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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 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 Might and Malice stacking.
    • Spotter's Shot can be used either to set up burst with the Immobilize 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.


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Ratings

This build has a rating of 4 stars based on 19 votes.
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5 stars
Elluri gave this build 5 stars • October 2024
This build refuses to die. I'm not even sure if it's meta anymore but it sure is annoying af when played to its maximum. A good deadeye simply never dies and will always force someone off a node.
5 stars
Vex gave this build 5 stars • September 2024
Still not dead, unfortunately. Good players with this are unkillable while they tear your team to shreds. Top tier damage in both melee and range and the mobility is insane too. CMC pls
5 stars
Yerloq gave this build 5 stars • April 2024
Right as DE gets its nerfs, sword comes in clutch with some tweaks to keep it in the meta and in favor. Still has excellent mobility and the damage is too much. It's a mosquito that you can't get rid of and it actually kills you.
5 stars
Zenn gave this build 5 stars • April 2024
The most broken thief build I've ever played. Even after several nerfs it's going strong, shadow arts makes rifle broken. The damage is way too high for such a defensive build but ironically stealth isn't the real source of its sustain, the mobility is. Stealth is just an enabler which refills initiative so the magic can happen.
2 stars
Chiaros gave this build 2 stars • March 2024
It's so slow and clunky, and they have to be asleep for you to be able to burst them. Daredevil with axes is currently doing everything this tries to do but better.
5 stars
Hanz gave this build 5 stars • January 2024
Saw a surge in popularity recently, enough to get it receive nerfs later his month. The initiative increase on Rifle 4 is well deserved, right now it can virtually be spammed for free with the help of SA. High damage, low downtime, very hard to catch when played right.
4 stars
Ethan gave this build 4 stars • August 2022
It’s a good build with good damage/escape/sustain but gets absolutely wrecked by projectile denial, and with tempest being meta support right now with focus 4 and magnetic aura…it isn’t very fun, also an issue when playing against an untamed.
4 stars
Emforay gave this build 4 stars • August 2022
Updating this, my point about it performing only well with a good team still stands mostly, and against pros you'd probably get easily dispatched. However, for gold and lower this build is actually pretty phenomenal if you learn not to spam skirm shot when you shouldn't spam it.
3 stars
Csev gave this build 3 stars • August 2021
Obviously great single target burst, but in my view the window of opportunity is too narrow and easy to counter, especially where LoS can easily be broken. I find it too inflexible compared to D/P daredevil which provides far more options of play.
5 stars
Baescons gave this build 5 stars • December 2020
Deadeye is definitely a hard carry in ranked but it’s not super fun or effective in tournament/organized play since you have to use all your cds to be effective and are counter able with reveal and projectile block that’s stacked in those premade teams
4 stars
Lil’ rookie gave this build 4 stars • September 2019
So while doing damage is great it loses some use without a proper steal. This build adds huge damage at the cost of functionality such as losing mobility with rifle. With the meta as it is- lots of revs and condi thieves this build seems to need new rating since it’s powery burst may stand out. The thing is most thieves can put plus1 but if they are much less experienced they might just be farmed. Hence why it may seem good- for now rating 4 (or maybe 4.5)stars since I don’t think it’s quiet ranked meta yet.
5 stars
Ryanjt123 gave this build 5 stars • August 2019
This build is very easy to learn but also very easy to die with if you don't know how to use the mobility and weapon swaps
5 stars
Nebo grey gave this build 5 stars • August 2019
This build has great Mobility hard to deal with in the right hands has more than one style letting you use s/d d/p if you like and can do everything a theif can and sometimes more
5 stars
DDuff gave this build 5 stars • May 2019
Proper usage of evade from pwhip and daggerstorm on top of good mobility won't let you be farmed. 1500 distance on rifle and in and out on s/p in general will keep opponents moving places in attempts to catch you. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/421283054
4 stars
Daxx gave this build 4 stars • March 2019
Will get farmed if people close the gap but it can be very annoying, critting someone for their full health bar may be a bit busted though.
5 stars
Soller gave this build 5 stars • January 2019
On the rise since last season, this is something of a solo ranked meta now. Most matches have a deadeye and it's kinda busted. Only way to die is to overextend, if someone's patient enough and gets a feel for the build this is an immortal roamer with crazy spikes from maximum range. Fun to play, nightmare to play against.
5 stars
MurkWan gave this build 5 stars • January 2019
Traditionally considered to be a meme build, but in the right hands, this build is stupid OP. If you know your rotations, time your bursts and couple it with Assassin's Signet, you would be the most annoying piece of work the opponent has to deal with. Knowing the map to kite and deploy your stealth skills (which never runs out tbh) makes you harder to catch and focus target. Use it wisely.
4 stars
Zeirio gave this build 4 stars • September 2018
Kind of a cheese build, but with the damage output it has and lack of focus in soloq, it can be really effective. However, it gets pressured out pretty easily if focused. In more coordinated play it doesn't offer enough outside of it's insane burst damage to really see much use. 4 star soloq 2 star at
5 stars
Auser gave this build 5 stars • September 2018
Great finishing abilities in teamfights, s/p completely removes any issues it had against melee pressure and the unblockable deaths judgement is godly.

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