly. Thanks to "Volan's Doctrine" passive you don't have to worry about overcharge slow.

• Strengths: High single target damage, good horde-clear, flexible builds.
  
• Weaknesses: Squishy, poor mobility, rng-dependant.

The Burning Head is an useless, buggy mess for the most part. Its autoaim works incredibly bad, focusing enemies by proximity to you rather than the direction you are looking at.
If you want it to target a specific enemy you have to hold the button for a few seconds until the enemy becomes highlighted in red, then when you throw the skull it will (try to) go straight to hit it. This is specially useful against far away specials, but it's not guaranteed to work.
It deals high damage but has no cleave against armored enemies whatsoever, so it will likely kill a stormvermin and then dissipate.
As a rule of thumb I recommend try to aim slightly to the head (the autoaim does a very good work at hitting headshots) to secure kills. The only enemies I found it won't kill with a headshot are Maulers (on Cataclysm) and Chaos Warriors (on both Legend and Cataclysm).
Spam this skill to trigger the Level 30 talents as often as possible or use it to snipe specials at long distances, but don't consider it useful in dreadful situations, it won't help you.

• THP on hit if your staff can kill elites (Beam Staff, Bolt Staff) OR if your melee weapon attacks very fast/has a lot of cleave (Dagger, Sword, Fire Sword).
  
• THP on kill if your staff can't kill elites (Flamestorm, Coruscation, Fireball, Conflagration) AND your melee weapon is good at it (Crowbill, Flaming Flail, Mace). If you don't meet both conditions, go for THP on hit, as its more consistent.

• "Ride the Fire Wind" gives a varying amount of extra power for (some) of your ranged weapons. Always positive as most staves don't really rely on reaching specific breakpoints.
  
• "Martial Study" is a small but consistent buff for your melee weapon.
  
• "Spirit-Casting" is really good if you manage to stay at high health, or so it would seem, but your passive already gives you a lot of crit chance when overcharged, so stacking even more can be redundant.

There really isn't a clear best choice in this row, so take your favorite based on your playstyle.

• "Smiter" is an excellent choice to boost your melee damage consistently. If you want to focus on melee, this is a must have.
  
• "Mainstay" is a bit trickier to get value from than "Smiter", but it works pretty well with the Flaming Flail and the Dagger.
  
• "Enhanced Power" increases all types of damage and stagger strength from all sources. I would recommend it for ranged playstyles or weapons that rely more on burn DoTs to do damage.

• "Deathly Dissipation" is really good in high difficulties if you are using a long range staff like the Bolt Staff or the Beam Staff, as they are excellent at killing specials.
  
• "On the Precipice" only works if you already are at 'critical overcharge' when you cast the spell, thanks to Pyromancer's increased overcharge gauge, this is a relatively large margin to work with, specially in combination with the trait "Heat Sink" and the Level 30 talent "Dissipating Rictus". It is perfect for the Flamestorm Staff though, since you generate heat when charging the fire spray but barely gain any when shooting.
  
• "One with the Flame" is a very strong choice to empower your melee weapon. Definetly the safest and most consistent talent in this row.

• "Soul Siphon" grants damage reduction when killing either elites or specials, which are very common in Cataclysm. Very solid choice for melee playstyles.
  
• "Flamestrike's Tutelage" severely reduces the damage from manual venting if there are no enemies nearby. Usually you want to stay at high overcharge and let the overcharge dissipate on its own, but if you are planning on using almost always you staff, it can be good.
  
• "Fleetflame" increases your movement speed every time you crit, making it great for kiting in melee combat and to reposition when playing ranged.

• "Dissipating Rictus" is great in combination with the Level 20 talent "On the Precipice", since it allows you to keep throwing spells without worrying about exploding due to overcharge.
  
• "Bonded Flame" is the most reliable choice, making manual venting basically free and increasing your survivability.
  
• "Blazing Echo" gives (at most) a 50% chance to refund the career skill's cooldown. Overall, too inconsistent for its requirements, and the career skill itself is mostly useless, so definetly not worth it. But it's fun, so why the hell would you not pick it.

A full ranged dps build that depends on the rng of crits to work its magic (no pun intended).

---

While this is a ranged build, thanks to Heat Sink you won't need to vent (or at least, not frequently). Barkskin will save you from tough situations and specials.
For your melee slot, the Dagger is the most versatile weapon. It's decent against all types of enemies and to defend yourself, but, most importantly, it doesn't need any talent to do so.
Fire Sword on the other hand deals less damage to armored enemies, but it's great for self-defense and the former is not a problem since your staff should be the one killing elites.
Bolt Staff is the main weapon in this build. Spam left click on infantry to kill them and increase overcharge. While there are better staves to clear hordes, this staff counts with the strongest special and elite sniping capabilities in Sienna's arsenal.
Fireball Staff is great as a spammable AoE stagger and damaging tool that's also decent at killing specials. Cool tech tip: Throwing a charged fireball at your feet will push away enemies near you and trigger Barkskin, great move when you are surrounded. Natural Bond on the other hand helps at staying at high health for activating "Spirit-Casting".
Also, don't worry about missing your spells, Heat Sink triggers even if you do, the only thing that matters is throwing the projectile.

Level 20 talent "Deathly Dissipation" works really good with this build, but it overlaps with Heat Sink. "On the Precipice" though synergizes incredibly well with it, since you can throw more spells than usual at critical overcharge.
At high overcharge and high health you will have around 50% critical chance, which significantly increases your dps and lets you benefit from Heat Sink more. If you are lucky enough you might even get several casts of the career skill in a row, allowing you to quickly dispatch a bunch of elites and/or specials in quick succession.
Bolt Staff:
When a horde starts, choose a flank in your team's frontline and shoot sparks (left click) at infantry or charged bolts (right click) at elites. If a special spawns, step back and start charging a bolt so you can kill it as fast as it makes itself visible. If you think it's a hard shot to make, you can instead hold your career skill until it locks the special to secure the kill.
Fireball Staff:
Choose a flank in your team's frontline and throw minimally charged fireballs at the middle of the horde (be careful not to hit your allies with the AoE explosion). To do this efficiently hold your secondary fire button (right click...) and spam your primary fire button (left click...). If you see a Packmaster, keep doing the same and you will quickly kill it.
When to melee:
Once the horde gets closer to your team and starts overflowing the frontline, make sure no straggler hits your allies in the back by using either your staff of your melee weapon.
Bolt Staff fully charged bolts breakpoints:
Legend:
- With Enhanced Power, +10%PvC and +10%PvI:
1SBS all elites and specials except CW and Wargors
2SBS Wargor
1SHS all enemies except Chaos Warriors and Maulers
2SHS CW
Cataclysm:
- With Enhanced Power, +6.5%PvS, +9%PvC and +8.5%PvB:
1SBS Monks, Savages and all specials
2SBS Stormvermin, Bestigors and Maulers
1SHS all elites and specials except Maulers and Chaos Warriors
3SHS Chaos Warriors

