Curse

Glaax · Jul 21, 2009, 11:39 AM // 11:39

Hey, I was playing in RA as i usually do when i'm on GuildWars, and on the opposite team was a dervish with a spike build that really really took my interest, i've tried to recreate it as much I can but i'm really not an expert at this stuff and was wondering if anyone had any advice, or if there was anyone who knows this build exactly as it "should" be...anyway here's what I know about it and what i've done so far:

Aura Of Thorns, Mirage Cloak, Mystic Sandstorm, Heart Of Holy Flame, Augury of Death, Pious Renewal, Res Signet

12 Earth Prayers, 7 Deadly Arts, and the rest in mysticism

A bunch of radiant of +minor attributes gear etc etc and a scythe with 10% chance to halve spell recharge, +30hp and +bleeding duration

The idea is, you put Heart of Holy Flame on yourself before charging in, then you have 20 seconds to recharge energy and run in, then you use Augury of Death, then Aura of Thorns to keep them close and Mirage Cloak, then Pious Renewal, in the time all this has happened, if you've picked the target that someone else on your team is pressuring they should be at like 80% hp or so, then you get right up to them and use Mystic Sandstorm, this does roughly 200dmg to them, sets them on fire, makes them bleed and hopefully causes deep wound due to augury of death.

Then since all your skills have quite a low recharge time you can just recharge your energy and rinse/repeat on another target, it's a massive spike build that worked really well on me, I was dead in like 3 seconds.

Anyway was just hoping if anyone could spot something that I might of missed/might need to change before I go about unlocking all the skills for it so I can have a go :P

Lord Xivor · Jul 21, 2009, 12:45 PM // 12:45

200dmg every 20 seconds? Are you serious?

If this build took you down, then that is your own fault for not being able to kite a guy with no shadow step and no run skill. Even with a run skill, this build is not good. Recharges are too high. After 1 usage, you are useless for 20 seconds, as it lacks utility and other damage outside its gimmick spike.

Fabez · Jul 21, 2009, 01:25 PM // 13:25

I'll look into it, it looks similar to an old "Mystic Sandstorm Bomber" build I've seen float around and about, I'm not sure if it was intended for PvP usage though.

First thing I'd suggest is replacing the Scythe with a Staff as a starter, you're likely to get more benefits from that.

Edit:

Alright, so after messing around a bit I came up with this:

6 Deadly Arts
12+1+1 Earth Prayers
11+1 Mysticism

Augury of Death
Arcane Zeal {E}
Aura of Thorns
Vital Boon
Mirage Cloak
Heart of Holy Flame
Mystic Sandstorm
Resurrection Signet

At 14 Earth Prayers, you need 4 enchantments to reach the maximum damage of 130. For these I used Aura of Thorns, Vital Boon, Mirage Cloak and Heart of Holy Flame; feel free to switch these out, though I recommend keep at least Mirage Cloak in since it deals damage as it ends as well, adding to the total amount.

At 12 Mysticism, you'll be gaining back 4 energy for each enchantment that ends on you, for a total of 16 energy if all the 4 enchantments get removed by Mystic Sandstorm.

According to the Master of Damage, damage seems to be between 200 and 210, increased by the degeneration caused by Burning/Bleeding and possibly increased by using Heart of Holy Flame at point-blank range.

The one big problem I noticed during testing was that I couldn't get the damage high enough to trigger Augury of Death, so you would have to target already weakened opponents.

Equipment consisted of a Staff (attribute doesn't matter) with an Insightful Staff Head, a Staff Wrapping of Enchanting and the inscription "Have Faith!" and Armor outfitted with Survivor Insignia's, a minor rune of Mysticism on the Hands and a minor rune of Earth Prayers on the (Earth Prayers) Hood.

I haven't tested it in PvP myself, so I make no guarentees that the build will work well.

Edit 2: I take it Lux Aeterna is referring to this or this?

Lux Aeterna · Jul 21, 2009, 01:55 PM // 13:55

Saw this on wiki, but it seemed to only work with 3-4 of these in a team, making for an RtL style spike team build. Looked good but I don't see it working so well as one player.

TheodenKing · Jul 21, 2009, 03:12 PM // 15:12

I have run an enchant bomber in AB rather succesfully. AB has npcs that don't kite, and players that are too inexperienced to know what is happening before the spikes.

Catchphrase · Jul 21, 2009, 03:42 PM // 15:42

Mystic Sandstorm is a bad skill... its gimmick builds is even horrific. I suggest a better skill set for you; Vow of Strength + Shadowy Burden.

Mad Lord of Milk · Jul 21, 2009, 03:59 PM // 15:59

/Agree with Catchphrase... especially in RA, where your multi-hit opportunity goes way down. If you're set on going Mystic Sandstorm Bomb, I might suggest Aura of Displacement in the place of Pious Renewal... used correctly, you can legitimately co-spike with teammates.

Lo The Fallen · Jul 21, 2009, 05:58 PM // 17:58

i tested out a D/Rt version of this build with Destructive Was glaive and some enchants that trigger damage when they end. Also i tried what you said and it didn't seem to be as useful seeing as it didn't take enough damage to trigger augury of death.

If you HAVE to pvp on a dervish i suggest wounding strike/ conjure build.

kedde · Jul 21, 2009, 09:10 PM // 21:10

I can help you improve it.

Take out every skill and replace attributes and the empty skillbar with useful skills.