Thief - Power S/D Roamer

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

Focused on: Strike damage and Mobility

Designed for: WvW Roaming

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on April 26, 2024 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A Power Sword/Dagger WvW roaming build for core Thief. This mix of evasions, boon stealing and unblockable damage makes for a strong skirmisher that seeks to win a battle of attrition. Usable by F2P players as well.

Skill Bar

Sword/Dagger

Shortbow

Utility

Skill Bar Variants

Utility

For the optional slot there are two similar options. Both breaks stun and generates initiative:

• Signet of Agility - good passive bonus and extra cleansing/evasion on active.

• Infiltrator's Signet - primarily used to chase down targets. If you need to break stun with it and don't want to remain right next to your opponent, you can use NPCs and other players as targets to teleport to.

• Scorpion Wire - a ranged pull on short CD, good at closing gaps, interrupting skills and setting up combos like Cloak and Dagger ⇒ Tactical Strike without spending initiative.

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Specializations

Variants

• Assassin's Reward is an equally viable option for the last slot, offering significantly higher healing to help you out in longer fights in exchange for having less initiative to spend.

Equipment

Head
Marauder

Shoulders
Marauder

Chest
Marauder

Hands
Marauder

Legs
Marauder

Feet
Marauder

Backpiece
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Amulet
Marauder

Ring
Marauder

Ring
Marauder

Sword
Marauder

Dagger
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Shortbow
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

Equipment Variants

Sigils

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Bloodlust over Sigil of Superior Sigil of Cleansing - if you can afford to give up some sustain, this sigil provides a damage boost to both sets.

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Blood over Sigil of Superior Sigil of Celerity - the life steal makes you a bit more durable while also adding some extra damage, but you'll lose a burst window after Steal by dropping Celerity.

Consumables

Food

• - great stats and armor ignoring damage procs that also heal you.

• - burst damage if you don't have ascended cooking.

• or - crit chance bump with armor ignoring damage procs which also heal.

• - mainly a defensive food that provides more frequent access to dodging.

Utility

• or , whichever is cheaper.

Usage

General

• Dodge if you need Swiftness while roaming.

• The many dodges and evasions on weapon sets provide decent survivability for an otherwise very squishy profession.

Steal

• 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).
  • Thanks to Swindler's Equilibrium however you can use this skill a bit more freely compared to other thief builds.

• Steal's most important function is the instant boonstrip that prioritizes Stability, which goes off before the Daze does, resulting in an instant interrupt. It's also a strong combo piece as an instant teleport that can be used in the middle of casting hard hitting abilities can make it easier to land those skills.

• Steal procs Relic of Fireworks.

Sword/Dagger

The main set of the build

• Most of the damage will come from a combination of autoattacks and the Flanking Strike (thief dual) chain.

• Infiltrator's Strike is an excellent skill for initiating fights or just closing gaps.
  • Infiltrator's Return provides minor cleansing and an escape route.
• Don't spam Flanking Strike (thief dual) mindlessly. You will become easily predictible and locked in an animation while your enemy can set up burst. Find a balance between your autoattacks and flanking strike. Both this skill and its chain Larcenous Strike are unblockable. Larcenous Strike will be your main source of burst damage.

• Dancing Dagger is merely a filler for ranged poking in case going into melee range would be too dangerous and Short bow is on CD, or if you want to get rid of Aegis / Blind before jumping in. The bouncing attacks however aren't all that bad when it comes to clearing Mesmer clones.

• Cloak and Dagger is strong in its own right. Being the only source of Stealth in the build, this grants access to Tactical Strike which can help with interrupting important casts (heal, stomp, etc.) when Steal is on cooldown, and the stealth in general can help you lose aggro for a short while or even leave the fight entirely without being chased. The damage itself is quite good both on CnD and Tactical Strike, which means chaining these 2 could act as a burst combo as well. With Steal added to the mix in the middle of casting CnD this combo becomes less obvious and harder to avoid.
  • 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 becomes higher.

Short bow

Utility weapon

• Cluster Bomb being a spammable blast finisher has high value for your team when it comes to blasting fields for Stealth or healing (although they'll have to provide the fields).
  • Its chain skill Detonate Cluster is a solid cource of downed cleave, or even ranged burst if you pre-cast Cluster Bomb aimed at your feet, Steal near the end of the animation and then detonate at your target.

• Disabling Shot (thief short bow) 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 Choking Gas on downed enemies especially if they are being revived - Poison decreases healing gained by 33% which affects resurrecting speed.

• Infiltrator's Arrow is the #1 skill for moving around the map in general.

Utilities & elite

• Signet of Agility is your best souce of cleansing, as it instantly removes 3 conditions. In addition to that, this also gives an entire dodge roll's worth of endurance which can be used as a last resort option for squeezing out more dodges when you're out of endurance and don't have time to heal. Keep in mind that the active portion of this skill is AoE! Try to use it near allies whenever possible.

• Shadowstep 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 applications. A few applications include teleport to safety while pressured, extending your reach in combat, or using the instant mobility boost to decap enemy points before using the 2nd part of the skill to leave just as fast.
  • The second half is called Shadow Return. 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, Shadowstep away to safety, and then follow up with Shadow Return at the end of the animation in order to finish the target.

• Dagger Storm 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 Shocking Aura or Line of Warding are able to interrupt Dagger Storm, so don't be completely careless.

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