Curse

Beagle · Dec 15, 2008, 11:34 PM // 23:34

I read a guide about beginning dervishes and I think that these two subclasses would suit me most efficiently. I like to do a lot of group PvE so I'm leaning towards the Dervish/Elementalist. Is this a good choice? Or should I go with the Dervish/Warrior?

shoyon456 · Dec 16, 2008, 12:02 AM // 00:02

Dervish are for the most part a complete class alone. Although there are some fun gimmick builds you can go D/E for, at the end of the day the most reliable is D/W for utility skills like Wild Blow.

nkuvu · Dec 16, 2008, 12:03 AM // 00:03

Don't worry too much about the secondary profession. For any Elonian character (that is, a character started in Nightfall), you'll be able to change secondary professions very soon after arriving on the mainland. So you go through the starting island of Istan with Dervish/whatever, and if you decide you don't like it you can change a very short way into the game.

Further info:
Note that characters in Factions can also change secondary profession fairly quickly. Characters in Prophecies have the longest wait between choosing a secondary profession and being able to change it. This is all assuming that you gain the ability to change secondary professions in the chapter of origin. A character from Prophecies could play through to Lion's Arch then hop over to Cantha and do two missions to be able to change secondary profession, which would be quicker than doing the required missions in Prophecies.

Truegen · Dec 16, 2008, 12:09 AM // 00:09

nkuvu's got the right idea...It's the beauty of GW; the ability to correct mistakes in judgement quickly

I'd argue against the general consensus of D/W and recommend D/E because you can use run skills and conjure your way to the Sunspear Sanctuary, where you can change if you so desire

Beagle · Dec 16, 2008, 12:19 AM // 00:19

Thanks for the help so far. To make this easier I chose the Dervish class because they can attack quickly and use self-buffs/self-regeneration skills. I like to be able to swith up my play style, such as playing up in someone's face, then retreating for ranged attacks. So would the elementalist be the better choice for me? I'm afraid that if I choose Dervish/Warrior I will be forced to be on top of my opponent for a very long time.

Truegen · Dec 16, 2008, 12:30 AM // 00:30

*Swats Nose*
Bad Beagle, Bad!

Don't make a Dervish if you plan on running away from battles. The beauty of a derv is that they can kamikaze up into a group of enemies, get the enemies all around them, and then swing swing swing (thank you, All American Rejects). Do not, and I repeat do not choose an ele secondary for the sake of "running back" and start casting flare and firestorm, cause that's the fastest way to never getting into a pug group for missions

I understand wanting to change styles up, but dervishes are fun enough that you shouldn't really have to. Best advice I can give is just use different Avatars to change things up. Being a D/W isn't the reason you'll be melee'ing the night away...being a D is the reason

englitdaudelin · Dec 16, 2008, 01:15 AM // 01:15

Truegen's got it right--the Derv's not really made for ranged attacks (that would be, ummm....a ranger?). The conjures are great--conjure flame, conjure frost, etc...so long as you either build your scythes, or use enchantments, that fit the conjure you're running.
I suppose you could do some funky things with low-energy-cost snares as a D/E...Get in the middle of stuff, cast Grasping Earth, and then pretend you're the grim reaper. I think there are Dervish Spells, though, that will do the same thing.

I, like Shoyon, suggest D/W for the additional buffs you can pick up as a warrior. Wild Blow is great against blockers, and the tactics line has some other decent skills you could spec into.

Have you considered D/R, with apply poison on the scythe? That's kinda fun too. Slap epidemic on a hero and go to town.

Beagle · Dec 16, 2008, 01:25 AM // 01:25

I have not considered Dervish ranger yet however I have no idea what the benefits would be and it sounds like it could be fun! Also the dervish is used for short/short-middle combat correct? I really like short middle combat and if that is the case than I may just choose dervish warrior for the extra strength. I will not go D/E thanks to what you guys have said!

theryl2002 · Dec 16, 2008, 01:33 PM // 13:33

The General Class Positioning for Combat is as Follows.
Frontline:
Warrior
Dervish
Assassin
Midline:
Ranger
Elementalist
Mesmer
Paragon
Necromancer
Ritualist(sometimes)
Backline:
Monk
Ritualist(most of the time)

MegaVolti · Dec 17, 2008, 03:47 AM // 03:47

The secondary doesn't really matter for a Dervish, your own skills provide anything you need. Warriors are a nice choice for some of their melee attacks (the stance ending one .. forgot the name). I'd go with that.
However, if you are looking for raw scythe damage, both A/D and W/D are better then the D/any itself (especially an Assassin with lots of critical strikes is awesome with a scythe, being one of the best damage dealers in PvE).
The only advantage an primary Dervish has over A/D are avatars.

Sirius-NZ · Dec 20, 2008, 07:41 AM // 07:41

You won't get the strength attribute as a Dervish. You will however get other widely-used skills, such as [[Wild Blow], [[Protector's Strike], [[Bull's Strike] and [[Distracting Blow].

The only melee-oriented Elementalist skills that may be of some use are the Conjures ([Conjure Lightning]/[Conjure Frost]/[Conjure Flame]); there are others that may be able to play with things the Dervish has but more often than not such builds are a little ... well, bad.

H Fusion · Dec 27, 2008, 06:05 PM // 18:05

Well my advice is go with D/W. I'm a D/W aswell, and getting to level 20 was no problem, and generaly its got some great utility skills. I think both proffesions are frontline...so yeah it's pretty strong. On the other hand being a D/E is apparently (accordingly to my friend) not so good with PVP and stuff. So yeah thats my advice. Although i've only just started Guild Wars. I've got a pretty basic idea whats good and whats not. Yeah.

~Jack The Hammer
AKA. Fusion