Bolt Staff half charged bolts breakpoints:
Legend:
- With Enhanced Power, +10%PvC, +10%PvI and +20%PvS/PvA (or +10% of both):
1SBS Assassins
2SBS Maulers and all specials except Assassins
1SHS all specials
Cataclysm:
- With Enhanced Power, +6.5%PvS, +9%PvC and +8.5%PvB:
2SBS all specials except Ratling Gunners and Warpfire Throwers
3SBS Ratling Gunners and Warpfire Throwers


Fireball Staff left click breakpoints:
Legend:
- With Enhanced Power, +5%PvS, +5%PvC and +6%PvI:
2SBS Monks, Savages and all specials except Ratling Gunners and Warpfire Throwers
2SHS Wargors
Cataclysm:
- With Enhanced Power, +19%PvS and +10%PvC:
2SBS Assassins
3SBS Monks, Savages, Globadiers, Leeches, Bightstormers and Packmasters
2SHS Monks, Wargors, Globadiers, Leeches, Bightstormers and Packmasters
3SHS Ratling Gunners and Warpfire Throwers

Fireball Staff minimally charged fireballs breakpoints:
Legend:
- With Enhanced Power, +8.5%PvS, +5%PvC and +6%PvI:
1SBS Packmasters
2SBS Assassins, Ratling Gunners and Warpfire Throwers
3SBS Stormvermin
2SBS crits Stormvermin
3SBS crits Bestigors
Cataclysm:
- With Enhanced Power, +19%PvS and +10%PvC:
2SBS Assassins and Packmasters
3SBS Ratling Gunners and Warpfire Throwers
4SBS Stormvermin
1SBS crit Packmasters
3SBS crits Stormvermin

Standard melee dps playstyle, taking advantage of talents that improve melee weapons while having support from very strong ranged weapons.

---

With this build you prioritize your melee weapon over your staff. All three melee weapons listed above are extremely good with all the buffs your passive and talents can provide, making you a killing machine that can easily kill both infantry and armored enemies in any combination.
For your ranged slot, Beam Staff is great for special sniping while Coruscation Staff provides crowd control and utility for your team. Both can build up heat very quickly and neither need any talent to do their job properly.
As a melee dps you should help your frontliners by killing enemies that come from the front, paying special attention to elites, but you should also be aware of the flanks so that the team doesn't get surrounded. Your ranged weapons can help do both things, since they provide good crowd control (even if they do so in different ways).
Your career skill is always a good tool to keep just in case a pesky special spawns, but you can also count on your team (or the Beam Staff) to do that and simply use it to take advantage of the level 30 talent you chose.
Beam Staff breakpoints:
Legend:
- Quickshot:
With +8.5%PvS, +8.5%PvC and +13%PvI:
2SBS Monks, Savages and all specials
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus beam shot:
Without buffs:
1SBS SV, Monks, Savages and all specials
With Hunter and +10%PvC:
1SBS all specials and elites except CW and Wargors
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 plus beam shot:
Without buffs:
1SBS all specials and elites except CW and Wargors
Cataclysm:
- Quickshot:
With +5%PvS, +5%PvC and +5%PvI:
2SBS Assassins
3SBS any other special
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus beam shot:
With +8%PvS, +8%PvC and +10%PvI:
1SBS all specials
1SHS SV, Monks, Savages and Wargors
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 plus beam shot:
Without buffs:
1SBS Monks, Savages and all specials

Standard ranged dps playstyle, taking advantage of talents that give extra ranged power while using melee weapons that supplement their weaknesses.

---

Hunter is a global dps boost that helps Fireball Staff at killing hordes, but it's bugged on the Conflagration Staff so its charged spells don't trigger it. Thermal Equalizer though is more consistent and helps with the overcharge management, which can be crucial if you are still learning these staves.
Since this is a ranged focused build, Natural Bond makes sense for manual venting, but if you are not comfortable with it equip Boon of Shallya as it's a safer option and these melee weapons can struggle at generating THP.
Enhanced Power is a great dps boost to both Conflagration and Fireball staves, but Smiter is a very much needed buff to your melee weapons if you want to kill armored elites.
The best place to position yourself is at your allies' flanks, that way you can ensure vision and that you won't hit them with your spells. Even then, it's important to aim your spells towards the middle of the horde and not the enemies that your allies are in contact with to minimize the chances of friendly fire.
Use the staff to kill and stagger hordes and finish off stragglers and elites with your melee weapon.
Reserve your career skill to kill far away specials that are out of reach of your staves.
Killing specials activates "Deathly Dissipation", which grants you twelve seconds of overcharge-free spells. At the same time, "Dissipating Rictus" allows you to cast spells at max overcharge without exploding for a long time after using the career skill.
Make sure to take advantage of these talents as much as possible to increase your staves uptime and, consequently, your dps.
Left click of both Fireball Staff and Conflagration Staff:
Legend
- With +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +10%PvI:
2SBS Monks, Savages and all specials except Ratlings and Warpfires
3SBS Maulers
4SBS Ratlings and Warpfires (better hit them with charged spells)
Cataclysm
- With +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +10%PvB:
2SBS Assassins
3SBS Monks, Savages and all specials except Ratlings and Warpfires
- With Enhanced Power, +20%PvS, +10%PvC and +10%PvM
2SBS Assassins and Packmasters
3SBS Monks, Savages, Globadiers, Leeches and Blightstormers
2SHS Monks, Wargors and all specials except Ratlings and Warpfires
3SHS Ratlings and Warpfires

Fireball Staff Stagger breakpoints (it's the same for Legend and Cataclysm):
- With Enhanced Power or +10%PvC:
Fully charged right click (direct hit and AoE) can interrupt all enemies if not attacking.
Minimal charged right click (direct hit) can interrupt all enemies if not attacking except CW.
- With Enhanced Power, +20%PvS and at least 5 stacks of Ride the Fire Wind:
Fully charged right click (direct hit) can interrupt Plague Monks (2 stacks) and Savages (5 stacks) combos.

