Vindicator - Shiro DPS Vindicator

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

Focused on: Strike damage and Dps

Designed for: WvW Zerg

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Hard

This build was last updated on November 17, 2025 and is up to date for the November 18, 2025 patch.

Overview

A Power based Vindicator build for WvW.

Skill Bar

Spear

Greatsword

Utility

Utility

Variants

Weapons

• Spear ⇒ Hammer

Template Code

[&DQkDPg8qRRncEQAABhIAANQRAAArEgAAyhEAAAcCAADUESsSBhIAAAAAAAA=]

Copy Template Code

Specializations

Variants

• Assassin's Presence worth it if two other DPS in your party lack fury uptime

Equipment

Head
Marauder

Shoulders
Marauder

Chest
Marauder

Hands
Marauder

Legs
Marauder

Feet
Marauder

Backpiece
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Amulet
Marauder

Ring
Berserker

Ring
Marauder

Spear
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Greatsword
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x17

Infusion
x1

Relic

Equipment Variants

Relics

• Relic of Isgarren

Stats

• Feel free to use as much Berserker stats as you feel comfortable with

Sigils

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Energy can be replaced:
  • Sigil of Superior Sigil of Fire - More damage
  • Sigil of Superior Sigil of Paralyzation - More CC on Jade Winds
• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Stamina good if you have very high melee uptime and are getting kills

Usage

Quick Guide

• Shiro Vindicator is a hybrid melee/range DPS with strong CC attached to its damage abilities. It has many complex ways to combine its skills to efficiently use up Energy
• Swap between Shiro and Alliance as frequently as possible
• Dodge frequently for damage and to maintain Leviathan Strength/Forerunner of Death buff
• In spear prioritize Abyssal Raze then use your other Spear skills to recharge it

Spear Priority Dodge for Leviathan Strength/Forerunner of Death buff Jade Winds Abyssal Raze Scavenger Burst Abyssal Force Nomad's Advance Abyssal Blot Dodge Abyssal Blitz

• When you have melee uptime swap to Greatsword to burst along with your legend skills

Greatsword Priority Dodge for Leviathan Strength/Forerunner of Death buff Eternity's Requiem Jade Winds Mist Unleashed Nomad's Advance True Strike (Vindicator) - 5 charges Phantom's Onslaught Dodge Scavenger Burst

Surviving

• This build has moderate passive defense
• This build has high mobility skill access
• This build has high active defenses

Defensive Skill List Abyssal Blitz - Movement + Evade Phantom's Onslaught Movement Imperial Guard - Block Riposting Shadows - Stunbreak + Immobilize clear + Movement + Evade Phase Traversal - Movement Alliance Tactics - Archemorus (Red) Selfish Spirit - Healing Reaver's Rage - Stunbreak Alliance Tactics - Saint Viktor (Blue) Selfless Spirit - Healing Awakening - Stunbreak Battle Dance - Evade Tree Song - Condition Clear

• Phantom's Onslaught will lunge towards a target if they are within range, otherwise it moves you considerably less than 900 range
  • Neutral creatures can be used as targets
• Avoiding entering Saint Viktor (Blue) stance unless you'll die if you don't

Priorities

High

• Burst Damage

Moderate

• Damage

Low

• CC

Detailed Explanations

Burst Damage

Range Burst Precast Dodge for Leviathan Strength/Forerunner of Death buff if needed Shiro Jade Winds Abyssal Raze Abyssal Force Abyssal Raze Energy Meld Abyssal Blot Jade Winds Abyssal Raze Abyssal Force Alliance Scavenger Burst Abyssal Raze Abyssal Force Abyssal Raze Abyssal Blot Scavenger Burst Abyssal Raze Abyssal Force

Melee Burst Precast Dodge for Leviathan Strength/Forerunner of Death buff if needed Shiro Eternity's Requiem Jade Winds Mist Unleashed Phantom's Onslaught Dodge Energy Meld Jade Winds Channel 3 seconds of Impossible Odds either at the start if you can consistently turn it off in time or when 3 seconds remain on the legend swap cooldown if you can't Alliance Eternity's Requiem Mist Unleashed Scavenger Burst Nomad's Advance Phantom's Onslaught Dodge Optional: Imperial Guard ⇒ True Strike (Vindicator) - 5 charges Scavenger Burst Mist Unleashed

