Curse

daze · Aug 11, 2008, 06:56 AM // 06:56

However if you like the utilities you may want to try a secondary profession.

One of my favorites is D/Me for [epidemic]
would look something like [ebon dust aura][heart of fury][mystic corruption][staggering force][aura of thorns][epidemic][mystic regeneration][pious assault] <<<< this build spamms and spreads conditions to vertually everybody in the mob... You do need an earth damage scythe for ebon dust aura to work though.
Since this build isnt too heavy on the damage dealing and more of a utility build, you may want to give it to a hero.
If you like to add some scythe mastery skills, id recommend [reap impurities]

if you want to spread conditions to all enemies then i would recommend just bringing a Mez hero with [hypochondria] and [epidemic]

Or if you like to run i would recommend D/A for [deaths charge] or [dash] or [dark escape]

warr is good for battling shiro in gate of madness because you need [wild blow] to take him out of [impossible odds]

Cebe · Aug 11, 2008, 08:15 AM // 08:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by daze

If you like to add some scythe mastery skills

...

Without Scythe Mastery skills Ebon Dust Aura will not work.

That build is fairly lacking:

No Attack skills.
No Deep Wound (though you do mention Pious Assault as an "optional")
Little point in Epidemic. Scythes strike multiple targets, and Staggering Force & Aura of Thorns affect foes in an AoE fashion anyway.
If your idea is to inflict conditions you have no way of removing the enchantments (like [[Mystic Sandstorm]).

daze · Aug 11, 2008, 08:29 AM // 08:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

...

Without Scythe Mastery skills Ebon Dust Aura will not work.

That build is fairly lacking:

No Attack skills.
No Deep Wound (though you do mention Pious Assault as an "optional")
Little point in Epidemic. Scythes strike multiple targets, and Staggering Force & Aura of Thorns affect foes in an AoE fashion anyway.
If your idea is to inflict conditions you have no way of removing the enchantments (like [[Mystic Sandstorm]).

I dont know why i was thinking that blind is caused by every attack and not just every "attack skill".., [pious assault] and [reap impurities] are the ones that i use for the enchant removal and the attack skill. and i have noticed that epidemic does work for the enemies that are standing just outside your scythe range. Cant the scythe only hit up to 3 enemies at a time?
[Mystic sandstorm] is one that i like to use on the full enchant lyssa builds. and the [epidemic] is just mainly ment to spread blind. other conditions spread is more of a bonus. i should have put together that build a bit differently, since i havent played on my derv in such a long time i kind of forgot how i had it organized.

But i see what you are saying Beaver... Maybe it would be a better idea to go D/Rt [splinter weapon] + conditions spammer.. well forget that i keep thinking the condition adding is contingent on regular scythe attacks, not attack skills
then add a mez hero with [epidemic] + [hypochondria]

Baratus · Aug 11, 2008, 03:26 PM // 15:26

The scythe hits up to thre enemies in a regular attack. Other attack skills can hit more enemies, unless I am mistaken. I know that I've had four or five on me before and could swear that I've had skills that hit them all. I love using the second attack you get that hits twice if you have more health than the target. Hit three or more with that sucker and you see a ton of numbers!

Sorry for the lack of skill-name knowledge, but I am working under Linux right now and am not at my desktop at the house. On a side-note, Linux kicks butt!

daze · Aug 11, 2008, 07:07 PM // 19:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baratus

The scythe hits up to thre enemies in a regular attack. Other attack skills can hit more enemies, unless I am mistaken. I know that I've had four or five on me before and could swear that I've had skills that hit them all. I love using the second attack you get that hits twice if you have more health than the target. Hit three or more with that sucker and you see a ton of numbers!

Sorry for the lack of skill-name knowledge, but I am working under Linux right now and am not at my desktop at the house. On a side-note, Linux kicks butt!

Are you thinking of [twin moon sweep]?

xakia · Aug 11, 2008, 07:37 PM // 19:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by daze

Are you thinking of [twin moon sweep]?

That's what I normally use.

My setup is basically:
[Heart of Holy Flame] [Twin Moon Sweep] [chilling victory] [Victorious Sweep] and I keep spamming them in that order. I may or may not add Wounding Strike to that setup as most of everything dies pretty quickly anyways. I normally run with Eternal Aura and Balth bringing me additional AOE and fast recharge of [heart of holy flame]

Smite them, burn them, freeze them, ect.

