Logo Albion iconAlbion Online Deadlock iconDeadlock GW2 iconGuild Wars 2 TL iconThrone & Liberty

Thief - Core P/D Condition

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

Focused on: Condition damage

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Difficulty:
Easy
This build was last updated on August 31, 2023 and is up to date for the August 20, 2024 patch.


Overview

A core condition damage Thief build for PvP, designed to roam the map and quickly overwhelm targets with a wide variety of conditions.


Skill Bar

Pistol/Dagger
Shortbow
Utility


Slot Changes

Utility

Viable choices for the optional slot:

  • Shadow Portal - better map control.
  • Blinding Powder - another stun break and easy stealth / Sneak Attack access.
  • Skale Venom - a bursty option and a replacement for the nerfed Spider Venom.
  • Prepare Thousand Needles - AoE burst damage that can cover an entire capture point on some maps.
  • Signet of Shadows - passive mobility and the active adds a lot of cover conditions to burst combos. The passive makes it possible to drop Rune of Lynx and take a stronger rune like Rune of Orr or Rune of Trapper.


Elite

This slot largely depends on personal preferences, every skill is viable to some degree:

  • Basilisk Venom makes it easier to land your burst and can be shared with your allies.
  • Thieves Guild is a bit of a meme option, but if you share Skale Venom with them their combined burst could catch people offguard.


Template Code

[&DQUcFxQrLDcMAQoBNAEAAFgANAG7AVcBnwEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=]
Copy Template Code


Specializations

Variants

  • For a less Poison Poison focused build you could take Improvisation. This is going to cost you some damage but adds more utility to the build through CD resets and an additional charge of stolen skills.

Variants

  • Take Shadow's Embrace if more condition cleansing is needed against the enemy comp.


Equipment

Pistol
Dagger
Sigil
Sigil
Shortbow
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
Amulet
Relic


Equipment Variants

Runes

If you don't need the passive mobility speed boost of Lynx, replace it with either one of the following runes:

  • Rune of Trapper - higher burst damage.
  • Rune of Orr - good stats and the the anti-condition aspect could help in mirror matchups, or against any other condi build in general.


Relics

  • Relic of Peitha - damage proc whenever you use Shadow Strike, Steal or any Deception skills. The projectile however is rather slow and has a huge delay.
  • Relic of the Fractal - extra damage and more condition variety on your Repeater spam, but has a 20s cooldown.


Usage

General

  • Share your venom(s) with as many allies as possible, including pets and minions.
  • Use Infiltrator's Arrow to move between capture points. Your job is to roam the map and +1 fights by bursting down targets who have no cleansing / no cooldowns left.


Stealing

  • Steal is going to be used more freely here compared to other builds as it's not an interrupt in this build. Steal applies various cover conditions such as Vulnerability Vulnerability from Even the Odds or Bleeding Bleeding from Deadly Ambush, fitting nicely into your burst combos.


Pistol/Dagger

  • Most of the damage in this build comes from the Shadow Strike Repeater chain and the occasional Sneak Attack. You should spend most of your initiative on these skills.
    • Once you have access to Repeater it's possible to spam this skill 2 times in a row without having to refresh with Shadow Strike.
  • Body Shot is more of a niche skill. It could be useful for rooting targets in place, making it easier to land Shadow Strike, but you should try to do it without Bola Shot to save initiative whenever possible. Another thing you could do is root targets in place to make sure your brust doesn't miss, or that they don't catch up to you while spamming Repeater.
  • Dancing Dagger is okay for some ranged poking vs multiple targets if you can't get in range for Shadow Strike and don't want to switch to bow just yet.
  • Cloak and Dagger provides relatively easy stealth access which could be followed up with Sneak Attack. However doing Shadow Strike Repeater is generally better as it's more damage and SS has a way shorter cast time than CnD, making it easier to pull off (especially under pressure). This is more of a niche defensive/utility skill, allowing you to catch a break while under attack or safestomp downed enemies.


Short bow

Utility weapon, secondary set

  • Trick Shot is a bit of a weak filler skill in this build that you can spam when weapon swap is on CD and you're out of initiative.
  • Cluster Bomb being a spammable blast finisher has high value for your team when it comes to blasting fields for AoE Stealth Stealth.
    • Its chain skill Detonate Cluster is a solid source of downed cleave.
  • Disabling Shot (thief short bow) provides access to some evasion in case you're being focused by the enemy team and your defensive skills are on CD. Remains usable even while Immobilize Immobilized, but it's somewhat expensive.
  • Use Choking Gas on downed enemies especially if they are being revived - Poison decreases healing received by 33% which affects resurrecting speed and the initial strike interrupts foes.
  • Infiltrator's Arrow is the #1 skill for moving around the map in general, cuts down on travel time between capture points drastically.


Related Builds


Ratings

This build has a rating of 4 stars based on 7 votes.
Log in or register to rate this build.
4 stars
Hanz gave this build 4 stars • May 2024
Decent 1v1 and +1 build that's easy to play, recently Repeater got un-nerfed which was a nice buff too. Can't really hold a node though and has trouble hitting targets with multiple enemies present, nothing special but it works.
5 stars
Eddieknj gave this build 5 stars • October 2023
Huge potential currently. Have been messing around with a TON of new and old thief builds and this one is starting to shine again. Im finding this right up there with d/p with impairing daggers. Id take shadows embrace over hidden thief for much needed condi removal. Id also take d/p secondary set, short bow is no help when you need to stealth reset. Also take the poison immob trait, as 1 bola shot and 1 tormenting dagger from range will apply immob, 2 poison, torment, cripple, and vulnerability. This is incredible condi spread for 2 quick buttons. With one auto attacks it's 6 condis in 3 quick hits. This will bait a lot of players into using their condi removal utilities before you even load them up with the real damage. Needs infiltrators signet for a gap closer, and sometimes scorpion wire (used well this is one of the most clutch abilities in the game) Note: much harder to play and much more vulnerable!! Beginners should stick to d/p daredevil.
5 stars
Snequet gave this build 5 stars • May 2023
High burst damage, fun build, although if you get cc-d you can die easily but you have some cleansing. Bad positioning can be a little punishing.
4 stars
Majki83 gave this build 4 stars • February 2021
O gosh ;) this build is so meme. Very easy to learn very easy to understand very easy to play very easy to become a pro cancer (g3/p1) . Super strong condi burst super mobility many stealth sources.
5 stars
Ace Hardlight gave this build 5 stars • September 2020
This build is pure cancer. People get overwhelmed with condis and I am having much better success with this than with the "Meta" dagger pistol power build! It's also really easy to use.
4 stars
Diegolg20 gave this build 4 stars • May 2020
Decent but if u Miss dul attack u have problems
4 stars
X Zeyrox X gave this build 4 stars • April 2020
I have been testing it and I like the truth, it does good damage and has good mobility

Comments

Get MetaBattle Premium
Enjoy an ad-free experience & support the website, for less than $1 per month! Upgrade to Premium
MetaBattle is recruiting!
We are seeking an experienced Build Admin for Throne and Liberty with a deep understanding of the meta across most weapons and game modes. Get in touch with Galaxian on Discord if you're a good fit for the role or know someone else who is. This is a paid position.
Split Metabattle Logo