Specter - A/D Rending Shade
This is a test build. You may comment and rate it.
Focused on: Mobility, Condition damage and Utility
Designed for: PvP Conquest
Difficulty:
Hard
This build was last updated on February 03, 2025.
Overview
A tanky and versatile Specter build that aims to land a large number of Stability to enable CC to land for . With strong sustain and mobility it can duel, +1 or teamfight relatively well.
Skill Bar
Axe/Dagger
Dagger/Pistol
Utility
Skill Variants
Heal
- - higher mobility, trait synergy, group utility and a Dark combo field, but worse access to stealth and less condition cleansing
Utility
Utility skills (that aren't
) can be swapped out to your preference:- - low cooldown stunbreak (28s) which procs a number of traits with its shadowstep. Great for landing , overall a good defensive & offensive pick.
- - another good pick for teamfights, gives a number of helpful boons to yourself and any nearby allies. lots of trait synergies.
Immobilize which helps
Torment hit harder.
- heavy pulsing damage and an
- - good for quickly repositioning in a fight. an ally can also go through the portal too, but the visual effect is quite small and easy to miss. has a huge range and causes you to arrive with stealth. can be used while stunned.
- - good for teamfights or to stop projectile-based bursts. gives the occasional proc.
- - Pure damage with zero utility. If applied to the maximum number of targets this can deal up to 21840 damage, or 16800 against moving targets.
Elite
Viable elite choices:
- - the defensive option. 90s cooldown, but allows you to dodge burst, correct mistakes, or counterplay projectiles.
Resistance this ability will consistently land and generally lead to the death of anyone who doesn't have
Stability or a stunbreak. Remove boons first with if possible.
- the lockdown option. Thanks to 's
Template Code
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Specializations
Variants
- is good for when targets have too much stability for to proc, and that stability can help land a full rotation of Shadow Shroud skills.
- is a strong pick when condis aren't an issue.
- makes your sustain worse but can be worth taking against builds which heavily focus on a single condition like Burn Guardian.
Equipment
Axe
Dagger
Sigil
Sigil
Dagger
Pistol
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
Amulet
Relic
Equipment Variants
Relics
is very strong since the build is constantly shadowstepping. However, it can be swapped out for better utility:
- - boon corruption for , great synergy with , generally a monster in teamfights. Weaker in duels.
- - solid cover paired with . The stun happens after the cast is finished so you'll go from full evasion to a stun.
Runes
- - trades damage and 1000 health for more consistent mobility
Sigils
- over - if you better cleansing against damaging conditions
Usage
Basics
- Axe skills 1 and 2,
Torment. This is the primary source of damage in this build.
and , leave axes behind whether they hit or not so long as they weren't blocked, dodged or evaded. Axe skill 3, , recalls all of your axes onto your target, dealing full damage with each axe and causing them to additionally inflict
- Use , , and until you have 5 or 6 axes, then recall them with .
- Use
Stability.
frequently to daze targets who do not have
- Watch your target's buffs; if they have
Magnetic Aura, or some other reflect, stop attacking!
- When the opportunity presents itself (e.g. you are low on initiative, just used , or you want to burst), .
Elite specialization basics
- Specters gain access to their own version of called , at the cost of less total initiative. Mechanically they are the same, replacing your skill bar while active. Damage taken while in Shroud drains Shadow Force instead of HP. You lose access to your utility skills while in shroud.
- Using (Specter's version of ) and spending Initiative builds Shadow Force. In this build, shadowstepping will also build Shadow Force thanks to .
- Opening or exiting Shadow Shroud with
Stability.
will cover you in a chaotic situation since it gives 3 stacks of - Landing
Chill will help land shroud skills 2 and 3 ( , ), which can otherwise be walked out of due to their delay and small AoE radius.
's - So generally, 5 > 4 > 2 > 3.
- Don't underestimate as a filler; it has good range and damage, and is great to use while regenerating initiative.
- Shadow Shroud can be used to stack
Stealth.
- (Shroud 2) is a delayed blast finisher.
- (Shroud 3) is a leap finisher.
- use
Stealth without using all of your initiative.
, shroud 2 & 3, leave shroud and for a healthy duration of
General
- Damage is primarily
Torment dealt with recalled axes ( ), , interrupts with , and Shroud abilities 2 & 4 ( & respectively)
- Axe/Dagger is the main weapon set of the build, the other is for stealth via and . Off-hand pistol also has , which, with proper timing, can be used to deal a good bit of damage with .
- Stealth between points with and a leap finisher (e.g. ) to conceal your movement and also stack . The stacks from this trait don't have an upper limit, so try to stealth as much as possible.
- and other Specter Wells can be "extended" by using a shadowstep. Specter wells shadowstep you, then drop the well at your feet after a short delay, so shadowstepping again before the well is created with a skill like will cause the well's range to effectively increase. This works with most shadowsteps.
Defense
- Thanks to Shadow Shroud, Specters can take more of a beating than a normal Thief.
- gives a strong barrier whenever you stealth, and as such landing is extremely important to the longevity of the Specter.
- The sources of condition cleansing are , , , your on-swap weapon sigils, and if taken, .
- > > weapon swap > for stealth if you're already in shadow shroud and need to get out.
- Avoid throwing if you need to quickly restealth. Normally, you won't be revealed if you attack immediately after leaving stealth - ambush skills are a bit different. If you cast an ambush skill during stealth and your stealth wears off before the skill hits, you will still be revealed, whereas doing the same with a non-ambush skill (e.g. ) would not reveal you.
Ratings
Comments
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