Curse

Squeak2 · Dec 17, 2007, 11:26 PM // 23:26

IF YOU WANT TO SEE MORE ON THIS GUIDE PLEASE CONTRIBUTE!
A guide for dervishes, kind of small, but start adding and I'll add it to the thread, Time to make a good thread for beginners to get aquainted and Pro's to share ideas. Ideas that need to be added:
~General play strategies
~Builds
~What you see needs to be added

Credits!
Syntonic
Marverik
GourangaPizza

Please Thank those people for helping bring the guide together!

ON TO THE GUIDE~

Table Of Contents
1.1 The Dervish
1.2 The Attributes
1.3 The Equipment
2.1 The Secondary Professions
3.1 The Strategies
3.2 The Things to Watch for
4.1 The Builds
Press Ctrl+F then type in the #.# to quickly browse areas of interest.
1.1The Dervish (Taken from http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Dervish )

Quote:

The Dervish is a close range fighter wielding a scythe capable of hitting multiple opponents and utilizing enchantments to deal damage, cause conditions, and protect and heal itself. Many of its abilities strike multiple foes, allowing it to be a fierce combatant on the battle field.

1.2Attributes:
Mysticism: The Energy management and primary attribute of the Dervish. You gain 1 HP and 1 Energy(per 3 levels) everytime an enchantment ends on you. This is also the attribute for Form Spells ( a noted characteristic of the Dervish). Try to keep Breakpoints with your mysticism (every 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15. for the +energy)

Scythe Mastery: The attack spells of the Dervish are in this line. Most spells apply conditions or extra damage if under the effects of an enchantment ( or many ) You want 15 to 16 Scythe Mastery in PvE, depending on how much of a health freak you are, ALWAYS.

Earth Prayers: This line is mostly enchants/buffs for you that increase defense or deal Earth-based Damage.

Wind Prayers: Wind Prayers are for increased Move and attack speed. Also has a few damaging spells and can help the Dervish deal cold damage.

1.3Equipment
The standard dervish wields a Scythe which has 9-41 for its max, and 4-6 as it's minimum. Scythes, like Axes, can also have a higher minimum damage of 10 as long as the maximum damage is lower than 41. The weapon itself has a inherit property in which it can strike up to 3 Adjacent targets on every swing. You do not have to be a dervish to do this, you just have to wield the weapon. It will trigger on Auto-Attacks and Attack Skills. The armor goes up to 70 a piece at max. Warriors and paragons top that with 80 (+20 to phys dmg if you are a Warrior) and you match AL of a Ranger or Assassin. The armor gives a base energy of 35 with 4 pips (arrows) of regen.

2.1Secondary Professions:
There are many choices to pick and be a good dervish, the professions and some of their uses;
~Warrior: Gives the ability to several stances and shouts to help bring buffs to yourself and teammates besides enchanting.

Quote:

Frenzy and Rush are why people take it in PvP... Wild Blow for ending stances. Protector's Strike in Lyssa builds.

~Ranger: The stances and (some) preparations can help with damage, or help give you a high Block/Evade.

~Monk:

Quote:

Apart from Mending Touch please don't run anything from this class...

~Mesmer: Most farming builds I've seen use this as their secondary for spells such as: Symphathetic Visage and Physical Resistance.

~Elementalist: Most notably, the Flame/Storm djinn's haste and Conjure {element} spells seem to be a popular choice, low cost PBAoE's could also be used.

~Necromancer:

Quote:

Withering Aura is useful on a D/N in heavy melee areas.

~Assassin: Mosly for shadow arts spells such as Shadow stepping some notable spells:

Quote:

Signet of Malice and Dash which are probably the main reason /A is used

~Ritualist: Used mainly because of it's weapon spells which could be a important skill for some builds.

~Paragon: Shouts and Chants could help your party if you choose to be supportive.

3.1Strategies:
Some basic strategies.
Try casting enchantments in the opposite order you want them taken off of. By casting Vital spells first and placing meaningless ones, or ones like Vital Boon that heal you when it is stripped, last help protect and help you. Before casting your enchantments again, please let them expire so you can get the mysticism +HP & +MP.

Quote:

You want an IAS at all times. 33% IAS is equivalent to 50% more swings, and thus 50% more damage. Even if it is up for only 2/3 the time, like a 12 spec'd Heart of Fury, it still adds a significant damage increase.
Some commonly used IAS's are Heart of Fury, Flail (only in PvE), Frenzy (only in PvP), Weapon of Aggression

Quote:

In PvP you do want to run all minors, though.

