Guild Wars 2: End Of Dragons - Best Open-World Build For Specter Thieves

thegamer.com:

Want to know the best open-world build for your Specter Thief in Guild Wars 2? You've come to the right place, read on to learn how to turn your sneaky and stabby thief into a master of shadow and death.

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While the Thief is a strong class in Guild Wars 2, especially in player versus player game modes, the Specter specialization turns the Thief into an absolutely unstoppable force. Normally the Thief is a bit of a glass cannon, but this is not the case with the Specter. This elite specialization gains access to a bunch of new tools and traits that greatly enhance your survivability (and your companions) while still dealing respectable damage.

The Specter elite specialization new to the End of Dragons expansion brings a bunch of changes to the Thief profession. Your F1 Steal skill becomes Siphon, and you can use a scepter in your main hand. The scepter deals mostly condition damage and the weapon skill 3 changes depending upon what offhand weapon you use (more on that later).

You also gain access to another skill, usually bound to the F2 key; this skill is called Shadow Shroud. It works almost the same as core Necromancer's Death Shroud. It acts as a secondary health pool and makes the Thief significantly more durable.

Shadow Shroud is similar to Death Shroud but has a few key differences. A Thief fuels Shadow Shroud by spending initiative (using their weapon skills) and using Siphon (the F1 Steal skill used by the Specter). Siphon especially gives you a large chunk of Shadow Force.

It's actually easier for a Thief to build up their Shadow Shroud because they don't have to kill things for large bumps of Life Force like a Necromancer.