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 July 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

Dagger/Pistol

Utility

Slot Changes

Utility:

For the optional slot:

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

• Shadow Gust - another Stealth access and an AoE CC.

• Signet of Agility - better cleansing and more Silent Scope synergy.

Weapons

• Sword/Dagger over Dagger/Pistol is also a viable option, turns your second set even more defensive while adding some boon removal in exchange for losing an easy interrupt and a tool for stealthing.

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Equipment

Rifle

Sigil

Sigil

Dagger

Pistol

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Equipment Variants

Rune

• Rune of Divinity - versatile rune which also provides better sustain making it a bit more beginner friendly.

Sigil

• Sigil of Opportunity over Sigil of Separation - the same damage bonus but instead of relying on range this synergizes with the Cripple from Skirmisher's Shot. Which one of these sigils you use is entirely up to you.

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.

• Shadow's Embrace and Shadow's Rejuvenation offer a steady stream of cleansing and Initiative in combat, having great synergy with Silent Scope and other sources of Stealth.

• Shadow Meld is great at countering Revealed which would otherwise prevent you from stealthing. In general this is just a free stealth access to be used whenever you see fit.

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 up using either a stolen skill or a dodge if you can, or any of your stealth CDs if you can't
4. Death's Judgment

Dagger/Pistol

Secondary set, melee, great stealth access and a spammable interrupt

• You generally swap to D/P when you're forced out of Rifle for reasons such as projectile denial or the need to interrupt/cleave/stealth up.

• Head Shot is a quick and relatively cheap ranged interrupt.

• While dagger autoattacks only cleave 2 targets it's still better than the single target Rifle shots in case you'd need to cleave a downed enemy who's being rez'd. The end of the auto chain also applies Poison for healing reduction which helps even more with denying rez attempts.

• Heartseeker is a great finishing move but don't waste your Initiative spamming it while the target isn't already low on HP. It's also your best combo tool to build up Stealth when used in Black Powder.

• Shadow Shot is a gapcloser with good damage and an unblockable Blind. When the target isn't low enough for HS this is your primary damaging attack on the D/P set.
  • The skill has 2 parts - an unblockable teleport which Blinds but does no damage and a melee hit which deals damage. If you stow your weapon at the right moment just after the teleport the damage won't go off. This could be useful in Stealth as you can teleport to the target withut being revealed and then follow up with a Backstab for burst damage.

• Black Powder is a defensive/utility skill. Provides some sustain against melee and a combo field for Stealthing yourself or your team.

Top Streamers

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Related Builds

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