3.2Things to watch for:
You only have 70 base armor, that of an assassin. The Dervish is there to kill stuff in PvE (Marverick) If you want to tank, a Dervish could do it, but spend a few points into Earth Prayers and take spells like Mystic Regeneration.

Quote:

If you wanted to mention tanking in PvE, you forgot the whole obsidian flesh/earth tank deal for Hard Mode.

This is a viable build for tanking.
http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build

/E_Obsidian_Dervish <- That is the tanking build Syntonic is referring to.

Professions such as Mesmers and Necromancers, they will strip your enchants, sometimes leaving you defenseless. Best to avoid/take them out early. Or cast enchantments that benefit you when stripped.

4.1Builds:
You can find some builds at: www.pvxwiki.com

Obsidian Tankhttp://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build

/E_Obsidian_Dervish

IF YOU WANT TO SEE MORE ON THIS GUIDE PLEASE CONTRIBUTE!

Syntonic · Dec 17, 2007, 11:48 PM // 23:48

Eh, you might want to revise this guide since it seems to be mostly about, "How can dervishes tank like wammos lol?" other than how can dervishes be effective at dealing massive amounts of damage (lol weakpoints) quickly. If you wanted to mention tanking in PvE, you forgot the whole obsidian flesh/earth tank deal for Hard Mode.

Squeak2 · Dec 17, 2007, 11:53 PM // 23:53

Fixed. =3 I never heard of that build, I'll look into it.

sickle of carnage · Dec 17, 2007, 11:56 PM // 23:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squeak2

Fixed. =3 I never heard of that build, I'll look into it.

Its the derv version of a regular obby tank.

Squeak2 · Dec 18, 2007, 12:13 AM // 00:13

i haven't played recently, is it a new build?

Marverick · Dec 18, 2007, 01:51 AM // 01:51

Quote:

~Warrior: Gives the ability to several stances and shouts to help bring buffs to yourself and teammates besides enchanting.

[skill=text]Frenzy[/skill] and [skill=text]Rush[/skill] are why people take it in PvP... [skill=text]Wild Blow[/skill] for ending stances. [skill=text]Protector's Strike[/skill] in Lyssa builds.

Quote:

~Ranger: The stances and (some) preparations, such as apply poison, can help spread degen, or help give you a high Block/Evade.

You can't be serious about using a 15e preparation on a class with only 25 base energy... your scythe does way more damage than that silly degeneration will ever accomplish.

Quote:

~Monk: Many pick this profession for self healing or self protection. This profession can help keep you alive longer.

No... just no.
Apart from [skill=text]Mending Touch[/skill] please don't run anything from this class...

Quote:

~Assassin: Mostly for shadow arts spells such as Shadow stepping or regen/self heals.

You forgot [skill=text]Signet of Malice[/skill] and [skill=text]Dash[/skill] which are probably the main reason /A is used... Assassin self heals leave much to be desired, in case you haven't noticed most 'Sins spec into other class lines for a self heal.

Quote:

Things to watch for:
You only have 70 base armor, that of an assassin. If you want to tank, a Dervish could do it, but spend a few points into Earth Prayers and take spells like Mystic Regeneration.

Dervishes are there to kill stuff in PvE. Repeat, Dervishes are there to kill stuff in PvE. One more time? Dervishes are there to kill stuff in PvE.
You can take ONE or TWO skills at most dedicated to self survivability, but please do not load your entire bar up with defensive crap and be a detrimental part of your team. [skill=text]Conviction[/skill] or [wiki]Great Dwarf Armor[/wiki], along with Blessed or Windwalker's Insignia, will give you high enough armor to survive on the frontlines. Maybe a self heal like [skill=text]Mystic Vigor[/skill] or [skill=text]Watchful Intervention[/skill] or [skill=text]Mystic Regeneration[/skill], and that's all you need.
Leave the rest of your bar to kill stuff... if you kill fast enough you won't have to worry about being killed, you know.

On to killing stuff:
You want 15 to 16 Scythe Mastery in PvE, depending on how much of a health freak you are, ALWAYS. Scythes reap the greatest benefits from higher attribute levels due to the high damage they possess. In PvP you do want to run all minors, though.