Gotta get around to getting Sand Shards to add at the end of that lineup to help with blockers and blinds. (Although the damage can continue through [heart of holy flame] and [eternal aura] )

Whirlwind · Aug 12, 2008, 09:58 AM // 09:58

Rebirth if nothing else, its almost required in high end areas.

Baratus · Aug 12, 2008, 04:29 PM // 16:29

I was thinking of "Chilling Victory", actually. I have yet to use "Twin Moon Sweep". I am planning on it however, once my character is lv20 and maxed out.

dumimare · Aug 12, 2008, 06:09 PM // 18:09

this is a lot of information to take in and a lot of skills to learn.

here's what i've been using for a while. it's working out pretty good. what do you guys think?

[Eremite's Attack][Chilling Victory][Pious Assault][Avatar of Balthazar][Heart of Fury][Heart of Holy Flame][Aura of Thorns][Vital Boon] with

earth prayers 8+2
scythe mastery 11
mysticism 11+1

MagicalHobo · Aug 12, 2008, 06:49 PM // 18:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by dumimare

this is a lot of information to take in and a lot of skills to learn.

here's what i've been using for a while. it's working out pretty good. what do you guys think?

[Eremite's Attack][Chilling Victory][Pious Assault][Avatar of Balthazar][Heart of Fury][Heart of Holy Flame][Aura of Thorns][Vital Boon] with

earth prayers 8+2
scythe mastery 11
mysticism 11+1

I would drop Balthazar, since he doesn't bring you anything you can't get with non-elite skills, and use Lyssa or Melandru. [Avatar of Melandru] works well with [Wearying Strike] since the weakness effect will not apply, and Lyssa works well with [Eremite's Attack] and [Mystic Sweep] for the quick attack times. You can also use [Radiant Scythe] or ["Finish Him!"] with Lyssa for added effects. Another skill you may want to pick up is [Aura of Holy Might] as it'll raise the damage with your scythe.

dumimare · Aug 12, 2008, 06:54 PM // 18:54

i have avatar of melandru and have yet to capture avatars of lyssa. thanks for the tips.

MagicalHobo · Aug 12, 2008, 07:01 PM // 19:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by dumimare

i have avatar of melandru and have yet to capture avatars of lyssa. thanks for the tips.

I forgot to mention that [Eternal Aura] can recharge Avatars, so you can keep the Avatar up indefinitely.

daze · Aug 13, 2008, 03:03 AM // 03:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by MagicalHobo

I would drop Balthazar, since he doesn't bring you anything you can't get with non-elite skills, and use Lyssa or Melandru. [Avatar of Melandru] works well with [Wearying Strike] since the weakness effect will not apply, and Lyssa works well with [Eremite's Attack] and [Mystic Sweep] for the quick attack times. You can also use [Radiant Scythe] or ["Finish Him!"] with Lyssa for added effects. Another skill you may want to pick up is [Aura of Holy Might] as it'll raise the damage with your scythe.

you forgot the most important skill for anyone using avatars... [eternal aura]
*edit* oh man my bad. i should have read a bit further down...

Mod plz delete my post

Whirlwind · Aug 13, 2008, 03:19 AM // 03:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by dumimare

this is a lot of information to take in and a lot of skills to learn.

here's what i've been using for a while. it's working out pretty good. what do you guys think?

[Eremite's Attack][Chilling Victory][Pious Assault][Avatar of Balthazar][Heart of Fury][Heart of Holy Flame][Aura of Thorns][Vital Boon] with

earth prayers 8+2
scythe mastery 11
mysticism 11+1

Though its not a bad bar, you have 5 skills that cost 10 energy on there, total of 50 energy before you can use the rest of your skills. Dervish normally has about 27 total energy depending what runes you use, i don't see how you would be able to spam attack skills.

I'd recommend replacing [pious assault] and [chilling victory] with [farmer's scythe] and [victorious sweep].

Farmers scythe is great since you almost always hitting more then one enemy so its spamable for more dmg. Victorious sweep is nice for dmg and healing, if you hit more then one foe while your health is high you'll get healed for 67 several times each swing with your scythe mastery remaining at 11.

