Thief - Budget Core Condition Thief

Heal skill

The default heal is 遁入暗影 which gives access to the frequently-used 致命偷袭 at the cost of no initiative in addition to triggering multiple stealth-related traits. It's generally your best option, but you can also take 恶意纹章 for passive healing, or 镰爪毒液 to heal allied players and NPCs.

Utility skills

In the empty slot, take what is relevant to what you need:

• 撒播蒺藜 - Best used for longer fights as it takes a long time to deal its damage.
• 暗影纹章 - Provides a passive movement speed boost and can be activated to apply 10x 易伤 to targets in an area, which translates to +10% damage. Lines up nicely with venoms.
• 致盲药粉 - Instant, easy stealth access. Basically another 致命偷袭 but with a stunbreak component built in.
• 渗透纹章 - Good for movement as it instantly puts you in position for a 隐秘突袭.
• 绊索陷阱 - Good if you need extra crowd control.
• 暗影疾步 - Teleports you to a location as far as 1200 units away and also breaks stuns. Can be used to skip past enemies, up terrain, etc..
• 暗影庇护 - This is a good skill to slot when doing events or hero points that require you to channel something for a while.
• 暗影传送门 - Useful as a pseudo-checkpoint for jumping puzzles.

Elite skill

All three elite skills core Thief has access to are useful to some extent.

• For solo play, the best elite skill is 同仇敌忾, as the thieves deal good damage and you can share venoms with them.
• 石蜥毒液 is good for fights where you need to quickly or precisely break a defiance bar. Do note that 同仇敌忾 also applies crowd control.
• 匕首风暴 does nice damage in an AoE and also makes you evade for the duration. Effectively another heal when paired with 恶意纹章.

Trait variants

• 回复护盾 is very small situational damage increase that's more suited for group content. Take it if conditions aren't an issue.
• Take 慷慨无私 for single target fights.

This section does not accurately represent the budget gear's exotic quality or some of the stats of the items, notably the weapons.

This build is designed to be picked up easily on a budget, so unless you really enjoy the playstyle you'll be using exotic quality gear.

Every piece of gear you want for this build is purchasable from the trading post. The gear above doesn't show the budget gear you'll be wanting. Please see this segment for the correct gear:

• Armor, weapons, and your relic:

• Search the trading post for Shiro's armor and purchase a set. It should have Power, Vitality, and Condition Damage.

• For weapons, purchase 1x Legionnaire Sidearm, 1x Jade Serpent Dagger, and 1x Stardust.

• For your relic, purchase a 巫妖古物. This is the most expensive part of the build but is well worth it.

• Jewelry

• For accessories, purchase 2x Fang of Tequatl.

• For rings, purchase 2x Sentinel's Bane.

• For the amulet, purchase a Traveler's Amulet.

• The back slot is tricky to fill via the trading post. Just use whatever you have available, or if you really need to, buy a yellow one like a Rabid Spineguard. If it has condition damage, it'll work fine.

• If you boosted your Thief, you'll be given a full set of Celestial weapons and armor which is generally better than the aforementioned gear. Use it if you have it!

• Upgrade slots

• These are upgrades that go into your armor, weapons, and jewelry.

• For your runes, purchase 6x .

• For your daggers, purchase a and a .

• For your shortbow, purchase a and a .

• For the empty slots in your Back, Accessories, and Amulet, purchase 4x Chunk of Petrified Echovald Resin.

Further upgrades

If you're enjoying the playstyle and want to upgrade your gear, you can look into crafting ascended Viper's gear for the most damage or Trailblazer's for tankiness. Viper's gear translates well into group PvE content, while Trailblazer's is better for World Vs. World.

See also: Guide

Relic variants

• You can use to trade some damage for crowd control while still retaining a pet.
• is good when fighting multiple mobs, and you can get one for free if you have a Relic Container: Conditions.

Rune variants

• is a very strong option vs. enemies that take a while to kill, such as Champions, but is a fair bit more expensive. Can be purchased from the auction house.

This build primarily deals condition damage through 致命偷袭, 阴影打击, 倾泻射击, venoms, and various traits. The gameplay consists of entering and exiting stealth as many times as you can to trigger traits and regenerate initiative.

Damage

1. Open with 顺手牵羊 and use it whenever it's off cooldown.
2. Use 同仇敌忾 and your venoms if they're available.
3. Use 隐秘突袭, then immediately stealth attack with 致命偷袭.
4. Use 撒播蒺藜 (if taken) or your stolen skill.
5. Use 阴影打击 / 倾泻射击 until 现身 wears off. If you're running low on initiative, fill with a 致命射击 instead of 倾泻射击.
6. Repeat from 隐秘突袭.

• For AoE damage, swap to Shortbow and use 窒息瓦斯. Each use 晕眩s enemies, meaning they can't attack temporarily; since the skill has a 1/2s cast time, you can delay each cast a little to interrupt enemies as they try and attack as soon as their daze wears off. This also triggers 超荷打击 for a lot of extra damage.
• You can also use shortbow's autoattack on clumps of enemies to deal a lot of bleed damage.

Defense

• Your venoms steal ~325 health each time they're applied, and 猛毒榨取 will apply 2 stacks of 蜘蛛毒液 when you enter/exit stealth. This is your main source of healing.
• Successful stealth attacks heal you with 暗影汲取.
• 遁入暗影 synergizes with the aforementioned traits and also cleanses conditions.
• You can hide behind your summoned Jagged Horror (from 巫妖古物) and have it tank for you momentarily. It has fairly low health; you can alternatively use 食人魔古物 for a tankier pet.
• You can use Shortbow's 窒息瓦斯 to 晕眩 enemies in an AoE while also dealing damage to them.
• If you need to quickly escape a fight, you can swap to Shortbow and use 渗透暗箭 to teleport away.

Crowd control

Unfortunately this build has little crowd control outside of .

• If taken,

DPS

Use whatever you can afford.

• Prioritize Flatbread Ascended food.
• 锦鲤蛋糕
• 盘装泡菜煎饼
• 盘装牛肉仁当

Defense

• 碗装欧尔松露鲜肉煲
• 碗装热带慕斯
• 辣酱扇贝
• 碗装柠檬草贻贝意粉

Farming

• 生日爆破枪 / 令人愉快的生日蛋糕大餐
• 巧克力怪异莓奶油
• 薄荷怪异莓棒
• 锐磨颅骨 (and variants)