Malicious Cunning Salvo

Stealth Attack. Throw an axe that explodes when it hits a target, crippling nearby enemies. Gain initiative if you strike an enemy. Consumes all malice when striking your mark to inflict poison with a duration equal to the consumed malice. — In-game description

Malicious Cunning Salvo

Profession

Thief (skill list)

Specialization

Deadeye

Weapon

Main hand axe

Type

Stealth Attack

Game link

API

71835

“

0.5½  1  

Malicious Cunning Salvo

Stealth Attack. Throw an axe that explodes when it hits a target, crippling nearby enemies. Gain initiative if you strike an enemy. Consumes all malice when striking your mark to inflict poison with a duration equal to the consumed malice.

 Damage: 550 (1.5)^?

 Damage: 293 (0.8)^?

 Bleeding (8s): 176 Damage

₃ Bleeding (8s): 528 Damage

 Poison (1s): 34 Damage, -33% Heal Effectiveness

₃ Poison (1s): 101 Damage, -33% Heal Effectiveness

 Cripple (4s): -50% Movement Speed

 Initiative: 2

 Number of Targets: 5

 Radius: 180

 Combo Finisher: Blast

 Range: 900

— In-game description

Related traits

Deadly Arts

• Lotus Poison — Weaken targets when you poison them.
• Even the Odds — Apply vulnerability when you steal. Gain might when you hit with a stealth attack.
• Exposed Weakness — Deal increased strike damage to your target for each unique condition on them.
• Potent Poison — Poison you inflict has increased damage and duration. Other Deadly Arts traits apply additional stacks of poison.

Critical Strikes

• Sundering Shade — Stealth Attack skills inflict vulnerability and grant fury upon successfully hitting foes.

Shadow Arts

• Hidden Thief — Stealing inflicts blindness. Stealth Attacks inflict weakness. Cannot affect the same target more than once per interval.
• Shadow Siphoning — Stealth attacks siphon health if they hit. Cannot siphon the same target more than once per interval.
• Rending Shade — Steal boons from enemies you strike with stealth attacks. Striking a boonless foe with a stealth attack inflicts fear on nearby foes.

Trickery

• Preparedness — Increases maximum initiative by 3. Gain increased expertise.
• Deadly Ambush — Stealing also applies bleeding. Bleeding you inflict deals more damage.

Deadeye

• Malicious Intent — Marking a target or striking your mark with a stealth attack will immediately grant malice.

Version history

For a detailed skill history, see here.

Patch	Changes
November 19, 2024	Reduced the damage multiplier from 1.0 to 0.8 in PvP and WvW.
June 25, 2024	(Undocumented) This skill is now a blast finisher. Increased the power coefficient to 1.0 in PvP only.
May 21, 2024	Reduced the bleeding stacks from 2 to 1 in PvE only.
March 19, 2024	This skill can no longer consume malice when recalled.
March 01, 2024	Fixed an issue that caused axes created by this skill to inflict revealed when recalled.
February 28, 2024	Fixed an issue that prevented this skill from unlocking properly.
February 27, 2024	Malicious Cunning Salvo has been added to the game. Axes created by this skill will now properly gain bonuses when being recalled by dual-wield skills. Axes created by this skill will no longer always inflict revealed when being recalled by dual-wield skills. This skill is now a blast finisher. [sic] Reduced the bleeding stacks from 3 to 2 in PvE only. Reduced the poison stacks from 3 to 1 in PvE only.
November 28, 2023	Malicious Cunning Salvo was available during the beta event.