Curse

TwinRaven · Jan 21, 2007, 05:48 AM // 05:48

Just been kicking around a tanker build with my Dervish and thought (since someone asked me too) I thought I'd post my favorite build and an alternate. Just a couple D/any that have worked well for me and can be varied as needed. Both PvP and PvE (PvP mostly in Random and usually the last standing if on a losing team)...

Armor is all set with radiant insignias, Sup Scythe Mastery, minor earth/mysticism Sup (or affordable) Vigor and attunement in the blank spots. I Have 509 health and 35 mana...up to 40 mana if I had a +5 energy mod on my scythe, but as of yet...15%^50 for now....does Ebon damage (a must for Ebon Dust Aura).

Scythe Mastery 16 (12+1+3)
Earth Prayers 13 (12+1)

6 left-over

Conviction(stance): e.p. +24 armor if enchanted, +4 regen if not enchanted
Ebon Dust Aura (enchantment) {E}: e.p. 9 seconds of blindness with ebon weapon (works for rangers too...) when you use attack skills (lasts 31 seconds)
Vital Boon (enchantment): e.p. +92 max health....heals for 182 when it ends (lasts 20 seconds)
Aura of Thorns (enchantment): e.p. 9 seconds of crippling, 14 of bleeding when it ends (lasts 30 seconds)
Armor of sanctity (enchantment): e.p. reduces damage by 18 from foes suffering from conditions (lasts 10 seconds)
Mystic Regeneration (enchantment): e.p. +4 regen for each enchantment on you
Victorious Sweep (scythe attack): +33 damage and +83 health if foe has less health than you.
alternates: Chilling Victory or Reap Impurities
Rezzy Siggy

The idea is to keep at least three enchantments up at all times for regen of +12 (10 is max of course, but more counters degen)...with all five enchantments up, you have +20 regen (10 actual, 10 in the bank)...This keeps you at a near constant 10 regen and with Victorious Sweep and Vital Boon you have a potential of several spikes of health...typically around 400 every 30 seconds if you manage your enchantments and energy well.

Using Conviction, you have added armor and if you run out of enchantments, a +4 energy regen...being a stance, it is not as susceptible to enchantment removals and toughens you up to physical damage...with Armor of Sanctity, you can take a bit of a beating.

Damage output with Victorious Sweep is fair and you may choose something else, but Victorious Sweep is cheap on energy and recharges quickly. It also has no enchantment removal, like Twin Moon Sweep, which defeats the point of the build....you WANT enchantments to run their full course...20% Enchantment mods in this case are a sweet addition...currently at health +29 mod, but I'll get there.

While the direct damage output is not huge, you do cause cripple, blindness, bleeding and a great deal for frustration....especially for those who cast degen on you as your health barely dips. You may pick other skills that do more damage, but this particular build is built for low energy usage. With the dervish's mana regen as it is, you can constantly keep the enchantments up...unless there are mesmers....I hate mesmers. Energy denial can potentially swamp this build.

A variation that works well is to change Attributes to:

Scythe Mastery 15 (11+1+2)
Earth Prayers 11 (10+1)
Mysticism 11 (10+1)

Replace the elite Ebon Dust Aura for either Avatar of Balthazar or Avatar of Melandru...for about a minute, you will have awesome buffs in either armor and speed or total health and immunity to conditions (respectivley). The regen on Mystic regeneration drops to +3 per enchantment and Conviction goes to +3. But the buff make up for it. With points in Mysticism, you can now use Mystic Vigor for added health for cheap.

If you choose to add scythe attacks and drop enchantments, do yourself a service and do this with the first version of the build as it will give you a pretty good regen at only 3-4 enchantments. I prefer the first verion because of low energy use and high survivability...

Love to hear your thoughts and suggestions...but keep in mind it is not a high damage build...though I can often out-tank warriors.

Malakar · Jan 21, 2007, 06:40 AM // 06:40

13 earth prayers is unneccessary. 8 is plenty. that 1 tick/enchantment extra of regen isnt worth dumping that many points into.

armor of sanctity doesnt make much sense, because if they are blind they cant hit you so your essentially trying to reduce no damage. drop that for something else.

something a little more practical:

16 scythe (12+1+3
9 earth (8+1)
12 mysticism. (10+2)

still plenty of earth power, and with your enchantments coming and going so often you should get plenty of energy gain pretty consistently. and lord knows your gonna need it.

drop aura of thorns for crippling sweep, typically when you need a cripple you need it asap, and aura of thorns has a casting time which means by the time it drops, they are far enough away for it to not effect them. crippling sweep allows you to conserve energy and use the cripple when you need it, instead of just hoping it comes into use.

vital boon and conviction are nice to be sure, but id consider dropping conviction for heart of fury since your damage output is going to be low with that many defensive skills. typically your gonna be blinding all immediate threats, and mowing down squishy casters (unless they have blind) so typically conviction isnt as neccessary as a damage boost. thats a judgement call though really. sometimes i would really love that extra armor, but typically the speed is nicer to drop the blind on multiple opponents.

