Trouble Staying Alive?

Well i play PVE and ive actually been having trouble staying alive in some areas so before i go any further ill post my 2 most used builds

If i know im facing lots of conditions:
[skill]Victorious Sweep[/skill] [skill]Wearying Strike[/skill] Zealous Sweep [skill]Conviction[/skill] Eternal Aura [skill]Zealous Renewal[/skill] [skill]Avatar of Melandru[/skill] Sunspear Rebirth Signet
Scythe Mastery: 14
Earth Prayers: 8
Mysticism: 12
(Modified from PVX)
And this is for if i know i wont be against many conditions / degen:
[skill]Victorious Sweep[/skill] Radiant Scythe [skill]Eremite's Attack[/skill] [skill]Heart of Fury[/skill] [skill]Mystic Regeneration[/skill] Eternal Aura [skill]Avatar of Lyssa[/skill] Sunspear Rebirth Signet
Scythe Mastery: 14
Earth Prayers: 8
Mysticism: 12
(From Best Avatar thread) - doesnt have AoHM

So im not sure if its because of my build.. the way i use the builds.. or the monks just not doing anything to help me ( doubt it )

So the way i use them is like
1. | Casts avatar & Eternal Aura > gets up to group of whatever > casts zealous renewal > Zealous Sweep > Conviction > Wearying Strike > victories sweep | repeat

2. | Casts avatar & Eternal Aura > gets up to group of whatever > Mystic regen/Conviction & Heart of Fury > Radiant Scythe > Eremite's Attack > Victorious Sweep | Repeat


Now that thats over.. I usually find myself taking a ton of damage.. or taking tons of degens from hexes..

For both of these builds i use a zealous scythe

Ok last thing.. My mods
Hood: Scythe Mastery +1, Health +10, Windwalker insignia
Robe top: Energy +3, Health +50, Health +25
Arms: Energy + 5, Energy + 1, Scythe Mastery +1
Robe Bottom: Mysticism +2, Health -35, Health +10, Energy recovery +1
Shoes: Energy +2, Energy Recover +1, Windwalker insignia

So i have 31 energy and 540 health

Ok.. well sorry if i went a bit too into that but i just wanted to get it all clear..

So before i either get 0 replies for a ton of flaming i just want everyone to know im new to being a Dervish.. I'm used to a ranger but i like dervishes a lot more and want to get used to using them

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read all that!

If you're dying as Melandru, either you're aggroing too much or your monks suck.
That thing is nearly immortal.

I don't really see any problems with your builds.

There's a lot of things that go into wipes though. Mostly, how well you're prepared for the mobs you'll face. By you, I mean your entire party. If you're facing dangerous casters, you might want a BHA ranger (or interrupt mesmer, since I know someone'd hate on me for leaving them out), if you're facing mostly melee, might want more melee hate (blind, hexes) etc. Your monks' bars should be equipped to cover everything you'll face as well.

How many mobs do you typically aggro at a time? Are your monks using any prot on you at all? Do you overextend (run out of healing range of your backline)?

Totally forgot what I was going to edit in. QQ! /goes to sleep <_<

Quote: Originally Posted by Chicken Ftw

Quote: Originally Posted by Sirugel Kai How many mobs do you typically aggro at a time? 1-2 depending
Are your monks using any prot on you at all? Rarely >.>....
Do you overextend? Not that ive noticed. I still get healing breeze and stuffs casted on me so i wouldnt think im out of range. Your monks are bad. Mystery solved!

And now I sleeps.

Haven't worked out exactly how you're getting boosts on both scythe mastery and mysticism from two places, considering runes don't stack and only the hood has an innate mod that does.

Quote: Originally Posted by Chicken Ftw

use hero monks with decent builds.

I don't think using Hench monks is the problem I use them all the time with no issues tho I also don't see much of a problem with the builds being used either. I use pretty similar builds and don't have any problems with survivability.

Perhaps post the hero's you use and their builds.

I did notice and maybe I'm just reading it wrong since its early in the morning but do you have +1 mysticism on your hood and +2 on your robe? If so that's a no no since they don't stack. Yet somehow you have 14 sm so um yah I'm confused.

hmm, your build is very decent. i see nothing wrong with it. i suppose let the other melee charge in first

Do you use hero monks? If so, post their builds please.
Posting your heros builds wont hurt either because your build seems to be good.

Also, bringing passive defence helps a lot(on heros). If you didn't already do this, I suggest you do it now.

I wrote that at like 1:00 so i might not have made the mods very clear
here are pictures







Also i dont use hench monks
Heres the hero build (Note i usually am in partys with humans)
[skill]Word of Healing[/skill] [skill]Glyph of Lesser Energy[/skill] [skill]Dwayna's Kiss[/skill] [skill]Dismiss Condition[/skill] [skill]Shield of Absorption[/skill] [skill]Protective Spirit[/skill] [skill]Remove Hex[/skill] [skill]Rebirth[/skill]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sirugel Kai

Hmm :x maybe i need to look at my runes a bit more xD
EDIT: swapped the +1 out with a rune of vitae

If I'm not mistaken (which I might be) the break points for energy return for mysticism is every 3 points. So either run 15 mysticism or 12 mysticism (recommended) unless you really need to hit a break point for an important skill in your build at 14 or 13.

The Hero monk may be your problem. Hero monks seem to have the inability to hybrid.

Instead of [skill]shield of absorption[/skill] and [skill]remove hex[/skill]

Try running [skill]cure hex[/skill] and [skill]signet of rejuvenation[/skill]

Actually, hero monks are ok hybrids as long as you keep them with spammable lower cost skills like SoA and stay away from some of the touch skills. They might not be the best at it and can cast it at odd times like when you are coming up with mostly degen but their AI triggers it well when you are vs melee. In short, I have an easy time with me mostly just watching the heroes/hench wipe out everything.

I run a monk hero bar close to that with GOLE and Dwayna's kiss switched out for more prot. I do agree with cure hex over remove hex though. No reason not to cure hex unless you are going gift of health. I also do a 4 way point split with a few points for power drain/leech signet.

Quote: Originally Posted by Sirugel Kai

Quote: Originally Posted by Coloneh theres your problem. people are idiots. if you find a human monk, its usually a 55 or someone using GolE to spam HB. if its a warrior is always a stance tank that decides aggroing everything on the map is a good idea. That actually happened 3 times last night >.>


Anyway would it hurt to replace mystic regen with AoHM? =X


Thanks for all the comments so far D

With Lyssa on your bar you shouldn't waste atts in anything else than Scythe Mastery and Mysticism. And AoHM is a PvE-must for damage-dealing dervishes. So drop MR, replace it with AoHM.