Deadeye - Power DPS Rifle

Part of the current metagame

Our curator decided this build is in the current metagame regardless of rating. The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Direct damage

Designed for: Raids

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on July 20, 2026 and is up to date for the June 2, 2026 patch.

Overview

A power DPS Deadeye raid build. This build is effective against single targets at range thanks to rifle, but is very immobile. This somewhat restricts the encounters where it can realistically be used, but it is excellent for kiting.

This build relies heavily on allies to provide boons and conditions for Premeditation and Exposed Weakness.

Skill Bar

Rifle

Dagger/Dagger

Utility

Skill Variants

Pylon Kiter Variant

• Shadowstep
• Assassin's Signet
• Shadow Flare or Mercy - Shadow Flare is slightly higher damage
  • Alternatively, you could bring some extra utility such as CC

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Specializations

Trait Variants

Outside of kiting, there aren't many reasons to vary the traits:

• Mug provides you with a small amount of healing. This is the smallest DPS loss option that still provides additional sustain, but if something goes wrong you may struggle to recover.
• Invigorating Precision offers more substantial healing, but at a more significant DPS loss.
• One in the Chamber allows you to stay on rifle for much longer without running out of stealth skills. It is still a DPS increase to swap to daggers below 50% health though.

Equipment

Head
Berserker

Shoulders
Assassin

Chest
Berserker

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Berserker

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Rifle
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Dagger
Berserker

Dagger
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x11

Infusion
x7

Relic

• If you do not have stat infusions, switch one accessory to Assassin stats.
• If you regularly swap between using Signet of Agility or not, a much simpler gear setup involves using full Berserker stats gear (and full Mighty infusions) and an Assassin stats Amulet. Swap it to Berserker stats if taking Signet of Agility.
  • Otherwise, you want to aim for ~2008 precision if not using Signet of Agility.
• If you are struggling to maintain the Relic of the Deadeye buff while kiting, Relic of Zakiros could be used as your sustain option instead of Invigorating Precision, though it is slightly less healing and slightly worse damage.

Consumables

Food

• or ascended versions

Utility

• /

Usage

Rotation

The goal of the rotation is to maximize your Malicious Death's Judgment casts at max malice to maximize DPS. In order to do this you need to carefully line up your skills that grant access to stealth to ensure their cooldowns aren't wasted. Ideally you will always be in Kneel mode during the fight, not being in Kneel is a significant DPS loss.

Opener

1. Deadeye's Mark
2. Three Round Burst x3
3. Shadow Meld
4. Malicious Death's Judgment + Assassin's Signet
5. Three Round Burst x3
6. Stolen Skill (F2)
7. Malicious Death's Judgment
8. Three Round Burst x2
9. Mercy
10. Three Round Burst
11. Deadeye's Mark
12. Three Round Burst x2
13. Hide in Shadows
14. Malicious Death's Judgment

Loop

The general idea of the rotation is that you use Three Round Burst 3 times and fill downtime with auto-attacks until you are at 7 Malice before stealthing and casting Malicious Death's Judgment.

1. Three Round Burst x3
2. Stealth Skill
3. Malicious Death's Judgment

Use whichever stealth skills are available at Step 2, with the following priority

• Hide in Shadows
• Shadow Gust
• Shadow Meld
• Stolen Skill (F2)

Mark & Mercy Burst

When you are out of stealth options, or Mercy is about to reach two charges:

1. Three Round Burst x3
2. Mercy
3. Deadeye's Mark
4. Three Round Burst x3
5. Stolen Skill (F2)
6. Malicious Death's Judgment

You will eventually run out of stealth skills. While you wait for Deadeye's Mark to recharge, fill the time with auto-attacks and use Three Round Burst whenever you're nearly at full initiative.

Video example

Video example (silent scope)

Dagger Section

If your loop goes on long enough you will eventually run out of stealth skills, or once the target is below 50% health, you can switch to Daggers.

The logic on daggers is very similar to rifle:

1. Heartseeker x4
2. Stealth Skill (don't use Hide in Shadows while on dagger)
3. Malicious Backstab

• When Mercy is about to reach two charges, use it and immediately follow up with Deadeye's Mark. Use Heartseeker as many times as needed to get back to full malice.

