Part of the current metagame
Our curator decided this build is in the current metagame regardless of rating. The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great
Focused on: Strike damage and Mobility
Designed for: WvW Roaming
Expansions required: Path of Fire Builds
Difficulty: Normal
This build was last updated on March 28, 2026 and is up to date for the June 2, 2026 patch.
A Shadow Arts take on Rifle Power Deadeye, this WvW roaming build relies heavily on to survive between frequent but small burst chains while utilizing its ranged attacks to stay out of harm's way.
盗贼 (Thief)
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Variants
遁入暗影 could be a solid defensive choice in melee range. 
目盲ing nearby foes after a dodge on Rifle could make all the difference when you're being pressured in melee, allowing you to escape safely after stealthing up. On S/D this will also make it less risky to go into melee for a . The price is the loss of 
中毒 procs and the life steal synergy + healing reduction that comes with it.Variants
密室死斗 makes you slightly worse at building Malice in exchange for better access to stolen skills (which could translate to more stealth).Weapons
Utility
For the optional slot:
暗影疾风 - CC and easy 
潜行 access. Could be used defensively to create a breathing room and escape in stealth, or offensively to set up a Death's Judgment on Rifle.
束缚暗影 - CC and damage boost through 
易伤 stacking. Because of the delay, with proper timing BS can be used to set up burst such as 
恶意死亡审判 while you're still in stealth.
刺客纹章 - passive damage increase and an active that can greatly enhance your burst damage.
敏捷纹章 - cleanses several conditions, has a useful passive, and refills just enough endurance for a dodge roll which means it has great synergy with 
沉默隐望.
Heal
遁入暗影 - more focus on stealth, but you sacrifice an on-demand evade frame on 
紧急撤离 for a skill that has a cast time, which means it generally performs worse under pressure unless you are already stealthed or built proper distance.Elite
Relics
- a fine substitute if you can't get , but you'll have lower uptime on the damage boost.
- defensive relic with synergy, restoring 1 dodge roll's worth of endurance after using .
- much better mobility in combat, which also improves your survivability.
Runes
Sigils
Rifle
over - better burst on your main set, but less synergy. Good option if you find yourself camping Rifle a lot.
could replace either sigils on Rifle, creating longer burst windows for you.
Sword/Dagger
Food
- great synergy with , this food provides not just more evasion but also higher uptime. Mainly a defensive option but it does give you more damage too via various trait synergies.
- better burst damage and some extra life steal.
Elite specialization basics
is replaced by , which has greater range but also a cast time. We're still going to refer to this as steal.
Stolen skills are also replaced by new ones for each profession, although these are much less situational and can be used more freely. One thing to note is that you cannot pick the target freely for the new stolen skills, they will always be used on your marked target (even if they are in stealth, which can be useful for finishing off low HP stealthed targets).
Your specialization resource is called Malice. It's built through using attack skills with an initiative cost on your marked target and you can have up to 5 stacks of Malice. Stealth attacks such as consume Malice and are further empowered based on the number of Malice stacks.
At the 5 Malice threshold stolen skills such as grant on activation, which is going to be their primary purpose - but be wary that they also do damage, so if you were already in stealth these will reveal you instead. There is a workaround for this however: stolen skills need line of sight (LoS) to deliver damage, if you intentionally break LoS then you can use them for the stealth without drawbacks.
General
Start fights with to begin passively building Malice.
provides easy stealth access on rifle, the only limiting factor will be endurance.
recharges . Use it when you either run out of initiative, have to switch targets, or need to interrupt via .
is another highly versatily utility skill that can find value in almost any situation. You can use it in melee to disrupt enemy bursts or to interrupt key skills, in range to gain so you can burst, or simply for cleansing/Initiative regen via trait synergy.
Utility
暗影疾步 is easily the most versatile skill in the build. Couple of applications include:
暗影回归 when they get close.S/D is the set you use if Rifle's either getting countered by projectile denial for an extended period of time but you want to go for the kill, or if you need to play defensively in a way that doesn't rely on stealth.
神枪手标记 procs the damage bonus of 
克达之爪古物 (or Relic of Fireworks, depending on your relic choice), creating a burst window for you.
Stealth
Rifle
Main weapon set. Burst, mobility, easy stealth access.
Rifle technically has 10 skills, but most of them won't be used much if at all.
The basic game plan is the following: mark your target with 神枪手标记, spam 单兵射击 (skill #2) until you reach the Malice cap, then enter stealth and follow up with a 恶意死亡审判.
屈膝 swaps your rifle skills for more powerful ones but limits your mobility. The cost usually doesn't justify the payoff, so stick to your 单兵射击 spam. The only real scenario where you'd use Kneel skills for damage is if you're in a safe spot somewhere up on the highground from where you can snipe targets passing below, quickly taking them out with while having proper line of sight. In that case:
三弹爆发 (TRB) will be the main skill to spam on the weapon if you do get to Kneel. This is where most of your damage comes from, not to mention 
威能 and Malice stacking.
观测射击 can be used either to set up burst with the 
定身, or as a cheaper way to reach the Malice cap (Spotter costs 3 Initiative and gives the same amount of Malice as the 6 initiative TRB). The boons provided are also quite good.The only reason most people ever use Kneel is to drop 
狙击手掩体 (skill #4) - Kneeling inside flips your 4th skill over to 
死亡前进 which you can then use for stealth access and some mobility. This is one of the best 潜行 stacking methods in the build, use it whenever you're pressured.
死亡撤退 is basically the 
渗透暗箭 of this build when it comes to mobility, but that's just one aspect of it. In combat this serves as a spammable condition cleanse or even combo tool for stealth access when used in a smoke field.
死亡撤退 ⇒ about face.At maximum (5 stacks) of Malice you should enter stealth and do a 恶意死亡审判. Exceptions include targets at very low health, in that canse it may be quicker to just spam them down with other skills.
could sometimes be useful against other ranged specs as the field destroys projectiles.
Rifle burst rotation example:
Sword/Dagger
This is the secondary set. Good for cleaving downed targets, defending yourself vs melee, or finishing off targets who use projectile denial.
Much of the damage here comes from weaving together autoattacks with the 
侧翼打击 + 
侧翼突袭 chain. Try not to spam skill 3 too many times in a row because it's very predictable and thus often a waste of initiative.
侧翼打击 without a target (and without hitting anything) could be used to buy a few extra seconds for your CDs to come back up under heavy pressure, as it evades attacks.Most of the time you should initiate combat with 
渗透暗袭 from a safe distance, preferably also behind something that breaks line of sight. This way you'll always have an escape route via 
暗影回归.
匕首之舞 is sort of a filler skill, won't be used much unless you're stuck on S/D but can't afford to go into melee range.
隐秘突袭 does good damage and the 潜行 lets you follow up with a 
恶意战术打击 for even more damage plus a CC. At 5 Initiative this isn't cheap, but 
暗影再生 refunds much of the cost.
S/D chain example:
渗透暗袭 preferably from range to leave an escape route, meanwhile the Immob should set up the next skill.隐秘突袭 for damage and stealth.恶意战术打击 from behind (if possible).侧翼打击 to avoid incoming attacks and open up Larcenous Strike.侧翼突袭
暗影回归 to leave melee range. You should have 5 Malice by now.恶意死亡审判. Note: this can double as a sort of defensive chain too, if you cut out steps 4-6. This way you'll cleanse several conditions and recover health quickly while preventing your target from pressuring you. Once the revealed effect runs out you can repeat the chain, jumping in and out of melee, slowly chipping away at your target's HP with minimal risk to you.
