Deadeye - Power DPS Rifle

The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Direct damage

Designed for: Raids

Expansions required: Path of Fire Builds

Difficulty:
TBD
This build was last updated on October 02, 2022 and is up to date for the March 19, 2024 patch.

Overview

A power DPS Deadeye raid build. This build deals massive damage against single targets with Death's Judgment but is very immobile. This restricts the encounters where it can realistically be used. However, it is the optimal build for pylon duty on Qadim the Peerless.

Like its cousin Deadeye - Power DPS D/D, this build relies heavily on allies to provide boons and conditions for Premeditation and Exposed Weakness.

For similar builds using other weapons see Deadeye - Power DPS D/D and Deadeye - Power DPS P/P.


Skill Bar

Rifle
Dagger/Dagger
Utility


Skill Variants

  • Shadow Flare will be higher damage than Mercy if you actively use daggers in your rotation. This rotation is significantly more challenging. See the Usage section for details.


Pylon Kiter Variant

  • Shadowstep
  • Assassin's Signet
  • Shadow Flare or Mercy - Shadow Flare is slightly higher damage, but also makes the rotation more difficult as the pulsing damage can reveal you if your timing is off
    • Alternatively, you could bring some extra utility such as CC


Template Code

[&DQUcPSMbOh0MAQAAHxYAACAXAAAzAQAAPRYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=]
Copy Template Code


Specializations


Trait Variants

  • Silent Scope is worth it instead of Premeditation in some encounters where high amounts of boons cannot be maintained and you need the extra precision, such as pylon kiting on Qadim The Peerless.
    • Also run Invigorating Precision while kiting Qadim the Peerless.


Equipment

Head
Berserker
Shoulders
Assassin
Chest
Berserker
Hands
Berserker
Legs
Berserker
Feet
Berserker
Backpiece
Berserker
Accessory
Berserker
Accessory
Berserker
Amulet
Berserker
Ring
Berserker
Ring
Berserker
Rifle
Berserker
Sigil
Sigil
Dagger
Berserker
Dagger
Berserker
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
x6
Infusion
x11
Infusion
x7
  • If you do not have stat infusions, switch one accessory to Assassin stats Assassin stats.


Consumables

Food


Utility

  • /


Usage

Rotation

The goal of the rotation is to maximize your Death's Judgment casts at max malice to maximize DPS. In order to do this you need to carefully line up your skills that grant access to stealth to ensure their cooldowns aren't wasted. Ideally you will always be in Kneel mode during the fight, not being in Kneel is a significant DPS loss.


Opener

  1. Deadeye's Mark
  2. Three Round Burst x3
  3. Shadow Meld
  4. Death's Judgment + Assassin's Signet
  5. Three Round Burst x3
  6. Stolen Skill (F2)
  7. Death's Judgment
  8. Three Round Burst x2
  9. Mercy
  10. Three Round Burst
  11. Deadeye's Mark
  12. Three Round Burst x2
  13. Hide in Shadows
  14. Death's Judgment


Loop

The general idea of the rotation is that you use Three Round Burst 3 times and fill downtime with auto-attacks until you are at 7 Malice before stealthing and casting Death's Judgment.

  1. Three Round Burst x3
  2. Stealth Skill
  3. Death's Judgment


Use whichever stealth skills are available at Step 2, with the following priority

  • Hide in Shadows
  • Shadow Gust
  • Shadow Meld
  • Stolen Skill (F2)


You will eventually run out of stealth skills. While you wait for Deadeye's Mark to recharge, fill the time with auto-attacks and use Three Round Burst whenever you're nearly at full initiative.


Mark & Mercy Burst

When Deadeye's Mark is ready again, perform the following burst:

  1. Deadeye's Mark
  2. Stolen Skill
  3. Death's Judgment
  4. Three Round Burst x2
  5. Mercy
  6. Three Round Burst
  7. Deadeye's Mark
  8. Three Round Burst x2
  9. Hide in Shadows
  10. Death's Judgment

If you are following the priority list for stealth skills you should always have Hide in Shadows ready. If not, use one of your other stealth skills instead.

After this burst, return to the loop section.


Video example


Dagger Section

There are a variety of reasons you may switch to your Dagger set: It is higher damage to incorporate it in your loop if using Shadow Flare; if your loop goes on long enough you will eventually run out of stealth skills; and once the target is below 25% health, the extra damage on Heartseeker makes it higher DPS than rifle.

The basic loop on dagger is:

  1. Heartseeker x2
  2. Double Strike Wild Strike Lotus Strike
  3. Cloak and Dagger
  4. Malicious Backstab


Video example using a Dagger loop


Notes

  • When Assassin's Signet is off cooldown, use it in combination with your next Death's Judgment, provided that you will have another stealth skill available for the next loop as well (as this allows you to hit Death's Judgment twice while the buff is active).
  • Delay casting Assassin's Signet until just before Death's Judgment hits, to give yourself the maximum time to get the second Death's Judgment in.
  • Take great care not to break stealth with anything other than Death's Judgment or your DPS will be significantly reduced.
  • If the boss is about to die or phase, you can maximise your damage by burning all your initiative on Three Round Burst or Heartseeker. You should still try to get in one last stealth attack if you can.
  • After ~100 seconds, there will be a period of ~10 seconds where you won't have any stealth skills available. If the boss will phase within 10 seconds, you could switch to Dagger/Dagger or Pistol/Pistol on your second weapon set to squeeze in some extra damage.


Ratings

This build has a rating of 4 stars based on 4 votes.
Log in or register to rate this build.
4 stars
OfficerAndyGentleman gave this build 4 stars • May 2023
The combination of rifle and dagger is theoretically one of the highest DPS options in the game, though each part can be somewhat fiddly. Recent QoL changes to rifle have made it far more practical in actual fights though.
3 stars
Troupe gave this build 3 stars • September 2018
Deals really high damage but has a really impractical rotation to achieve that, probably not worth playing on most of the game's encounters
5 stars
Yetran gave this build 5 stars • September 2018
In my opinion this is great build. I can do really great dps on raids and even on WvW. Good job m8
3 stars
Chinkeeyong gave this build 3 stars • September 2018
This build is objectively strong but very very impractical in real raids. While it does have a niche on ranged Deimos (and is one of the best builds if you use that strategy) it's difficult to justify using it anywhere else.

Comments

Get MetaBattle Premium
Enjoy an ad-free experience & support the website, for less than $1 per month! Upgrade to Premium