Some questions about "Power Deadeye" build

[Vanchatron.2306]

I've just returned to the game after a long break and will be running the following build - Snowcrows.com - Power Deadeye .  This is pretty much the same build as on metabattle.com as well.

My questions are...

 - It says to use a rifle as my secondary weapon, but I couldn't see any mention as to WHY.  There's no rifle skills to use in the rotation, so I can't see when it's recommended to use it.  I'm currently using shortbow as my secondary but will switch to rifle as this build suggests.  I'm just curious as to why the rifle is recommended as a secondary though.

 - Having read through the guide there's absolutely no mention about using "Death Blossom" (3rd skill in the dual daggers setup).  I'm guessing it's because it applies bleed so it's more of a condition based skill which this build isn't focused on.  Does this mean that I'll never have to use it and should just totally ignore it even though it's on my skillbar?  The guide doesn't even mention it at all in the rotation, so I'm just curious if it's even worth using at all.

Edited July 26, 2023 by Vanchatron.2306

[Vidit.7108]

You should use rifle if you need to be in range for an extended period of time. It's the strongest range damage option for Deadeye specifically. 

Not the snowcrows expert here you should ask the guy that made the build over at the snowcrows help desk. That said I believe the reason the rotation only shows dagger is because in actual encounters the dagger is more consistent and higher damage than the rifle. Snowcrows doesn't like building out too many extra options because people won't actually click on them they just use whatever is provided first in front of them. You can probably still find the rifle rotation somewhere in their help desk discord though.

Death Blossom will do less power damage per initiative so it's not worth using, once upon a time it was apart of some power damage dagger builds to use death blossom, now it's just situationally useful if you need to get behind an enemy while dodging. If you like using death blossom it's a core part of condition daredevil.

[Eugenides.1274]

There's a variant of DPS DE that uses both rifle and daggers but the rifle portion of the rotation relies on healing/utilities/elite skills for stealth access since you usually won't be going Silent Scope. You start with rifle and go through the rotation until you exhaust your stealth generation skills then swap to d/d until their cooldown is up. Sub 50% you stay daggers for the Heartseeker damage bonus.

The DPS is overall comparable to the daggers only build. I think that's why Snowcrows doesn't really list it so that things are a bit simpler?

I don't know if there are any rotation write ups but you can see an example in the video below.
Note that the DPS listed is pre-July 18th nerf so the top-tier DPS for this build should be around 41k now I think?

 

[HeliosMagi.9867]

There's another variant that does about 2-3k less damage but has a far easier rotation using the Be Quick or Be Kill trait instead of Malicious Seven:

It's what I used when I started raiding, as of the latest patch it's benching around 39-40k I think.

[Bern.9613]

On 7/26/2023 at 12:38 PM, Vanchatron.2306 said:

I've just returned to the game after a long break and will be running the following build - Snowcrows.com - Power Deadeye .  This is pretty much the same build as on metabattle.com as well.

My questions are...

 - It says to use a rifle as my secondary weapon, but I couldn't see any mention as to WHY.  There's no rifle skills to use in the rotation, so I can't see when it's recommended to use it.  I'm currently using shortbow as my secondary but will switch to rifle as this build suggests.  I'm just curious as to why the rifle is recommended as a secondary though.

 - Having read through the guide there's absolutely no mention about using "Death Blossom" (3rd skill in the dual daggers setup).  I'm guessing it's because it applies bleed so it's more of a condition based skill which this build isn't focused on.  Does this mean that I'll never have to use it and should just totally ignore it even though it's on my skillbar?  The guide doesn't even mention it at all in the rotation, so I'm just curious if it's even worth using at all.

You answered your own question with the snowcrows' link. They're killing a non moving, non attacking, non healing golem. Killers.

They use dagger/dagger because of malice generation and the fact that it is a raid/strike only build where you're safest spot is behind the boss and in close with other melee. Death blossom is not an effective malice generation vs initiative use. Like using Skirmisher's shot instead of Double tap, better return of malice for initiative use. Just remember, snowcrows killing of a golem shows "potential" not the actual ingame dying to condis and power strikes from bosses.

[ZeroTheRuler.7415]

On 7/26/2023 at 9:38 AM, Vanchatron.2306 said:

 - It says to use a rifle as my secondary weapon, but I couldn't see any mention as to WHY.  There's no rifle skills to use in the rotation, so I can't see when it's recommended to use it.  I'm currently using shortbow as my secondary but will switch to rifle as this build suggests.  I'm just curious as to why the rifle is recommended as a secondary though.

Generally people will use rifle, dagger/dagger for power deadeye builds. Dagger/Dagger is in a nice place due to DPS adjustments made in a balance patch a while ago. It added spice to power deadeye builds. You need to be up close for dagger/dagger builds and sometimes this just isn't possible, especially with spread mechanics. That's when rifle can be used. Rifle also does a good amount of damage, well a lot more than short bow will do. Also there was a update where you can now move slowly in kneel stance (both the kneel changes and dagger changes happened in this patch). It's just enough that if you know mechanics you can walk out of them or dodge if necessary.

 

On 7/26/2023 at 9:38 AM, Vanchatron.2306 said:

- Having read through the guide there's absolutely no mention about using "Death Blossom" (3rd skill in the dual daggers setup).  I'm guessing it's because it applies bleed so it's more of a condition based skill which this build isn't focused on.  Does this mean that I'll never have to use it and should just totally ignore it even though it's on my skillbar?  The guide doesn't even mention it at all in the rotation, so I'm just curious if it's even worth using at all.

There are a number of reasons Death's Blossom is not used.

1. Death's Blossom costs 4 initiative vs the 3 for Dancing Daggers and Heart Seeker. This is important to note because thief DPS is initiative based instead of cooldown based. For builds this is important and means each initiative spent has a DPS value attached to it. See point 2 for further info.
2. Death's Blossom is more of a condition damage weighted skill. It's base power coefficient damage is about 50-60% of Dancing Daggers or Heart Seeker. If you go for a condition damage deadeye build you would see a skill like death's blossom used there. This lowers the damage per initiative for a power build. In other words it means that each initiative spent is more ineffective for a power build if death's blossom is used.
3. If a enemy is lower than 50% and 25% HP, it is much more effective to use Heart Seeker for power builds because the power coefficient, grows higher and higher.