Flamestorm staff can crit but the damage doesn't change, so don't be afraid about using it at low overcharge. Due to the nature of this weapon, it's pointless to look for breakpoints.

Thanks to her passives "Blood Magic" and "Unstable Strength", Unchained is an extremely tanky career that can also deal huge amounts of damage with her melee weapons. These buffs make her a very powerful and reliable frontliner, capable of dealing with both infantry and elites alike. She also has access to strong ranged weapons but, without specific buffs, they have to be relegated to very niche uses like special sniping or AoE staggering.
Use your ranged weapon to increase your overcharge meter at half, increasing your melee power without putting you at too much risk. If you get hit and your overcharge gets too high, push enemies, dodge back and quickly swap to your ranged weapon to vent some of it (one press of the button is usually enough).
Unchained is one of the few careers (probably the only one) that can be played without extra Health on the necklace properties. Given her passive damage reduction, every point of health is more durable, which also means that Natural Bond's effect is more meaningful. Still, Barkskin is a safer and more reliable trait for any frontline career.

• Strengths: Good single target damage, good horde-clear, high stagger strength, very tanky, build variety.
  
• Weaknesses: Risky and hard to play (Blood Magic), poor mobility, low ranged weapon availability during fights.

While you are still learning how to play this career, it's best for you to reserve "Living Bomb" to prevent overcharging. Once you are more proficient, you can use it more sparingly to cc enemies around you, creating space to regroup with your allies or to save them from being surrounded.
Bear in mind that using the career skill takes away all of your overcharge, which also removes the extra melee power gained from "Unstable Strength".

• THP on stagger for Dagger (if you favor heavy attacks) and Fire Sword.
  
• THP on hit for Dagger (if you favor light attacks), Mace, Sword, Crowbill and Flaming Flail.

• "Frenzied Flame" triggers when above half overcharge, making it very easy to keep active, but risky. Overall a very strong talent for aggressive builds that focus on melee combat.
  
• "Outburst" is a solid buff for a defensive playstyle, which is ideal in high difficulties. It applies a weak burn, useful to apply Level 25 talent "Enfeebling Flames" constantly in addition to increasing push angle. It requires to chain heavy attacks with pushes, so not all weapons can take advantage of this talent efficiently, as it would disrupt their combos.
  
• "Chain Reaction" can generate a explosion at random that staggers enemies in a small area. Excellent choice with Flamestorm Staff, since it applies burn DoT consistently but has very low stagger strength against elites. Unfortunately, its stagger strength is not high enough to interrupt elites' attacks and scattering enemies usually does more harm than good.

• "Bulwark" IS applied no matter how you cause stagger. This means that both weapons and even the career skill apply the debuff. This is insanely important when using Conflagration Staff and Fireball Staff, since they can hit (and stagger) lots of enemies with every charged spell, therefore, applying the debuff as well. Having a very consistent 10% damage buff on the entire team is extremely valuable; although this only works in Cataclysm, since Legend quickplay players tend to be more individualistic.
  
• "Mainstay" is usually a bad talent, and honestly, with Unchained is no different. "Bulwark" increases your damage 10% less (quite insignificant difference) but it also increases it for your allies, and the extra damage lasts for 2 seconds instead of just the stagger animation.
  
• "Enhanced Power" increases damage from burn DoT, ranged weapons and the career skill. It's more reliable than the other two, but not all melee weapons benefit from it equally.

• "Dissipate" allows you to pick other properties on your melee weapon and charm instead of BCR, like Stamina, which is great when using Level 10 talent "Outburst". Blocking is (or should be) your main defensive tool, which makes this talent very useful and allows you to vent overcharge for free at any given moment during combat.
  
• "Conduit" is great for a ranged-focused playstyle. Since you don't get any real buffs to ranged damage, there is no good build to go with it, but its effect is very strong nonetheless and might be good if you tend to manually vent the overchage gained from "Blood Magic.
  
• "Numb to Pain" doesnt allow you to stay at the frontline the whole time, you need to vent frequently and thats time you are not controlling the enemies. Being an inconsistent frontliner is very detrimental for the team, as they will most likely expect that from an Unchained. It is, though, an excellent excuse to play as a support. Sometimes you help the other frontliners, sometimes you fall back to kill specials or apply cc from afar. More on this talent in the 'Builds' section.

• "Enfeebling Flames" provides a lot of protection to yourself and your allies. Excellent choice when using weapons that apply burn, Level 10 talent "Outburst" and/or Level 30 talent "Wildfire".
  
• "Abandon" refreshes your career skill cooldown while you are in the overcharged 'about to explode' animation. This means that you can refresh it completely and prevent exploding/dying. Good when you are still learning to play this career and can't manage your overcharge properly.
  
• "Natural Talent" is a solid although weak option to better control your overcharge levels, specially if you use your ranged weapon a lot.

• "Fuel for the Fire" allows you to reset your overcharge without loosing the extra power "Unstable Strength" provided, allowing you to keep fighting with your melee weapon for a while before having to build it up again. Gaining overcharge is not hard though, so gaining extra power is a bit redundant.
  
• "Wildfire" is amazing. Not only does it give more dps by applying a burning DoT around you for a long time, but it also staggers everything around you, making it the best talent in this row.
  
• "Bomb Balm" is the safest option, giving more survivability to the whole team when using the skill. The only downside is that THP generation is so easy through normal means that adding even more is irrelevant half of the time.

A melee focused build, perfect for a frontliner playstyle that easily deals with both hordes and elites without sacrificing the ability to snipe specials at long range.

