Daredevil - Staff Daredevil

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

Focused on: Direct damage and Utility

Designed for: WvW Zerg

Expansions required: Heart of Thorns builds

Difficulty:
TBD
This build was last updated on April 14, 2022 and is up to date for the March 19, 2024 patch.

Overview

Staff Daredevil brings huge direct damage and cleave from while being a difficult target due to its evade frames. Excels in highly coordinated group play group with strong support enabling it.


Skill Bar

Staff
Staff
Utility


Specializations


Template Code

[&DQUjGywXBzWUEgAAWAAAADMBAABXAQAAnwEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=]
Copy Template Code


Equipment

Head
Marauder
Shoulders
Marauder
Chest
Marauder
Hands
Marauder
Legs
Marauder
Feet
Marauder
Backpiece
Marauder
Accessory
Dragon
Accessory
Dragon
Amulet
Dragon
Ring
Dragon
Ring
Dragon
Staff
Dragon
Sigil
Sigil
Staff
Dragon
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
x6
Infusion
x18


Consumables

    • personal option


Usage

General

  • When using prioritize, in order:
    • Warriors -
    • Revenants -
    • Mesmers -
    • Necromancers -


Priorities

High
  • Spike damage
Moderate
  • Sustained damage


Surviving

  • This build has low passive defense
  • This build has high mobility skill access
    • An About Face keybind can be useful for
    • Beware of CCs like () and that will interrupt Dodge and
  • This builds has high active defenses
    • If you die inside ground pressure, immediately use towards your group
      • If you are unlikely to be cleaved quickly, don't use as it can make allied fail
    • Use between engages while positioned safely to restore endurance
    • is your most powerful defensive skill and only stunbreak, try to be very conservative with it
      • Hold onto for as long as possible for the same reasons
Active defense priority
  • / - for stunbreaking
  • - for Immobilize Immobilize
  • - for Immobilize Immobilize
  • Dodge
  • - general use
  • - for endurance
  • - general use


Detailed Explanations

Spike damage

  • Weapon Swap Weapon Swap ()
  • Use at the end of the cast of or to port yourself onto the target as an alternative opener
    • hits harder than , but only if all three hits connect, which is unreliable without
  • Use your spike when:
    • Your group calls a spike:
      • Winds -
      • Wells - +
      • Shades -
      • Traps - +
    • On top of enemy downs (while alive players are on top of them)
    • Enemy groups moving defensively while your group is pushing


Sustained damage

  • Switch weapons as often as possible to proc and
    • Try not to swap if either proc would get less than full value, though is more important
    • Swap as you finish to increase your spike with
  • Try to position yourself on the edge of the enemy group, away from the direction they push into
    • This also applies for targetting , don't cast it into the middle of the enemy stack
  • In general, it is better to pool initiative for spikes instead of spending it on sustained damage
    • This does not mean you should spend long at the initiative cap
  • Finish your auto chains before using another damage skill, unless you need the evade frames from or to keep dealing damage
Skill priority
  • Dodge () - when missing buff
  • - single target only
  • Dodge () - general use


Ratings

This build has a rating of 4 stars based on 3 votes.
Log in or register to rate this build.
4 stars
Tyroxin gave this build 4 stars • June 2022
A potent build to generate downstates with, however some drawbacks apply. While it has become better with the most recent patch, Daredevil is still at risk of random damage thrown around. Also the primary damage requires melee range, preferably within sight of your supporting core. If that is not possible due to the com playing the range, hammer revs, power guards and staff Eles run off while the thief is left with downed clearing and low impact. Good build, but needs a fitting driver. - Also, Anet gib back old Steal.
5 stars
Tao1013 gave this build 5 stars • June 2022
This is an interesting build, providing Mettabattles only Thievies zerg build. The main issue is the very high skill cap and need for plenty of group support. So in addition I figured out a more user friendly varient, in the hope of seeing more Thieves fighting on the WvW zerg frontlines, as we get a bit left out in this regard. So the main change to increase surviablity is switch bound for dash. Yes I know it's a big damage loss but the increase in sustain is so huge it's worth it (you can't dps when your dead) and that said when dpsing down a tower or keep boss with a zerg for example, I could still top the ARCdps meter no problem. So if you need or want to run with a big public zerg with an actual Thief zerg build that is viable for expirenced and less expirenced players a like, this one small change I find does the job beautifully. There are a couple of other options you can take to meet your needs and play style. If you miss your shortbow too much, then run it with energy and absorbtion, a bit of spamable aoe boon rip is not to be sniffed at and then swap quick pockets for sleight of hand and run celerity on your staff, as it's too much fun to swipe onto a target and beat them to death at 100mph (plus the short range of swipe stops you getting to easily seperated from your zerg). Lastly if you still feel a bit glassy swap scholars runes for divinity and you should be good to go. But remember the main change here is swapping bound for dash.
4 stars
Arete gave this build 4 stars • May 2022
Good at smaller numbers, falls apart at large numbers or with range heavy commanders. Best melee spike in the game when it gets to do its thing and almost unhittable when played well and supported with stability.

Comments

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