Deadeye - S/D D/P Deadeye

The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Strike damage and Mobility

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on August 04, 2026 and is up to date for the July 20, 2026 patch.

Overview

This PvP Deadeye build opts for melee combat with both sets. The combination of Dagger/Pistol and Sword/Dagger makes it highly versatile witha toolkit that includes plenty of stealt, blind, evasion, teleports, boon removal and burst damage.

Skill Bar

Dagger/Pistol

Sword/Dagger

Utility

Skill Variants

Utility

Viable choices for the optional slot:

• Shadow Gust - another Stealth access and an AoE CC. Most popular option.

• Binding Shadow - better burst setup. It's the least defensive option though, so it's a bit greedy.

• Prepare Shadow Portal - extremely powerful map control tool when used right, but you have to sacrifice a utility slot for no real combat benefits. Shadow Portal lets you enter fights or get decaps from half a map away.

• Signet of Agility - better cleansing, Silent Scope synergy and passive crit chance increase.

Heal

• Hide in Shadows - adds more stealth access to the build but it's a harder healing skill to pull off under pressure than Withdraw.

Elite

• Dagger Storm - similar to Withdraw, acts as a panic button that can help you avoid damage when pressured but gives up another stealth access in exchange. Dagger Storm is especially useful if you expect the enemy team to have builds with Revealed access like "Sic 'Em!" Soulbeasts or Lock On Engineers which would deny you stealth access, leaving you quite vulnerable and unable to use Shadow Meld under pressure.

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Specializations

Variants

• Malicious Intent can save you initiative by making you reach the Malice cap with fewer attacks, but less access to stolen skills also means less Stealth.

Equipment

Dagger

Pistol

Sigil

Sigil

Sword

Dagger

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Relic

Usage

Deadeye basics

• Steal is replaced by Deadeye's Mark, which has greater range. We're still going to refer to this as Steal.

• Stolen skills are also replaced by new ones for each profession, although these are much less situational and can be used more freely. One thing to note is that you cannot pick the target freely for the new stolen skills, they will always be used on your marked target (even if they are in stealth, which can be useful for finishing off low HP stealthed targets).
  • If you want to know more about these skills, here's a list of them from the official wiki.

• Your specialization resource is called Malice. It's built through using attack skills with an initiative cost on your marked target and you can have up to 5 stacks of Malice. Stealth attacks such as Malicious Death's Judgment consume Malice and become more powerful with higher Malice stacks.

• At the 5 Malice threshold stolen skills such as Steal Health grant Stealth on activation, which is going to be their primary purpose - but be wary that they also do damage, so if you were already in stealth these will reveal you instead. There is a workaround for this however: stolen skills need line of sight (LoS) to deliver damage, if you intentionally break LoS then you can use them for the stealth without drawbacks.

General

• Start fights with Deadeye's Mark to begin passively building Malice.

• Silent Scope provides an alternative method of accessing stealth attacks, enabling their use if you dodge while at or above 3 Malice.

• Mercy recharges Deadeye's Mark. Use it when you run out of initiative, have to switch targets, or need to interrupt via Sleight of Hand. It also breaks stun but that's more of a bonus functionality rather than the main focus.

• Shadowstep is easily the most versatile skill in the build. Couple of applications include:
  • Extending the reach of rifle by 1200 range instantly.
  • Escaping from melee, and then doing it again with Shadow Return when they get close.
  • Stomping downed opponents with Shadowstep ⇒ Shadow Return.
  • Breaking stun and cleansing conditions.

• Shadow's Embrace and Shadow's Rejuvenation offer a steady stream of cleansing and Initiative in combat.

• Shadow Meld provides stealth without having to burn resources like initiative or endurance.

• If taken Signet of Agility is good for more than just cleansing conditions or boosting your precision, its active effect restores an entire dodge roll's worth of endurance which can be turned into stealth.

• If taken Dagger Storm is primarily a defensive elite. The rather lengthy evade frame with increased movement speed makes it an excellent panic button when you're being focused by the enemy team.
  • Note: skills like Shocking Aura or Line of Warding are able to interrupt Dagger Storm, so don't be completely careless.-->

Dagger/Pistol

Secondary set, melee, great stealth access and a spammable interrupt

• You generally swap to D/P when you're forced out of Rifle for reasons such as projectile denial or the need to interrupt/cleave/stealth up.

• Head Shot is a quick and relatively cheap ranged interrupt.

• While dagger autoattacks only cleave 2 targets it's still better than the single target Rifle shots in case you'd need to cleave a downed enemy who's being rez'd. The end of the auto chain also applies Poison for healing reduction which helps even more with denying rez attempts.

• Heartseeker is a great finishing move but don't waste your Initiative spamming it while the target isn't already low on HP. It's also your best combo tool to build up Stealth when used in Black Powder.

• Shadow Shot is a gapcloser with good damage and an unblockable Blind. When the target isn't low enough for HS this is your primary damaging attack on the D/P set.
  • The skill has 2 parts - an unblockable teleport which Blinds but does no damage and a melee hit which deals damage. If you stow your weapon at the right moment just after the teleport the damage won't go off. This could be useful in Stealth as you can teleport to the target withut being revealed and then follow up with a Backstab for burst damage.

• Black Powder is a defensive/utility skill. Provides some sustain against melee and a combo field for Stealthing yourself or your team.

Sword/Dagger

• Most of the damage here comes from weaving together autoattacks with the Flanking Strike (thief dual) + Larcenous Strike chain. Try not to spam skill 3 too many times in a row because it's very predictable and thus often a waste of initiative.
  • There are exceptions of course. For example spamming Flanking Strike (thief dual) without a target (and without hitting anything) could be used to buy a few extra seconds for your CDs to come back up under heavy pressure, as it evades attacks.

• Most of the time you should initiate combat with Infiltrator's Strike from a safe distance, preferably also behind something that breaks line of sight. This way you'll always have an escape route via Infiltrator's Return.

• Dancing Dagger is sort of a filler skill, won't be used much unless you're stuck on S/D but can't afford to go into melee range.

• Cloak and Dagger does good damage and the Stealth lets you follow up with a Malicious Tactical Strike for even more damage plus a CC. At 5 Initiative this isn't cheap, but Shadow's Rejuvenation refunds much of the cost.
  • This could be used on AI (clones, pets, minions) if all you need is stealth not the damage, as AI won't dodge it therefore the odds of getting a successful CnD off become higher.

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