The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good
Focused on: Strike damage and Mobility
Designed for: WvW Roaming
Expansions required: End of Dragons builds
Difficulty: Hard
This build was last updated on March 28, 2026 and is up to date for the June 2, 2026 patch.
A Power Specter build for WvW roaming that ditches the Scepter for a double melee setup, opting for S/D and D/P.
盗贼 (Thief)
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Utility
Viable choices for the optional slot:
Food
- strong defensive option which provides more frequent access to dodging.
- 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.
Utility
Elite specialization basics
Specters gain access to their own version of called . Mechanically they are the same, replacing your skill bar while active. Damage taken while in Shroud drains Shadow Force instead of HP.
Using (Specter's version of ) and spending Initiative builds Shadow Force.
General
Most of your Specters skills double as support skills. While your role is to kill targets, a good Specter also keeps an eye on allies and helps them in critical moments by granting them Barrier (when roaming in a group).
Because of Shroud you can be a bit more reckless with spending Initiative as Shroud skills are free and by the time you've rotated through Shroud CDs your Initiative should be back to full.
removes boons when used on enemies and s them right after, allowing it to interrupt targets even through .
Offhand pistol's main purpose is to combo stealth with and to provide a quick interrupt via .
Stealth stacking rotation:
Damage
Both of the weapon sets and even the Shroud skills can do a lot of damage. On weapons the autoattacks are very important while Shroud is all about rotating through CDs.
On S/D you'll open with from range to leave an escape route with . Teleporting in and out can help you avoid damage, cleanse conditions, and do a setup with . Sometimes all you'll be doing on this set is use these skills + the autoattack to conserve Initiative.
If you can afford it for extra damage and boonrip the + chain can do quite a bit of damage while being unblockable and stealing boons (and evading attacks in the process), but this chain is quite costly and very telegraphed and thus easy to avoid. Try baiting some dodges first, or use it when the enemy's blocking/channeling a skill. The from could help with landing these skills too, even when used in the middle of it: port in, hit them with Flanking Strike, port out, and then back in for a Larcenous Strike.
Skills 4-5 on S/D are rarely used, although is good for some ranged poking or killing Mesmer clones with the bounces.
On D/P once again 1-3 is where the damage comes from.
is more of a combo tool than a damage source until you soften up the target, but against low HP opponents you can use it as a finishing move. A common beginner mistake is to spam this skill while the enemy's still on high health, try to avoid doing that.
always does good damage and works well as an unblockable gapcloser, but because of the hefty Initiative cost you won't be spamming this one either.
Sometimes you might end up spamming the autoattack chain in a to avoid taking more damage than you're inflicting. Using in BP grants you stealth which opens up as a followup. If you hit someone with HS while standing in BP the is applied after the damage connects so you don't have to worry about getting revealed.
As for Shroud, skills 2 and 4 is where the damage comes from. The second skill is a ground targeted AoE which goes off after a short delay, or a proc might make it easier to land this right after entering Shroud. Skill 4 is a channeled point-blank AoE which is much easier to land. is great at setting up these slow Shroud skills too.
Burst combo example:
Sustain
The main sources of condition cleansing are , , and (Sword #2's chain skill).
is a rather laoded defensive skill, packing an evade, a heal, and even some cleansing.
is your only stun break so hold onto it as long as you can, but if you're feeling confident and need to chase a kill this could also work as yet another gap closer. Alternatively it could be used to bail from a fight and run away.
Stealthing grants you barrier via .
If doesn't hit anything, it won't flip over to its chain skill. You can abuse this a little by repeatedly using the skill without a target while under pressure, evading multiple times in a row.