---

With the extra melee power from "Unstable Strength", Flaming Flail and Mace heavy and sweep attacks respectively have great stagger strength against elites. Sword also benefits in the same way, but it barely manages to interrupt Stormvermin overhead attacks with its heavy attacks. Thanks to the Level 20 talent "Dissipate", it's not necessary to have BCR properties in your melee weapons. You can instead opt for extra Stamina (more pushes and blocks) or even extra Attack Speed on the Sword since it already has higher base Stamina.
Bolt Staff and Beam Staff accomplish the same thing, sniping specials, but the latter can generate heat faster (which is a good thing if you want to build overcharge quickly).
Barkskin is good to reduce damage taken from DoTs (specials) which reduces the amount of overcharge generated through Blood Magic, preventing you to become fully overcharged by them. Natural Bond on the other hand is good if you tend to manually vent or if you only get hit once in a while.
"Enhanced Power" and "Bulwark" increase your melee damage roughly the same amount. While "Enhanced Power" helps you reach breakpoints in Legend with the Beam Staff; "Bulwark" increases the damage dealt by your allies as well as yours, making it better in Cataclysm, since you are very likely going to play together, but worse in Legend, since teammates usually are more individualistic.
As a frontliner, your job is to stand between the thickest parts of hordes and your allies, holding your ground by either staggering or killing all enemies that come near you. It's vital to know where to position yourself in the map so that no enemy can skip through you and disturb your allies. In Legend difficulty your allies won't cover your flanks properly, so you will need to pay extra attention to your surroundings. In Cataclysm the role of a frontliner is easier because you will (most likely) get better protection from your team.
With this build in particular you want to stay at high amounts of overcharge to increase your damage, cleave and or stagger; which makes it more risky.
With the Mace and the Scythe you will need to learn the combos, but the Flaming Flail and the Sword are very easy to play, just spam heavy attacks and light attacks respectively.
If the situation requires it and there is somebody else holding the frontline, you may quickly swap to your ranged weapon to snipe a pesky special or two, there is no reason to not help your team deal with specials if you have the chance to do so.
Beam Staff breakpoints:
Legend:
-Quickshots:
With Enhanced Power or +5%PvA:
2SBS Assassins, Ratling Gunners, Warpfire Throwers and Packmasters
3SBS Globadiers, Leeches and Blightstormers
- Beam tick 1, 2 and 3 plus beam shot:
With no buffs:
1SBS Assassins
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus beam shot:
With Enhanced Power, Barrage, +20%PvC and +15%PvI:
1SBS all specials and elites except CW and Wargors
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 plus beam shot:
With Enhanced Power and +5%PvC/PvI:
1SBS all specials and elites except CW and Wargors
Cataclysm:
- Quickshots:
With +10%PvS/PvI:
2SBS Assassins
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus beam shot:
With Barrage, +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +10%PvI:
1SBS all specials
2SBS all elites except CW and Wargors
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 plus beam shot:
With +10%PvS:
1SBS SV, Monks, Savages and all specials
2SBS Bestigors and Maulers

Bolt Staff fully charged bolts breakpoints:
Legend:
- With +18%PvC and +5%PvA:
1SBS all specials, SV, Bestigors, Monks and Savages
2SBS Maulers and Wargors
1SHS all enemies except Maulers and CW
2SHS CW
Cataclysm:
- With +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +16%PvI:
1SBS all specials
2SBS all elites except CW and Wargors
1SHS SV, Bestigors, Monks, Savages and Wargors

Despite being a tank build, it can deal high dps thanks to the different burn DoTs. Armored enemies can take a while to kill, but the infinite stagger compensates it.

---

The biggest difference between both melee weapons is that the Fire Sword has more crowd control and consistent stagger, but the Dagger attacks faster and has more mobility and damage against all types of enemies.
Coruscation Staff deals a lot of dps during hordes, while Beam Staff can snipe specials.
The Level 10 talent "Frenzied Flames" is an excellent upgrade for the Fire Sword, but the Dagger benefits more from "Outburst", specially with a defensive playstyle.
The core of this build is Level 25 talent "Enfeebling Flames", so try to apply burn debuffs on as many enemies as possible.
Barkskin is good to reduce damage taken from DoTs (specials) which reduces the amount of overcharge generated through Blood Magic, preventing you to become fully overcharged by them. Even though most of your damage with this build comes from your ranged weapons, you generate so much THP to vent with that you don't need Natural Bond at all.
As a tank, your job is to control the hordes and build space for your teammates so that they can do their things safely. This build has insane stagger and the ability to further protect your allies thanks to "Enfeebling Flames" without sacrificing too much damage. The problem is that while you have high dps with burn DoTs, your burst and anti-armor damage is slightly weak (not as noticeable in Legend).
With this build you don't need to play at high overcharge, since your damage doesn't benefit all that much from "Unstable Strength".
If the situation requires it and there is somebody else holding the frontline, you may quickly swap to your Beam Staff to snipe a pesky special or two, there is no reason to not help your team deal with specials if you have the chance to do so.
Beam Staff breakpoints:
Legend:
-Quickshots:
With Enhanced Power or +5%PvA:
2SBS Assassins, Ratling Gunners, Warpfire Throwers and Packmasters
3SBS Globadiers, Leeches and Blightstormers
- Beam tick 1, 2 and 3 plus beam shot:
With no buffs:
1SBS Assassins
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus beam shot:
With Enhanced Power, Barrage, +20%PvC and +15%PvI:
1SBS all specials and elites except CW and Wargors
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 plus beam shot:
With Enhanced Power and +5%PvC/PvI:
1SBS all specials and elites except CW and Wargors
Cataclysm:
- Quickshots:
With +10%PvS/PvI:
2SBS Assassins
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus beam shot:
With Barrage, +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +10%PvI:
1SBS all specials
2SBS all elites except CW and Wargors
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 plus beam shot:
With +10%PvS:
1SBS SV, Monks, Savages and all specials
2SBS Bestigors and Maulers

A weak yet amusing ranged-dps build for Unchained. Due to the lack of buffs to empower the damage of staves this build is not exactly strong, but it is fun and unique so I wanted to showcase it anyways.

