Thief - Core Power Thief

The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good

Focused on: Strike damage

Designed for: Open World, Open World General and Open World Core

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on April 27, 2025 and is up to date for the April 15, 2025 patch.

Overview

A solid core thief build that can be used in most areas of open world. Weapon skills do not have cooldowns so they can be spammed as long as you have innitiative, providing good burst for open world.

The only downside is that thief is slightly squishy but it makes up for it with its mobility, evades and burst.

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Skill Bar

Dagger/Dagger

Pistol/Pistol

Utility

Weapon Variants

• Shortbow - provides good mobility and tagging, but very low damage overall. Replaces either weapon set.

Skill Variants

• Withdraw - instant heal + evade
• Hide in Shadows - stealth
• Signet of Agility - if condi cleanse is needed.
• Prepare Pitfall - delayed AoE damage and CC.
• Shadowstep - alternative stun break + condi cleanse.
• Roll for Initiative - reliable stun break
• Tripwire - cc
• Shadow Refuge - to escape from enemies or stealth past them.
• Thieves Guild - high burst on a long cooldown

Specializations

Variants

• Invigorating Precision - trades damage for sustain, requires Fury to truly work.

Acrobatics Variant

This variant provides additional defense in the form of extra dodges through Feline Grace and sustain from Assassin's Reward. But all the other traits are very situational, so pick whatever you want.

Equipment

Ascended gear and stat infusions are not required; you can use exotic gear with the same stats.

Standard Equipment

This set uses gear similar to Build:Daredevil_-_Power_DPS, making it an excellent option for general PVE.

Head
Berserker

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Berserker

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Berserker

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Dagger
Berserker

Dagger
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Pistol
Berserker

Pistol
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Relic

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Dragonhunter and Rune of Superior Rune of the Scholar are interchangeable.
• You can use Relic of Zakiros to trade a minor amount of damage for sustain, Relic of the Cavalier to start combat with boons, or Relic of Durability for a little extra defense.
• For defense, equip the highest tier Jade Core you can afford. Use defensive food, traits, or skills if required. If necessary, use Knight trinkets.

Consumables

Budget consumables are acceptable for use in open world.

DPS

• Prioritize Steak Ascended food.
• /
• /

Farming

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

Usage

Dagger/Dagger

Open with Steal to get close to your target, then Cloak and Dagger, and Backstab. Then just auto attack until Revealed wears off. When the enemy is below 50% hp, and more so below 25% hp, you can start using Heartseeker, but don't use all your initiative on that because Backstab is still better.

Pistol/Pistol

Spam Unload over and over. Try to land all projectiles to recover initiative. Use Head Shot to break defiance bars.

General tips

• Use Smoke Screen to destroy projectiles and blind enemies.
• Use Basilisk Venom for CC, especially when near other players so they can also gain its benefits.
• Always have a shortbow in your inventory to equip whenever needed. Shortbow gives you excellent ranged tagging potential, mobility, and even some CC. Use Infiltrator's Arrow to get around quickly. This skill can take some effort to use, but having your abilities set to Ground Target with Range Indicator (quickcast) can be a good help.

Combo Fields

Main article: Guide:What are Combo Fields

Thief is one of the very few professions with access to smoke fields, such as Smoke Screen. Using certain combo finishers in these fields provides Stealth. A blast finisher like Cluster Bomb gives AoE Stealth, while a leap finisher like Heartseeker gives personal stealth only.

To stealth your party with these fields, place down a smoke field such as Smoke Screen or Black Powder. Then, every player can contribute with their own finishers to gain stealth. This stealth has a maximum duration, so it's a good idea to stack it and then move, finding a spot to stack again before the existing stealth runs off. Five blast finishers are sufficient for max stealth. When using Cluster Bomb, click the skill icon on the UI to fire the bomb directly at your feet completely eliminating all travel time.