Some community input on Specter in raids and WvW

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

What builds are working right now with specter in raids and strikes as well as wvw?

Im running full rit but lack dps while taking shadow arts, trickery and full bottom specter as alac, keeping people alive in 2 strikes wasnt hard and revivng was instant when an individual went down

 

In a wvw comp however, what works since cds are split? 

Were planning on having a fullthief raid and strike composition and nearly finished but would like outside input from the community on any ideas that could help pull it off

Edited March 19, 2022 by Lithril Ashwalker.6230

[RyuDragnier.9476]

For raids and strikes, I'd suggest using the Snow Crows Condi Alac build. It's really potent, and can do good DPS output along with keeping high alac uptime. The rotation seems to be using wells off cooldown, but other than that spam 3, switch weapon when you can and use Siphon while spamming 3. When Siphon and weapon swap are on cooldown, use Shroud if you have more than 5s left on well cooldowns. Use 5, 4, use 2, then depending on the time until wells are back you can use another 2 if needed and then exit for the Consume Shadows heal.

If you can't get Ritualist's accessories, then a good fallback is Plaguedoctor's for those.

Edited March 19, 2022 by RyuDragnier.9476

[castillle.5248]

12 minutes ago, RyuDragnier.9476 said:

 use Shroud if you have more than 5s left on well cooldowns. Use 5, 4, use 2, then depending on the time until wells are back

I have a question about this.  is the 5 actually better than an autoattack? or is it because of the blast finisher?  

[RyuDragnier.9476]

3 minutes ago, castillle.5248 said:

I have a question about this.  is the 5 actually better than an autoattack? or is it because of the blast finisher?  

The 5 is delayed and allows you to do other things in the meantime, so it doesn't really lock you into anything by using it. You don't even need to be in Shroud when it finishes for it to do damage. The blast finisher IMO is the bonus to that.

Edited March 19, 2022 by RyuDragnier.9476

[Grand Marshal.4098]

For WvW any condi iteration works for roaming. Power is also very potent as the shroud helps a lot with dmg mitigation.

 

For zergs I'm trying a build rn that's quite strong for my party. Will keep examining it. Ofc it's gonna be a third rate build, but above Staff Daredevil.

[Vidit.7108]

I second what @RyuDragnier.9476said. The Snowcrows build is what I'm using for Alac now and I'm finding it a lot better than what I had for strikes before.

[Littlekenny.4196]

On 3/19/2022 at 6:47 PM, Grand Marshal.4098 said:

For WvW any condi iteration works for roaming. Power is also very potent as the shroud helps a lot with dmg mitigation.

 

For zergs I'm trying a build rn that's quite strong for my party. Will keep examining it. Ofc it's gonna be a third rate build, but above Staff Daredevil.

How is a third rate build gonna be above staff daredevil? Staff DD is one of the best luxury DPS available and in a group which goes melee only really has berserker to compete with since in melee both outperform DH.

[Grand Marshal.4098]

2 hours ago, Littlekenny.4196 said:

How is a third rate build gonna be above staff daredevil? Staff DD is one of the best luxury DPS available and in a group which goes melee only really has berserker to compete with since in melee both outperform DH.

It offers nothing to the group outside of DPS.

 

Guardian options, even the berserker you compare it too, all have some form of support capability, be it stability for guards and cleansing or the battle standard on berserker. Thief is more important in 10 to 15 man groups as Basi share is more potent vs such numbers. In zergs it's largely ineffective to momentarily halt (best case scenario) a singe party out of the 6 or 7. 

 

The build I'm trying on specter for zergs has immense barrier share potential, talking in the range of half to a million barrier depending on the fight duration, high alac uptime, smoke fields and projectile hate, with very potent solo rez potential. Far more party support options than an offensive thief. Supports in wvw will always be above most DPS variants, even if said DPS variants can be very strong. 

 

 

[Littlekenny.4196]

22 minutes ago, Grand Marshal.4098 said:

It offers nothing to the group outside of DPS.

 

Guardian options, even the berserker you compare it too, all have some form of support capability, be it stability for guards and cleansing or the battle standard on berserker. Thief is more important in 10 to 15 man groups as Basi share is more potent vs such numbers. In zergs it's largely ineffective to momentarily halt (best case scenario) a singe party out of the 6 or 7. 

 

The build I'm trying on specter for zergs has immense barrier share potential, talking in the range of half to a million barrier depending on the fight duration, high alac uptime, smoke fields and projectile hate, with very potent solo rez potential. Far more party support options than an offensive thief. Supports in wvw will always be above most DPS variants, even if said DPS variants can be very strong. 

 

 

In the 5th slot, all support should already be fully covered by the rest of the party and if you need to bring support while in that slot then it should be squad wide support like spellbreaker or chrono strips+cc, otherwise that would be where the heavy damage dealers would go. Stability on the guard should be unnecessary as it should be covered by the FB+scrapper+herald and it would also require a DPS loss. 5th slot being a support then only really helps with keeping the mediocre damage from scourge and damage from herald going

[Grand Marshal.4098]

2 hours ago, Littlekenny.4196 said:

In the 5th slot, all support should already be fully covered by the rest of the party and if you need to bring support while in that slot then it should be squad wide support like spellbreaker or chrono strips+cc, otherwise that would be where the heavy damage dealers would go. Stability on the guard should be unnecessary as it should be covered by the FB+scrapper+herald and it would also require a DPS loss. 5th slot being a support then only really helps with keeping the mediocre damage from scourge and damage from herald going

It's optional rly. That's where all the third rate builds enter. You can never have enough stab/cleanse anyway. And neither will you run only Chronos/SpBs. More tanky parties usually ensure it can be easier to pick up potential downies too. Tho that's clearly up to what each guild/comm chooses to run. 

 

The effectiveness of a DPS is directly tied to it's support, so melee cleave is usually very weak on the pirate ship meta ofc. And whereas Berserker/Daredevil lack any punishment for enemy pushes, DH can lay traps, use lines etc. Pretty potent.

 

As to not digress the idea of my Specter build is usually the heavy healer with potentially a FB in those parties that are not fully comped or consist of mostly DPS like Weavers, some Scrapper etc. Barrier really helps them.