---

This build was created to abuse the Level 20 talent "Conduit". With it and Natural Bond as your necklace's trait venting overcharge is esentially free.
Crowbill is an excellent support weapon to stagger and kill elites, specially Chaos Warriors. The Sword on the other hand is meant to kill infantry, but with the extra power from "Unstable Strength" and a few lucky crits it can do decent enough against elites as well.
Flamestorm Staff is insane at killing unarmored enemies, and with Level 10 talent "Chain Reaction" it can stagger elites from afar, making it very safe to use by keeping even the toughest enemies at bay. Unfortunately, getting hit while throwing the charged stream forces your character to throw a burst (left click) automatically right after, which, in combination with Blood Magic also generating overcharge, you are very likely going to die. I'm guessing this is never going to be fixed, making this staff virtually useless with Unchained.
Fireball Staff and Conflagration Staff do decent damage, apply AoE stagger and can kill specials at mid range. Nothing too crazy, but if you are trying to maximize you ranged weapon usage, having so much flexibility is something you should not look down upon.
The best place to position yourself is at your allies' flanks, that way you can ensure vision and that you won't hit them with your spells. Even then, it's important to aim your spells towards the middle of the horde and not the enemies that your allies are in contact with to minimize the chances of friendly fire.
Use the staff to kill and stagger hordes and finish off stragglers and elites with your melee weapon.
Use your career skill only when overcharged, there is no need for you to try to get value from it's explosion's damage or stagger. The extra THP from "Bomb Balm" can make you survive a bit longer while you retreat.
Fireball Staff and Conflagration Staff left click breakpoints:
Legend:
- With Enhanced Power, +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +20%PvI:
2SBS Monks, Savages and all specials except Ratlings and Warpfires
3SBS Maulers
Cataclysm:
- With Enhanced Power, +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +10%PvI:
2SBS Assassins
3SBS all specials except Ratlings and Warpfires
2SHS Globadiers, Leeches and Blighstormers

Fireball Staff stagger breakpoints (it's the same for Legend and Cataclysm):
- With Enhanced Power or +10%PvC:
Right click fully charged can interrupt all enemies if not attacking (the AoE aswell).
Minimal charge right click can interrupt all enemies if not attacking except CW.

While I started developing this build as some sort of meme, it proved itself pretty good in Cataclysm. And I repeat, IN CATACLYSM. This build doesn't work in Legend, or, at least, not in Legend quickplay.

---

The core of this build is its talents, more specifically "Bulwark" and "Numb to pain". All the weapons mentioned above, the career skill and even your pushes (thanks to Level 10 talent "Outburst") have very high stagger AoE and apply burn DoTs simlutaneously. Basically all of your actions will apply both "Bulwark" and "Enfeebling Flames" on enemies very consistently.
For the Level 30 talent, choose between stronger stagger ("Wildfire") or giving THP to your allies ("Bomb Balm") based on your personal preference.
Don't worry about loosing green health, thanks to the Level 20 talent "Numb to pain" and Natural Bond, you can take hits no problem, so you can play much more aggressively than usual.
This is a weird support build with lots of cc and debuffs to help your allies, capable of fighting both at melee and mid range. It can do decent damage on its own, but playing on a coordinated team is when it truly shines.
With this build you might not do insane amounts of damage yourself, but instead you will be constantly staggering enemies and debuffing them, reducing the damage they deal and increasing the damage they receive from your allies' melee attacks. On top of that you will be incredibly tanky and never need to consume healing items unless you really mess up.

Using this build is extremely micro-intensive though, so let's get into detail on how to play it:
When a fight starts, throw charged spells to the enemies and vent whenever you need to. This way you will start gaining stacks of "Numb to Pain" before the real fight begins.
Once the enemies get close spam heavy attacks and pushes with the Dagger to farm THP. Alternate between one and the other to gain value from the Level 10 talent "Outburst".
After you have acumulated a good amount of THP but before you loose your "Numb to Pain" stacks, move back and start spamming charged spells while you vent when necessary. Try to hit as many enemies as possible to stagger and apply burns and debuffs.
Try to keep your overcharge high when not fighting, that way you can vent and gain "Numb to Pain" stacks right at the beginning of a fight. With Natural Bond you can even keep "Numb to Pain" stacks constantly up, but you will mostly just waste APM and never truly regenerate health, so I recommend not doing that.

When comparing Fireball Staff with Conflagration Staff, the former is quicker, deals more damage and doesn't scatter enemies, although it is more prone to friendly fire. Conflagration Staff has higher stagger strength and higher AoE when fully charged, but takes longer to charge and to aim, although it gives you much better control on what you are hitting. Both of these staves share one big problem, which is the terrible damage they do to specials. It's best for you to protect your allies so that they can kill them faster.
Beam Staff is played differently than the other two. Its right click is fast, generates a big amount of heat, staggers and burns enemies in front of you, plus, it can't be canceled by hits like the other staves. Additionally, you still have the possibility to snipe specials at long range. The only downside is that you can only stagger enemies you are very close to unlike the other two, which changes your positioning.
Remember, Cataclysm only:
Fireball Staff and Conflagration Staff left click breakpoints:
- With +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +10%PvI:
2SBS Assassins
3SBS all specials except Ratlings and Warpfires

Fireball Staff stagger breakpoints:
- With Enhanced Power or +10%PvC:
Right click fully charged can interrupt all enemies if not attacking (the AoE aswell).
Minimal charge right click can interrupt all enemies if not attacking except CW.

Beam Staff breakpoints:
- Quickshots:
With +10%PvS/PvI:
2SBS Assassins
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus beam shot:
With Barrage, +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +10%PvI:
1SBS all specials
2SBS all elites except CW and Wargors
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 plus beam shot:
With +10%PvS:
1SBS SV, Monks, Savages and all specials
2SBS Bestigors and Maulers

The Necromancer is a weird career that doesn't fit in one or two specific roles, but instead she's pretty good at all of them.
She has access to strong melee weapons that can both kill and stagger enemies and strong ranged weapons that can kill hordes and/or elites and specials consistently.
Her career skill gives her a unique way to hold the fronline for a long time while also giving her the ability to vent overcharge without loosing health, in case she needs to use her ranged weapon more frequently. Her talents can help in both melee and ranged combat too.
In summary, the Necromancer is an all-rounder career that can specialize to become very strong at any role that you want.

