NEW Deadeye AXE Open World Build

Now that we have had the 2nd major update of the current Secrets of the Obscure expansion, we get to play with new weapons on all 9 professions. Thieves no longer will need to content themselves with throwing daggers, shooting pistols, or rifles, they now can chuck axes at their unsuspecting victims as well.
The new Axe takes some getting used to, especially since there's a windup to the animations, as well as projectile traveling speed to take into account. Once you get used to these, though, you'll be able to dispatch any enemy with a quick combo, while casually strolling past them.
Axe does work with Daredevil, but the targeting is rather unruly in the open world when you focus on pure mobility. That's why we're going with a Deadeye build, who can also maintain most important boons so that Jade Bot Protocols become an afterthought.
If you're an avid user of Jade Bot Protocols, though, you can swap out Critical Strikes for Deadly Arts for some extra quality of life improvements. Axe is a very resource intensive weapon, but combining Trickery with Deadeye's Mark means we shouldn't ever struggle for resources.
This build excels both against single targets, as well as packs of enemies thanks to axe's innate ability to cleave. Time to get farming!
00:00 Intro
00:38 Traits
02:50 Heal, Utility, Elite Skills
03:47 Playstyle & Rotation
04:29 Stats & Gear
05:32 Outro
#guildwars2 #gaming #mmorpg

[@phandrel]

Join the Phamily! discord.gg/JGdQ6Hjny9 Crititcal Strikes (No protocols): gw2skills.net/editor/?PagAcrlZwyYXMMGJW2WXvUA-DSJYiR5fhUbg2bIURRZ7VBAqA-e Deadly Arts (With protocols): gw2skills.net/editor/?PagAcrlZwyYXMMGJOMXXvUA-DSJYiR5fhUbg2bIURRZ7VBAqA-e Check out my other SotO Builds! kzbin.info/aero/PLcfx2bdomd7AssLav-2kg1Y9HWqpncX42

[@alphapapa5539]

Build links are the same dude

[@phandrel]

@@Hekk. The Jade Bot Protocols you can get in End of Dragons. Here's a more in-depth explanation with some visuals :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZaoo2Otma2gmLc

[@phandrel]

@TonyPettersson-ij6kx & @alphapapa5539 fixed! Ty for letting me know!

[@Hekk.]

Oh sorry, I did a bit of solo research and found out what's up with those thus I deleted my question - sorry >_< Gonna watch the video though!@@phandrel

[@TropicsDweller]

Knocking it out of the park as usual! Thanks for the videos!

[@phandrel]

Thank you!

[@LameMule]

Thief got axe. Mesmer got rifle. Ranger got mace and I... I got a scepter and a shortbow. Thanks for the showcase! Axe lookin good right now.

[@phandrel]

I tried rev scepter in strikes yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. Making it feel worth picking in the open world is turning out to be a headscratcher, though 😅

[@RayRay-ur3jv]

Love the videos keep up the good work :))

[@phandrel]

Thanks!

[@censoredcourgette9153]

honestly love these build vids, could even be longer

[@phandrel]

Thanks! I try to keep the format relatively short, but have some plans for (much) longer form content and deep dives later this year :)

[@Tiberius3991]

Still waiting for the epic engi shortbow vid 😂 kekw Thx for the vids, keep it up :)

[@phandrel]

Thanks! I'm finally get Engi to a point where I'm start to be happy, but I want a day or 2 more of experimenting with a few variations in case I can squeeze something more out of it :D Should be ready before the weekend, though.

[@Lanzetsu]

What I hate about Thief is how it has been a decade and they still don't give us another Off Hand weapon, at some point I stopped caring about what they do to Thief and play some old build I had for farming and go on stealth to reach places in Open World PvE

[@phandrel]

I hope we see a clear split between pve/pvp modes on thief sometime soon. There's a lot of traits that seem baked into the spec, rather than a specific gamemode, that seems to make it difficult to balance as a whole. Big fan of the stealth too, to be honest. Makes a lot gathering farms a breeze.

[@sorryyourenotawinner2506]

Hey one question.. secondary weapons? what's the best choice? your build looks fantastic like all your builds

[@phandrel]

Thanks! In the open world, I always carry a short bow in my secondary slot. The utility is amazing (interrupt on sb4, teleport on sb5), and it's easy to tag with, making it great for swapping between solo and meta events. Alternatively, you could equip weapons that benefit from power stats (pistol/pistol, dagger/pistol, dagger/dagger, staff). But since none of the weapon skills have cooldowns (as they cost initiative), I rather carry utility in that second set.

