Curse

Alpha The Omega · Jan 08, 2012, 12:46 AM // 00:46

Ive been playing guild wars for almost 6 years now, and when the Dervish came with Nightfall, I was sold. I love the Warriors, but I wanted a character a little more deep than a brute that was within the melee class. The sin at the time was very under utilized. It was awesome, a melee class who can transform into gods, AoE effect in every sweep of the scythe. But I must agree the enchantments made him very powerful. Now over the past several years, ANET has nerfed the Dervish to a far less utilized class and now that I have achieved 38 points in the Hall of Monuments and a ever increasing difficulty finding a pug group.. What is the role of Dervish. This whole teardown builds are interesting. But really what is his role. Not much for Tanking, never really used for SC except VoS. I tend to find my builds tending in the support role with AoD build. What does everyone else use their Dervish for?

Lanier · Jan 08, 2012, 06:20 AM // 06:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alpha The Omega

What does everyone else use their Dervish for?

He's great as a storage character

My dervish actually has the distinction of being more 4 years old, even though I never got him to level 20. I believe he is level 19 atm. The only reason that I bothered to keep him around was because he kept giving me great minipets.

Maya Cerestiez · Jan 08, 2012, 08:27 AM // 08:27

easy zmission days and storage.

HigherMinion · Jan 08, 2012, 10:05 AM // 10:05

You can SC with Vow of Silence AND Vow of Strength. Ironic that makes your statement true.

Xsiriss · Jan 08, 2012, 11:56 AM // 11:56

I use a Dervish hero instead of an Earth Shaker alot, AoB with earth prayers for tanking and sand shards+splinter wep for decent AoE damage.

Vernphos · Jan 09, 2012, 04:13 PM // 16:13

Storage char??

Sand shards and the ability to spam cracked armor, deep wound, AoE pulses (aura of holy might) oh plus burning or disease for giggles.

If you dont like burning or disease you can always go Vow of Str for sick damage or Pious Renewal for infinte spam (life and energy)

Yeah..dervish sucks...especially with splinter weapon or Str of Honor...

Bandwagon · Jan 10, 2012, 10:51 PM // 22:51

I am going to guess that you only took the Dervish skills at face value and compared them to what they were prior to February last year.

Quote:

Now over the past several years, ANET has nerfed the Dervish to a far less utilized class....

Nope, they are actually one of the most power creeped professions thus far. cracked armor, easy access to deep wound without using an elite, adrenaline, and 1.5 baseline attack speed on scythes are simple examples of the power that they gained. If your comparing numbers that you were achieving 1 year ago to present day, don't forget that % damage increase modifiers for melee were removed so all melee deal a lot less damage nowadays.

Prior to the update, enchant juggling was actually a Damage loss (both burst wise and sustain-wise) because it incurred a hidden 3/4 of a second timer where your character stood and did nothing. Combined with the overall crappy effects of removing your enchantments early and the huge energy expenditures to keep doing this, auto attacking was all a Dervish had back in the day (oh and abusing abilities that artificially make your attack faster).

Quote:

increasing difficulty finding a pug group..

This isn't because of you being a Dervish, this game is 6.5 years old, and with the content released, one player and a group of 7 heroes can easily lay waste to most of the games' content. Find a guild that PvEs and is active and go from their if you want to group with people.

Quote:

What is the role of Dervish. This whole teardown builds are interesting. But really what is his role. Not much for Tanking, never really used for SC except VoS. I tend to find my builds tending in the support role with AoD build. What does everyone else use their Dervish for?

Okay, in general Guild Wars, you have 3 main roles.

Frontliners
Midliners
Backliners

Frontliners fight at the front and kill stuff. Midliners assist the frontliners and offer utility to make the backliners' job easier, they can deal damage, but in earnest it is at a disadvantage compared to frontliners, on the whole though, they have much less counters than frontliners. Backliners keep things alive.

Dervishes are frontliners, regardless of whether your tanking or dealing damage. They exist to deal tons of damage both in spike (Deep Wound + armor ignoring damage from +damage scythe attack skills) and steady, overburdening damage from auto swings and tear down attacks. They are best utilized in AOE situations where their scythe and point blank AOE attacks shine.

SCes are completely different animals that rely on a specific (when in pugs because people have a very rigid set of expectations) team comp to bulldoze areas. The game is not balanced around these encounters, they are simply a result of going into a dungeon with a specific team comp and completing the objective at a record speed.

Xenomortis · Jan 10, 2012, 10:54 PM // 22:54

The Dervish is used for killing shit by hitting it with a scythe.
Why would you ask for more?

Kunder · Jan 10, 2012, 11:21 PM // 23:21

Dervs also heal surprisingly well (best party-wide in the game) if they take Avatar of Dwayna. While killing things.