"Malediction of Nagash" is her core passive. Necromancer's burn effects applied to enemies cause them to take 20% extra damage from her and her servants (check career skill). Unlike similar effects, the attack that causes the burn does not deal increased damage.
To synergize with this passive, she has another one that doubles the durations of all burn effects that she causes (double duration that ticks at half frequency, so it's the same total damage).
On top of that, she has another passive that increases her crit chance by 2% for 4 seconds whenever she kills an enemy, up to a maximum of 5 stacks.

• Strengths: Great horde-clear, good single target damage, career skill provides an extra frontline to the team, build variety.
  
• Weaknesses: Squishy, poor mobility, very hard to play.

"Raise Dead" is a unique skill in this game. When using it, it summons 6 skeletons in a big area, staggering all enemies inside (even monsters) and doing a somewhat decent amount of damage. It has super long cooldown (almost 2 minutes), but that's because the important part are the skeletons.
The skeletons summoned by the career skill will aid you in battle by aggroing and attacking enemies at melee.
They barely do any damage, but their attacks can stagger infantry and even elites that are not attacking. They don't trigger THP talents, but can trigger other on kill effects like the extra crit chance passive.
They are fairly tanky and can attract the aggro of lots of enemies, which makes them a reliable frontline against regular infantry. Elites and specials can kill them quickly though, so players will have to help them with those. They are inmune to poison gas and have infinite duration if not killed.
Skeletons will teleport back to the Necromancer if they are too far away.
This is (probably?) a bug on release: When using no talent or using Army of the Dead, Skeleton Warriors take no friendly fire. When using Barrow Blades or Dread Seneschal, they can take friendly fire only from hitscan range attacks. Yes, they block the shots with these types of weapons, even from the Necromancer's allies.
The Necromancer has a special item called Icon of Death, with which she can interact with the skeletons in different ways:

• Pressing the attack button (left click...) she commands her minions to attack a specific target and temporarily boosts their damage (60% for 8 seconds). Since they attack at melee range, they will move to get close to that target until it dies or the order is canceled.
  
• Pressing the block button (right click...) she cancels the attack command.
  
• Holding the block button shows small circles near the Necromancer. Pressing the attack button then will command the skeletons to position themselves inside those circles on a defensive stance, reducing the damage they take by 80% and holding it until they die or the Necromancer moves too far away from them; they might move a bit to reach enemies that are farther away, but not much.
  
• Pressing the reload button will sacrifice a skeleton to vent 70% overcharge. While the venting is immediate, the animation takes a couple of seconds, leaving you vulnerable to enemy attacks.

All enemies except specials, monsters and lords can aggro onto skeletons, and they also cannot be disabled by specials. When the Necromancer is disabled (e.g downed, disabled or ledged), all skeletons will be disabled too until the player is saved.

• THP on hit is the most consistent one for all weapons.
  
• THP on kill is less reliable, but if you are going to focus on elites rather than infantry it can be good. Crowbill, Mace and Flaming Flail can use it efficiently.

• "Vanhel's Danse Macabre" is a very consistent attack speed buff as long as you can keep the skeletons (un)alive. Recommended for melee builds with weapons that don't benefit from "Reaping".
  
• "Death Ascendent" is great for ranged builds, increasing the damage of your staff as long as you keep throwing spells. This requires good overcharge management, but thanks to the sacrifice of the skeletons it should not be a problem. It increases the damage from the direct hits, but not from the burn DoTs.
  
• "Reaping" makes weapons with low cleave and not-short range super strong, specially if their damage comes from direct hits instead of burn DoTs. Scythe, Sword and Mace benefit the most from this talent thanks to the unlimited cleave; while the others only get a decent damage boost on crits, for which "Vanhel's Danse Macabre" is a better choice.

• "Mainstay" is a bit trickier to get value from than "Smiter", but with the skeletons hitting (and therefore staggering) enemies, this talent is more valuable than usual. On top of that, Sienna's weapons have either fast attack speed or high stagger strength, so they can benefit from this talent on their own.
  
• "Smiter" is an excellent choice to boost your melee damage against enemies with high resistance to stagger like elites and monsters. Skeletons do stagger regular infantry when hitting them like a normal melee attack would, meaning that if you fight alongside them you are gaining no benefit from this talent. Still, killing elites should be your priority, and this talent is the most consistent against them.
  
• "Enhanced Power" is the best option for this row unless you want to focus almost exclusively on melee combat, as it's the only one that increases the damage from your ranged weapon and burn DoTs.

• "Cursed Blood" make your crits on burning enemies create an explosion that deals decent damage in a big area. During hordes, this talent lets you clear super quickly and stagger elites.
  Important things to note: Explosion damage is equal to 25% of the damage dealt to the main target (ignores headshots extra damage). This means that hits on unarmored enemies maximize the damage of the explosion caused by this talent.
  Explosions that accompany attacks (fireball aoe, flail aoe, etc) and Conflagration Staff's charged spells can't trigger Cursed Blood independently, while Beam Staffs's blast and Scythe's special attack are the only two that can trigger it multiple times per attack.
  
• "Soul Harvest" guaranteed crit is good in combination with Level 10 talent "Reaping" or ranged weapons traits like Hunter and Heat Sink, but not really worth it on its own. It requires weapons that can consistently inflict burn DoTs, or Level 30 talent "Barrow Blades". Additionally, all ranged attacks drop souls, even those that don't apply burn DoTs.
  
• "Withering Touch" is good with weapons that don't naturally inflict burn DoT. It's damage is extremely low, so it's only useful to apply "Malediction of Nagash".

• "Spirit Leech" is extremely strong. The career skill has a very long cooldown, so all CDR that you can get is very welcome. Additionally, killing elites should be your priority, and in high difficulties they are very common.
  
• "The Curse of Undeath" is a very strong defensive talent but manual venting, DoTs and friendly fire also consume the stacks, which is kind of a waste, making it only viable in melee builds that don't need to vent overcharge manually.On release, this talent is bugged and causes THP no not decay over time when it's active.
  
• "Lost Souls" grants a bit of THP generation when overcharge is reduced (both passively and actively). Useful if you play full ranged or use a melee weapon with low THP generation.

