Build:Thief - Core P/D Roamer

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

Focused on: Condition damage

Designed for: WvW Roaming

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on February 12, 2022 and is up to date for the March 19, 2024 patch.

Overview

A condition Thief build for WvW roaming with excellent single target burst damage and plenty of stealth. Also usable by F2P players.

Skill Bar

Pistol/Dagger

Shortbow

Utility

Template Code

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Specializations

Variants

• If you're struggling against condition specs take Shadow's Embrace.

Equipment

Head
Trailblazer

Shoulders
Trailblazer

Chest
Trailblazer

Hands
Trailblazer

Legs
Trailblazer

Feet
Trailblazer

Backpiece
Dire

Accessory
Dire

Accessory
Dire

Amulet
Dire

Ring
Dire

Ring
Trailblazer

Pistol
Trailblazer

Dagger
Trailblazer

Sigil

Sigil

Shortbow
Trailblazer

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Consumables

Food

• Optimal:

• Budget:

Utility

• Optimal:

• Budget: (found in Canned Food Crates looted from WvW Skirmish Chests)

Usage

General

• Swap to shortbow when you're about to finish off a downed target in order to build Sigil of Superior Sigil of Corruption stacks. You could also just kill mobs during downtime to build some stacks.

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 from Even the Odds or Bleeding from Deadly Ambush, fitting nicely into your burst combos.

• Steal grants you Stealth via Hidden Thief which could be useful for a couple of things. One, this means you have an instant access to Sneak Attack AND it teleports you into melee range so you can follow that up with Shadow Strike and Repeater. Or you could just use the instant stealth defensively to disappear for a few seconds and reposition yourself.
  • Note: stealing without a target still grants you stealth, so in rare emergency situations you could do this if you don't want to be teleproted into melee range.

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 use this skill twice 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

• This is generally the weapon you use for running away from fights or cleaving downed enemies if they are being revived. Otherwise just stay on Pistol/Dagger the whole fight.

• 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 in group roaming when it comes to blasting fields.
  • 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 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 disengaging from a fight in case you start losing.

Related Builds

• Thief - Core P/D Condition - sPvP version.