Build:Daredevil - Acro Staffdevil

This is a test build. You may comment and rate it.

Focused on: Strike damage and Mobility

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Difficulty:

Easy

This build was last updated on September 07, 2025.

Overview

A Power Daredevil build for PvP that focuses on spamming Vault and dodges for AoE damage and high evasion uptime, further enhanced by Acrobatics.

Skill Bar

Staff

Sword/Dagger

Utility

Skill Variants

Utility

Keep Shadowstep on your bar at all times. The other skills can be replaced by:

• Bandit's Defense - low CD block and stunbreak that could buy you some extra time for endurance and initiative to come back. The chain skill also adds a bit of CC to the build.

• Impairing Daggers - adds more burst damage to the build. Consider using Steal right before the first projectile goes off in order to cut down on travel time/distance, making the skill harder to avoid.

• Shadow Portal - you become weaker in combat but gain an extremely powerful mobility tool that turns you into a decap machine.

Weapons

• Shortbow over Sword/Dagger - better vertical mobility in case you don't have a target to port to. It's better for moving around the map in general. Also adds some ranged poking to the build and a spammable Blast finisher to use for combos with your team. Your single target damage will suffer as a result though, as will your condi cleansing. You're also losing unblockable attacks and boon removal, but gain an unblockable AoE CC at least.

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Equipment

Staff

Sigil

Sigil

Sword

Dagger

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Relic

Equipment Variants

Relics

• Relic of Fireworks - higher burst potential, but lower consistency.

Usage

General

• The thief's role is to almost constantly keep moving. Decap unguarded capture points, +1 fights (rotate to outnumber the enemy team on a point, quickly ending the fight and then move on), interrupt foes with stability by landing Steal, and gank targets in teamfights.

• Dodge if you need Swiftness or extra mobility in general while moving between capture points.

• The many dodges and evasions on weapon sets provide decent survivability for an otherwise very squishy profession.

• Dodging and evading attacks proc Relic of the Daredevil, and the procs can stack. This is important because a stack of the proc might get consumed by the landing damage you deal with Bounding Dodger, giving it a bit of "anti-synergy" with the build as the main goal of the relic would be to boost skills like Vault and Larcenous Strike that you use after dodging. However as the relic also procs upon evading attacks, it's possible to get 2 stacks from a single dodge - one from the act of dodging and one from evading an incoming attack. In this case you'll still have 1 stack remaining when you use an attack skill like Vault as a followup. Not to mention that Vault itself evades attacks, so it can proc the relic as it's being used, no setup required.

Steal

• Steal is the most powerful tool in a thief's kit and should not be wasted! Do not start fights with steal, keep it for the right moment (mainly to interupt important skills such as heals or elites).

• Steal refills some endurance, grants initiative, strips boons and provides a variety of boons for you and your team. Its most important function however is the instant, unblockable interrupt.
  • The instant boonstrip of Bountiful Theft prioritizes Stability, which goes off before the Daze does, allowing you to interrupt targets who have Stability with just one button!

• Steal procs the damage bonus of Relic of Fireworks (if taken), creating a burst window for you.

Staff

Main set

• The general gameplay loop mostly consists of spamming Vault and dodging inbetween. Spending initiative on other skills is highly situational and usually a waste of resources.

• Debilitating Arc is good for getting rid of Immobilize.

• Weakening Whirl does okay damage if you don't have initiative for Vault but need to deal damage right then and there. Otherwise just wait for initiative to build up or swap to S/D.

• Dust Strike can sometimes be used to negate/reflect important projectiles like True Shot, but most of the time you should probably just dodge the projectiles and save the initiative for Vault. The damage is also low, and for the same cost Debilitating Arc can do the same thing but arguably better (the evade is shorter duration than Dust Strike's reflect window + Blind, but Dust Strike doesn't work vs unblockable projectiles or Resistance. It could in theory shield you while running up to a projectile user from afar, but you have plenty of other, better methods, like Infiltrator's Strike or Steal.

Sword/Dagger

Secondary set of the build. Good mobility, single target pressure, defensive value via evade frames and cleansing.

• Most of the damage will come from a combination of autoattacks and the Flanking Strike (thief dual) chain.

• Infiltrator's Strike is an excellent skill for initiating fights or just closing gaps. It's recommended that you start fights with this skill from a place that breaks line of sight (LoS), like a wall or a pillar. This leaves you with an escape route via Infiltrator's Return in case you get focused, and IR even provides some minor cleansing.

• Don't spam Flanking Strike (thief dual) mindlessly. You will become easily predictable and locked in an animation while your enemy can set up burst. Find a balance between your autoattacks and flanking strike. Both this skill and its chain Larcenous Strike are unblockable. Larcenous Strike will be your main source of burst damage.
  • Blocking foes are an exception. Since enemies are unlikely to dodge while using blocking skills, you're free to spam these and punish them with unblockable boon removal.

• Dancing Dagger is merely a filler for ranged poking in case going into melee range would be too dangerous and weapon swap is on CD, or if you want to get rid of Aegis / Blind before jumping in. The bouncing attacks however aren't bad at all when it comes to clearing Mesmer clones.

• Cloak and Dagger is strong in its own right. Being the only source of Stealth in the build, this grants access to Tactical Strike which can help with interrupting important casts (heal, stomp, etc.) when Steal is on cooldown, and the stealth in general can help you lose aggro for a short while or even leave the fight entirely without being chased. The damage itself is quite good both on CnD and Tactical Strike, which means chaining these 2 could act as a finishing move as well. With Steal added to the mix in the middle of casting CnD this combo becomes less obvious and harder to avoid.
  • This could be used on AI (clones, pets, minions) if all you need is stealth not the damage, as AI won't dodge it therefore the odds of getting a successful CnD off becomes higher.
  • This skill gets to shine more if you're taking Scorpion Wire for one of the utility slots. SW pulls targets right into melee range and the brief CC is just enough to comfortably land a CnD with Tactical Strike as the followup.

Utilities & elite

• Shadowstep is easily the most versatile and one of the strongest skills in the build. It has 2 parts:
  • The first half is a stun break and teleport, which already has countless applications. A few applications include teleport to safety while pressured, extending your reach in combat, or using the instant mobility boost to decap enemy points before using the 2nd part of the skill to leave just as fast.
  • The second half is called Shadow Return. This skill becomes available for 10 seconds after using Shadowstep, and cures 3 conditions in addition to breaking stun again before returning you to your starting location.
  • These can also be combined to safe stomp targets: begin stomping, Shadowstep away to safety, and then follow up with Shadow Return at the end of the animation in order to finish the target.

• Dagger Storm is a defensive elite. The rather lengthy evade frame with increased movement speed makes it an excellent panic button when you're being focused by the enemy team.
  • Note: skills like Shocking Aura or Line of Warding are able to interrupt Dagger Storm, so don't be completely careless.

• If taken Roll for Initiative is a situational skill. The evade can be used proactively to avoid damage, the stunbreak is a reactive part that breaks stun if you do get hit, and the initiative refill even gives it some offensive capabilities - you may choose to get greedy and use this skill to gain initiative so you can maintain the pressure on enemies.
  • Keep this ready for defensive purposes if no other stunbreak is available at the time, otherwise you can get more creative with its uses.

• If taken Signet of Agility is your best souce of cleansing, as it instantly removes 3 conditions. In addition to that, this also gives an entire dodge roll's worth of endurance which can be used as a last resort option for squeezing out more dodges when you're out of endurance and don't have time to heal. Keep in mind that the active portion of this skill is AoE! Try to use it near allies whenever possible.