Build:Daredevil - SA D/P Roamer

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

Focused on: Strike damage and Mobility

Designed for: WvW Roaming

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on November 21, 2024 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

Dagger/Pistol Thief is one of the oldest and most infamous roaming builds in WvW history. Nearly unlimited Stealth access combined with Blind spam and the top tier mobility of Daredevil makes this iteration extremely hard to pin down while having multiple strong burst skills and CC options at its disposal.

Skill Bar

Dagger/Pistol

Shortbow

Utility

Skill Variants

Heal

• Channeled Vigor - could be a better healing option if you don't need a mass cleanse or another stealth skill.

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Equipment

Head
Marauder

Shoulders
Marauder

Chest
Marauder

Hands
Marauder

Legs
Marauder

Feet
Marauder

Backpiece
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Marauder

Ring
Marauder

Dagger
Marauder

Pistol
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Shortbow
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

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).

Equipment Variants

Sigils

Short bow

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Cleansing could replace either sigils if you're having trouble dealing with conditions.

Runes

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Deadeye - higher crit chance for slightly lower burst damage.

Relics

• Relic of the Mists Tide - if you're having a hard time against condition builds.

• Relic of Isgarren - potentially higher uptime on your damage boost than what Relic of Fireworks offers, but you have less control over this one.

Consumables

Food

• - good stats and frequent life steal which adds extra healing/armor ignoring damage to the build.

• - same stats as above and passive damage mitigation instead of life steal.

Utility

• or

Usage

General

• in 1v1s your should take a defensive approach, dropping in and out of Stealth, slowly wearing down targets.

• Shadow Arts enhances Stealth significantly. Entering/exiting stealth now grants you Initiative while cleansing conditions.

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).

• Stealing grants initiative, boons, dazes enemies and refills a portion of your endurance 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.

• Steal procs the damage bonus of Relic of Fireworks, creating a burst window for you.

Dagger/Pistol

• Most of the burst damage comes from Backstab. Against low HP targets follow up with Heartseeker.

• The most basic combo in the build is Black Powder (BP) ⇒ Heartseeker (HS) for Stealth, followed by Backstab.

• 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 Backstab. However, if you already had stealth then the damage will instead reveal you and prevent the next stealth from being applied!

• Shadow Shot is a great gapcloser even in stealth.
  • 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 following up with a Backstab.
  • As the Blind is unblockable you could use this skill 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.

• Autoattacks and Shadow Shot 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 may buy enough time for some quick hits without the fear of getting deleted in melee.

• Heartseeker (HS) is seldom used to deal damage. It's mainly just a tool for comboing stealth by performing a Leap finisher in Black Powder (BP) 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.

• Headshot is a quick interrupt. On top of 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 attack as well. It's a very situational skill with no real pressure of its own.

• Black Powder is your primary source of stealth. Combo it with Heartseeker for self-stealthing or short bow's Cluster Bomb 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 Steal for a near-instant long range Blind.

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

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

Short bow

Utility weapon

• Trick Shot 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.

• Cluster Bomb being a spammable blast finisher has high value for your team when it comes to blasting fields for AoE Stealth.
  • 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 skill cast 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 received by 33% which affects resurrecting speed and it dazes on impact.

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

Utilities

• Signet of Agility instantly cleanses conditions, this could even be used to break CC like Fear.

• 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 uses. A few applications include teleporting to safety while pressured or extending your reach in combat.
  • 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.

• Blinding Powder is fairly simple. This is your second stun breaker, and another source of stealth. As a Blast finisher you can combo it with Black Powder 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.

• 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.

Related Builds

• Daredevil - Dagger/Pistol - Conquest PvP version of the build.