Specter - Condition Specter

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

Focused on: Condition damage

Designed for: Open World and Open World General

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on July 05, 2023 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

Condition Specter is an extremely versatile and powerful specialization for OW gameplay. Due to the easy access to Enter Shadow Shroud, strong self-healing and mobile ranged gameplay, it alleviates the survivability concerns of other Thief specializations. It does not have the strongest burst and also somewhat lacks in terms of cleave damage, but it compensates that through strong single-target damage and a large amounts of native CC damage, even when alone. It also shares its gear with the condition dps variant for group content, making it a very convenient option for general PvE gameplay. Specter's damage also gets ramped up with allies around you due to Skale Venom, Spider Venom and Dark Sentry, so it is great for all kinds of group gameplay as well.

Skill Bar

Scepter/Dagger

Utility

Template Code

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Specializations

• The choice between Bountiful Theft and Pressure Striking is a matter of preference; if you don't benefit from additional vigor uptime, the latter is better for a little additional damage. Bountiful Theft provides boonstrip, which can also be handy in some cases.
• Consume Shadows can be used for a large area heal upon exiting shroud, at the cost of the remaining shadow force.

Equipment

Viper

This setup uses Viper equipment for high raw DPS.

Head
Viper

Shoulders
Sinister

Chest
Viper

Hands
Sinister

Legs
Viper

Feet
Sinister

Backpiece
Viper

Accessory
Sinister

Accessory
Sinister

Amulet
Viper

Ring
Viper

Ring
Viper

Scepter
Viper

Sigil

Dagger
Viper

Sigil

Rune
x6

Ritualist

This setup provides much higher HP and boon duration while maintaining very similar (within 15%) damage output. This allows for easier Alacrity upkeep and additional Shadow Force via Traversing Dusk. This build is the Editor's Choice for playing Specter, as while it will have somewhat lower burst it is a more generally-useful setup for Open World and provides incredible party support to farm zergs while also being very strong for solo play.

Head
Ritualist

Shoulders
Ritualist

Chest
Ritualist

Hands
Ritualist

Legs
Ritualist

Feet
Ritualist

Backpiece
Ritualist

Accessory
Ritualist

Accessory
Ritualist

Amulet
Ritualist

Ring
Ritualist

Ring
Ritualist

Scepter
Ritualist

Dagger
Ritualist

Sigil

Sigil

Pistol
Ritualist

Sigil

Rune
x6

Variant Equipment

• The Ritualist setup is optimised about a tier-10 jade bot power core, if you only have a low-tier (or no) power core, replace one accessory with Viper stats. That is due to Strength of Shadows converting Vitality to Expertise.
• Ascended is not required for open world, exotic equipment is sufficient (you may wish to add more Viper stats gear as required to reach condition duration cap).
• For the Ritualist Setup having a Shortbow with Sigil of Superior Sigil of Corruption and Sigil of Superior Sigil of Absorption can help with tagging, while offering some additional damage and utility.

Consumables

Food:

• Always use to maximize the additional condition duration on both Torment and Poison since they are your main sources of damage. With the 50% added by Rune of Superior Rune of Tormenting, you need around 52% overall condition duration since Potent Poison and add 48% to poison duration.
• For the Ritualist setup using makes it easier to keep up ALacrity. is a very cheap alternative for a small DPS loss.

Utility:

• • , budget option
  • (and variants) - farming
• For the Ritualist setup using makes it easier to keep up Alacrity. Also useful if allies have to spread a lot.

Usage

Damage/CC

• Outside of Enter Shadow Shroud, spam Twilight Combo as it grants by far the highest amount of damage per cast/initiative spent. That is also why it is not recommended to change any of the two weapons.
• Also use Siphon, Skale Venom, Well of Sorrow and Well of Silence on cooldown to condi-bomb enemies and to generate additional shadow force.
• In situations where you are not alone, you can use Spider Venom instead of Well of Silence for higher damage.
• In Enter Shadow Shroud, use Grasping Shadows on cooldown and spam auto attacks. Eternal Night(Eternal Night) also applies poison, so it is worth casting as well.
• You have lots of CC sources, both for soft and hard CC. Dawn's Repose, Twilight Combo, Well of Silence, Siphon and Mind Shock all apply hard CC, making it very easy to break defiance bars, espeically since you have a high uptime on Chilled, Weakness, Slow and Cripple as well.

Survivability

• Well of Gloom is your main source of healing, so make use of it as often as required. It also heals allies over time.
• In Enter Shadow Shroud, Eternal Night also provides some healing upon hitting enemies with it.
• Enter Shadow Shroud makes you immune to damage while it is active (you will take damage to shadow force instead), so it is your main source of damage mitigation.
• All your well skills also allow you to quickly resposition yourself since they are shadowsteps

Detailed explanations on the general usage and rotation are given in the video down below:

Guide Video (as of May 2022)