Specter - Condition Specter

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

Focused on: Condition damage

Designed for: Open World and Open World General

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on January 20, 2024 and is up to date for the March 19, 2024 patch.

Overview

Condition Specter is an extremely versatile and powerful specialization for OW gameplay. Due to the easy access to Enter Shadow Shroud, strong self-healing and mobile ranged gameplay, it alleviates the survivability concerns of other Thief specializations. It does not have the strongest burst and also somewhat lacks in terms of cleave damage, but it compensates that through strong single-target damage and a large amounts of native CC damage, even when alone. It also shares its gear with the condition dps variant for group content, making it a very convenient option for general PvE gameplay. Specter's damage also gets ramped up with allies around you due to Skale Venom, Spider Venom and Dark Sentry, so it is great for all kinds of group gameplay as well.

Skill Bar

Scepter/Dagger

Scepter/Pistol

Utility

Template Code

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Specializations

• The choice between Bountiful Theft and Pressure Striking is a matter of preference; if you don't benefit from additional vigor uptime, the latter is better for a little additional damage. Bountiful Theft provides boonstrip, which can also be handy in some cases.
• Consume Shadows can be used for a large area heal upon exiting shroud, at the cost of the remaining shadow force.

Equipment

Viper

This setup uses Viper equipment for high raw DPS.

Head
Viper

Shoulders
Sinister

Chest
Viper

Hands
Sinister

Legs
Viper

Feet
Sinister

Backpiece
Viper

Accessory
Sinister

Accessory
Sinister

Amulet
Viper

Ring
Viper

Ring
Viper

Scepter
Viper

Dagger
Viper

Sigil

Sigil

Pistol
Viper

Sigil

Rune
x6

Relic

• Other relics include Relic of the Cavalier, Relic of Durability, and Relic of the Chronomancer.

Ritualist

This setup provides much higher HP and boon duration while maintaining very similar (within 15%) damage output. This allows for the ability to keep up Alacrity via Shadestep. It also makes all of your Shroud skills benefit up to three other allies around your tethered ally! This build is the Editor's Choice for playing Specter, as while it will have somewhat lower burst it is a more generally-useful setup for Open World and provides incredible party support to farm zergs while also being very strong for solo play.

Head
Ritualist

Shoulders
Ritualist

Chest
Ritualist

Hands
Ritualist

Legs
Ritualist

Feet
Ritualist

Backpiece
Ritualist

Accessory
Ritualist

Accessory
Ritualist

Amulet
Ritualist

Ring
Ritualist

Ring
Ritualist

Scepter
Ritualist

Dagger
Ritualist

Sigil

Sigil

Pistol
Ritualist

Sigil

Rune
x6

Relic

• Other relics include Relic of the Cavalier, Relic of Durability, and Relic of the Chronomancer.

Consumables

Budget consumables are acceptable for use in open world.

DPS

• Prioritize Flatbread Ascended food.
• /
• /

Farming

• Prioritize Flatbread Ascended food.
• /
• (and variants)

Usage

Damage/CC

• Outside of Enter Shadow Shroud, spam Twilight Combo as it grants by far the highest amount of damage per cast/initiative spent. That is also why it is not recommended to change any of the two weapons.
• Also use Siphon, Well of Sorrow, Skale Venom and Spider Venom on cooldown to condi-bomb enemies and to generate additional shadow force. Be careful not to overcap Initiative.
• In situations where you are alone, you can use Haste instead of Spider Venom for personal Quickness Quickness and a Stunbreak.
• In Enter Shadow Shroud, use Grasping Shadows on cooldown and spam auto attacks. Eternal Night also applies poison, so it is worth casting as well.
• You have lots of CC sources, both for soft and hard CC.Siphon, Dawn's Repose, Mind Shock, Twilight Combo and Shadowfall all apply hard or soft CC, making it very easy to break defiance bars, espeically since you have a high uptime on Chilled, Weakness, Slow, Immobile and Cripple as well.

Survivability

• Well of Gloom is your main source of healing, so make use of it as often as required. It also heals allies over time.
• In Enter Shadow Shroud, Eternal Night also provides some healing upon hitting enemies with it. Mind Shock is also a great source of Stability.
• Enter Shadow Shroud makes you immune to damage while it is active (you will take damage to shadow force instead), so it is your main source of damage mitigation.
• All your well skills also allow you to quickly resposition yourself since they are shadowsteps