Curse

Zach1188 · Sep 30, 2008, 02:22 AM // 02:22

I just bought Nightfall yesterday, and I finally got to try the Dervish class

I was surprised, but it beat MM as my favorite class.

Anyway I just want some advice on my dervish thus far, and any obvious ways I can improve it if anyone sees any.

Level: 9
Subclass: Warrior

Scythe Mastery: 9 (+1 scythe hood)
Mysticism: 5
All other: 0

Build:
Pious Assault
Chilling Victory
Twin Moon Sweep
Crippling Sweep
Heart of holy flame (
Wild blow
Sprint
Sunspear Rebirth Signet

Strategy:
When approaching a large group of enemies, I get close, and cast Heart Of Holy Flame, it does damage. I then Twin Moon Sweep, and it hits twice, as there was an enchantment (HoHF), and ends HoHF, which causes burning condition to all my surrounding enemies. Their health is usually much lower than mine at that point, so I cast Chilling Victory, which usually kills many of the attackers. I then alternate Wild Blow and Pious Assault on the remaining enemies.

I never use Crippling Sweep, so I have no problem replacing it. It just seemed like it would be useful in PvP.

AKB48 · Sep 30, 2008, 02:34 AM // 02:34

Replace Crippling Sweep with an elite of your choice.

My suggestion would be an Avatar, Reaper's Sweep or Wounding strike(take out sprint and add another enchantment)

ALF71BE · Sep 30, 2008, 02:54 AM // 02:54

I would recommend getting Vital Boon and use it as your cover, expendable enchantment, so you can have a controllable heal when you get low on hp. Don't lose your enchantments right away, but instead whenever you need energy or can mostly benefit from it (gain energy or hp).

Also dunno why you have Sprint. The time I was in beginner island and while I bought some tomes, I liked using Whirling Charge from Wind Prayers. Yeah yeah, I know I told ya just about Vital Boon that is in Earth Prayers, but don't invest points in it, just Scythe, Myst and Wind.

You have also 5 attack skills which is a little overkill. Wild Blow is fine and all but I would use it only when facing annoying blocking enemies with stances, like later in Kourna or near the end of the campaign. Use quick recharging attack skills, such as Victorious Sweep (substitute for Twin Moon), Eremite's Attack or Mystic Sweep, and of course Pious Assault to have a controllable heal if you're using Vital Boon. I'm also not a big fan of Chilling Victory but each to their own I guess.

Get also a minor mysticism rune; the breakpoints of mysticism are in multiples of three, don't waste attribute points in it until you can afford reaching to these break points.

Also try to get an IAS (Increased Attack Speed skill); usually Heart of Fury for class purists like me, but it can also be Flail from your secondary. IAS's increase amazingly your damage output and is a must have for frontliners.

There are other people that may recommend you using tank skills such as Mystic Regeneration or Conviction, though I'm not a fan of neither.

Hope it helps

.

-Lotus- · Sep 30, 2008, 03:42 AM // 03:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zach1188

MM as my favorite class

ugh, didnt read any more.

dont use Avatar of balthazar, im just going to assume its your favorite derv skill. its bad, the armor boost is unessicary, the speed boost isnt helpful and if you are worth your salt you are already dealing holy damage.

Zach1188 · Sep 30, 2008, 04:54 AM // 04:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by ALF71BE

I would recommend getting Vital Boon and use it as your cover, expendable enchantment, so you can have a controllable heal when you get low on hp. Don't lose your enchantments right away, but instead whenever you need energy or can mostly benefit from it (gain energy or hp).

Also dunno why you have Sprint. The time I was in beginner island and while I bought some tomes, I liked using Whirling Charge from Wind Prayers. Yeah yeah, I know I told ya just about Vital Boon that is in Earth Prayers, but don't invest points in it, just Scythe, Myst and Wind.

You have also 5 attack skills which is a little overkill. Wild Blow is fine and all but I would use it only when facing annoying blocking enemies with stances, like later in Kourna or near the end of the campaign. Use quick recharging attack skills, such as Victorious Sweep (substitute for Twin Moon), Eremite's Attack or Mystic Sweep, and of course Pious Assault to have a controllable heal if you're using Vital Boon. I'm also not a big fan of Chilling Victory but each to their own I guess.

Get also a minor mysticism rune; the breakpoints of mysticism are in multiples of three, don't waste attribute points in it until you can afford reaching to these break points.

Also try to get an IAS (Increased Attack Speed skill); usually Heart of Fury for class purists like me, but it can also be Flail from your secondary. IAS's increase amazingly your damage output and is a must have for frontliners.

There are other people that may recommend you using tank skills such as Mystic Regeneration or Conviction, though I'm not a fan of neither.

Hope it helps

.

Victorious sweep looks good, however I like inflicting burning condition on my opponents, and it doesn't use an enchantment so that makes it hard to control. Eremite's doesn't look bad, but it doesn't make your hits that much more powerful, as the opponents have to actually be adjacent. I guess I can try it out, but with the strategy i described in my post, by the time I casted chilling victory (which does huge damage, btw), most of my enemies died at once. With what you described, it seems more like I'm killing them off 1 by 1.

And I only put those points into Mysticism because I had extra points that would fit into Scythe.

Also, how would frenzy or beserker stance work on a dervish?
Edit: Nevermind, definitely using Heart of Fury when I get to it. I guess one of the above two until then.

Chaos Flame Reaper · Oct 02, 2008, 02:42 AM // 02:42

if you like using HOHF, toss it and get zealous renewal and baltazar's rage [it cause alot of dmg with high mysticism] and once you gain signet of capture, find barbarous shore,find capt, mhedi and capture the elite derv skill vow of strength and combine ZR and BR with it. Since vow of strength increases dmg of a regular attk and ZR gives energy for each hit [when it ends] And BR [the same but with hp].

joshuarodger · Oct 02, 2008, 03:22 AM // 03:22

1st, completely ignore the post above me.

2nd, helping you with a build when you're only level 9 is kind of pointless. you won't have access to most of the skills you should be using yet, including elite skills.

3rd, get Aura of Holy Might if you have factions. you won't be able to acquire it until you're lvl 20, though. another reason you should wait until then to ask for build advice. this skill should be stapled to every PvE dervish build you make that requires a scythe.

4th, don't ignore mysticism. it's your energy management. without it you'll probably be out of energy most of the time. you should almost always have 9 or 12 points in mysticism. you get bonus energy and health with every 3 ranks of myst.

5th, for the most part you can completely ignore the earth prayers attribute. it has a lot of attractive self-healing skills, but your job as a dervish isn't to keep yourself alive. that's a monk's job. your job is to kill. think of it like this: the faster you kill, the less damage you'll take. if you want a self-heal, take victorious sweep.

6th, eremite's attack and mystic sweep are two of the best attack skills a dervish can have. they both do extra damage, they both have fast activation times, they both have low energy cost, and they both recharge quickly.

7th, use an IAS. most likely candidate for this is heart of fury. get it as soon as you can.

but like i said, until you have access to elites and most of the skills in the game, it's hard to really help you out.

Zach1188 · Oct 04, 2008, 05:26 AM // 05:26

Ok I have a new build, is this any better?

Level: 14
Scythe Mastery: 9 (+1 scythe hood)
Earth Prayers: 7
Mysticism: 6
Wind Prayers: 5

Attacker's Insight
Lyssa's Assault
Heart of Fury
Mystic Regeneration
Signet of Pious Light
Victorious Sweep
Vital Boon
Mystic Sweep