Curse

CagedinSanity · Jan 15, 2007, 03:01 AM // 03:01

I need a little help. I'd like to put more points into Scythe or something but I'm not sure if it's exactly needed.

This is an all-purpose Dervish/Warrior Build that I've found works wonderfully in both PvP and PvE, if combo'd right.
Also this does somewhat rely on using Avatars to their best convenience (fighting mesmers? grab dwayna. fighting rangers? grab melandru. fighting prot monks or other dervs? grab grenth... and so on.) so if you don't like avatars to begin with, just leave.

Here's what I got.
Scythe Masteru 12 (8+3+1)
Earth 11 (10+1)
Mysticism 13 (12+1)

Chilling Victory, Eremites attack, Wild blow, Faithful intervention, Zealous Renewal, Mystic Regeneration, Vital boon, Avatar of [whatever. It would help to have all five]

Here's how I usually work it. Like I mentioned in my second paragraph, I usually figure out what I'm about to fight and equip the proper Avatar. with 13 mysticism it lasts about 67 seconds.
I usually do Chilling victory as soon as I enter a battle (or hit them a couple times normally to get my health above theirs) I also do eremites attack quick after, mostly just for the quick combo and I ignore the fact if there's any adjacent foes or not. I mostly use wild blow just for the kournan bowman and that blasted stance, so this skill can be replaced to something of your choosing. I make sure to cast Faithful intervention at each zone or battle. I only have zealous renewal because I have not yet found the ideal enchantment to replace it. I just cast it for the 54 damage it does to things surrounding me. Vital boon, I don't need to explain, and the avatar thing I've already explained.
I don't have res because I usually expect my party members to not suck enough to get themselves killed. But once I get to the uber higher level areas, i may just replace Zealous Renewal with a Res sig.

anyway, I'd like to see if it has room for improvement, which i'm pretty sure it does. I usually ignore tempalte builds that wiki offers and other peoples builds (most things i research are all PvP, and I'm a PvE player...)

Paperfly · Jan 15, 2007, 06:54 AM // 06:54

- Well, for PvP purposes you'd need (a) a snare of some sort ([skill]Crippling Sweep[/skill]) and (b) a Deep Wound. Both of those are easy enough to add in, though.

- No res! OMG Panic attack!

(but seriously, it's good form to carry one if you're playing with other people. Solo it's unnecessary...)

- You really don't need all three of those skills to stay alive. Either drop the Intervention or eliminate Earth Prayers entirely and sink it all into Mysticism. Oh, and if you're running hero monks give one of them Prot skills; [skill]Reversal of Fortune[/skill] should be all the defense you'll ever need.

(Mystic Regeneration's horribly overrated, by the way. If you stay in Earth Prayers [skill]Conviction[/skill] or [skill]Signet of Pious Light[/skill] would do better and be easier on the energy.)

- [skill]Heart of Holy Flame[/skill] generally works better than the Zealous Renewal (the energy gain you get from it doesn't add up to much, in my experience). Heart comes with free burning, and the conversion to Holy damage can be useful.

- If you keep roughly the same build, I'd drop Chilling Victory for [skill]Twin Moon Sweep[/skill]. It's almost as good as a linear damage-dealer (striking twice is huge), it's easier to meet the condition, it's half the price and recharges quicker, and all of your enchantments have benefits that make them worth being able to remove at will - e.g. stripping your own Vital Boon for a heal.

CagedinSanity · Jan 15, 2007, 03:38 PM // 15:38

I appreciate the advice ^_^ I was hoping someone wouldn't just come in and flame me

As for Twin moon sweep, I have found that even when I attack twice, I only do like 20 damage on both hits (40 in all?) so I've found that skill to be very pathetic, while chilling victory can go at like 104 damage (like 50 base damage and 54 or something from the other part of the skill.)

Heart of holy flame sounds good, I'll go for that.

Why drop Earth prayers? divine intervention and Vital boon HAS saved my ass more than once.

Signet of pious light doesn't heal ME and Conviction only gives 3 regen, and the avatar of balthazar (even though I don't use it very often) gives 40 armor, I don't really need conviction.
And currently my mysticism is maxed at 12+1

Sihaya Syme · Jan 15, 2007, 03:57 PM // 15:57

Signet of Pious light should heal you just fine... If you can't heal yourself the description usually says 'heal target other ally'.

CagedinSanity · Jan 15, 2007, 04:02 PM // 16:02

Ohh, I guess I'll equip it and try it out.
Tough mystic regen has helped a lot. It'll be sad to see it go :P
Except its 10e cost. Ouch.

Tingi · Jan 15, 2007, 05:38 PM // 17:38

Mystic regen + vital boon are great PvE skills. I also like conviction but you dont NEED it.

I personally don't waste an elite on an Avatar in Pve. But that's me...

