Antiquary - Shortbow Artifact Duelist

The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Condition damage and Control

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Hard

This build was last updated on November 30, 2025 and is up to date for the November 18, 2025 patch.

Overview

A rather obnoxious Antiquary build that weaves powerful artifacts with the unblockable skill Choking Gas to control and burn out targets with condition damage. As with other artifact-centric builds, there is some RNG from Skritt Swipe that must be quickly adapted to during gameplay.

It is recommended to use instant ground targeting for this build and to enable "Snap Ground Target to Current Target". Disabling "Autotargeting" is also recommended.

Skill Bar

Shortbow

Sword/Dagger

Utility

Skill Variants

Heal

• Hide in Shadows - good for the cleanse, gives access to an easy Immobilize on shortbow.

Utility

• Emergency Jade Shield over Roll for Initiative - simple low cooldown stunbreak + barrier that's good against stunlock builds. the skill can be reactivated while on cooldown with a chance of backfiring - if reactivated while more than 50% recharged (in this case 12.5s remaining) the backfire chance will be lower, but since the backfire effect of this skill is so detrimental it may be best to wait as long as possible.

Elite

• None: Skritt Scuffle provides far too much value and is the backbone of the build.

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Specializations

Variants

• Swindler's Equilibrium is worth it if you find yourself using S/D a lot, but Shortbow is your main set here.

Variants

• Bountiful Theft over Pressure Striking is an equally viable option against builds with a lot of stability. Your damage output will be lower but you'll more consistently be able to Daze targets out of key abilities.

Equipment

Shortbow

Sigil

Sigil

Sword

Dagger

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Relic

Equipment Variants

Relics

• As this build frequently dazes targets, Relic of Agony provides good damage against both single targets and groups. If preferred, however, it can be swapped out for a number of other relics:

• Relic of the Mirage - another considerable damage source. pairs well with the evasion provided by artifacts and shortbow.

• Relic of the Demon Queen - upgrades your Poison, doesn't need to interrupt to proc.

• Relic of Thorns - long ramp time, can be good in very grindy duels.

Runes

Use whichever is the most relevant for your situation.

• Rune of Engineer - similar stats to Rune of Undead but more weighted towards damage.

• Rune of Necromancer - a more general rune, good if you aren't sure what you're up against.

• Rune of Orr - use against condition builds.

Sigils

• Sigil of Purging over Sigil of Absorption - decent condition cleansing if needed

• Sigil of Escape over Sigil of Cleansing - if you better need more specific cleansing against roots & chill.

Weapons over Sword/ Dagger:

• Spear - melee condition damage alternative with a cheap interrupt.

• Scepter / Pistol - ranged condition damage alternative, strong interrupt with the ability to team Stealth.

• Shortbow - dual shortbow allows you to make use of on-swap weapon sigils. You can either keep the recommended Sigil setup, or, alternatively for more energy, use Sigil of Energy and Sigil of Smoldering on both sets. Doing so lets you weapon swap every 8 seconds to restore energy while keeping the increased burning duration, at the cost of losing Sigil of Cleansing and Sigil of Absorption. Ultimately it's about matchups and preference, do what feels best for you.

Usage

Basics

• Use Skritt Swipe at the very start of the game to obtain a set of artifacts. Artifacts and information about them can be found below.

• Stay on shortbow unless you need Infiltrator's Strike.

• Choking Gas is what you'll be spending most of your initiative on. It costs 7 initiative, Dazes targets in its landing AoE for 1s, and is unblockable; this means projectile hate and blocks don't protect against it. The skill itself deals low damage and is mostly used for the Daze, which in turn triggers other aspects of the build. The lion's share of damage this build has comes from other sources, primarily Burning artifacts. Info on those can be found below.

• Interrupts trigger Relic of Agony and Pressure Striking. Your interrupts are Skritt Swipe, Choking Gas, and Holo-Dancer Decoy.

• Don't spam Choking Gas - try to get a feeling for when opponents will be casting skills and focus on timing it to interrupt.

• Avoid using Choking Gas on enemies with large numbers of Stability.

Elite specialization basics

• Antiquarians gain access to Skritt Swipe which functions as their Steal and benefits from all traits that would affect it. Using Skritt Swipe, with or without a target, will give you a set of artifacts. This build takes Prolific Plunderer which makes your artifact sets consist of 3 artifacts instead of the default 2, and you'll be able to use 2 artifacts from a pilfered set. Your F2 will always be an offensive artifact, F3 is always a defensive artifact, F4 can be either.

• Using an artifact restores 2 initiative.

• All artifacts have an immediate effect and a lingering bonus effect. The lingering effects are applied when the skill finishes casting. They don't need to hit anything for you to get the lingering effects (except for Zephyrite Sun Crystal).

• High value artifacts: Zephyrite Sun Crystal -- Mistburn Mortar -- Chak Shield -- Exalted Hammer

• Medium value artifacts: Holo-Dancer Decoy -- Summon Kryptis Turret

• Low value artifacts: Metal Legion Guitar -- Forged Surfer Dash -- Unstable Skritt Bomb

• Skritt Scuffle gives you a fresh set of artifacts every 3 seconds as long as you remain in its radius. Due to the high average power of artifacts & the traits they trigger, you'll want to try and use one from each set you get. Being able to quickly adapt to which artifacts you get from this skill is key to the success of this build.

