Thief - Core D/P Roamer

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Focused on: Direct damage, Mobility.

Designed for:

Roaming

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Overview

Dagger/Pistol Thief has always been one of the most popular builds in WvW history. This iteration mixes excellent burst damage with mobility and stealth.

Skill Bar

 

 

Dagger/PistolHealingUtilityElite

Short bow

Slot Changes

Utility

• over - extra stun break and on-demand AoE stealth that also acts as a blast finisher.

Template Code

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Equipment

6x

Superior Rune of the Scholar

18x

Mighty WvW Infusion

Stats aren't set in stone, you're free to tinker with the gear, but it's generally recommended to have at least 16-17k HP in total (consumables included).

Consumables

• or

Variants

Runes

• if you're having trouble utilizing the 6th bonus of Scholar, or want a cheaper yet still strong alternative.

Usage

General

• Shadow Arts enhances Stealth significantly and even introduces a new way of entering it via . This is not only a sustain buff to your healing skill, but also something that could be used in a more aggressive fashion by rolling behind your target with and immediately following up with a without a single initiative spent.

Steal

• is the most powerful tool in a thief's kit and should not be wasted! Do not start fights with steal, keep it for the right moment (mainly to interupt important skills such as heals or elites).

• Stealing grants initiative, inflicts Poison, does damage, heals for ~2k, and provides a variety of boons for you and your team among other things. Its most important function however is the instant boonstrip that prioritizes Stability, which goes off before the Daze does, resulting in an instant interrupt.

Dagger/Pistol

• Most of the burst damage comes from which you're going to use to finish off targets below 50% HP.

• Autoattacks and are the primary source of sustained damage on this set.
  • It's worth noting that the build is rather squishy by default, so most of the time you won't be able to spam autoattacks in melee for long. The Blind from Shadow Shot or may buy enough time for some quick hits without the fear of getting deleted in melee.

• (HS) is seldom used to deal damage. It's mainly just a tool for comboing stealth by performing a Leap finisher in either (BP) or , and sometimes adds an extra bit of mobility. Other than that it may be useful for finishing targets below 25% HP who are just out of melee range.
  • Note: if you're not in Stealth, hitting a target with the BP + HS combo will deal damage to them and give you stealth after the strike went off, perfectly setting up a . However, if you already had stealth then the damage will instead reveal you and prevent the next stealth from being applied!

• will be your main gapcloser on this set. There are a couple of things to note about this one:
  • Shadow Shot has 2 parts: first one is an unblockable teleport/blind, while the second part deals damage. If you're in stealth and don't want to lose it, it's possible to cancel the 2nd part of the skill by using stow weapon immediately after the Blind is applied (you should definitely set up a bind for it if you haven't already) and then follow up with a .
  • Because of its unblockable part you can use this skill once on blocking targets to ensure that you stay one step ahead of them as Blind makes it harder for them to counterpressure you after the block is over.

• is a quick interrupt. Other than that it can be combined with one of your smoke fields for an interrupting + blinding attack, effectively shutting down the skill they are currently using, and the next one as well.

• and are your primary source of stealth. Combo them with for self-stealthing or short bow's for AoE stealth. Another use includes dropping it on downed enemies in order to blind their interrupt skills - making stomping easier - or comboing it with for a near-instant long range Blind.
  • The maximum amount of Heartseekers you can do in a Black Powder under normal circumstances is 3 - this can be extended to 4 if you brop BP next to a corner or a wall and keep facing the wall while spamming HS.

It's possible to burst someone from range, even without line of sight with the following combo:

3. in Black Powder for stealth
   1. in the middle of the Heartseeker
4. from behind or the side

Short bow

Utility weapon

• is a fine option for ranged poking in case going into melee range would be too dangerous. The bouncing projectiles provide decent cleave in teamfights and excel at removing Mesmer clones.

• being a spammable blast finisher has high value for your team when it comes to blasting fields for AoE Stealth.
  • Its chain skill is a solid cource of downed cleave, or even ranged burst if you pre-cast Cluster Bomb aimed at your feet, near the end of the skill cast and then detonate at your target.

• provides cheap and spammable evasion in case you're being focused by the enemy team and your defensive skills are on CD. Remains usable even while Immobilized.

• Use on downed enemies especially if they are being revived - Poison decreases healing received by 33% which affects resurrecting speed.

• is the #1 skill for moving around the map in general, cuts down on travel time between capture points drastically.

Utilities

• should be used before going in for the kill.

• is easily the most versatile and one of the strongest skills in the build. It has 2 parts:
  • The first half is a stun break and teleport, which already has countless uses. A few applications include teleporting to safety while pressured or extending your reach in combat.
  • The second half is called . This skill becomes available for 10 seconds after using Shadowstep, and cures 3 conditions in addition to breaking stun again before returning you to your starting location.
  • These can also be combined to safe stomp targets: begin stomping, away to safety, and then follow up with at the end of the animation in order to finish the target.

• is basically the utility skill version of . Their functionality and purpose is generally the same, with Smoke Screen being "free" and larger. Use it either as a combo field for stealth that's not tied to D/P and allows for more finishers as it doesn't drain your initiative, or as a defensive tool in combat to avoid getting hit.

• If taken is fairly simple. This is your second stun breaker, and another source of stealth. As a Blast finisher you can combo it with for AoE stealth. Just like Signet of Agility, this is a skill you can use to your allies' benefit by sharing its effect with them.

• is both a defensive and offensive 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. On the other hand the skill deals heavy AoE damage whilst evading, which makes it great for pressuring melee targets in general with next to no risk.
  • Note: skills like or are able to interrupt Dagger Storm, so don't be completely careless.

Related Builds

• Thief - Marauder D/P - sPvP version.