When no stealth skills are available, instead do:

1. Heartseeker x2 (above 50% health, replace these with Dancing Dagger instead)
2. Double Strike ⇒ Wild Strike ⇒ Lotus Strike
3. Cloak and Dagger
4. Malicious Backstab

Video example using a Dagger loop

Dagger-only rotation

If you don't benefit from the range of Rifle, you can stay on Daggers above 50% too. This is actually slightly higher DPS.

Opener

1. Malicious Restoration (optional) - if you aren't using Rifle, you don't need the stealth from Hide in Shadows, so you can use this to pre-cast the Relic of the Deadeye buff.
   1. If not using, cast an extra Dancing Dagger at step three and use Shadow Meld instead of Cloak and Dagger at step four.
2. Deadeye's Mark
3. Dancing Dagger x2
4. Cloak and Dagger
5. Malicious Backstab
6. Dancing Dagger x2
7. Double Strike ⇒ Wild Strike ⇒ Lotus Strike
8. Assassin's Signet
9. Stolen Skill
10. Malicious Backstab
11. Dancing Dagger x2
12. Shadow Flare ⇒ Shadow Swap
13. Double Strike ⇒ Wild Strike ⇒ Lotus Strike
14. Cloak and Dagger
15. Malicious Backstab

Rest of the rotation

Above 50% health, Daggers require a bit more thought than Rifle. You want to use three initiative skills (Dancing Dagger or Cloak and Dagger) to trigger Maleficent Seven, then consume that initiative with Malicious Backstab, all while ensuring that enough time has passed for Revealed to expire and spacing out your Cantrips to maintain the Relic of the Deadeye buff. Your initiative skills are much faster then Rifle though, so you have to spend some time autoattacking.

The general structure is:

1. Dancing Dagger x2
2. Double Strike ⇒ Wild Strike ⇒ Lotus Strike
3. Double Strike
4. Cloak and Dagger
5. Malicious Backstab

But you need to consider the following:

• You can use Assassin's Signet for slightly more damage if you cast it just before Malicious Backstab. As long as you're fast, the buff should last long enough to cover a second Malicious Backstab too.
• Cast Deadeye's Mark off cooldown.
• You want to use Shadow Flare ⇒ Shadow Swap off cooldown, so to maximise Relic of the Deadeye uptime, you ideally don't want to use another cantrip on the loop either side of it.
• Where you have a Stolen Skill or Shadow Meld available, you can use it for stealth instead of Cloak and Dagger, and cast an extra Dancing Dagger instead.
  • If you do not have enough initiative to use three Dancing Daggers in a row, you can just do this on the next loop instead.
  • Shadow Meld removes Revealed, so you can skip the autoattacks in this case.
• Mercy is the lowest priority cantrip, so you can use just as the Relic of the Deadeye buff is about to expire, and you have no other cantrips. Immediately follow up with Deadeye's Mark and make sure to use three initiative skills before Malicious Backstab.
  • Try not to use Mercy while you still have a Stolen Skill available, as it will be lost.
• If using any extra skills with a cast time, you can skip the Double Strike at step three.

Once your target goes below 50%, swap to the dagger rotation as described in the main Rifle section.

General tips

• When Assassin's Signet is off cooldown, use it in combination with your next Malicious Death's Judgment, provided that you will have another stealth skill available for the next loop as well (as this allows you to hit Death's Judgment twice while the buff is active).
• Delay casting Assassin's Signet until just before Malicious Death's Judgment hits, to give yourself the maximum time to get the second Malicious Death's Judgment in.
• Take great care not to break stealth with anything other than Malicious Death's Judgment or your DPS will be significantly reduced.
• If the boss is about to die or phase, you can maximise your damage by activating Assassin's Signet and burning all your initiative on Three Round Burst or Heartseeker. You should still try to get in one last stealth attack if you can.
• If you are not confident in your rotation, you can retain a charge of Mercy to allow for a reset if needed.
• Make sure to have already used your current Stolen Skill before using Mercy.