Overview
| Up-to-date | updated for the 8/22/2023 patch |
|---|---|
| Template Code | [&DQUcGywfRxcMAQAACwEAAC8BAAA+AQAADgEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=] |
| Boons | |
| Conditions |
|
| Role |
|
| Synergy | very high |
|---|---|
| DPS | high |
| Independence | average |
| Acquiring basics | easy |
| Achieving mastery | average |
The Condi Specter is a high DPS condition build with great CC and some party healing.
The beginner version of this guide will focus on the most important utility options and try to teach a slightly simplified rotation step-by-step while giving some notes on what you can do to optimize in the future.
The advanced page provides a more complete overview of the utilities the Thief has to offer. Once you can execute the step-by-step rotation provided below without spending too much thought on it and are confident with the utility options provided here, head over and check out the advanced page for some extra information. Feel free to swap to the advanced page early if you feel like you are missing some information on additional (less common) utility skills or trait swaps.
Although this build lists 150 Agony Resistance, it is not a strict requirement! We recommend getting started with this build anyway - even if it might be suboptimal while being in Tier 1 or 2 fractals. Keep upgrading your Agony Resistance until you reach the suggested variant. In the beginning, it is much more important to learn about fractal mechanics and your skills rather than equipping optimal gear.
The is another option to support your party as it brings a tremendous amount of party healing.
If you do not need the extra CC you can remove the Pistol so your Dagger counts for both sets. This allows you to swap freely for and .
Build
Traits
Trickery
Deadly Arts
Specter
Situational Trait
Alacrity Specter
This build can maintain Alacrity solo. The minimum Boon Duration required is 34%, but might make it hard to maintain alacrity uptime, which is why the general build suggests 40% uptime You might need to adjust your gear using the gear optimizer with your Agony Resistance and desired Boon Duration.
is currently bugged and provides more alacrity to your allies than it does to yourself. 2 seconds (before Boon Duration) of Alacrity is applied to your allies, only 1.25 seconds is applied to yourself.
Alacrity is applied to allies around your Tethered Ally via your Shroud Skills.
Specter
Defiance Bar Damage
| Skill | Damage |
|---|---|
| 150 Defiance bar damage per ally (up to 750 CC). | |
| 450 Defiance bar damage. | |
| Mind Shock (skill 5) does 150 Defiance bar damage. | |
| 150 Defiance bar damage. | |
| 200 Defiance bar damage (260 with ). | |
| Crippled 15/s Defiance bar damage. | |
| Immobile 50/s Defiance bar damage. |
Situational Skills
| A situational damage ability; take this over on moving targets. | |
| Highest sustained healing. | |
| Best party healing. | |
| Taken over when extra CC is needed (particularly useful on MAMA). | |
| Taken for extra personal DPS, when CC isn't needed. Can also be precasted on the mistlock before swapping to , |
Rotation / Skill usage
Step-by-Step Rotation
Step 1: Scepter 3 and F1
In the first step, we will focus on spending our Initiative and gaining some of it back.
- The main skill we want to spend it on is .
- Besides that, we will just auto-attack on Scepter. Finishing auto-attack chains is not necessary.
- When low on Initiative, use to gain back some through . Be careful as this skill can cancel other skills you are currently casting.
Step 2: Shadow Shroud
Next up, we want to incorporate . This will be useful for gaining back Initiative instead of auto-attacking on Scepter for too long.
- When at low Initiative, use as soon as possible.
- This will trigger and give you back some Initiative (unless you recently weapon swapped before).
- Use Skills 2 and 4 off-cooldown in Shroud. There are 2 options to track how long you want to stay in Shroud:
- Leave Shroud when your Initiative is almost full.
- Leave Shroud after the 3rd time casting skill 2 (if you entered at 0-1 Initiative) or after casting 2 additional auto-attacks after the 2nd time (if you entered at 3-4 initiative).
The 2nd way is more future-proof due to being independent of timings if you have to swap to Pistol during the fight or when you move on to using the 2nd Dagger to trigger at different times.
Step 3: Venoms
The first utility skills we will incorporate will be the venoms, namely and .
- Venoms give a buff to ourselves and 4 allies that will make the next attacks inflict various conditions. It will count towards your damage and scale with your stats.
- This also means they will be a lot more effective in a real fight "with allies" compared to the golem.
- Use these skills off-cooldown. They are instant-casts and can therefore be used while casting other skills.
- Use whenever its CC is needed. This one does have a cast-time though.
- If a Mistlock Singularity is present, you can even precast them there before taking the singularity to reset your skills and use them again once the first ones are used up. This will ensure massive burst damage at the start of the fight.
Step 4: Thousand Needles
Lastly, you have .
- Using this skill will place a trap on the ground that will take 3 seconds until you can use it again to trigger the trap dealing damage and inflicting conditions in the area.
- Use it off-cooldown unless you know the boss will move soon. You can place it on the boss's location before the boss becomes attackable. The cooldown will start when you first place it, not when you trigger it.
- Due to its stationary nature, this skill can easily get wasted on bosses that move around a lot. You can consider as an alternative to enemies that move around a lot. In that case, use it like the other 2 venoms in step 3.
Step-by-Step Video
This video shows the step-by-step approach to the rotation listed on the left.
Golem Rotation
This video shows the full golem rotation. It optimizes the use of and .
Improving Further
Once you are comfortable with the above steps, you are already doing most of the full rotation and will be able to deal great damage.
There will be a few additional things on the advanced page to improve further but if you got here, you already know the most important things and these will have a smaller impact than what you learned so far.
The additional steps are:
- Using weapon swap more actively when not running a Pistol off-hand in order to maximize the efficiency of and .
- You can slightly shift the priority of certain skills to maximize their usage like casting as soon as you go below 9 Initiative instead of when you run out of it.