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
Overview
This PvP Deadeye Rifle build takes Thief's role of outnumbering to the extreme, potentially bursting targets down in mere seconds.
Skill Bar
Slot Changes
Utility:
If you don't need the cleansing and extra endurance of , it can be replaced:
- - better burst setup. In the burst combo use it before .
- - stronger bursts.
Template Code
Specializations
Variants
- 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
Equipment Variants
Rune
- - versatile rune which also provides better sustain.
Usage
Elite specialization basics
is replaced by , 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 consume Malice and are further empowered based on the number of Malice stacks.
At the 5 Malice threshold stolen skills such as 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 to begin passively building Malice.
provides easy stealth access on rifle, the only limiting factor will be endurance.
recharges . Use it when you either run out of initiative, have to switch targets, or need to interrupt via .
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 when they get close.
- Stomping downed opponents with Shadowstep ⇒ Shadow Return.
- Breaking stun and cleansing conditions.
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.
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 or 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 until you reach the Malice cap, then enter stealth and follow up with a .
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 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 spam. If you do get the chance to use it, build Malice with either of the following skills:
- (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. - 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.
is basically the 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 ⇒ ⇒ about face.
At maximum (5 stacks) of Malice you should enter stealth and do a . 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!
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 to combo stealth (the two skills are also tied to the same button).
is taken for synergy.
Rifle burst rotation example:
- , which already puts you at 1/5 Malice with
- x2
- Stealth using either a stolen skill or a dodge
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 + 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 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 from a safe distance, preferably also behind something that breaks line of sight. This way you'll always have an escape route via .
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.
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.
Ratings
Comments
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