People often comment on the ridiculous amount of burst damage this build can output, It has got me countless kills in WvW and I rarely see others using similar builds, so I thought I'd share.
Overview:This build revolves around stacking huge amounts of might with the use of venoms and signets, and quickly unleashing massive amounts of damage onto the enemy.
It eliminates single targets with outstanding efficiency, but when faced with multiple opponents lacks survivability. That being said, this build will take down most enemies in 2 strikes, maybe 3 if they're tanky.
Weapons & Skills:
Main Weapon: Dagger/Dagger - For C&D and more importantly Backstab.
Secondary Weapon: Shortbow - For maneuverability.
Hide In Shadows - A strong heal/regen with stealth, beats other alternatives.
Assassin's Signet - Increases the damage of your next 5 attacks by a whopping 15% and stacks Might.
Skale Venom - Applies Vulnerability, Weakness and stacks Might. (You can swap this out with other venoms as you see fit but personally I find Vulnerability and Weakness to be useful with this build.)
Signet of Shadows - Great passive speed boost. Active is useful as a pre-fight Blind and stacks Might.
Basilisk Venom - Essential skill for this build, inflicts a stun with your initiator (Steal w/ Mug) allowing for an easy C&D > Backstab and stacks Might.
By now you're probably wondering where on earth all this might is magically appearing from. Well it's all about to be explained in the traits.Traits:
Here is an overview of the traits used with an in depth explanation.
Deadly Arts:
(III) Mug: Turns steal into a powerful initiator that deals big damage. Is used to trigger venoms on Steal.
(IV) Venomous Strength: Venoms grant 2 stacks of Might each for a total of 4.
(IX) Dagger Training: Adds a 5% bonus to the damage of your C&D > Backstab.
Critical Strikes:
(II) Signets of Power: Signets grant 5 stacks of Might each on activation for a total of 10.
(III) Side Strike: Increases the crit chance of your Backstab.
(XI) Executioner: Adds a huge 20% damage bonus to damaged enemies. Including your Backstab if the Steal > C&D drops their health below 50%.
Trickery:
(V) Thrill of the Crime: Your initial Steal grants you and allies Fury, Swiftness and even more Might.
Armour & Runes:Full Berserker stats w/ Scholar runes and Ruby jewelry - This build is about maximizing damage output making this the obvious choice.
How to use this build:This build makes use of a simple but effective rotation:
Activate Signets & Venoms > Steal > Cloak & Dagger > Backstab.The many stacks of might gained along with armour stats and other damage bonuses from traits, runes and the signet will give you massive amounts of damage that will make quick work of most.
Squishy opponents will go down with the Cloak & Dagger, whilst everyone else will be finished by the incredibly damaging backstab.
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