Str0b0 · Jan 21, 2007, 03:32 PM // 15:32

Well having made a EDA builds myself I agree conviction is better swapped for HoF. I use HoF , not for speed but for the fire afterwards and an extra enchant for mystic regen. Sometimes though it is helpful just to be able to wail normal attacks faster but it won't help your blind speed since it takes an attack skill to place the blind.Still you won't take enough damage to out do your regen in most cases. Aura of thorns works fine for a snare, they rarely run from it and it has a good range, PvE speaking anyway. No mysticism though? Bad idea. You're going to be strapped for energy in a bad way.

TwinRaven · Jan 21, 2007, 06:31 PM // 18:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malakar

...armor of sanctity doesnt make much sense, because if they are blind they cant hit you so your essentially trying to reduce no damage. drop that for something else.

...and with your enchantments coming and going so often you should get plenty of energy gain pretty consistently. and lord knows your gonna need it.

...drop aura of thorns for crippling sweep, typically when you need a cripple you need it asap, and aura of thorns has a casting time which means by the time it drops, they are far enough away for it to not effect them. crippling sweep allows you to conserve energy and use the cripple when you need it, instead of just hoping it comes into use.

Malakar: [pardon the snips] Good advice, for the most part...my leftover attribute points are in mysticism (3+1)...so I get a wee bit of energy....more would be nice. Being the Dervish's primary, it is a good idea to take advantage of the energy....much the same way a necro puts points into Soul Reaping....but not every build takes advantage of it. I was trying something a bit....ummmm..."unconventional"...The crazy health pips sorta being the point, but with more sensible variations listed below it.

I picked 3 issues to address (because that's the kinda guy I am) from your quotes [above] just to give a little depth to what I was thinking and stimulate, maybe, a little conversation.

1. Armor of Sanctity: yeah, against a blind opponnent makes zero sense, but against a crippled and/or bleeding one...very helpful. I typically cast it when Ebon's effects have worn off or if the player is suffering from multiple conditions...-18 damage adds up! With blind as the only condition...it would be seriously pointless. It doesn't last very long either...for my purposes, another enchantment or scythe attack could easily fill its slot.

2. As I stated....more energy would be nice...in this build, most of the enchantments are not coming and going so very quickly...20-30 seconds for the most part with no means of self-removal...part of the master plan: keep 'em up for the regen...this saves a bit of energy vs. the off-on-off-on approach to enchantments dervs usually go through...and mystic regen is the only one that doesn't cost 5 energy...I can typically spam what I need to until the well runs dry on my opponnent (except mesmers....grrrrr). I see your point and in most of the builds it would be absolutely the logical way to go.

3. Crippling Sweep is a great attack to prevent kiting...but in this case, with Aura of Thorns, I was thinking about the two-fer I get for the same energy (cripple and bleeding)....Sure the cripple doesn't last as long, but I usually hit it after a scythe attack. The idea is stacking conditions after blindness (since blind is what I really want) in the event of simple condition removal....plus the degen from bleeding. Most of the time I stand toe-to-toe with warriors and don't have to deal with kiting so much...If I were after running down squishies Crippling Sweep would be on my bar.

Str0b0: I love Heart of Fury AND Heart of Holy Flame. Beleive it or not, I have a build that is entirely Scythe Mastery and Mysticism...I love watching enemies burn, then hit them with Reap Impurities. I guess the challenge for me was making a viable build without the reliance on Mysticism...truth be told, it comes from tinkering with an Ebon Dust Aura build for my ranger...blinding from a distance = fun!

Thank you both for your suggestions...good advice. Going in without reliance on Mysticism is usually a bad idea. Especially if you are new to the mechanics of the Dervish...energy renewal through mysticism is the life's blood of the Dervish build...

I am still tinkering with it and will certainly take your suggestions to heart.

Anyone else wanna throw in their two cents? I'd love to hear it!