Daredevil - Power S/D Roamer

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

Focused on: Direct damage and Mobility

Designed for: WvW Roaming

Difficulty:
TBD
This build was last updated on February 15, 2022 and is up to date for the March 19, 2024 patch.

Overview

A Daredevil take on Sword/Dagger WvW roaming. This mix of evasions, boon stealing, and unblockable damage makes for a great duelist.


Skill Bar

Sword/Dagger
Shortbow
Utility


Template Code

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Specializations

Variants Take if you're having trouble facing condition builds.


Equipment

Head
Berserker
Shoulders
Berserker
Chest
Berserker
Hands
Berserker
Legs
Berserker
Feet
Berserker
Backpiece
Marauder
Accessory
Marauder
Accessory
Marauder
Amulet
Marauder
Ring
Marauder
Ring
Marauder
Sword
Marauder
Dagger
Marauder
Sigil
Sigil
Shortbow
Marauder
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
x6
Infusion
x18


Stats

  • The ratio of Marauder Marauder and Berserker gear pieces partly comes down to personal preferences. As a general guideline, try to aim for ~17k HP when getting the gear. Rune options and traits like can both affect your maximum HP so plan with those in mind.


Sigils

Short bow

  • If you don't want to bother with take for more sustain.


Runes

  • - the higher HP and extra defensive stats allow for more Berserker pieces of gear to be used.
  • - one of the best DPS runes, all damage no sustain with an easy to meet conditional 6th bonus.


Consumables

Food

  • - good stats and passive damage mitigation.
  • - same stats as the food above except with life steal instead of damage mitigation.
  • - non-ascended version of the food above, without the sustain.
  • - crit chance bump with armor ignoring damage procs which also heal.
  • - mainly a budget defensive food that provides more frequent access to dodging.


Utility

  • or


Usage

General

  • is replaced by which inherits all the traits from Steal, but has half the range. To compensate for that, Swipe is unblockable! We're still going to refer to this profession mechanic as steal/stealing for most of the guide.
  • Dodge if you need Swiftness Swiftness or extra mobility in general while chasing someone down or disengaging.
  • The many dodges and evasions on weapon sets provide decent survivability for an otherwise very squishy profession.


Steal

  • is the most powerful tool in a thief's kit and should not be wasted! Do not start fights with steal, keep it for the right moment (mainly to interupt important skills such as heals or elites).
  • Steal refills endurance, grants initiative, inflicts Poison Poison, does damage, heals for ~2k, and provides a variety of boons for you and your team. Its most important function however is the instant, unblockable interrupt.
    • When playing with the instant boonstrip prioritizes Stability Stability, which goes off before the Daze Daze does, allowing you to interrupt targets with Stability with just one button!


Sword/Dagger

The main set of the build

  • Most of the damage will come from a combination of autoattacks and the chain.
  • is an excellent skill for initiating fights or just closing gaps. If the terrain allows for it, it's recommended that you start fights with this skill from a place that break line of sight (LoS), like a wall or a pillar. This leaves you with an escape route via in case you get focused, and IR even provides some minor cleansing.
    • Against dangerous targets with a lot of damage, keep jumping in and out of melee range with to minimize contact.
  • Don't spam mindlessly. You will become easily predictible and locked in an animation while your enemy can set up burst. Find a balance between your autoattacks and Flanking Strike. Both this skill and its chain are unblockable. Larcenous Strike will be your main source of burst damage.
  • is merely a filler for ranged poking in case going into melee range would be too dangerous and Short bow is on CD, or if you want to get rid of Aegis Aegis / Blind Blind before jumping in. The bouncing attacks however aren't all that bad when it comes to clearing Mesmer clones.
  • - although rarely used - is strong in its own right. Being the only source of Stealth Stealth in the build, this grants access to which can help with interrupting important casts (heal, stomp, etc.) when is on cooldown, and the stealth in general can help you lose aggro for a short while or even leave the fight entirely without being chased. Its high cost and long cast time however makes it a very situational skill.
    • This is often used on AI (clones, pets, minions) because this skill is all about the stealth, not the damage, and AI won't dodge it therefore the odds of getting a successful CnD off becomes higher.


Short bow

Utility weapon

  • being a spammable blast finisher has high value in groups when it comes to blasting fields for Stealth Stealth or healing (although they'll have to provide the fields).
    • Its chain skill is a solid cource of downed cleave, or even ranged burst if you pre-cast aimed at your feet, near the end of the animation and then detonate at your target.
  • provides cheap and spammable evasion in case you're being focused by the enemy team and your defensive skills are on CD. Remains usable even while Immobilize Immobilized.
  • Use on downed enemies especially if they are being revived - Poison decreases healing gained by 33% which affects resurrecting speed.
  • is mostly used for leaving fights if you're losing.


Utilities & elite

  • is your best souce of cleansing, as it instantly removes 3 conditions. In addition to that, this also gives an entire dodge roll's worth of endurance which can be used as a last resort option for squeezing out more dodges when you're out of endurance and don't have time to heal. Keep in mind that the active portion of this skill is AoE! Try to use it near allies whenever possible.
  • is easily the most versatile and one of the strongest skills in the build. It has 2 parts:
    • The first half is a stun break and teleport, which already has countless applications. A few applications include teleport to safety while pressured, extending your reach in combat, or using the instant mobility boost to decap enemy points before using the 2nd part of the skill to leave just as fast.
    • The second half is called . This skill becomes available for 10 seconds after using Shadowstep, and cures 3 conditions in addition to breaking stun again before returning you to your starting location.
    • These can also be combined to safe stomp targets: begin stomping, away to safety, and then follow up with at the end of the animation in order to finish the target.
  • is 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.


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Ratings

This build has a rating of 5 stars based on 3 votes.
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5 stars
Xloots gave this build 5 stars • September 2023
Permaspeed variant 5/5 http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PaABwihrlNw6YXsNGJm2XnNVA-DyYYhoHLCRoGaXhEYCkZE0bJY7VBaGwyGoC-e
5 stars
Hanz gave this build 5 stars • September 2023
Still a solid build, even if not as popular as D/P. Great mobility and damage, works best against tanky opponents too thanks to unblockable attacks and moon removal.
5 stars
Grxrg gave this build 5 stars • February 2019
Great roamer build which reflects the skill of the player more than any other build (D/P Daredevil too). You will be deadly and have success with this build only if you know how to dodge, time and bait your skills correctly. You won't be hard carried by build such as holosmiths, boonbeasts, condi mirages and warriors. Expect to die a lot even against completely noob players at first, even a noob dragonhunter or holosmith can destroy you immediately if you miss one dodge. With time and practice you can pretty much beat any build except boonbeasts, weavers and good holos which are stupid professions with too much damage and sustain. Your damage will be simply outhealed even if they stand still. Not to mention guardian is your main direct counter, against a good one you should never win, so accept that and move on. As far as runes go I think Rune of the Pack and Fireworks are pretty solid choices as well, and dodge food is pretty neat too.

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