General

• Use Skritt Swipe without a target during downtime to fish for good sets of artifacts, or during combat on a target to interrupt a key ability.

• Use artifacts near allies if possible to share Possessive Hoarder's boons.

Mobility

• Using Skritt Swipe gives 10s of Swiftness. Dodging gives 6s.

• Use Infiltrator's Arrow to quickly traverse the map. Chak Shield can provide two free uses.

Defense

• The third skill of both weapon sets give evasion for 1/2s when used. Evading any attack will trigger Feline Grace for 3s of Vigor.

• Movement skills trigger Guarded Initiation for 2s of Resistance. Many artifact skills are considered movement skills.

• Infiltrator's Arrow and Infiltrator's Strike can both be used to escape, with the latter being much cheaper but requiring a target.

• Canach-Coin Toss and Pain Response are your two primary sources of condition cleansing. Using the lingering effect from Holo-Dancer Decoy on Canach-Coin Toss to halve its cooldown is a good way to stay ahead on condition management.

• Key defensive artifacts are Exalted Hammer (evasion and high healing), Zephyrite Sun Crystal (evasion and stunbreak), and Chak Shield (projectile hate & initiative refunds).

• Exalted Hammer is a leap finisher, and using a leap finisher through a poison field will inflict 8 seconds of Weakness on whatever it hits. Utilizing this when possible is important against any strike damage focused opponent.

• Possessive Hoarder causes any artifact categorized as "defensive" to give Protection and Regeneration.

Advanced

• Combo fields are a way to get more out of your abilities. Abilities that are finishers will gain additional effects if used through combo fields. Relevant fields and finishers this build has access to are listed below:

• Leap finishers: Exalted Hammer, best used into Choking Gas's poison field for 8s of Weakness, or Chak Shield for 5s of Light Aura.

• Blast finishers: Cluster Bomb (only if not reactivated), Blinding Powder if taken. Use inside Chak Shield to cleanse a condition in a pinch.

• Physical projectile finishers: Trick Shot (20% chance), Surprise Shot (shortbow stealth attack), Disabling Shot (shortbow 3). Use these either into poison or fire fields whenever you can for additional damage. If shot through a light field (Chak Shield) into a target who is in melee range, it will cleanse a condition from you.

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• The below table attempts to explain all available artifacts with more clarity than their in-game tooltip. The listed values imply Meticulous Custodian is taken. Artifacts with a "low" priority can still be useful in niche situations, such as Unstable Skritt Bomb being an instant AoE knockback.

Artifact cheatsheet:

Artifact Cheatsheet

Skill Name	Classification	Immediate Effect	Lingering Effect	Notes	Priority
Metal Legion Guitar⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀	Offensive	4 pulses of low damage & Confusion, then a 2s Stun. Long cast time	Access to 2 stealth attacks, even outside of stealth	The long cast time can be mitigated by using a shadowstep before stun portion of the skill	Low
Forged Surfer Dash	Offensive	Slow slide towards a target, dropping bombs along the way that deal strike damage and Burning after a small delay. Bombs have a small AoE	Continue to drop bombs at your feet for 13s	High value if you can get the bombs to hit. Can be used to kite away for good damage	Low
Mistburn Mortar	Offensive	Lobs a projectile that creates a fire field upon impact, pulsing for strike damage & Burning	Next 7 attacks inflict Burning (small ICD on application that isn't listed on the tooltip)	The lingering buff lasts a while & can be applied out of combat for better burst	High
Summon Kryptis Turret	Offensive	An immobile turret with a small range that shoots 8 projectiles, each dealing strike damage and Torment	Your attacks deal +15% damage to any target hit by its projectiles for 10s	The multiple hits are helpful against Aegis and Blind	Medium
Chak Shield	Defensive	5s projectile shield, 6 ticks of low strike damage to enemies inside it	Next 2 initiative skills refund all initiative	The bubble is a light field. The multiple hits are helpful against Aegis and Blind	High
Exalted Hammer	Defensive	Leap finisher, 3/4s evade, strike damage & strong AoE heal on impact	Next 2 initiative skills trigger the AoE heal again at your location	Leap finisher, good source of Weakness if used into Choking Gas	High
Holo-Dancer Decoy	Defensive	AoE 3s Taunt, deals no damage in PvP	Next 2 utility skills have 50% reduced cooldown (does not affect heal or elite)	Great for landing high value abilities. The decoy can be destroyed, ending the taunt early. The taunt effect ignores LoS	Medium
Zephyrite Sun Crystal	Defensive	Stun break & evasion as long as skill is active > heavy Burning in 180 radius upon arrival	If the first use connects on an enemy, skill can be reused twice	The first two uses of this skill can be "shotgunned" into a target if you're standing next to them	High
Unstable Skritt Bomb	Backfire	High strike damage in 180 radius + high self damage, small AoE knockback	+50% incoming strike & condition damage	The instant AoE knockback can be used while casting other abilities	Low