Also - BRING A REZ. I have no idea how many times I have said that on these forums...lol I'm begining to think that a rez should be locked on everyones skill bar apart from monks heh...(obviously that will never happen)

But in general your build seems oke. Personally this is the build I run in PvE:

15 Sycthe (sup rune + headpiece)
13 Mysticism (minor rune)
9 Earth (minor rune)

Reapers Sweep {E}
Attack - Either mystic sweep, victorious sweet etc...
Chilling Victory
Heart of Fury - love this IAS
Vital Boon
Mystic Regen
Conviction
Rez

Sometimes I'll swap out conviction for something else, maybe wild blow or heart of holy flame.

But this build seems to work fine for me. If I want to use an Avatar however I will use Melandru and swap conviction for wearying strike which is a great combo. But ALWAYS have a rez in your skillbar.

These are exceptions for no rez:

If you're solo farming
If you're in ABs
If you're a solo ganker (usually not for a dervish but I'm speaking in general here)
OR if you are playing with a full hench/hero team and dont feel the need to bring one (even though in this situation I still advise to bring a rez)

In ALL other situations bring a rez. Just a bit of advice.

CagedinSanity · Jan 15, 2007, 07:12 PM // 19:12

Well I don't my derv doing much untill i get to Castellan, of which I farm Jahai bluffs with henches and heros and get like 500-700 points a run, so I won't need res for a while. not to mention it's my Best AB character.
So 66% of the time I don't need it.

And the problem is all 8 of those skills I use extremely often, It'll be hard to find a spot for it.

Paperfly · Jan 17, 2007, 10:00 AM // 10:00

Quote:

As for Twin moon sweep, I have found that even when I attack twice, I only do like 20 damage on both hits (40 in all?)

Don't forget the high range on scythe attacks - the damage output can fluctuate quite a lot. What convinced me was the synergy with Holy Flame - getting that burning immediately on my target worked very well. Plus you're getting two automatic criticals on anyone who runs away from you!

Quote:

Why drop Earth prayers? divine intervention and Vital boon HAS saved my ass more than once.

Up to you. I was just pointing out that you could focus on one or the other (Mysticism or Earth Prayers) for your survival skills and spend some points elsewhere.

Quote:

And currently my mysticism is maxed at 12+1

...My bad, I was unclear there. I was implying that you could "focus" on Mysticism instead of Earth and dump the spare points into your scythe.

Quote:

Signet of pious light doesn't heal ME

Already covered.

I'd really recommend it's use if you're not going with Twin Moon, as the ability to "cancel" Vital Boon for the health gain at will is gold.

Quote:

Conviction only gives 3 regen, and the avatar of balthazar (even though I don't use it very often) gives 40 armor, I don't really need conviction.

I'll admit I'm in a minority in my dislike of Mystic Regeneration. I suggested Conviction for it's armour-boosting capacity rather than the regen, as it's a bargain for what you get out of it. +24 armour is excellent against heavy pressure and will often prevent more damage than the 18 health per second you get from +9 (capped) health regeneration, and it's not as subject to "win more". That is, Mystic Regen only performs at peak when you've got all your enchantments up, which is when you're presumably in the least amount of trouble, and doesn't work so well when you've had a couple shattered.

...Plus you can keep it up continually, as opposed to the Avatar.

Seef II · Jan 18, 2007, 07:07 PM // 19:07

I don't favor Mystic Regeneration either - you're not alone. I do use it in a farming build, though. Conviction ftw, you can hang out with the warriors in the frontline with ~95 armor.

For the lose-an-enchant skill, I ran Twin Moon Sweep in the easier parts of the game. Once you get to the point where every necromancer hexes you with Faintheartedness, I dropped it for Pious Restoration (lose 2 hexes). Haven't really tried Signet of Piety yet, and while it does seem to work reasonably well on Gehraz, it isn't my playstyle.

CagedinSanity · Jan 18, 2007, 08:48 PM // 20:48

Sadly I have found Mystic regen doesn't help much when I'm fighting other players, but it does help when solo'ing shrines. (AB's)

Otherwise PvE it works great.

Mr Jazzy · Jan 19, 2007, 06:09 AM // 06:09

Trash Zealous Renewal (energy return is insignificant) for a res of some sort. Replace eremite's (if you were aiming for a spike +dmg skill) with mystic sweep, since you will meet the +dmg conditions more consistently. GET RID OF 13 MYSTICISM!! Only multiples of 3 belong in mysticism, since you gain +1 energy for every 3 ranks. Tone it down to 11+1, then you can pump extra into earth. Raise Scythe attribute if you plan on doing high dmg + crits.

I have more, maybe i'll add later.

CagedinSanity · Jan 19, 2007, 07:31 PM // 19:31

the 13 is for skills, not just the primary thing itself.
Zealous renewal is already ditched.
I'll try Mystic sweep, or a res.