• "Army of the Dead" summons 6 permanent skeletons (like the basic version) and 6 temporary skeletons that last for 20 seconds. With this talent you have a higher powerspike when using the skill, but less value than with the other talents in this row since the skeletons don't gain any special effect. These temporary skeletons are helpful in dire situations, and can also be used as sacrifices to vent your overcharge, making it very good for ranged playstyles.
  
• "Barrow Blades". If your weapons can't apply burn debuffs consistently enough, this is a good talent. Otherwise you are getting no real benefit, as the damage is very low. It allows more uptime with melee weapons that don't apply burn debuffs frequently like Scythe, Sword or Mace.
  
• "Dread Seneschal" buffs the strength of the skeletons. The extra health makes them much sturdier, forming a more durable frontline even against a few elites. With the command attack they now charge, staggering and interrupting all enemies except Monsters and giving you and your allies more space. Overall the most balanced of the three, it never misses.

This is a melee dps build with high anti-armor damage and, if you are lucky with your crits, great horde-clear as well. On top of that you have very strong supportive ranged weapons.

---

Level 30 talents: "Dread Seneschal" with Coruscation Staff and "Barrow Blades" with any other staff.
With this build you take advantage of the crit-related talents to destroy anything that gets at your melee weapon's range with devastating blows. Use the staffs to apply burn and to kill specials.
Set the bony boys to protect your back while you fight the frontline, although fighting alongside them is not a bad idea, since they will be applying burn debuffs thanks to level 30 talent "Barrow Blades".
Your weapons have high damage, but they lack consistent cleave and/or stagger strength. Let your skeletons or your allies hold the frontline while you focus on killing elites.
Use your staff only when you find it necessary, since you don't gain any benefit from being at high overcharge. Soulstealer Staff is excellent at killing specials if you have the time to use its slow charged spell. Don't forget to use the light spell on elites to apply burn DoT before you hit them with your melee weapon.
Coruscation Staff and Fireball Staff are not as good at killing specials due to their shorter effective range, but they are great at applying burn debuffs to big groups of enemies.
Soulstealer Staff breakpoints:
Legend:
- With +20%PvC, +10%PvI and +10%PvA:
Soul reap: 1SBS all enemies except CW
Primary attack + 2 Soul reaps: kills CW
Cataclysm:
- With +20%PvC, +10%PvA and +10%PvS:
Soul reap: 1SBS Stormvermin, Bestigors and all specials
2SBS Maulers
Primary attack + Soul reap: kills Plague Monks, Savages and Wargors

Fireball Staff left click breakpoints:
Legend:
- With 20.0%PvC and 11.5%PvI:
2SBS Savages, Assassins, Leeches and Blightstormers
3SBS Maulers, Monks, Globadiers and Packmasters
Cataclysm:
- With +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +10%PvI:
2SBS Assassins
3SBS all specials except Ratlings and Warpfires

Fireball Staff fully charged fireball breakpoints:
Legend:
- With no buffs
1SBS Packmasters
2SBS Ratling Gunners and Warpfire Throwers

Fireball Staff stagger breakpoints:
- With Enhanced Power or +10%PvC:
Right click fully charged can interrupt all enemies if not attacking (the AoE aswell).
Minimal charge right click can interrupt all enemies if not attacking except CW.

This is a hybrid build with a good balance between horde-clear and anti-armor damage. It plays around the skeletons from your career skill, making it more micro-intensive.

---

Hunter is a good trait since it increases your damage from all sources, not just the ranged weapons, but Heat Sink and Resourceful Sharpshooter provide more utility.
A hybrid build that plays around supporting the calcium crew both at melee and range. Let the bone bros aggro the enemies and focus on killing elites and specials.
Try to combine both weapons so that you always have one that's good at killing elites to benefit from "Spirit Leech". The CDR this talent provides allows you to use your staves all you want and vent by sacrificing skeletons very frequently.
With the Scythe, spam light attacks to apply burn (light 2), trigger "Cursed Blood" more frequently and deal more damage against armored enemies.

On release, skeletons are bugged and block hitscan shots from players.
This includes Beam Staff's explosion (right click) and the charged beam shot (hold left click + right click). If it gets fixed, it will be very strong with this build, but right now it's close to useless.
Soulstealer Staff breakpoints:
Legend:
- With Enhanced Power and +20%PvC:
Soul reap: 1SBS all enemies except CW
With extra +10%PvA: 2SBS CW
Cataclysm:
- With Enhanced Power, +20%PvC and +10%PvI:
Soul reap: 1SBS Stormvermin, Bestigors and all specials
Primary attack + Soul reap: 1SBS Plague Monks, Savages, Maulers and Wargors

Beam Staff breakpoints:
Legend:
-Quickshots:
With Enhanced Power or +5%PvA:
2SBS Assassins, Ratling Gunners, Warpfire Throwers and Packmasters
3SBS Globadiers, Leeches and Blightstormers
- Beam tick 1, 2 and 3 plus beam shot:
With no buffs:
1SBS Assassins
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus beam shot:
With Enhanced Power, Barrage, +20%PvC and +15%PvI:
1SBS all specials and elites except CW and Wargors
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 plus beam shot:
With Enhanced Power and +5%PvC/PvI:
1SBS all specials and elites except CW and Wargors
Cataclysm:
- Quickshots:
With +10%PvS/PvI:
2SBS Assassins
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus beam shot:
With Barrage, +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +10%PvI:
1SBS all specials
2SBS all elites except CW and Wargors
- Beam tick 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 plus beam shot:
With +10%PvS:
1SBS SV, Monks, Savages and all specials
2SBS Bestigors and Maulers

Fireball Staff left click breakpoints:
Legend:
- With Enhanced Power, +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +12%PvI:
2SBS Monks, Savages and all specials except Ratlings and Warpfires
Cataclysm:
- With Enhanced Power, +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +10%PvI:
2SBS Assassins
3SBS all specials except Ratlings and Warpfires
2SHS Globadiers, Leeches and Blighstormers

Fireball Staff fully charged fireball breakpoints:
Legend:
- With no buffs
1SBS Packmasters
2SBS Ratling Gunners and Warpfire Throwers

Fireball Staff stagger breakpoints:
- With Enhanced Power or +10%PvC:
Right click fully charged can interrupt all enemies if not attacking (the AoE aswell).
Minimal charge right click can interrupt all enemies if not attacking except CW.

