Curse

Symbiont · Aug 25, 2009, 04:15 PM // 16:15

Not so long ago I was playing around with a build that utilizes this skill to rend off certain stacked enchantments to do damage and apply conditions, while at the same time healing yourself and regaining all of your energy back too thanks to Mysticism.

Now I know that this may come off as a gimmick build at first, but bear with me.

Here's what I came up with:

Earth Prayers 16, 12+1+3
Mysticism 13, 12+1 (You could probably max this out, as you won't be fighting foes head on)

Skills:

Aura of Thorns
Dust Cloak
Staggering Force
Sand Shards
Vital Boon
Mirage Cloak
Aura of Displacement(E)
Mystic Sandstorm

Weapon: Any staff with +10 and +5 energy bonuses should work, or you could use a staff of the forgotten (or similar if there are any) for +20 energy total from the staff.

All Radiant insignias and Runes of Attunement for more energy.

It's pretty simple, just stack all of your enchantments, shadow step in and hit Mystic Sandstorm, after dealing damage and several conditions, you'll immediately be teleported to where you were just a moment ago, and thanks to Mysticism you should be full up on health (if you took any damage at all) and energy, not to mention Vital Boon, although this really isn't needed, it's just a filler that triggers off a big heal when removed, and since you are maxing out earth prayers, it should be preferable to Faithful Intervention.

With the new function of Sand Shards, there's even more damage potential.

Just a note about Sand Shards too, since the change to it a group of enemies using this skill cause massive damage, like those Word of Madness's or whatever they are at the end of Nightfall in the Realm of Torment.

I know the "bomber" isn't a new idea, as I've seen some posts from 2006 talking about it, but I think this could be a fun idea to try for a team build of some sort, perhaps even in High End PvE areas like FoW or UW, where the tank could hold as usual and then we come in and "bomb" the area.

This is just an idea I hope some people here will be open to, I'm not too experienced at creating team builds as a whole, so hopefully you guys can help me out on this.

This is purely a PvE idea too.

The Dark Figure · Aug 25, 2009, 04:27 PM // 16:27

Have you tried it yourself yet? I know it was used in pvp at some point, for spike damage. Not sure where this would be a "better" choice as instead of an ordinary derv build..but pve is jus fun if ur with H/H. I'll give it a go in a bit.

Nijntjuh · Aug 25, 2009, 04:33 PM // 16:33

well it could work but it wouldnt be as fast as the MoP + HB combo atm.
also i see it aint that great cause the dmg maximum off mystic sandstorm has a maximum of 130 dmg + mirage cloak at 16 earth prayer = 79 dmg so a total of 209 dmg is done + sand shards and the conditions.

i dont know bout exact number but sand shards will make the stuff scatter and therefore wouldnt be such a great option as the tanker will lose aggro and yeah you can say take 3 dervishes and they are all dead at once but then sand shards wouldnt even do something cause evrything goes down by mirage cloak + mystic sandstorm.

Also i think the MoP + HB variant is more versatile and needs less great timing then this dervish variant.

imo this aint gonna be breakthrough or something yes you can probaly pull this off but you are probaly better off with the MoP + HB although you could always do this for fun and it probaly will work with 3 dervishes

Symbiont · Aug 25, 2009, 04:51 PM // 16:51

I expected there would be several issues with it, but that's fine, I was just throwing it out there in case it had any chance of being at all useful, I'll admit that I've only tried it solo on the master of damage, so I don't know exactly how it plays out in PvE, but I'd like to do more testing.

As for scatter, an ele with Meteor Shower could help with that, on top of the plus wards that the tanks usually bring.

I don't know what MoP+HB is, but if it does this and better like you said, then that just sucks. I just wanted to try something different on my Dervish, of course I'm sure if there was anything useful like this out there it'd probably already be well known huh.

Truegen · Aug 25, 2009, 05:35 PM // 17:35

As usual, I'm a complete fan of people trying to come up with new ways to break things and try their best to make this game fun again

This build was actual run in HA a few times in Halls matches, and while it was never revolutionary it was certainly overpowered. It was run as 5 D/A's and 3 Monks (clearly a fame-farming build, since it carried very little utility)

In regards to the PvE sense, I certainly think it's an interesting concept to try. I think the negative aspect of this is that you're not likely to see enough people with dervishes to make this the overpowering build over a commonly-used-class-build like Manlyway

Still very strong, however. Have fun with it in PvE with your hero henchies...and who knows, maybe someday someone will think of an overpowered use for this somewhere in PvE

zelgadissan · Aug 25, 2009, 05:41 PM // 17:41

Slight variation of what you're talking about here (other people have mentioned this as well):

http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Build:Team_-_Derv_Spike

Marverick · Aug 25, 2009, 06:59 PM // 18:59

I believe Staggering Force causes weakness.

Not really useful in PvE because it's armor-dependent damage and there's better ways to spread conditions.

Symbiont · Aug 26, 2009, 04:22 PM // 16:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marverick

I believe Staggering Force causes weakness.

Yes, yes it does. In my defense I was really tired at the time.

Nijntjuh · Aug 26, 2009, 08:24 PM // 20:24

btw MoP + HB = Mark of Pain + Hundred Blades they do massive dmg together with whirlwind