Deadeye - Marauder Rifle

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

Focused on: Direct damage and Mobility

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on April 14, 2022 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

This PvP Deadeye Rifle build takes Thief's role of outnumbering to the extreme, potentially bursting targets down in mere seconds.

Skill Bar

Rifle

Sword/Dagger

Utility

Slot Changes

Utility:

If you don't need the cleansing and extra endurance of Signet of Agility, it can be replaced:

• Binding Shadow - better burst setup. In the burst combo use it before Deadeye's Mark.

• Assassin's Signet - stronger bursts.

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Specializations

Variants

• Executioner is also a viable option if you value raw damage more than utility.

Specialization Changes

Replacing Deadly Arts with Shadow Arts makes the build more forgiving to play, but sacrifices quite a lot of burst damage. When playing this version, replace Sword/Dagger with Dagger/Pistol:

Equipment

Rifle

Sigil

Sigil

Sword

Dagger

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Equipment Variants

Rune

• Rune of Divinity - versatile rune which also provides better sustain.

Usage

Elite specialization basics

• Steal is replaced by Deadeye's Mark, which has greater range but also a cast time. We're still going to refer to this as steal.

• Stolen skills are also replaced by new ones for each profession, although these are much less situational and can be used more freely. One thing to note is that you cannot pick the target freely for the new stolen skills, they will always be used on your marked target (even if they are in stealth, which can be useful for finishing off low HP stealthed targets).
• If you want to know more about these skills, here's a list of them from the official wiki.

• Your specialization resource is called Malice. It's built using attack skills with initiative cost on your marked target and you can have up to 5 stacks of Malice, each increasing your damage by 3%. Stealth attacks such as Death's Judgment consume Malice and are further empowered based on the number of Malice stacks.

• At the 5 Malice threshold stolen skills such as Steal Health grant Stealth on activation, which is going to be their primary purpose - but be wary that they also do damage, so if you were already in stealth these will reveal you instead. There is a workaround for this however: stolen skills need line of sight (LoS) to deliver damage, if you intentionally break LoS then you can use them for the stealth without drawbacks.

General

• Start fights with Deadeye's Mark to begin passively building Malice.

• Silent Scope provides easy stealth access on rifle, the only limiting factor will be endurance.

• Mercy recharges Deadeye's Mark. Use it when you either run out of initiative, have to switch targets, or need to interrupt via Sleight of Hand.

• Shadowstep is easily the most versatile skill in the build. Couple of applications include:
  • Extending the reach of rifle by 1200 range instantly.
  • Escaping from melee, and then doing it again with Shadow Return when they get close.
  • Stomping downed opponents with Shadowstep ⇒ Shadow Return.
  • Breaking stun and cleansing conditions.

• Signet of Agility is good for more than just cleansing conditions or boosting your precision, its active effect restores an entire dodge roll's worth of endurance which can be turned into stealth.

• Dagger Storm is primarily a defensive 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.
  • Note: skills like Shocking Aura or Line of Warding are able to interrupt Dagger Storm, so don't be completely careless.

Rifle

Main weapon set. Burst, mobility, easy stealth access.

• Rifle technically has 10 skills, but most of them won't be used much or at all.

• The basic game plan is the following: spam Skirmisher's Shot until you reach the Malice cap, then enter stealth and follow up with a Death's Judgment.

• Kneel swaps your rifle skills for more powerful ones, but makes you stationary (this can be cancelled with the same button). You can still dodge roll, teleport, and Withdraw without breaking kneel. Kneeling is a very greedy playstyle and most of the time you won't have the luxury to use these skills, so stick to your Skirmisher's Shot spam. If you do get the chance to use it, build Malice with either of the following skills:
  • Three Round Burst (TRB) will be the main skill to spam on the weapon, this is where most of your damage comes from, not to mention Might and Malice stacking.
  • Spotter's Shot can be used either to set up burst with the Immobilize, or as a cheaper way to reach the Malice cap (Spotter costs 3 Initiative and gives the same amount of Malice as the 6 initiative TRB). The boons provided are also quite good.

• Death's Retreat is basically the Infiltrator's Arrow of this build when it comes to mobility, but that's just one aspect of it. In combat this serves as a spammable condition cleanse or even combo tool for stealth access when used in a smoke field.
  • We recommend that you set up a bind for "about face" (Options ⇒ Control Options ⇒ Movement). This makes it easier to teleport forward with this skill using the following sequence: about face ⇒ Death's Retreat ⇒ about face.

• At maximum (5 stacks) of Malice you should enter stealth and do a Death's Judgment. Exceptions include targets at very low health, in that canse it may be quicker to just spam them down with other skills.
  • At maximum Malice prioritize using stolen skills for stealth access, don't waste dodges if you don't have to!

• Sniper's Cover could be useful against other ranged specs, but a more common application of it is stealth stacking. It's a combo field which can be utilized by you or your team. After dropping SC at your feet, cancel kneeling and use Death's Retreat to combo stealth (the two skills are also tied to the same button).

• Sigil of Energy is taken for Silent Scope synergy.

Rifle burst rotation example:

1. Deadeye's Mark, which already puts you at 1/5 Malice with Malicious Intent
2. Skirmisher's Shot x2
3. Stealth using either a stolen skill or a dodge
4. Death's Judgment

Sword/Dagger

This is the secondary set. Good for cleaving downed targets, defending yourself vs melee, or finishing off targets who have projectile denial.

• Most of the damage here comes from weaving together autoattacks with the Flanking Strike (thief dual) + Larcenous Strike chain. Try not to spam skill 3 too many times in a row because it's very predictable and thus often a waste of initiative.
  • There are exceptions of course. For example spamming Flanking Strike (thief dual) without a target (and without hitting anything) could be used to buy a few extra seconds for your CDs to come back up under heavy pressure, as it evades attacks.

• Most of the time you should initiate combat with Infiltrator's Strike from a safe distance, preferably also behind something that breaks line of sight. This way you'll always have an escape route via Infiltrator's Return.

• Dancing Dagger is sort of a filler skill, won't be used much unless you're stuck on S/D but can't afford to go into melee range.

• Cloak and Dagger is a very niche skill that won't see much play. It's mostly used for disangaging or stealth stomping.
  • Using this skill on targets that can't dodge would be a good idea, such as Mesmer clones or Ranger pets. You want the stealth, not the damage, and it's too expensive to risk getting nothing out of it.

Top Streamers

• Twitch: Faeleth
• Twitch: Azzardome

Related Builds

• SA Rifle Roamer - the WvW Roaming version of this Deadeye PvP build.