You want an IAS at all times. 33% IAS is equivalent to 50% more swings, and thus 50% more damage. Even if it is up for only 2/3 the time, like a 12 spec'd Heart of Fury, it still adds a significant damage increase.
Some commonly used IAS's are [skill=text]Heart of Fury[/skill], [skill=text]Flail[/skill] (only in PvE), [skill=text]Frenzy[/skill] (only in PvP), [wiki]Weapon of Aggression[/wiki]

If you have access to it, [wiki]Aura of Holy Might[/wiki] should be on every bar in PvE. More damage is always good. It also converts your damage to Holy, thus bypassing the additional armor on Warriors without needing to use an Elemental Scythe.

Some commonly used attack skills:
[skill=text]Mystic Sweep[/skill] - this is your bread and butter attack, much like [skill=text]Reversal of Fortune[/skill] is for Monks. It does decent damage and activates quickly for a compressed spike of damage.
[skill=text]Eremite's Attack[/skill] - Mystic Sweep's cousin, this is also a staple in PvE and used more commonly in high-end PvP.
[skill=text]Chilling Victory[/skill] - this is your spiker, it has the highest raw damage output of any attack skill in game, barring Deep Wound.
[skill=text]Reaper's Sweep[/skill] - this is your spike, with Mystic or Eremite's they can kill anyone below 50%. However getting someone below 50% is the problem, and you can't Deep Wound someone besides that, so it is not as reliable. However in PvE it is great in the later parts of Nightfall where you need to spike down torment creatures using Call to the Torment.
[skill=text]Wounding Strike[/skill] - this is your nice and spammable Deep Wound, perfect for murdering mobs in PvE.
[skill=text]Wearying Strike[/skill] - this is the Dervish version of Eviscerate when combined with Avatar of Melandru, great spiking potential

Other elites commonly used:
[skill=text]Ebon Dust Aura[/skill] - this is mostly used in PvE and unorganized PvP for shutting down melee. It can be quite effective although take heed to cover it with another more useless enchantment.
[skill=text]Avatar of Melandru[/skill] - "the tree" the high-end PvP elite of choice, makes you practically unspikable during it's activity
[skill=text]Avatar of Lyssa[/skill] - commonly used with Daggers and Axes in lower-end PvP, not as reliable of a damage dealer but still potent enough to be recognized

A standard template for PvE would be:
Armor buff
Elite
Mystic Sweep
Attack skill
Self heal
Aura of Holy Might
IAS
Res or other utility

Of course many builds will deviate from this template but you can use it to get started with your Dervish before you begin to experiment with other, more erratic ideas.

Weapons:
As a Dervish you will be needing these Scythes:
Sundering 15^50 of Fortitude - your standard set, use when not attacking or when hexed/blinded. Also use when you're chasing a kiter and do not have a speed boost or snare handy.
Vampiric 15^50 of Fortitude - your damage set, use when spiking or attacking someone stationary.
Zealous 15^50 of Fortitude - your recuperation set, use to gain energy. Also normally the set of choice in PvE since Zealous allows you to gain vast amounts of energy from clumped mobs to facilitate constant usage of attack skills.
Shocking 15^enchanted of Fortitude - this is for those [skill=text]Conjure Lightning[/skill] Derv builds. Sub this in for the Vampiric set.
Ebon 15^enchanted of Fortitude - for Ebon Dust Aura builds in PvP, in PvE it is better to just take [skill=text]Staggering Force[/skill] and use a Zealous Scythe. Sub this in for the Vampiric set.
A one-hander with Halves Skill Recharge 10% and +20% enchanting and a Shield - use this when casting enchantments

Another thing to watch out for is make sure you set your Mysticism attribute to one of its energy breakpoints, they are in multiples of 3. Anything besides that is a waste of 10 health.

Squeak2 · Dec 18, 2007, 04:08 AM // 04:08

Dang thats nice. I'm going to add that into the guide once I get some spare time tomorrow, right now I'm just doing last minute check ups on other things.

GourangaPizza · Dec 18, 2007, 09:06 AM // 09:06

Withering Aura is useful on a D/N in heavy melee areas.

~ Dan ~ · Dec 18, 2007, 12:37 PM // 12:37

So you went through all this trouble to make a guide that's nowhere near as good as the thread at the top of this section?

The sad thing is that Marverick's reply was bigger and more accurate than your entire guide.

Squeak2 · Dec 19, 2007, 12:37 AM // 00:37

Yea, I didn't see that...
If someone wants to delete this go ahead, or just keep it for a while. =/ I'll keep updating it eventually but if it will go cause the other one is better, don't hesitate =3

Yea, It'll grow as more people post useful info. I'm just throwing it together as a sort of Collage, if you must. Keep the info coming guys!