The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good
Focused on: Mobility and Hybrid damage
Designed for: PvP Conquest
Expansions required: Visions of Eternity builds
Difficulty: Normal
This build was last updated on June 19, 2026 and is up to date for the June 2, 2026 patch.
Overview
An Antiquary build that makes extensive use of the Deadly Arts traitline to deal high hybrid damage with artifacts. Doesn't have the same access to stealth as most other Thief builds but has a lot of evasion to compensate.
The build has two variants: one for roaming/skirmishing, one for more lengthy fights. The roaming version is the default as it's more flexible, and much of this primer will imply that you're running it. The other differs slightly but shouldn't need much additional explanation.
Skill Bar
斯克鼠横扫Stolen skill
Skill Variants
Utility
For the default variant, any of these can fill the empty slot:
-
致盲药粉 - A simple, consistent way to 
潜行. 
灵巧齐掷 is a fantastic stealth attack as it procs 
扳回劣势 on each hit, making easy stealth access a welcome addition. -
渗透纹章 - Simple mobility skill and stunbreak. -
毒蝎钩索 - Good for locking down players without 
稳固 or creating a window for 
痛苦风暴 / 
隐秘突袭. Cleanses 2 conditions with 
技巧大师.
Elite
For the default variant, these elite skills are both situationally viable:
-
匕首风暴 - A simple and powerful defensive pick that provides three seconds of evasion and a small cleanse with 技巧大师). Can deal a LOT of damage if used within a poison or fire field, e.g. 
雾灼迫击炮. -
斯克鼠乱斗 - Best value elite by far in extended fights, but requires very quick reactions and a deep understanding of artifacts as a whole to properly utilize. 
守财藏家 gives allies near you the same boons it gives you.
If using the repeat ransacker variant, always use 斯克鼠乱斗.
Template Codes
Default variant:
[&DQUsKxwmTSsKAQAAWAAAABkBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADBQAvAGsAAA==]Repeat Ransacker variant:
[&DQUsKxwmTSsKAQAAWAAAABkBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADBQAvAGsAAA==]Specializations
There are two primary variants for this build.
- Frontloaded variant: This is the default setup and the one that the guide implies you're taking. It's versatile with good burst and high evasion, but tends to run out of gas if fights drag on. Good against teams where you're frequently the target as well as burst classes like Mesmer.
Variants
- Repeat Ransacker variant: This variant is much harder to play and is much weaker against strike damage burst builds and chain-stun builds. However, it has much higher initiative generation and condition cleanse, and can stand its ground as a duelist against the right classes. Take
抗毒药酒 or 
遁入暗影 as the heal, 
卡纳克硬币投掷 and 斯克鼠乱斗 for the empty utility & elite slots, and change the relic to either 
迷雾异客古物 or 
雾灼古物. Always use 
恶棍之运 on 卡纳克硬币投掷, and get used to using 抗毒药酒 early on in fights so you can backfire it when you most need to.
Equipment
Equipment Variants
Amulets
-
巫师项链 - Use against comps that primarily deal condition damage. -
腐朽项链 - Less burst damage, but you'll be harder to kill and are especially resilient towards conditions.
Relics
-
迷雾异客古物 - pairs well with all of the multi-hit abilities Antiquary & Axes have.
-
雾灼古物 - extra damage in the form of might and crit chance. Works best when running utility skills that give 潜行 as to consistently trigger 扳回劣势.
-
空槽 - extra burst damage. Best when paired with
腐朽项链 and 斯克鼠乱斗 / 
石蜥毒液.
Sigils
-
暴露法印 over 
洁净法印 (on Shortbow Shortbow) - Can add a surprise ~5% to your burst. Weapon swap immediately after the axes are recalled with 痛苦风暴 to ensure the 
易伤 stacks land at the right time. If you're more frequently swapping to shortbow to burst rather than escape, this can be a good option. -
逃脱法印 over 洁净法印 on Shortbow Shortbow - Good for breaking roots in a pinch.
Usage
Basics
-
You'll be camping Axe Axe / Dagger Dagger 90% of the time, only swapping to Shortbow Shortbow to move around the map faster with
渗透暗箭 or supplement a burst with 
集束炸弹s. -
Use axe skills 1 and 2 (
旋转利斧 and 
剧毒连掷) to throw axes. These axes remain where they land for 10 seconds and can be recalled onto a target with your third skill, 痛苦风暴. Use these abilities until you have 5 or 6 axes, then use an artifact classified as "offensive" (e.g. 雾灼迫击炮) to give yourself 
激怒 and 
威能. After that, recall your axes with 痛苦风暴 for a huge burst of damage. Recalled axes deal full damage again while additionally applying 
折磨, and also Immobilize Immobilize any targets hit by 5 or more axes. Comboing artifacts and axe recalls together like this is the main way the build does damage. -
Axe's stealth skill,
灵巧齐掷, also leaves behind an axe. This is a very high value skill to hit. -
痛苦风暴 gives you 1/2s of evasion when used and will shadowstep you to your target, making you especially hard to pin down in a fight.
-
Dagger Dagger's 5th skill
隐秘突袭 is incredibly good if you can land it. The unfortunate downside is that many artifacts hit multiple times which will break you out of 潜行, so use it wisely. As this build lacks 
奔驰疾速 and expendable blinks, the best targets for this skill are often ranger pets or mesmer illusions.