• The goal of these combos is to maximize your damage output by spending the 100 energy you get across a 10s legend swap as efficiently as possible while using cooldowns at appropriate times to get multiple casts of energy efficient skills like Abyssal Force and Mist Unleashed when possible
• Consider these combos very loose guides, you'll often swap between range and melee and need to adjust what you're doing
  • For example if you're in Alliance and Spear but your group closes into melee then Nomad's Advance will outperform Scavenger Burst for the same energy cost
  • Your burst will need to be adjusted a lot based on cooldowns, especially if you don't get a chance to melee and need to stay in Spear for multiple legend swaps
  • Two good rules of thumb:
    • Melee skills hit harder than ranged skills, so prioritize melee skills with equivilant energy costs
    • Fully charged Abyssal Raze is the exception to the above rule, don't swap off Spear when its fully charged until you'll have good enough melee uptime to hit multiple skills
• Whenever possible you should Weapon Swap from Spear to Greatsword and vice versa as you legend swap
  • Make sure to hit the free Abyssal Raze you get for using Weapon Swap with 3 stacks of Crushing Abyss
• Move Abyssal Blot up in priority, especially on Alliance, if you can make use of the Pull on your groups spike

Damage

Skill priority Spear Dodge for Leviathan Strength/Forerunner of Death buff Jade Winds Abyssal Raze Scavenger Burst Abyssal Force Nomad's Advance Abyssal Blot Dodge Abyssal Blitz Greatsword Dodge for Leviathan Strength/Forerunner of Death buff Eternity's Requiem Jade Winds Mist Unleashed Nomad's Advance True Strike (Vindicator) - 5 charges Phantom's Onslaught Dodge Scavenger Burst

• Start fights in Spear + Alliance stance for the superior range
• Swap legends off cooldown to gain energy
• Ideally you always use Spear in Alliance and Greatsword in Shiro, swapping weapons at the same time you swap legends but in practice this will not often happen
  • In particular don't be afraid to camp Spear for multiple legend swaps if you don't have an opportunity for melee uptime
• The energy gain from Energy Meld + Angsiyan's Trust represents significant potential damage. It should normally be used in Shiro to get extra casts of Jade Winds

Spear

• Make sure to prioritize using at least 1 charge of Abyssal Raze in Spear to avoid wasting the cooldown reduction that other spear abilities give
• Abyssal Blitz is inconsistent, but if you can land all three mines the skill is much higher priority than listed
  • Use it when your group is kiting while the enemy pushes into you or as your group pushes through the enemy group
• Move Abyssal Blot higher in priority than Abyssal Force any time the Pull would be valuable

Greatsword

• Cast Mist Unleashed quickly when swapping to Greatsword so you can cast it a second time before swapping back to Spear
• Autoattack whenever you can on Spear for the cooldown reduction on Abyssal Raze
• Only cast Nomad's Advance and Phantom's Onslaught if the forced movement won't put you in danger
  • Prioritize targeting enemies on the edge of the enemy group rather than the center so the skills move you to a safer position
  • Use the skills while your group is pushing in and the enemy group is moving away when possible

Alliance

• Scavenger Burst has a 3 second cooldown, this lets you cast it 3+ times per Alliance rotation which makes it a high priority skill when your have excess energy, such as at range, because it is an efficient way to use up your Energy even though its damage per cast is low compared to other skills

Shiro

• Try to cast Jade Winds twice every time you enter Shiro stance
  • Sometimes it is worth delaying a legend swap slightly to cast a third Jade Winds if you have spare energy, but never start the cast more than 1 seconds after the swap is ready
  • Keep in mind that Jade Winds only pays its energy cost at the end of the cast, this means that if you swap legends during the cast and finish it in Alliance you'll waste 40 Shiro energy then lose 40 Alliance energy. Avoid this at all costs
• Impossible Odds is useful for using up excess energy that would be wasted on legend swap, but its ICD (Internal Cooldown) is global rather than per target, so never prioritize it over other skills

CC

List of CC skills Abyssal Blot - Pull Jade Winds - Stun

• Both of your CC skills are part of your damage rotation, you can adjust their priority slightly to land more effective CC but it isn't worth delaying them significantly