Recap: both skill are less energy cost, allowing you to spam them more, meaning more dmg over time, while one can instantly recharge and the other heals. = win imo.

joshuarodger · Aug 13, 2008, 03:51 AM // 03:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baratus

So I guess my other pure builds don't count? I am just saying that this class is very good at what it does, and I use the energy stealing skill only when I am playing without a healer hero, henchmen, or player. I only have three dervish skills I normally use for enchantments. That's holy fire, the one that restores health as you hit, and the one that gives you bonus health and heals when it ends. That allows me to use one of those skills that gives bonus damage per enchant, allowing me to spam it while other, longer skills recharge. If I have a healer of some kind with me, I do not need the skill since I have tones of buffs on me.

I can't recall my exact skills setup, but scythe mastery is around r12, mysticism is around r9, and the rest is in earth prayers. I get nine health and three energy when enchants end. Pious attack also helps when I am buffed out and need health or energy.

One thing to note, however. The holy fire enchantment appears to be broken after the most recent update. One of my favorite low-level things to do was to use the enchant, run into a crowd, and use pious attack to set everybody on fire. I haven't seen it set ANYBODY, including the mob I am fighting, on fire since the patch.

sorry i've been away for a few days so i couldn't respond.

it sounds like you're running a subpar bar. you should stay as far away from earth prayers and [[heart of holy fla] as you can. yeah self-heals make you feel secure but you're taking away from the damage you could be doing. you should be hitting for over 100 damage on a regular basis and the earth prayers line does not aid you with that. just make sure your hero monk or rit or whatever you use as a healer has a good setup and micro the pre-protting before you run into a mob and let him do the rest during the fight.

anyway back to the thread. there is a lot of pretty bad advice in here. the only avatars you should ever use on a regular basis are lyssa and melandru. dwayna is ok sometimes, it just depends on the foes in the area. never, ever use [[heart of holy]. it is not a good skill at all. use [[aura of holy]. this skill along with lyssa will put some very pretty numbers up. you will do a shitload more dps with aura of holy might than you could ever do with heart of holy flame. always take [[heart of fury], or other IAS, to put your dps even higher and there's the burning you were looking for with that other skill. always take [[eternal aura] if you're taking an avatar. if you're taking melandru, take [[wearying strike], if you're taking lyssa or dwayna, take [[pious assault] but only use it when you have eternal aura up or if you think that last little boost from AoHM/burning from HoF will win the fight. then take 2 spammable scythe skills, namely [[eremite's att] and [[mystic sw]. if you don't take a rez, which i don't when i'm h/h-ing but do when i'm playing with real people, you could have space for a utility. you could throw a little self healing in there if you want or do what i like to do and throw in something else to hurt folks. maybe [[splinter weapon] or [[judges in] or [[strength of].

attributes should almost always be
scythe 12+1+1
myst: 8+1 or 11+1 (depending on if you're using an avatar for elite)
other: the rest

give it a shot and see if you can't take down mobs a lot faster with something like that on you. like i said you should regularly be hitting for more than 100 dmg per pop. i've hit squishy targets for over 200 damage with a set up like this and a sundering scythe.

Bristlebane · Aug 13, 2008, 08:39 AM // 08:39

[Patient [email protected]] is not too bad for a D, as it's spammable and synergies with your Pious skills.
[Mending Touch] fits on any bar.
Other than that, D is just fine without using any secondary profession skills.

xakia · Aug 13, 2008, 01:48 PM // 13:48

Why would anyone actually use Melandru? 25 energy.

Cebe · Aug 13, 2008, 02:37 PM // 14:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by xakia

Why would anyone actually use Melandru? 25 energy.

Oh, I dunno.

Immunity to conditions such as Blind and Cripple probably have nothing to do with it...

xakia · Aug 13, 2008, 08:51 PM // 20:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

Oh, I dunno.

Immunity to conditions such as Blind and Cripple probably have nothing to do with it...

Since you're such a fan of sarcasm, allow me to add my own.

Lots of benefit from that elite after you die once or twice.

How did I do? I'm here all week.

Snow Bunny · Aug 13, 2008, 09:12 PM // 21:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by xakia

Since you're such a fan of sarcasm, allow me to add my own.

Lots of benefit from that elite after you die once or twice.

How did I do? I'm here all week.

Since you're willing to attack a mod, one of the more helpful ones, too, I'll just drop the sarcasm and make you look like a moron.

You're not taking an elite because you're afraid of dying and having to weapon swap to get the energy? Excuse me, but at least I'm not terrible.

At least Beaver knows an amazing skill when he sees one; a skill that had to get nerfed several times because it was so strong and still remains immensely powerful.