Condi Deadeye

The Condi Deadeye is quite a selfish build, that will not provide your party with any form of support. Instead, the value of this build comes almost entirely from the pure damage that it will bring, which is inflated by the Condi Soulbeast‘s Vulture Stance , on top of Venom Skills which can be precast on the Mistlock Singularity, and cast again as soon as your allies have consumed them by attacking the target. Consequently, the Condi Deadeye is able to apply a tremendous amount of Poisoned and Bleeding instances, as well as an non-negligible amount of Torment. As such, it is necessary to be running with a Superior Sigil of Bursting as it will become very valuable in bursting phases. Lastly, Basilisk Venom can bring up to 750 Defiance Bar damage, if used at the proper moment, meaning if all instances of this ability are consumed when the boss is vulnerable to this type of damage (up to five stacks, one per player).

This build possesses a decent amount of self-sustain, due to Maleficent Seven , but it will suffer greatly from a Quickness deficit. However, it won’t suffer too much from a lack of Alacrity due to the nature of Initiative.

Overall, this build is an excellent pick if taken as an alt class: it is meant for players who enjoy high-risk, high-reward rotations. Played correctly, it is excellent in PuGs on single-target bosses such as the ones from Challenge Mode Fractals, most notably Sorrowful Spellcaster (Light Ai) and Ensolyss, or any boss with little to no phases, as well as multiple add phases, such as the ones from Shattered Observatory. A playlist of videos showcasing the Condi Deadeye and the Condi Daredevil can be found on Magic’s channel . It is currently incomplete, but you will find benchmarks, CM boss kills, and some T4 gameplay in organized groups.

We do not recommend running these builds in Shattered Observatory for new players or beginners, as positioning is most important there, and jumping Shadow Strike becomes an issue due to Cosmic Energy (low gravity). Extensive details for the build can be found at the bottom of the page.

Note that there are two slightly different variants of this build: one is meant for bosses with very short phases such as Ensolyss or Light Ai; the other one is meant for longer fights, where you will need to sustain damage for a longer period. This will also depend on your group. It will always be better to use the latter with people you do not know well, or in situations where your party doesn’t bring enough damage. The Superior Rune of the Afflicted is a viable, more accessible alternative. If healing isn’t an issue, this is the perfect build to use Writ of Masterful Malice over Tuning Icicle ! Signet of Malice is also the strongest personal-healing ability you can bring to maintain your health over 90%, if you feel you don’t need Hide in Shadows .

The Skelk Venom is a much better option to support your party as it brings a tremendous amount of party healing. It’s recommended to run a shortbow for additional movement during downtime and Superior Sigil of Doom precasts, as well as might blasts on the Mistlock Singularity. You will also want a Pistol with Superior Sigil of Paralyzation to help CC during Artsariiv splits.

High-Burst Variant

This variant is meant for short-duration fights or bosses with short phases; without any Cantrip slotted, take Malicious Intent over One in the Chamber . Take Prepare Thousand Needles over Devourer Venom on Ensolyss, Skorvald or Artsariiv, or Mercy with One in the Chamber if group DPS is not high enough not to run out of Initiative. Mercy can still be taken over Devourer Venom as a safety net. Hide in Shadows becomes a necessity because of the lack of stealth applications.

No Pain, No Gain Variant

Bountiful Theft over Pressure Striking on Mistlock Instability: No Pain, No Gain days, or for some more support.

Watching videos of players performing the rotation for this build, one might think that it is easy to play; after all, the Thief tends to have spammy rotations, for the same reason mentioned before. The Initiative system allows for multiple, redundant casts of the same ability, during the entire duration of the fight. It is easy to see that one ability will always perform better than other ones, based on the ratio of damage dealt over Initiative points spent. Here are the main reasons why this rotation isn’t as easy as it looks, as well as some tips to master the rotation, depending on the encounter.

• The Condi Deadeye has three primary damaging abilities: Malicious Sneak Attack , Repeater , and Shadow Strike . Due to the nature of Shadow Strike (which has to be cast to enable Repeater ), this rotation becomes very tricky, as it forces your character to Shadowstep Backwards: This is because the intention behind designing the Pistol/Dagger setup was probably to make a kiting kit, and it was never really meant to be a Best in Slot DPS kit. One way to bypass this is to jump during, or immediately after casting Shadow Strike . Not only is it an inconvenience for the rotation, but it also lowers your DPS slightly, as there will be a small, but significant delay where you will still be up in the air, unable to make your next move. It is necessary to jump Shadow Strike sometimes, such as when Dark Ai pulses AoEs in a set ring pattern, so as not to lose too much health, and fall into Downstate far away from your friends.
• Shadow Strike can see its range alleviated by positioning the camera at a steep angle, above your character, and running inside of the hitbox. The latter reduces the porting range to approximately 400 units while combining the two reduces the range to about 180 units (courtesy of Darkz ).
• The rotation requires a good sense of timing, as do pretty much all Deadeye builds, to maximize your DPS: timing some abilities incorrectly, such as Mercy (which will consume your Malice in exchange for some Initiative points), can have dramatic consequences for the rest of the fight: you might end up being completely unable to use any ability whatsoever because you have run out of Initiative points to spend. Not being able to use abilities keeps your Malice bar too low, and this chain reaction can leave you powerless to do anything until you can use Mercy or Deadeye's Mark again.
• Missing an ability like Shadow Strike or hitting nothing but thin air with Repeater , both of which might happen from being out of range, will unnecessarily use up some of your Initiative, and might delay your Maleficent Seven which could cause some issues for the rest of the fight, like not filling up your Initiative bar at the proper moment.
• It is important to learn the rotation by heart, if you do not fully understand the Malice mechanic. abilities such as Malicious Sneak Attack are only enabled when you are under the effect of Stealth; notably, the latter has additional effects when Malice is consumed, so it is important not to use Mercy before, or while casting it. Specifically, Mercy should always be used upon completing the Malicious Sneak Attack , so as not to interfere with stealth-application skills like the random F2 Stolen skills ( Steal Time , …), Hide in Shadows or Shadow Meld .
• Stolen abilities ( Steal Health , Steal Strength …) should not be used if you have less than four Malice points, as four of them ought to be consumed to provide you with Stealth, enabling Malicious Sneak Attack .
• Payback is a key trait that will lower the cooldown of all of your Utility Skills by 20% of their total cooldown after killing a Marked target. Targets can be Marked with Deadeye's Mark . A good way to reset your Deadeye's Mark in order to reapply it to a new foe is to run Mercy . It is essential to run this trait on every CM boss, as it will allow you to precast additional Prepare Thousand Needles on Ensolyss, or more Venom Skills on all of the other bosses. We also recommend Mercy on bosses such as MAMA, Siax, Skorvald, Artsariiv, and Arkk so as not to run out of initiative, and allow for more procs of Payback . Note that Deadeye's Mark will always reset upon your Marked target’s death.
• Lastly, it should be noted that One in the Chamber is a crucial trait for longer fights, as the use of a cantrip like Shadow Meld or Mercy will allow you to use a second Stolen ability, on top of the one that the Deadeye's Mark gives you every twenty seconds or so.