Build:Specter - A/D Rending Shade

This is a test build. You may comment and rate it.

Focused on: Mobility, Condition damage and Utility

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Hard

This build was last updated on February 18, 2025.

Overview

A tanky and versatile Specter build that can duel, +1, or teamfight relatively well. Looks to land a large number of Cunning Salvo's to both generate initiative and soften up targets with Rending Shade, as well as a lot of interrupts for Pressure Striking.

Skill Bar

Axe/Dagger

Dagger/Pistol

Utility

Skill Variants

Heal

• Well of Gloom - higher mobility, trait synergy, group utility and a Dark combo field, but worse access to stealth and less condition cleansing

Utility

Utility skills (that aren't Shadowstep) can be swapped out to your preference:

• Infiltrator's Signet - low cooldown stunbreak (28s) which procs a number of traits with its shadowstep. Great for landing Cloak and Dagger, overall a good defensive & offensive pick.

• Well of Bounty - another good pick for teamfights, gives a number of helpful boons to yourself and any nearby allies. lots of trait synergies.

• Thousand Needles - heavy pulsing damage and an Immobilize which helps Torment hit harder. The duration of the trap needs to be kept in mind as the pulsing damage can break stealth.

• Shadow Portal - good for quickly repositioning in a fight. an ally can also go through the portal too, but the visual effect is quite small and easy to miss. has a huge range and causes you to arrive with stealth. can be used while stunned.

• Seal Area - good for teamfights or to stop projectile-based bursts. gives the occasional Pressure Striking proc.

• Skale Venom - Pure damage with zero utility. If applied to the maximum number of targets this can deal up to 21840 damage, or 16800 against moving targets.

Elite

Viable elite choices:

• Dagger Storm - the defensive option. 90s cooldown, but allows you to dodge burst, correct mistakes, or counterplay projectiles.

• Shadowfall - the lockdown option. Thanks to Traversing Dusk's Resistance this ability will consistently land and generally lead to the death of anyone who doesn't have Stability or a stunbreak. Remove boons first with Rending Shade if possible -- you can use this skill while in stealth and very quickly Cunning Salvo before the first tick of damage.

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Specializations

Variants

• Hidden Thief is a strong pick when condis aren't an issue.

• Shallow Grave another viable pick after the Febuary 11th buffs. Great against other condition-based builds but puts a lot of emphasis on landing Siphon.

Equipment

Axe

Dagger

Sigil

Sigil

Dagger

Pistol

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Relic

Equipment Variants

Relics

Relic of Peitha is very strong since the build is constantly shadowstepping. However, it can be swapped out for better utility:

• Relic of Cerus - boon corruption for Rending Shade, great synergy with Shadowfall, generally a monster in teamfights. Weaker in duels.

Runes

• Rune of Lynx - trades damage and 1000 health for more consistent mobility

Sigils

• Sigil of Agony over Sigil of Intelligence - better sustained damage & less clunky than Intelligence, but much lower Shroud burst

• Sigil of Cleansing over Sigil of Escape - if you better need better cleansing against damaging conditions rather than roots

Usage

Basics

• Axe skills 1 and 2, Spinning Axe and Venomous Volley, leave axes behind whether they hit or not so long as they weren't blocked, dodged or evaded. Axe skill 3, Cunning Salvo, recalls all of your axes onto your target, dealing full damage with each axe and causing them to additionally inflict Torment. This is the primary source of damage in this build.

• Use Spinning Axe, Venomous Volley, and Cunning Salvo until you have 5 or 6 axes, then recall them with Harrowing Storm.
  • if a target is hit by 5 or more axes, they will become Immobilized for 2s.

• Use Cloak and Dagger if you aren't Revealed to enter Stealth. Use Cunning Salvo before stealth fades.

• Use Siphon frequently to daze targets who do not have Stability.

• Watch your target's buffs; if they have Magnetic Aura, Distortion or some other reflect, stop attacking!

• When the opportunity presents itself (e.g. you are low on initiative, just used Harrowing Storm, or you want to burst), Enter Shadow Shroud.

Elite specialization basics

• Specters gain access to their own version of Death Shroud called Enter Shadow Shroud, at the cost of less total initiative. Mechanically they are the same, replacing your skill bar while active. Damage taken while in Shroud drains Shadow Force instead of HP. You lose access to your utility skills while in shroud.

• Using Siphon (Specter's version of Steal) and spending Initiative builds Shadow Force. In this build, shadowstepping will also build Shadow Force thanks to Traversing Dusk.

• Opening or exiting Shadow Shroud with Mind Shock will cover you in a chaotic situation since it gives 3 stacks of Stability.
• Landing Eternal Night's Chill will help land shroud skills 2 and 3 (Grasping Shadows, Dawn's Repose), which can otherwise be walked out of due to their delay and small AoE radius.
• So generally, 5 > 4 > 2 > 3.
• Don't underestimate Haunt Shot as a filler; it has good range and damage, and is great to use while regenerating initiative.

• Shadow Shroud can be used to stack Stealth.
• Grasping Shadows (Shroud 2) is a delayed blast finisher.
• Dawn's Repose (Shroud 3) is a leap finisher.
• use Black Powder, shroud 2 & 3, leave shroud and Heartseeker for a healthy duration of Stealth without using all of your initiative.

General

• Damage is primarily Torment dealt with recalled axes (Harrowing Storm), Relic of Peitha, interrupts with Pressure Striking, and Shroud abilities 2 & 4 (Grasping Shadows & Eternal Night respectively)
  • Axe/Dagger is the main weapon set of the build, the other is for stealth via Black Powder and Heartseeker. Off-hand pistol also has Head Shot, which, with proper timing, can be used to deal a good bit of damage with Pressure Striking.

• Stealth between points with Black Powder and a leap finisher (e.g. Heartseeker) to conceal your movement and also stack Leeching Venoms. The Spider Venom stacks from this trait don't have an upper limit, so try to stealth as much as possible.

• Shadowfall and other Specter Wells can be "extended" by using a shadowstep. Specter wells shadowstep you, then drop the well at your feet after a short delay, so shadowstepping again before the well is created with a skill like Harrowing Storm will cause the well's range to effectively increase. This works with most shadowsteps.

Defense

• Thanks to Shadow Shroud, Specters can take more of a beating than a normal Thief.

• Panaku's Ambition gives a strong barrier whenever you stealth, and as such landing Cloak and Dagger is especially important

• The sources of condition cleansing are Hide in Shadows, Shadow's Embrace, Grasping Shadows, your on-swap weapon sigils, and if taken, Well of Silence. Shallow Grave is much more viable of an option after the Febuary 11th buffs and can easily be taken over Second Opinion.

• Grasping Shadows > Exit Shadow Shroud > weapon swap > Black Powder for stealth if you're already in shadow shroud and need to disengage.

• Avoid throwing Cunning Salvo if you need to quickly restealth. Normally, you won't be revealed if you attack immediately after leaving stealth - ambush skills are a bit different. If you cast an ambush skill during stealth and your stealth wears off before the skill hits, you will still be revealed, whereas doing the same with a non-ambush skill (e.g. Venomous Volley) would not reveal you.