A ranged-dps build with two possible setups. Take cover behind your skeletons and annihilate your enemies with powerful ranged weapons while having access to free overcharge venting.

---

THP on hit is more consistent, but your melee weapons should be used mostly to deal with elites while your staff kills infantry, making THP on kill more valuable.
Conflagration Staff's charged spell can't trigger crit-related effects such as traits and talents.
Level 20 talent "Soul Harvest" guarantess triggering staves traits and increases both of your weapon's damage against elites.
Level 25 talent "Spirit Leech" is very strong at the moment of writing, and skeletons can be sacrificed to vent overcharge just like the THP provided by "Lost Souls".
Hunter increases the damage of "Cursed Blood" talent too, making it an ideal combo. Resourceful Sharpshooter helps with the long cooldown of your career skill, and can be a good choice if you don't pick "Spirit Leech" as your level 25 talent.
As a ranged dps, your playstyle will be determined by your ranged weapon.
There are two setups with slightly different playstyles:

• The first one, with Fireball Staff and Conflagration Staff, plays as follows: Your skeletons get the aggro, the enemies group up around them and your staves melt the bad guys with their charged spells AoE. If an elite approaches, use your melee weapon to quickly dispatch it.
  
• The second one, with Soulstealer Staff and Bolt Staff, plays more like a standard ranged-dps. Stay away from the enemies and use your staff to deal with anything that threatens your frontline. Position your skeletons to cover the flanks and help them by killing elites from time to time.
  Thanks to the extra power from "Death Ascendant", Bolt Staff becomes pretty good at killing hordes with its light spells. Soulstealer Staff's light spells are decent at killing hordes with this build.
  Both staffs are great at killing elites and specials at long ranges with their charged spells; but you can also swap to your melee weapon to do the job and gain a big amount of THP to vent overcharge with.

Fireball/Conflagration Staff left click breakpoints:
Legend:
- With 20.0%PvC and 11.5%PvI:
2SBS Savages, Assassins, Leeches and Blightstormers
3SBS Maulers, Monks, Globadiers and Packmasters
- With Enhanced Power, +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +12%PvI:
2SBS Monks, Savages and all specials except Ratlings and Warpfires
Cataclysm:
- With +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +10%PvI:
2SBS Assassins
3SBS all specials except Ratlings and Warpfires
- With Enhanced Power, +10%PvS, +10%PvC and +10%PvI:
2SBS Assassins
3SBS all specials except Ratlings and Warpfires
2SHS Globadiers, Leeches and Blighstormers

Fireball Staff fully charged fireball breakpoints:
Legend:
- With no buffs
1SBS Packmasters
2SBS Ratling Gunners and Warpfire Throwers

Fireball Staff stagger breakpoints:
- With Enhanced Power or +10%PvC:
Right click fully charged can interrupt all enemies if not attacking (the AoE aswell).
Minimal charge right click can interrupt all enemies if not attacking except CW.

Bolt Staff breakpoints:
Legend:
- With Enhanced Power, +18.5%PvC and +10%PvI:
1SBS all enemies except Wargors and CW
1SHS all enemies except Maulers and CW
2SHS CW
Cataclysm:
- With Enhanced Power, +10%PvS, +10%PvC, +7%PvI and +10%PvA:
1SBS all specials
2SBS all elites except CW and Wargors
1SHS all enemies except Maulers and CW
3SHS CW

Soulstealer Staff breakpoints:
Legend:
- With Enhanced Power and +20%PvC:
Soul reap: 1SBS all enemies except CW
With extra +10%PvA: 2SBS CW
Cataclysm:
- With Enhanced Power, +20%PvC and +10%PvI:
Soul reap: 1SBS Stormvermin, Bestigors and all specials
Primary attack + Soul reap: 1SBS Plague Monks, Savages, Maulers and Wargors

Here you have links to some examples of the builds showcased in this guide.
- Burning Wizard: https://www.ranalds.gift/build/vq8aRZMIg04mH1KssOOO/view
- Big Bonks: https://www.ranalds.gift/build/DRYp8LyJjSBpr72mHtlG/view
- Sniper Queen: https://www.ranalds.gift/build/uln10bFlOEd265gKu1Ht/view
- Critmaniac (Bolt Staff): https://www.ranalds.gift/build/BF2yJpYuBQDp1zirUBmZ/view
- Critmaniac (Fireball Staff): https://www.ranalds.gift/build/ZqJtRwsTVvUCAeOXeEbc/view
Thanks BleachDrinkAndBook for the suggestion.
- Melee Overcharge: https://www.ranalds.gift/build/VYaemH4kUbtaQkJDrylw/view
- Pyroreaper: https://www.ranalds.gift/build/FrRoKv7uNXmjviDCZV4T/view
- Ranged Overcharge 1 (Fireball and Conflagration staves): https://www.ranalds.gift/build/letiCSqsH264hmDsAEIX/view
- Ranged Overcharge 2 (Flamestorm Staff): https://www.ranalds.gift/build/cuUJnkukZuIJf3Se0Q23/view
- High Charge: https://www.ranalds.gift/build/MkwzodG1SiIHY4einNhT/view
- Burning Tank: https://www.ranalds.gift/build/glvfw3hhlbxjeA7CrtsN/view
- Infinite Spells (Fireball/Conflagration): https://www.ranalds.gift/build/KWk7i1YtchKTWNkDCnQ6/view
- Infinite Spells (Flamestorm): https://www.ranalds.gift/build/So93Qpj9aETfDmhm5Ekd/view
- Stagger Beast (Support): https://www.ranalds.gift/build/YkvctbaxCPlBB9c3nOS4/view
- Grim Reaper: https://www.ranalds.gift/build/Ac8Z8hBfRmMdcH6RrOSf/view
- Summoner: https://www.ranalds.gift/build/T6jPuZ99ndimTVJ2YsZu/view
- Caster of death: https://www.ranalds.gift/build/Ujn1ZkxSVDZZklE7hyH5/view