Elite specialization basics
-
Antiquaries gain access to
斯克鼠横扫 which functions as their 
顺手牵羊, benefiting from all traits that would affect it. Using it (with or without a target) will give you a set of artifacts. Your F2 will always be an offensive artifact, F3 is always a defensive artifact, and F4 (available when 
丰产掠夺 is taken) will be a random one. -
Artifacts have two classifications: "offensive" and "defensive". This classification determines which buffs you get with
守财藏家. -
Two traits increase the number of artifacts you can use after pilfering:
丰产掠夺 and 
灵感一现. If taken together, they allow you to use three artifacts from a pilfered set, which results in a lot of boons, damage, and utility. -
Using an artifact restores 1 initiative. "Offensive" artifacts give
威能 and 激怒 and should always be used before landing other skills if possible. "Defensive" artifacts tend to deal less damage but provide the defensive boons 
保护 and 
再生 and some other beneficial effect (e.g. an evade on 
尊者巨锤). -
Artifacts have an immediate effect and a lingering bonus effect. The lingering effects are applied when the skill finishes casting. They don't need to hit anything for you to get the lingering effects.
Artifacts
-
There are 8 available artifacts that you'll randomly get when you
斯克鼠横扫. Many are walls of text that feel daunting to read, but at first you can probably just spam them and have some moderate success. As you continue to play the spec, it'll make more and more sense when and where to use each artifact, as well as what their icons look like. -
Here is a guide to each artifact. Each artifact has an active and lingering component which will be explained.
-
These are good for offense:
-
召唤氪族炮台 - stationary turret that deals massive damage via projectiles to the closest enemy. the lingering effect gives you a damage bonus against anything the turret hit. -
金属军团吉他 - long cast that pulses damage in an AoE around you. if the channel finishes it stuns enemies and gives you one free stealth attack. -
塑形者冲刺弹 - slide towards an area, dropping high damage bombs as you travel. bombs continue dropping every few seconds at your feet. -
雾灼迫击炮 - shoots a projectile glob to an area that pulses strike damage and burning to those in the AoE. lingering effect makes your next two attacks burn the target.
-
These are good for both:
-
查克虫护盾 - instantly creates a projectile-destroying dome that pulses damage to enemies and barrier to allies. your next initiative spending ability refunds 50% of the cost. -
尊者巨锤 - evades attacks before dealing high strike damage in an AoE.
-
全息舞者诱饵 - places a dancing decoy that taunts targets around it for 1 second. it also pulses might to nearby allies and reduces the cooldown of your next utility skill by 33%. -
Save these for defense:
-
风裔日相水晶 - evade while dashing towards an area. blind and burn targets in an AoE where you arrive. cleanses 3 conditions when arriving, then your next 2 initiative-spending abilities cleanse another.
General
-
The TL;DR for the build's core gameplan is as follows: Enter fights with a full set of artifacts already available from an earlier
斯克鼠横扫 (F1), throwing out axes with its first two skills, then using an artifact (e.g. 召唤氪族炮台) before recalling the axes with 痛苦风暴. The result is 激怒 and 威能 from 守财藏家 and a huge burst of damage. From there, use all remaining artifacts and then 斯克鼠横扫 again and throw out the new artifacts for even more damage. Opening with stealth for axe's stealth attack 灵巧齐掷 increases the amount of burst even further thanks to 扳回劣势. -
Use
斯克鼠横扫 (without a target) during downtime to fish for good sets of artifacts, or during combat on a target to interrupt a key ability. Since artifacts are such a big part of the build, deciding whether to use 斯克鼠横扫 immediately as it's up or waiting to interrupt an ability with it is a choice you'll regularly have to make. -
Pay attention to any projectile hate that would eat your axes - reflect fields, magnetic aura, etc.. If possible, use non-projectile artifacts while waiting for the hate to go away, or drop your target and throw your axes at nothing so you can recall them later.
-
As axes require setup and a lot of initiative, it can be a good idea to swap to shortbow after landing a big
痛苦风暴 and spam 集束炸弹 instead than trying to set up another recall.
Defense
-
Remain at range while throwing axes, only entering melee with
痛苦风暴 when a good opportunity presents itself. Always keep in mind which artifacts you have and formulate a followup plan based on them. Some artifacts such as 尊者巨锤 deal high damage in addition to making you evade for the duration, making them excellent for countering attacks. -
痛苦风暴 gives a small window of evasion on use. If possible, use the skill to both recall your axes and dodge a powerful attack.
-
Your cleanse is strong but limited.
紧急撤离, 
先攻翻滚, and 匕首风暴 (if taken) all immediately cure 2 conditions (in addition to any already cleansed by these abilities) thanks to 技巧大师. Additionally, 风裔日相水晶 can cleanse you multiple times, but you won't always have access to it. Save it for the right moment. -
Any artifact categorized as "defensive" will give
保护 and 再生 when used thanks to 守财藏家.
Advanced
-
Once you're comfortable with the main gameplay of Antiquary, you can start to play around your combo fields.
-
剧毒连掷's projectiles will occasionally act (20% chance) as a "projectile finisher". This gives them added effects depending on which combo field they pass through. The main ones are 雾灼迫击炮, which creates a fire field and adds
燃烧 to the axe, and 查克虫护盾, which causes the axe to cleanse a condition (granted you're in melee range of the target. it's weird, but if you're using 痛苦风暴 you can drop 查克虫护盾 as the axes are coming in to benefit from the finishers). -
尊者巨锤 is a leap finisher. Use it through 查克虫护盾 to gain
光明光环 or 雾灼迫击炮 for 
火焰光环. -
Lastly, your stealth attack,
灵巧齐掷, is a blast finisher. It's impractical to try and always combo this one with a field, but it's easy to use it with 查克虫护盾 when recalling axes for additional condition cleansing.