[@sorryyourenotawinner2506]

@@phandrel it's time to use my dreamer xD tyvm you gain a sub, really, your mesmer rifle build is SUPER fun!! please still upload more builds, i have a lot of fun thanks to you, i'm actually sick of metacritic and other pages..

[@XperiaK974]

Hi ! How do you have full uptime on all these boons ? Great video btw

[@phandrel]

Thank you! All the boons came from Jade Bot Protocols, which can be charged up to 2h15 min in End of Dragons. You won't necessarily need to do this for the Critical Strikes build, but definitely recommended if you go Deadly Arts instead. I made a guide what boons, buffs, etc you can get when farming/playing general content - the time stamp will lead you to the protocols specifically :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZaoo2Otma2gmLc

[@XperiaK974]

I see thanks. Does it take alot of Mastery points ?@@phandrel

[@phandrel]

@@XperiaK974 I think you don't need masteries for the protocols, only a jade bot. It does help when advancing the tracks, though, as you'll be able to hold 4 charges to stack the boons faster.

[@missk1697]

You can always use some power runes with boon duration + soul pastry food

[@joro148]

Invigorating Precision is just so strong. I hated it when i don`t use Critical strikes becouse of it.

[@phandrel]

I agree, and it's a great comfort pick in general. The only time I actively avoid it is when playing staff daredevil, so that I can give myself as much might as possible. Unless I pick the Jade Bot protocols, that is.

[@Somebody374-bv8cd]

It used to be a 20% heal for a long time before it got nerfed. THAT was when it was supremely fun, just 1 vault onto a pack of mobs heals you to full easily.

[@phandrel]

@@Somebody374-bv8cd I hope they're open to revisiting some of those traits sometime. Maybe as part of a great rework.

[@Somebody374-bv8cd]

@@phandrelYea they should. They nerfed it back when they were reluctant to do pvp/wvw/pve skill splits but now they don't really mind doing skill splits, might as well buff it back up. It's not like you're going to take that in instanced pve anyway aside from qadim kiting and QTP pylon kiting.

[@Maebbie]

there is a video of someone benching 52k dps with axe... it has lots of potential, nice to see its this viable in open world.

[@phandrel]

Yeah, I've seen some people pull bonkers numbers with axe. There's some videos floating about of 99CM that defy all expectations. Craziest part is that axe isn't the most overloaded weapon, imo. Ranger maces add tons of boons, conditions, heal, and cc on top.

[@Rakktent20]

Is this build more efficient than dual pistols tho?

[@phandrel]

As it stands now, Pistols are my go-to for open world ranged dps. If they lowered the casting times on axe somewhat, I might feel different, but nothing comes close to a deadeye p/p build right now.

[@Rakktent20]

@@phandrel That was my understanding. Thanks for clarifying!

[@orack6355]

P/P deadeyes still my favourite, just sad dps is so low that it's useless in group content..

[@phandrel]

Yeah, p/p is kinda relegated to the open world, or WvW with a celestial build (perma stealth unload).

[@amadeusaiden8737]

Please Ele next.

[@phandrel]

Been working on that one this afternoon :) Numbers are finally where I want them, I just need to test a bit more in actual Open World encounters, as some of the combos are rather clunky.

[@amadeusaiden8737]

i trying pistol/dagger and it working somehow but feels off sometimes.

[@kagar3465]

I hate that axe is only viable with deadeye.

[@phandrel]

I kinda made it work with daredevil, but mess up one hit (or terrain messes up a hit) and it all goes downhill :( So I have to agree with you on this one.

[@spadean5269]

as a thief main,The Axe does not look pretty at all. very clunky animations. mid.

[@phandrel]

There's definitely better out there, especially in the animations/smoothness department. But it is serviceable. My go to for the moment is still pistol/pistol, which I documented in an earlier video, or (surprisingly) staff. When March 19 hits, I'm most likely going back to rifle, though :)

[@UberAwesomeDewd]

I remember when they first showcased this I thought "this doesn't look like a Thief..."

[@spadean5269]

@@phandrel yea pistol pistol and staff looks nice, even just normal daggers look good, the axes looks like a low effort update from the devs.

[@phandrel]

I was low-key hoping for a torch that would add a mobility mechanic to skills 1-3 of all other weapons. Kinda like a scout. Probably impossible to balance, though.

[@apprentice0ne]

@@spadean5269very 1 trick pony, and also only 3 new skills (+1 stealth), i got bored of it after 30mins cause its so 1 dimensional